December 14, 2025 • 4 mins
John Bonham was more than just a powerful drummer. Author John Lingan explores his finesse in this episode highlight.
Listen to Episode 341 - Drummers Who Shaped Rock History (Ringo Starr, John Bonham, Charlie Watts, Dave Grohl & More)
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Listen to Episode 341 - Drummers Who Shaped Rock History (Ringo Starr, John Bonham, Charlie Watts, Dave Grohl & More)
15% OFF Any Purchase At Old Glory For Booked On Rock Listeners! — Over 300,000 officially licensed items. Featuring legendary music artists like Bob Marley, The Beatles,
Grateful Dead, and more. Use the code "BOOKEDONROCK" or hit this link:
https://oldglory.com/discount/BOOKEDONROCK
----------
Booked On Rock is part of The Boneless Podcasting Network
BookedOnRock.com
The Booked On Rock Store
The Booked On Rock YouTube Channel
Follow The Booked On Rock with Eric Senich:
BLUESKY
TIKTOK
X
Find Your Nearest Independent Bookstore
Contact The Booked On Rock Podcast: thebookedonrockpodcast@gmail.com
The Booked On Rock Music: “Whoosh” by Crowander / “Last Train North” & “No Mercy” by TrackTribe
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here's a highlight from a recent episode of book Don Rock,
John Ling and the author of Backbeats, A History of
Rock and Roll In fifteen Drummers John Bonham Bonzo great
quote from Robert Plant including the book to describe Bonzo's
steadiness on the bass battle. Jimi Hendrix was blown away
by it, and Robert said to Jimmy after the show,
he's like a rabbit.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
He's like a rabbit.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Yes, if I'm breaking any news in this book, I
do believe that that is an original Jimmy Hendrix quote
that Robert Plant shared with me when I interviewed him.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Don't recall ever hearing that before.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah, it was just it was such a fascinating it
was a fascinating anecdot because of course Plant has amazing
insightful things to say about Bonzo's playing. But you know,
Jimmy Hendrix is like, he's not just a guitar player,
like he's the guitar playing genius. And so it's like
(00:56):
the idea of a guy with that level of sort
of instrumental command watching led Zeppelin early in London and
then immediately the first thing he wants to talk about
isn't Jimmy page he wants to talk about the drummer.
I think that really embodies kind of what Bonhom brought
to that instrument. It was just like he was, you know,
(01:18):
kind of a Hendrix's equivalent, you know in many ways.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Sure, sure he played ghost notes on the bass drum
without sacrificing intensity or energy. For those not familiar, what
is a ghost note and what made Bonhom so good
at that?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
A ghost note is just sort of the technical term,
as we say, for those kind of those sort of
half hits in between the main backbeats. So instead of
that like boom bo boom bop, the doing the boom,
it's that like that sort of echo. It's just as
they say, they call it the ghost because it's just
the sort of like tail. So any kind of like
(01:55):
as we say, like, that's one of those ways to
get that variance and intensity and then and in volume
really that drummers can use. And so a lot of
people can do that on their hands or with one hand,
and Bonham was really one of the first people to
do that with his bass drum foot And you can
hear that right off the top side one track one,
(02:18):
you know, on the led Zeppelin self titled album Good Times,
Bad Times. You can hear like his entrance when he
comes in with a funny little high hat thing and
then he does this like once Plant comes in, he
does these great little like triplet.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Almost like kind of movements on the bass.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Drum, and similar to what people how people reacted to Hendrix,
that's just one of those like people in the club
are going to look at that and just be like,
oh my god, who the hell is this guy? That's
just like a real uh, a real path breaking new
kind of way to blow people's minds with the drum set.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
In nineteen sixty eight, I remember.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Reading about out the song rock and Roll and bottom
intentionally messed with a little bit, so anybody that was
going to do any cover band that was going to
try to do it would have difficulty with it. And
that reminds me of the hal Blaine thing with like
where's he going with this at the start of the song, right,
you're not sure when he's going to come in when
hit the bass pedal?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Totally yes, so hard to It's so hard because I
believe what you're referring to is there's the great song
rock and roll starts with a drum intro, and from
the way he plays it, you like find yourself going like,
here comes the entrance of the.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Whole band, and you're always wrong.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
And I believe that's because he actually starts the fill
on beat two of a measure, so it's like it's
like an eight beat a two measure phrase, but he
starts in the two, so it only it's a seven.
