Transcription
Led Zeppelin's legendary drummer John Bonham passed away from pulmonary aspiration on September 25, 1980, after a daylong bout of binge drinking. Despite his reputation as a wild man, the rock star's final days were full of anxiety, depression, and uncertainty that ultimately proved too much for him to bear. Today, we're going to take a look at everything that happened on the last day of John Bonham's life. But before we do that, be sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel and let us know in the comments below what significant moment in pop music history you want to know more about. Now, time to get the lead out.
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John Bonham's last day began early on Wednesday, September 24, 1980, at Old Hyde Farm in Worcestershire, England, about 30 miles outside of Birmingham. Bonham bought the isolated 100-acre working farm in 1972. By then, he could have bought the biggest castle in the UK. Led Zeppelin had released three landmark multiplatinum number one albums and amassed more money than anyone could spend. Probably, if it were a Brewster's Millions situation, we'd find a way. John moved into Old Hyde with his wife Pat and his two children, Zoe and Jason, who were 1 and 13 at the time. And the rural sprawl of land filled with horses, livestock, and his vintage car and motorcycle collection became his version of heaven. That morning, about 18 hours before the end of his life, Bonham was helping his father Jack move boxes and furniture into one of the farm's spare cottages. Led Zeppelin had just released *In Through the Out Door* five weeks earlier to strong sales, which meant they'd be soon leaving England to promote the album. Bonham was insistent on getting his father moved into Old Hyde before he left for the rapidly approaching tour. The last thing you want to worry about on your international arena rock tour is whether your dad can figure out the WiFi.
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Sometime around noon, Bonham's personal assistant, Rex King, arrived at Old Hyde. King had orders to drive Bonham to Zeppelin's first rehearsal for the band's recently booked two North American concerts. But Bonham had other ideas. Though King says that Bonham was upbeat when he picked him up that morning, the thought of the lengthy upcoming overseas North American tour was weighing on him. It meant he'd be far away from his family for months. Bonham wasn't the only member of Zeppelin that didn't want to go to North America. Singer Robert Plant didn't want to travel overseas either. He actually had to be tricked into agreeing to the tour, like B.A. Baracus on *The A-Team*. The group's manager, Peter Grant, told Plant the tour would only last for two weeks, when in reality he'd booked a month of gigs. And while Plant was wary of this upcoming North American tour, Bonham was absolutely terrified by it. The thought of being away from his family and his farm was filling the emotionally fragile drummer with anxiety. Unfortunately, the only way Bonham knew how to numb the mental anguish caused by being away from his family was to self-medicate with drugs, booze, and groupies. But when he became Bonzo, it was usually all three at once, which is probably why Bonham insisted that King pull the car over at the next pub instead of driving straight to rehearsals at Bray Studios, about 100 miles away in Windsor, England. Once in the pub, Bonham prepared for that day's rehearsal by drinking four quadruple screwdrivers within a half hour. If you're doing the math, that converts to approximately 1 and 1/3 of a shot of vodka every minute, or entirely too much hooch for one human man. When King reminded Bonham that the reason for the pit stop was because he said he was hungry, he sarcastically took a bite of a nearby ham sandwich to rebuff his concerned assistant.
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Bonham finally stumbled into Bray Studios well into the afternoon. Bassist John Paul Jones recalls Bonham being completely wasted, shuffling around and taking long draws of vodka straight out of the bottle. Eventually, Bonham made his way to his drum kit, and the group waited for him to count them into their first song of the day. According to onlookers, Bonham kept falling off his stool several seconds into each attempt. After Bonham's third or fourth tumble, Plant calmly announced to Jones and Jimmy Page, "Let's call it a day and sort it out tomorrow." That is Zeppelin code for, "Our drummer is too hammered to hammer." The band agreed to cut the rehearsal short, let Bonham dry out, and to give it another go the following day. Page's assistant, Rick Hobbs, drove Page and Bonham to Old Mill House, the guitarist's new mansion he just bought from actor Michael Caine. And before you ask, sadly, Michael Caine does not feature anymore in this particular story. At that time, he was presumably busy filming *The Hand*.
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When they got to the house, Bonham reportedly drank three more double vodkas and launched into an erratic diatribe about how much he hated that the upcoming North American tour was going to keep him away from his family. After several hours of hysterics, he finally passed out on the sofa sometime around midnight. Hobbs led him up a spiral staircase and into one of the mansion's spare bedrooms, where he positioned the drummer on his side and propped up his body in place with pillows. That would be the last time anyone would see John Bonham alive.
