The songs John Bonham wrote for Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin established a remarkable legacy as one of the most successful bands of all time. Throughout their 12 years in the sun, the band rarely released a misfire and continued to challenge themselves, even as the world moved on from the classic rock era with the advent of punk. A fascinating aspect of their tale is that each member brought something essential to the fold, meaning that after the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones knew it was the end of the road.
“When we lost John, we agreed unanimously that that was that,” frontman frontman Plant explained shortly after Bonham’s passing. “I had to go and find out if I really want to do it. Did I want to do it, or did I just want to sit back there like a croupier at a gambling thing, and just kind of rake [the money] in. Or, did I want to actually continue this kind of gig of finding out where I’m going. I wanted to take all the trappings away, because I’d lost my best mate.”
While Plant had lost his best friend, whom he had shared many hijinks on the road with before the days of Led Zeppelin, the group were also without a necessary piece of the puzzle. It says all about the nature of Led Zep that if any of the other members had befallen the same fate as their rhythmic mastermind, they would also have ceased to exist. It simply would not have been the same or worked in the way that it did without each of them.
Of course, it helped that each member was a master of their respective areas, particularly for Bonham. Apart from early big band pioneers Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich – the former whom Bonham described as “God” – and the man who first fused scintillating jazz technique with rock ‘n’ roll, Ginger Baker, the late Led Zeppelin maestro is the most influential figure to have ever picked up the sticks. Whether it be ‘Moby Dick’, ‘Bonzo’s Montreux’, ‘Black Dog’ or ‘Four Sticks’, his talent is undoubted. Although these tracks were recorded decades ago in an era far removed from our own, their timeless essence speaks to Bonham’s rare, elemental power.
Not only did Bonham bring a lot to the band as the facilitator of their dynamism and increasingly expansive sound, but contrary to popular belief, he was also crucial to the songwriting process. Whilst it might have been Jimmy Page who led most of the group’s creative direction, the bearded Bonham was also credited as a songwriter on 24 tracks by the quartet, ranging from pop culture classics to fan favourites.
Inverting the traditional understanding of a drummer, Bonham went one step further and helped Led Zeppelin write a long list of some of their best tracks. This includes his flourishes ‘Bonzo’s Montreux’ and ‘Moby Dick’, as well as setlist staples ‘Communication Breakdown’ and ‘Kashmir’. Famously, ‘Bonzo’s Montreux’ first saw the light of day on the 1982 compilation Coda and was a solo composition. Clearly, he could do it all.
Check out the full list below.
The songs John Bonham wrote for Led Zeppelin:
- ‘Bonzo’s Montreux’
- ‘Boogie With Stu’
- ‘Communication Breakdown’
- ‘The Crunge’
- ‘D’yer Mak’er’
- ‘Darlene’
- ‘The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair’
- ‘Good Times Bad Times’
- ‘Heartbreaker’
- ‘Hey Hey What Can I Do’
- ‘How Many More Times’
- ‘In My Time of Dying’
- ‘Kashmir’
- ‘The Lemon Song’
- ‘Moby Dick’
- ‘The Ocean’
- ‘Out on the Tiles’
- ‘Rock and Roll’
- ‘Sunshine Woman’
- ‘When the Levee Breaks’
- ‘Whole Lotta Love’
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