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Topic ClosedDo you think John Bonham is overrated?

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Sasquamo View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Do you think John Bonham is overrated?
    Posted: October 19 2006 at 16:44
Seriously, I think John Bonham is a wildly overrated drummer.  I really don't think he's that great. 
Anyway, this is the main reason I don't like John Bonham's drumming: I think it's boring.  He often plays the same simple beats over and over again with little or (more often) no variation.  He seems to use one of the most simple rock beats ever (1 and 3 on bass drum, 2 and 4 on snare, eighth notes on hi-hat) a lot in the music.  Also, he doesn't seem to care about the phrasing of the music.  At the end of phrases, he often just plays time, when the music screams for a fill to fill in the empty space.  He doesn't play many fills at all.  I also find that his fills are often boring, which isn't helped when he plays the exact same fill again in the song.  When I listen to him drumming I often get the impression that he his playing off of a chart.
 
Does anyone agree? 

Edited by Sasquamo - October 20 2006 at 16:11
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andu View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 16:48
No.
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erik neuteboom View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 16:48
Since you mentioned to make it a personal vendetta to keep Led Zep out of Prog Archives I don't take you serious. What's next: Jimmy Page is an average guitar player ...?

Edited by erik neuteboom - October 19 2006 at 16:49
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 16:50
Originally posted by Sasquamo Sasquamo wrote:

Seriously, I think John Bonham is a wildly overrated drummer.  I really don't think he's that great.  Does anyone agree?  I don't feel like listing all of my aruguments against him until I see some real opposition.
 
   Overrated?! NO way. He is one of my favourite drummers, listen to any live albums - BBC Sessions, The Song Remains the Same and obviously to all ZEP albums. WILDLY overrated?!Confused boy you've got me confused!


Edited by Cristi - October 19 2006 at 16:59
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 16:51
He's perfect for the band he was in and has an amazing powerful sound that I really dig.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 16:54
I would say that he was good, but IMHO there were a lot of better rock drummers in the seventies.
Ian Paice, Brian Downey and Cozy Powell spring to mind.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 16:56
He's definitely overrated. He sure was good, but there are many far superior drummers.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 17:09
Originally posted by Sasquamo Sasquamo wrote:

Seriously, I think John Bonham is a wildly overrated drummer.  I really don't think he's that great.  Does anyone agree?  I don't feel like listing all of my aruguments against him until I see some real opposition.


You start a thread saying a (mostly) beloved drummer is widly overrated and can't be bothered to say why???
    


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 17:11
Originally posted by TheProgtologist TheProgtologist wrote:

You start a thread saying a (mostly) beloved drummer is widly overrated and can't be bothered to say why???


Now that he can see some opposition, he will probably answer.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 17:11
I think this thread is a waste of time.  I don't feel like saying why.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 18:04
He's not the most technically gifted (Ian Paice is far better) but he just has a sound that nobody else has ever matched. Just listen to "When The Levee Breaks" or "In My Time of Dying" - and the two mighty tom tom hits at the end of "Custard Pie". Awesome.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 18:05
Originally posted by erik neuteboom erik neuteboom wrote:

Since you mentioned to make it a personal vendetta to keep Led Zep out of Prog Archives I don't take you serious. What's next: Jimmy Page is an average guitar player ...?

He was terribly sloppy live.Wink
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 18:11
Originally posted by erik neuteboom erik neuteboom wrote:

Since you mentioned to make it a personal vendetta to keep Led Zep out of Prog Archives I don't take you serious. What's next: Jimmy Page is an average guitar player ...?
 
That was a joke.  It didn't sound serious to me when I wrote it.


Edited by Sasquamo - October 20 2006 at 16:12
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erik neuteboom View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 18:22
OK and now for something completely different, being serious...no jokes Wink
 
If you listen to the excellent two DVD by Led Zeppelin, especially DVD2, you can notice how both powerful as inventive John Bonham drums, the interplay with the other musicians is great and his drum work features lots of variation. In my opinion he has a very unique style and he is one of the great drummers of all times, not the best but still at a very high level. And he is not overrated, not in the press!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 18:25
Originally posted by erik neuteboom erik neuteboom wrote:

Since you mentioned to make it a personal vendetta to keep Led Zep out of Prog Archives I don't take you serious. What's next: Jimmy Page is an average guitar player ...?


jimmy page is an average guitar player, and far below average in comparison to what I listen to mostly.

has a few great songs he wrote and a myriad of average songs, combined with the fact that as Cygnus said, he was compeltely awful live

As for bonham, no, he's not great like Buddy Rich or anything, but hes far better than Ringo Starr, who i've never liked and always thought he detracted from The Beatles sound
back from the dead, i will begin posting reviews again and musing through the forums
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erik neuteboom View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 18:31
This thread prooves that discussing musicians is a matter of taste and very subjective because for me Jimmy Page is a guitar god, from his great electric work on the Danelectro guitar and the Gibson Les Paul and Gibson twin-neck to the excellent acoustic workon his Martin guitar like Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, awesome Thumbs Up But I agree that his live performances were a bit sloppy, especially when he was numbed by drugs and alcohol Unhappy
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 18:35
Dead "Overrated" is a dumb, irritating, over-used word -- and I don't have to tell you why.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 18:42
Originally posted by Peter Rideout Peter Rideout wrote:

[IMG]height=17 alt=Dead src="http://www.progarchives.com/forum/smileys/smiley11.gif" width=17 align=absMiddle> "Overrated" is a dumb, irritating, over-used word -- and I don't have to tell you why.


explanations are over-rated....
    
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 18:46
overrating is overrated...

I agree with the author. Must say that. He was good with John-Paul Jones, alone, don't know, didn't live back then, but what I've heard, I wouldn't ask for much more.

People tend to blindly think the band the like the most has the best players. Well, THe fact is that a studio musician is often better than someone in a band even though his job is to play beat through the whole song. That's a skill too. In fact some find it harder to play the same all the time than keep up variating. The reason why I dislike Mike Portnoy for instance.

About Jimmy Page. He sure wasn't the best, but boy could he make awesome riffs. That he could do, can even...
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 19 2006 at 19:00
Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:

He's not the most technically gifted (Ian Paice is far better) but he just has a sound that nobody else has ever matched. Just listen to "When The Levee Breaks" or "In My Time of Dying" - and the two mighty tom tom hits at the end of "Custard Pie". Awesome.


ClapStar

In My Time of Dying is probably my favourite Led Zep track. To me it encapsulates in it's epic length the true definition of the word 'band'. It also happens to be my favourite slice of Bonzo.

With Bonham, it is not just the great fills and 'late' beats, but also the ...timing, the gaps he leaves, what he doesn't play.
Robert  Plant described him as a 'thrifty drummer' and I have to agree.

He was no Peart, Herb or Carey, but that does not make him any worse for it. He was in a band which was full of chemistry and somehow was worth more than the sum of its parts (and pretty mighty parts the 4 of them were).


Edited by enigma - October 19 2006 at 19:03
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