“The most stunning thing”: Jimmy Page on the drum performance he called superhuman
For a handful of artists, rock and roll means more than just writing the best tune they could conceive. It was also about trying to leave all of the blood, sweat, and tears on the master tape whenever they performed, and as the progressive rock movement came in, it felt like rock and roll had become as much an endurance test for musicians as it was about making good songs. Although Led Zeppelin had their progressive tendencies, Jimmy Page thought John Bonham’s performance on ‘Good Times Bad Times’ couldn’t have possibly been conceived by human hands.
When Zeppelin first started, though, there were still some questions as to whether they would even work out. Although Page had been known from The Yardbirds, the idea of one of the first real supergroups of musicians coming together meant they would either take off like a rocket ship or sink without a trace from the moment they started.
It’s not like Page didn’t have much to live up to, either. Both Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck had carved out their niches as soon as they left The Yardbirds, and since ‘Slowhand’ already had his own supergroup Cream around the same time, Page would need to make something equally as powerful without looking like he was copying Clapton’s schtick.
But if Ginger Baker was born and bred in the jazz tradition, Bonham came from the school of ‘demolish the kit and ask questions later’. Throughout every piece of Zeppelin’s discography, Bonham was the unstoppable force behind everything, whether that be dragging slightly behind the beat on some songs or sounding like the musical equivalent of a thunderstorm when he started playing with his hands on ‘Moby Dick’.
And it’s not like that magic was at the ready from the first record, either. ‘Good Times Bad Times’ had to make the best impression possible, and while the cowbell and hi-hat already build anticipation, it’s the kick drum that really sets everything apart, especially during the few breaks where Bonham sounds like he’s falling down the stairs in the background.
You also have to remember that this was the days before double-kick drums were the norm, and given what the new school is doing now, Page still thought that what Bonham did was near impossible, saying, “The most stunning thing about the track, of course, is Bonzo’s amazing kick drum. It’s superhuman when you realize he was not playing with a double kick. That’s one kick drum!! That’s when people started understanding what he was all about.”
But for as fast as Bonham could play, Page could match him and even surpass him behind the fretboard. Looking back on their live performances, the impromptu solos on ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ sound like a man possessed, especially when looking at the footage where his hand seems to be going faster than the camera can pick up.
Other bands like Motörhead would help introduce the world to the power of double bass, but the fact that Bonham could do with one kick drum what most needed two to do is more than just the work of a pro. This was the musical counterpart to an Olympian’s strength, and the more that he played on every single record, the more people began to realise that Bonham needed to be studied by anyone looking to make their band jump.
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