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Bonham had always been a boozer, so this latest vodka-fueled blackout wasn't shocking to his bandmates. Passing out while he was on the clock was actually becoming a regular occurrence. And everyone in Zeppelin's organization just worked around it. Some of his wilder rockstar antics included riding his motorcycle through the Chateau Marmont lobby—which happened to be the same night Plant proclaimed himself a golden god on one of the hotel's balconies overlooking Sunset Boulevard—fishing for salmon while hanging out the window of a Seattle high-rise hotel, and getting in wild drinking contests with his mate Keith Moon during Zeppelin gigs in front of thousands of enthusiastic fans. But on January 19, 1975, five years before his untimely passing, something inside Bonham broke. It happened the morning after the first concert of Zeppelin's 1975 North American tour, the band's first tour anywhere in 2 and 1/2 years. While Bonham was nursing a hangover in his Chicago hotel suite while mentally preparing for the tour's second gig later that night, he saw the February 1975 issue of *Playboy* had named Karen Carpenter the best rock drummer of the year. Hey, he actually did buy it for the articles. Bonham had received a special round of boos and jeers from the Minneapolis audience during the concert the night before, after a subpar performance of his signature "Moby Dick" solo. When Bonham was in good health, the "Moby Dick" solo, arguably the peak of every Zeppelin gig, could last up to a half an hour. However, Bonham had gained a lot of weight and had very little stamina after Zeppelin's 2 and 1/2 year sabbatical from the road. So when Bonham discovered that Carpenter won a drummer poll over him, he went ballistic, destroying everything in his hotel suite. Any other time, he might have laughed the poll off, but he knew he wasn't playing at the top of his game. He was slow and overweight and had even recently instructed his drum tech to simplify his kit to help him sound louder and play with more ease. Being Led Zeppelin's drummer started becoming a difficult chore. And the fact that the fans and critics were beginning to notice it too was devastating. Bonham's confidence was already at an all-time low. But the seemingly minor *Playboy* poll pushed him over the edge. Sadly, from that day on it seemed as though he never regained his drive and passion. Ironically, when she was asked on an American talk show about how she felt about being named the best rock drummer of the year, Carpenter was thankful for the honor but noted that she was a fan of Bonham's and was concerned that he might be upset, saying, "I hope he's not mad at me. I had nothing to do with the poll." But he said that I couldn't last 10 minutes with Led Zeppelin. Tragically, Carpenter herself was all too familiar with the pressures of being a rock star. That's a story for another time.
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On September 24, at approximately 1:45 PM, tour manager Benji LeFevre picked up Plant and Jones from the Blake Hotel and drove the pair back to Bray Studios, about a 10-minute trip. Since they'd be driving by Page's place anyway, the three decided it would be a good idea to pop in and make sure Bonham and Page were awake and ready for rehearsals. Although it was way past noon, Plant figured Bonham and Page would need to be roused out of bed, assuming they had been up all night, tying one on. Considering Bonham's state the previous day, this was a pretty safe bet. And as the three let themselves into Old Mill House, they were surprised to see that Page was already up and about. But there was no sign of Bonzo. Page said he hadn't seen him all day, but said that the drummer should still be in the bedroom by the top of the stairs. LeFevre headed up the spiral staircase, followed immediately by Jones. Plant stayed downstairs and chatted with Page. LeFevre then tiptoed into the spare bedroom with Jones behind him, calling out for Bonham. LeFevre shook Bonham a few times, then tried again more forcefully. Then LeFevre turned the drummer over and saw that his face was pale and blue. He and Jones immediately checked Bonham's vitals, but Bonzo had no pulse and was cold to the touch. It was obvious he was gone. LeFevre and Jones just looked at each other, speechless. John Bonham had passed away at 32. As LeFevre was still hunched over Bonham, a stunned Jones stepped out of the bedroom and walked down the spiral staircase. As he wandered around the house, looking for Plant and Page, Jones recalls that he eventually found them having a smoke on the back patio and even doubled over in laughter over a story one of them was in the middle of telling. Jones recalled the surreal feeling of interrupting the pleasant moment Plant and Page were sharing when he told them that he and LeFevre had just found Bonham's lifeless body. Plant immediately headed towards the house, but LeFevre stopped him at the stairs. He didn't want Plant to see his friend in such an unsettling state. Instead, it was suggested that Plant and his wife Maureen head over to Old Hyde and break the news to Bonham's wife before the news hit the airwaves. Plant agreed, wanting to support Bonham's wife the same way Bonham had been there for him when his five-year-old son suddenly succumbed to a stomach virus three years earlier. Plant later shared details of the last conversation he had with Bonham the day before, during the car ride to rehearsals. Bonham, already about eight hours into his vodka spree, was telling Plant how unhappy he was and how he didn't want to be the drummer for Led Zeppelin anymore. "I've had it with playing drums," he'd said. "Everybody plays better than me. I'll tell you what, when we get to the rehearsal, you play the drums, and I'll sing."
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After 12 years of being Led Zeppelin's drummer, John Bonham's demons became too much for him to bear. On December 4, 1980, a little over two months after Bonham's passing, the band's record label finally released an official statement addressing the band's uncertain future. "We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were." While Plant, Page, and Jones have reunited several times since 1980, with Bonham's son Jason filling in behind the kit, Led Zeppelin ended when John Bonham did. But thanks to the band's classic material and his genre-changing heavy-hitting style, Bonzo will always be considered one of the best rock drummers in history. And hey, maybe he could have sang a few Zeppelin tunes. They let Ringo sing every once in a while. So what do you think? What's your favorite Led Zeppelin song? Let us know in the comments below. And while you're at it, check out some of these other videos from our Weird History.