John BONHAM's UNSTOPPABLE Drum Intro "Why It's The GREATEST Ever Made?"
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- čas přidán 7. 04. 2024
- In this video, we're diving into the world of rock and exploring what many consider to be the greatest drum intro of all time. We're talking about Led Zeppelin's iconic track, "When the Levee Breaks."
Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" stands as a testament to the timeless power of John Bonham's drumming. His legendary drum intro has influenced countless drummers and continues to captivate listeners to this day. It's a masterclass in rhythm, dynamics, and sheer musicality.
#rockandroll #rocklegends #ledzeppelin #progressiverock - Hudba
Remembering some things John said:
“I really like to yell when I play. I yell like a bear to give a boost. I like our show to be like a thunderstorm”
“I never had drum lessons. I just played the way I wanted and got blacklisted in Birmingham”
“If you play technically, you sound like everybody else. It’s being original that counts”
“We had a mutual respect when we both realised we knew what we were doing. I listened to his bass drum foot and he listened to what I was doing. It was one of those rhythm-section marriages…” (John Paul Jones)
There is one thing missing from this story, the mention of the Binson Echo device that was used, a huge part of the effect
and Andy Johns
I just watched the Rick Beato video on that exact subject of this song, the drumming, and that device about an hour ago!🙂 In fact Rick reconstructed the drum set up as it was done at Headly Grange and played the opening without the device than with the device. day and night difference.
It might have a "huge" part of the effect. But the immaculate, slo-mo rocking groove - which is what actually makes this so fantastic - is all Bonham. I'm not sure why unexceptional people always want to "know better" and try to pull the mighty down.....
OK, so what's your point? Do you think the intro to Voodoo Child would work as effectively without a wah-wah pedal?? Bonham is not the only drummer with access to an echoplex 'ya know......
Thank you!
With Bonzo it wasn't just some of the things he played it was (everything) he played. He was..and is..untouchable.
There was just something unique to him that made everything sound better. I made a post above where I hung out with Eddie Kramer in the early 90’s and we talked about them for several hours over drinks, and he told me everything about them. Was an amazing experience. He was shocked I recognized him since he wasn’t a public figure. Super friendly nice guy.
His genius was also in what he DIDN'T play.
Tony Williams or Billy Cobham vastly SUPERIOR to fat boy bonham.
Greatest Band Ever !!!!
The drum intro of When The Levee Breaks is captivating
Totally agree 👍
Absolutely 💯 the BEST LED ZEPPELIN
Have to agree!
Couldn’t agree more. When I say that Beatles fans freak out. Far away the better music, better singer, better musicians, etc. IMO
One great example of a drummer effectively providing dramatic space. Not every second has to be filled with sound.
As a drummer, "levee" and "kashmir" are some of my favorite songs to play. Even though I know about the echo effect in the recording of "levee", I still play it with the double because that's how my brain hears it.
I wish there were videos of Bonham playing the drums in Kashmir, especially the big drum rolls
John Bonham had a double bass for a vary little while Jimmy & Robert said it was too much Maple Ludwig glass kit Carmine Appice Had it ordered from Ludwig John Had a Premier at first
How it’s recorded is a major factor in how resonant it comes across. There is no substitute for natural echo combined with Bonhams unstoppable and unwavering attack and sense of time. ITS THE FEEL
Except it wasn't entirely natural echo.
@@jc3drums916 of course👍 but it was certainly the foundational sound in that great hall that they achieved. A master piece of sonic resonance
The first drumming that I heard that seemed to propel a song forward was by Charlie Watts drumming on "Satisfaction". He never got the credit he deserved.
Best drummer on the planet…Still!
We miss you, Bonzo! 🥁🙌💕
Neh, Ricki Rocket is the greatest drummer ever. No contest!!!!!!!!