It's like a seven beat fill instead of what you
would expect to be an eight beat film. Just an
example of that. Yeah, And I think he was conscious
(04:00):
from the start that, like he had the kind of
style that people were going to be kind of mesmerized by.
And I don't think he was in any way worried
about people nicking his moves or anything like that, but
I can definitely imagine him being like, oh, I'll make
it harder in a.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Playful sort of way to ape my style. Yeah,
Here's a highlight from a recent episode of book Don Rock,
John Ling and the author of Backbeats, A History of
Rock and Roll In fifteen Drummers John Bonham Bonzo great
quote from Robert Plant including the book to describe Bonzo's
steadiness on the bass battle. Jimi Hendrix was blown away
by it, and Robert said to Jimmy after the show,
he's like a rabbit.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
He's like a rabbit.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Yes, if I'm breaking any news in this book, I
do believe that that is an original Jimmy Hendrix quote
that Robert Plant shared with me when I interviewed him.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Don't recall ever hearing that before.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah, it was just it was such a fascinating it
was a fascinating anecdot because of course Plant has amazing
insightful things to say about Bonzo's playing. But you know,
Jimmy Hendrix is like, he's not just a guitar player,
like he's the guitar playing genius. And so it's like
(00:56):
the idea of a guy with that level of sort
of instrumental command watching led Zeppelin early in London and
then immediately the first thing he wants to talk about
isn't Jimmy page he wants to talk about the drummer.
I think that really embodies kind of what Bonhom brought
to that instrument. It was just like he was, you know,
(01:18):
kind of a Hendrix's equivalent, you know in many ways.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Sure, sure he played ghost notes on the bass drum
without sacrificing intensity or energy. For those not familiar, what
is a ghost note and what made Bonhom so good
at that?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
A ghost note is just sort of the technical term,
as we say, for those kind of those sort of
half hits in between the main backbeats. So instead of
that like boom bo boom bop, the doing the boom,
it's that like that sort of echo. It's just as
they say, they call it the ghost because it's just
the sort of like tail. So any kind of like
(01:55):
as we say, like, that's one of those ways to
get that variance and intensity and then and in volume
really that drummers can use. And so a lot of
people can do that on their hands or with one hand,
and Bonham was really one of the first people to
do that with his bass drum foot And you can
hear that right off the top side one track one,
(02:18):
you know, on the led Zeppelin self titled album Good Times,
Bad Times. You can hear like his entrance when he
comes in with a funny little high hat thing and
then he does this like once Plant comes in, he
does these great little like triplet.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Almost like kind of movements on the bass.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Drum, and similar to what people how people reacted to Hendrix,
that's just one of those like people in the club
are going to look at that and just be like,
oh my god, who the hell is this guy? That's
just like a real uh, a real path breaking new
kind of way to blow people's minds with the drum set.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
In nineteen sixty eight, I remember.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Reading about out the song rock and Roll and bottom
intentionally messed with a little bit, so anybody that was
going to do any cover band that was going to
try to do it would have difficulty with it. And
that reminds me of the hal Blaine thing with like
where's he going with this at the start of the song, right,
you're not sure when he's going to come in when
hit the bass pedal?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Totally yes, so hard to It's so hard because I
believe what you're referring to is there's the great song
rock and roll starts with a drum intro, and from
the way he plays it, you like find yourself going like,
here comes the entrance of the.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Whole band, and you're always wrong.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
And I believe that's because he actually starts the fill
on beat two of a measure, so it's like it's
like an eight beat a two measure phrase, but he
starts in the two, so it only it's a seven.
It's like a seven beat fill instead of what you
would expect to be an eight beat film. Just an
example of that. Yeah, And I think he was conscious
(04:00):
from the start that, like he had the kind of
style that people were going to be kind of mesmerized by.
And I don't think he was in any way worried
about people nicking his moves or anything like that, but
I can definitely imagine him being like, oh, I'll make
it harder in a.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Playful sort of way to ape my style. Yeah,
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