John Bonham passed away 37 years ago today

I remember learning of his death the next day at school. I can't believe It's been 37 years.

 

A giant loss. Does anyone know if any of the other band members tried to get him help for his drinking problem?

 

And at only 32 years of age, what a shame!

 

I remember calling WNEW-FM to ask if it was true. I called up and said is it true about John Bonham and the guy said yes. That kind of shows how long ago it was, that that was the only way I could think to check. Now you'd just google but back then the big rock radio stations were the people that knew. If they say it's true then it's true.

 

He was a beast on the drums. It amazes me that so many alcoholics/drug addicts are able to perform so well. Especially on drums, which requires precise timing and stamina.

His son has carried on his legacy, but Bonzo is missed.

 

I don't know, but Jimmy Page was struggling with addiction around the same time.

 

he was a lush and took it too far.
like so many others...Bon Scott etc.....youth and a sense of immortality.

 

I was too young at the time to know, but was it a huge news story in the US when he died? Was it on the scale of Elvis or Lennon in terms of news coverage?

 

Of course not.
He wasn't nearly as famous as Elvis or John Lennon.

But it was huge news, and received international headlines, A member of Led Zeppelin had unexpectedly died.
And John Bonham was widely considered one of the best drummers in rock at that time.

 

Best for someone in the UK to answer as Lennon and Elvis both died stateside, so we saw a lot of coverage of flowers being left outside of Graceland and the Dakota. That kind of coverage would have only likely been shown in the UK. CNN didn't exist and world-wide broadcasting was more limited.

 

Bonn Scott died earlier the same year, and I remember seeing a blurb on the nightly news.

 

Bonzo is missed.

 

Still missed. Simply the best.

 

No, but Led Zeppelin were huge at that time. So that's why I asked. This wasn't just some obscure band we're talking about.

 

Simply the best drummer.

 

Dec 4 1980 the band releases a statement that Zeppelin was over and 4 days later Lennon is dead. Quite a depressing year.

 

This was pre -rehab.
I was around many people who turned blue and or checked out back then.
Lucky to be here myself.

Tim

 

Bonzo was so obviously irreplaceable. The news following that LZ was over made sense but really was so sad.

 

Indeed.
I was 17 and it was one hell of a shock I can tell you that.
Followed by a depressing realization that not only was Led Zeppelin done....but anyone could see that it was the end of an era,the magic of the 70's stadium rock juggernauts was also over.
Lennon dying just days later shook our world and confirmed it was the end of the dream.

 

I heard about it at school; my senior year high school.

Tickets were on sale, or going on sale soon, for their tour stop in Chicago, and I had just convinced a long-pursued young lady to go to the concert with me. Oh, well.

 

I just remembered another thing about this day. I was in 8th grade when this happened and it was at the end of the school day when we first heard the rumors. We were outside by the buses and my friend decided to try to lower the flag outside to half staff, but it either wouldn't work or someone stopped him. I can't remember exactly but I do remember that he then got so frustrated that he threw a garbage can and got in trouble.

Bonham dying was so sad but I have to say that memory made me smile because it reminds me of how we just lived for rock at that time. Our favorite bands meant everything. Zeppelin were the kings and we were too young to have seen them, so the then-upcoming US tour was a really huge deal. We were super excited and then Bonzo died and it was devastating.

And it's also a sad memory because that friend ended up dying pretty young himself...but that's another story.

 

And next year it will be 38.

 

What could've been...

The tour was supposed to start here in Montreal on October 17th 1980

Bonzo..the Greatest ever.

 

They were very different days to now: John Paul Jones has said it wasn't the thing back then to comment on someone's personal proclivities, although we do know that both Jones and Robert Plant were pretty tired of Bonham and Jimmy Page's chemical dalliances by that point, Plant even tried to lay down some ground rules for the 1980 European tour - lay off the drugs, in other words - but Bonzo replied with "don't be so f***king stupid... no gear (drugs), no show"... and on it went until someone died. It was sad but sadly inevitable at that point.

It may sound a little callous (forgive me if it does), but if Bonzo's fate was to quite literally drink himself to death, I kind of wish he'd done it on the planned North American tour as I'd love to have seen what they would have done... apparently they were going to play 'Carouselambra' live, that would have been really interesting to have heard, alas... although it was probably better for his family that he didn't pass away overseas as Plant and his wife were able to tell Pat Bonham the devastating news in person and be there for her. What a truly terrible day that must have been for all concerned...

 

I was in college in Boston at the time, and they were my favorite band. I was looking forward to seeing them on the upcoming tour. "The day, the music died..."