Thanks incredible story, of one of the best drummers of all time , Led Zeppelin the best band of planet
Indeed They Are.❤❤❤
4 legends, all admired and thought of as being some of the top players in each bracket
Plants vocals that developed over the years of the band, Page, Bonham, Jones all top guys and then the magic ingredient that made them all gell together so the sum of the parts is even greater.
What about Meytal Cohen?
When the Levee Breaks is definitely a force of nature that can’t be held back… kind of like Led Zeppelin themselves.
Like many Zep legends, this one needs a tiny bit of correction. While the Headly Grange acoustics contributed mightily to the drum sound (as Page says), there was also a small amount of tape/reverb delay added in. What sounds like rapid double pedal kicks are actually delay artifacts. Rick Beato covers this very thoroughly in one episode. It remains, nonetheless, one of the sonic masterpieces of percussion, one that just gets better and better and better over time.
Agreed, and while that natural echo is certainly the foundation of the recoding, you have to respect page’s minimalist approach to not over process the sound they achieved once they were in the studio. The use of the tape echo was genius in the way he achieved that effect!!! Remember this is the early 70s technology to 👍😎
@@ray8304 We had an old 'echoplex' tape echo. It was a lot of fun. Using it live was a hands on experience. It had a slider for the delay period, adjusting a physical gap between the two heads that the tape ran past. A foot pedal controlled the on/off function. I remember using it on stage for a Loverboy song called 'Jump'
I had the spots marked so that it was at least close to the same every time for different songs.
...and the amazing harmonica...But yeah, loved this.
I had this album on cassette that someone gave to me, I used to play it a bunch and was very familiar with "Levee", but one evening while l was listening to it, and I must've been in the right frame of mind, because it hit me just how powerful that intro was. I think it's my favorite intro of any LZ songs.
John Bonham is the GOAT on the drums. The greatest since Gene Crupa. Gene was great but I don’t believe he could hold a candle to Bonzo. And yes, I saw Led Zeppelin live in Cincinnati in 1977, the last time they toured the States. It was the Presence Tour.😉
No Quarter with Page and Plant was my only taste in '94. I'm not going to forget kashmir
Maybe you mean Gene Krupa.
I watched Buddy Rich actually cut Krupa on some old b/w television program footage. Also, Krupa was never the greatest drummer...., not while Sonny Payne was around playing for Count Basie. I don't even like Buddy Rich, but Gene Krupa was never technically on Rich's level, not to mention all of the other non white drummers between Krupa's era and the Bebop era....., no, I don't think so.
Fat boy bonham couldn’t hang with Tony Williams or Billy Cobham!
Buddy Rich, period.
I played a gig at a Naional Guard building. The echo in the building was amazing. While doing my drum sound checks I HAD to play When The Levee Breaks. It sounded awesome, and I wish I could have grooved on that for an hour.
First song I ever played on my first kit
Very good! But I still have to bring up Don Brewer with Grand Funk Railroad, TNUC for example
It wasn’t just where or the equipment that made this opening explode, Bonham’s powerful drumming, were the main ingredient. Someone else trying the same thing same setup, still wouldn’t sound as great. Bonham was & always will be the greatest drummer, no other band drummer, gets to really show their skills song after song etc. John (Bonzo) Bonham, you are missed more then you would know.
I think if the Band Of Gypsies Buddy Miles played that "Levee" Led Zep groove, it would be just as powerful and most likely even funkier.
The result of loving music.
GREATEST DRUMMER EVER... GREATEST BAND EVER... NOT EVEN CLOSE...
Bullshit. Plant can’t sing for shit, bonham is boring. Tony Williams or Billy Cobham vastly superior!
Buddy Rich
@@richardbulman8569 GREAT DUMMER.... BUT NOT IN THE LEAGUE OF THE GREATEST J. B....
@@richprokop5155 Bonham not in Rich's league. Go on tube and catch a vid of Rich. Any drummer will tell you he was thge best ever.
