Why Led Zeppelin Drummer John Bonham Was Pissed Off By The Rolling Stones in 1972
John Bonham was hard to miss. His aggressive drumming gave Led Zeppelin a powerful quality that was impossible to match. He and Jimmy Page had plans to craft a heavier Zep album at the dawn of the 1980s before the drummer’s death scuttled them. Bonzo played ferociously, and he had an attitude to match. Bonham was pissed off by The Rolling Stones in 1972 and didn’t hide his feelings, which wasn’t unusual for the drummer.
John Bonham understood Led Zeppelin’s massive popularity with fans
Page formed Led Zeppelin in the fall of 1968, the debut album hit shelves in early 1969 (the follow-up dropped by the end of the year), and the band toured Europe and North America extensively before 1970 rolled in.
The band’s fans instantly lapped up the music.
Led Zeppelin rose to prominence just as The Beatles faded. By 1970, they supplanted the Fab Four as England’s most popular band. Bonham understood Zeppelin’s popularity stemmed from meeting the musical demands of a new generation of music fans.
Led Zeppelin took flight soon after they formed, and their fans loved them. Still, Bonham was pissed off by the Rolling Stones in 1972 when he felt they unfairly took center stage over his band.
Bonham was pissed off by the Rolling Stones press coverage in 1972
Led Zeppelin was riding high in 1972. Led Zeppelin IV, which came out in November 1971, was an immediate success. It achieved Recording Industry Association of America gold status (500,000 units sold) in less than 10 days. Only a strange confluence of album releases kept IV from hitting No. 1 on the Billboard charts. The band’s North American tour in the summer of 1972 should have been a celebration of the band’s accomplishments.
Bonham was pissed off that the Rolling Stones ruined it all.
The Stones, fresh off releasing Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. roughly a year apart, crossed the country at the same time. They stole Led Zeppelin’s spotlight, and it pissed off Bonham, writes George Case in Led Zeppelin FAQ:
“All we read was Stones this and Stones that, and it pissed us off. Here we are flogging our guts out, and for all the notice being given to us, we might as well be playing in bloody Ceylon.”
John Bonham on why the Rolling Stones pissed him off
Having a heralded album in stores and a well-earned reputation for epic live shows couldn’t save Bonham and Led Zeppelin from being overshadowed by the Stones. Bonham was pissed off, but Zep eventually had the last laugh. They broke The Beatles’ record for concert attendance at a 1973 show in Tampa.
Bonzo never shied away from expressing his opinion, and not just about the Stones
Bonham was pissed off by all the Rolling Stones coverage during Zep’s 1972 tour. It wasn’t the first or last time he openly aired his grievances.
While recording “Stairway to Heaven,” the Led Zeppelin IV centerpiece, Bonham called out Page for continuously pushing him for new takes. In the end, he admitted Page was right to press him. Bonzo probably never admitted to liking punk rock. Bonham drunkenly taunted The Damned for playing a short set in 1977.
The drummer didn’t channel all his ill will outward, though. The reggae-like “D’yer Mak’er” from Houses of the Holy received Bonham’s disapproval. He hated the song and didn’t really try to play a proper reggae beat.
He called out himself, his bandmates, and an emerging punk band in the 1970s. Yet John Bonham was deeply pissed off at the Rolling Stones for stealing Led Zeppelin’s thunder in 1972.
For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s YouTube channel.