@@richardbulman8569 WRONG... ALL POLLS INCLUDING DRUMMERS HAVE BONHAM 1 OR 2... LOOK IT UP...
This is one I love to play. To try and duplicate the sound you hear, I like a little ghost note for the snare crack.
It doesn't matter to me if it's 'wrong'. Nobody but me is hearing it anyway. I haven't played out live for years.
Excellent video. Very informative
Thank you! Glad it was helpful!
Amazing!
The band was absolutely amazing, but John stood out for me the first time I heard Led Zeppelin. Back in 1974
Love this song and the music very much❤️
Love Good times so much. ❤️
"When The Levee Breaks" AND "Fool In The Rain" are peak John Bonham!
🤘🏻🥁🤘🏻
Great content.
He made the most out of the least...just brilliant
In my book the drum intro for "How Many More Times" is, BY FAR, the best of his drum intros to any Zeppelin song you'd care to mention.
This is one of my favorites the song has an eerie tribal sound to it.
Fun fact: "When the Levee Breaks" was never played live in concert. The signature drum sound could not be duplicated, which is why it was never performed live.
Another fun fact: yes they did play it live, January 12, 1975 at Forest National Brussels.
@@sicotshit7068 Thanks for the correction! I was given a book about them, and in the book which was printed in 1974 it stated that the song would be too hard to replicate so they chose not to do it live! 🤷♂🤷♂
@@watchluver actually I looked it up, they played it 5 times live, in January of (1975). The song only played live once was Four Sticks, it was hard for Bonham to play. Actually we got the song Rock & Roll, because Bonham was frustrated trying to play Four Sticks. He took a break from playing it, & started pounding out the beat of R&R, the band wrote & recorded it in about 30 minutes. Bonham then went back to playing Four Sticks, & got it in two takes.
I wasn’t trying to be a smart ass, I just had remembered it was played live. Sadly the live of Four Sticks is only audio, no visual, I’d have loved seeing him play it.
@@sicotshit7068 All good! thanks for the trivia! I seen them in 1975 at Olympia stadium in Detroit, It was actually my first concert! I've been a Led head ever since!
When Jimmy broke his finger tip , they played it live because the slide was easier to manage with 2.5 fingers ! True story too.
Saw them in the summer in 72 in Tucson
The drumming with his bare hands is honestly what I most clearly recall of that evening 😎
You forgot to mention the Binson Echorec, which was a huge part of that sound.
And as far as I know, they used close micing as well. It wasn’t just a set of mics at the top of the staircase.
Take a look at YOYOKA SOMA cover Bonham it's unbelievable skills in that young kid.
I’m a bit off-topic here but…some 50 mins. of clean 8mm footage just recently surfaced of a Zeppelin gig at Montreal Forum, ‘75. The audio from a bootleg recording has been properly synched up and if anything else, we get to see a solid 5min of Moby Dick here. It’s so good to John at his prime in this footage.
Stop interrupting the music!
I was a drummer in a band in the 70's and I styled my drumming from Ginger Baker and Don Brewer.
And that is relevant how?
Absolutely, MAGICAL ARTIST, complete, rip MASTER
When the fan named Led Zeppelin IV came out it was bad azz.
Very interesting I loved it except that flashing camera is f***ing annoying!
Ruined it for me I covered the screen and just listened. Great story. Also the unwanted crappy sub titles.
I ve always loved the opening to Rock n Roll, the bashing of the cymbals then the rest of the band start.
Bonham didn't set up the drums, he was at lunch and the road crew set up his new kit there. He came back and Jimmy said, we have to mic it and the rest is history. Since you won't look up the proof, skineyemin, here it is from Mr. Pages mouth. czcams.com/video/KWI9bMe7gHE/video.html You can skip to 30 seconds in if you want.
If there was a "road crew", that would mean they must of played a few shows before they recorded, at least they all at least had a brief discussion about how the set was going to assembled in the studio. Stop it.
@@skineyemin4276 I am afraid you are wrong. You shouldn't call someone a liar without doing your research. As said by Mr Page himself at the 33 second mark czcams.com/video/KWI9bMe7gHE/video.html
@@skineyemin4276 czcams.com/video/KWI9bMe7gHE/video.html
@@skineyemin4276 Why should I "stop it"? This is from Jimmy Pages mouth. czcams.com/video/KWI9bMe7gHE/video.html. 30 second mark
Bill Bruford retired 15 years ago, and he can play it.
There’s a reason Bonzo still tops best drummer polls despite dying over 40 years ago. Another one of my favourite grooves is Kashmir.
Fat boy bonham is a bottom. Doesn’t top anyone.
Some of bohnam s best genius, is when and where he chose to not play , it gets overlooked, but those moments take discipline and an insight beyond ego , but using silence as a musical weapon
millions of car speakers in the 70s blown by the raw bass he provided. On the radio go from cranking the Stones to Led Zep and you'd have to either turn down the volume or cut back on the bass before they blow. Hardest loudest and best drummer ever. No disrespect Leon Helm or Keith moon he just is.
Testosterone and deep musical listening. That's the real magic behind the entire band. No whinny cute boys in shiny outfits.
It had echo applied to brilliant effect.
Anything Bonzo did ,especially live was on another level. For me though as a former drummer, studio version of In my time of dying was Olympic levels of drumming.I was never a fan of his boy Jason's drumming with LZ. he has a different feel. he used a double bass pedal and was more tight and technical in a more modern style .I did like his playing with Foreigner and UFO though .I have always said in a hypothetical situation Heart's 70s druummer Mike Derosier was much closer to Bonzo .
Just listen to something like Mitral Wind live from that line up and you'll see what I mean. xoxo
Classic.
As a drummer; one of Bonzo's easy beats...Out on the Tiles, In my time of Dying, The Crunge THOSE are Bonzo masterpieces.
The levee,one of my favourite songs ,powefull pure 💪💪👏👏😀
Well, I missed a lot of it due to the epileptic fit I had cause by the annoying flashing and twinkly lights.
Actually, I just turned it off. I already know John was the best!!
The absolute best band bar none!
Best Led Zeppelin song….period.
I’m recovering from an epileptic fit with all the flashing
Oh, you should have seen them in concert. I miss the 70's when there was no auto tune and concerts were 5 to 7 dollars.
Drums in Kashmir were pretty good, too
Great Drummer all times
Ok Check This Out…Yes This is a Heavy Hitter among Everything Else he Played(They Played)…But…an Album came out Wayyy Later…After John Died(I Think)…Coda !…I Bought the Album…can you Believe I Barely Listened to It !!…I Was So Fascinated with the Other Heavy Hitter Albums & Songs that I Never Really Listened to Coda…which are Songs that Zep had that were Leftover’s so to speak…Songs they Didn’t put into Previous Albums….So One Day (2008-9-10)somewhere at that time…I heard Wearing & Tearing….O M Fkn God…I Couldn’t Believe that I had the Coda album since it was First Released….& Never Played the Album All the way thru to Hear This Song !!….Now Wearing & Tearing does to Me what This Video is about ….along Side Levee…just Pure Amazing Stuff !!…I remember when I First heard Wearing…I Played it Over & Over for Days….I played it to All my Musician Friend’s whom Never Heard it Either ….they were Blown away also…to Me …John is Not the Best Ever tho…He is Definitely an All Time Favorite…but as I Grew Up….Listening to Other Bands,I found Many Drummers Just as Good as John….there Is No Better Drummer…That DOESNT Exist in My opinion…just Amazing Great Drummers…John Sure Chiseled his name in the History Book for Sure🦾🔥
2:02 "Legend has it..." The Headley Grange part is not the legend. The legend is that the staircase (only three stories) was tall enough to create the slapback delay of almost 1/4 second. In audio, that's a lot. In fact, the staircase would have to be 12 stories (120 feet) tall and have a perfectly reflecting dome at the top. The delay was created by a tape loop machine, the Bison EchoRec, which Page explains in other interviews. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Levee_Breaks#Recording
The staircase created the multi-dimensional reverberation that gave the track its weight and fullness, but the punch and the power came from tape.
John Bonham drumming look like an elephant in a porcelain store!
some great drummers :
Ginger Baker, Keith Moon, Jaki Liebzeit (can) Robert Wyatt( early soft machine), Mitch Michel (jimi Hendrix experience), ...
I hate drum solos but I really enjoy vids about drummers just doing what they do but in a way that complexity and nuance goes unnoticed in a casual listening.
This is a ripper of a vid for that.
Cool video. However like others mentioned, the use of Binson Echorec was an integral part of the sound. Bonham's power is unmatched, but the Echorec gave the delay. I personally think there is a flange or phaser introduced as well. Listen to the crashes. The Headley Grange staircase was the reverb. Andy John's engineering and mic placement of two Beyerdynamic M160 ribbon mics were key as well. One 10ft above the kit and the other 20ft. The rest was all Bonham.
Sheer genius.
Best drum-part complete from Bonzo is Achilles Last Stand!
YES ! Freaking chilling.
Absolutely the best drummer there's ever been! 😎
Bullshit! Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Billy Cobham, or Lenny White are vastly superior!
you forgot the binsonette but great video
Thank you! You're right!
And levees don't rise, the water does.
Great band, great song, great drummer. But nowhere near Rainbow with Cozy Powell and his performance on "Stargazer". And - top it off with Ritchie and Dio doing what they do best, no one has ever come close, and no one ever will. It's just a fact!
Best drummer ever!
Very few drummers hear the syncopation in the hi hat. Everyone I’ve heard play it as straight 8th’s.
There is no syncopation in the hi-hat. Bonham played quarter notes - what you're hearing was an echo effect applied after the fact. Also, syncopation doesn't mean slightly swung, as you seem to be implying. It means notes off the beat are accented. Music can have a straight 8ths feel and be syncopated.
Not the first intro that came to my mind (Rock and Roll) but, ALL of Bonzo's intros are "the most memorable", right?
Rock & Roll intro was copied note for note from a Little Richard disc.
Excellent information, but this video is like watching a hypnotic subliminal trance clip..... maybe it"s just me. I need a drink
Ginger Baker said John Bonham had no swing but hey he was the bolox
The greatest is subjective IMO. The biggies have the guys that click. John wlth The Who? Keith in LZ? Charlie for Ringo? Na. Right guys at the right place at the right time who clicked. So many fantastic musicians on every instrument that picking one is, again, subjective. I try to enjoy, on vinyl, many different bands which we will never see again. But, I do appreciate the really big fans of their favorite band, emphasis on their because there are so many. A musical conversation is pretty cool. Enjoy!
He was just damn good. Gone too young.....
Unequalled.
He wasn’t the greatest drummer on the planet. He was the greatest, most talented, most creative, most musically generous and patient musician on the planet, who’s instrument just happened to be the drums.
Eddie Kramer told me this in the early 90’s when we were hanging out in a bar in Greenwich Village, NYC. He told me he’s the only drummer he ever saw like that. He said most drummers argued with their band mates over creative decisions, which would lead to fighting and grudges, and would negatively impact the music.
He said Bonham was the only one, the most mature, patient and inquisitive, the most professional, to hear and try out what everyone else thought first before giving his own thoughts. He said they would play the song with every combination, and then choose the one they thought sounded the best. Eddie said they had the best chemistry, and rarely fought or disagreed writing music because they all had confidence in each other and would try each version out. They were extremely mature and professional far beyond their age. An example of this would be the guitar solo in Stairway to Heaven. Page did 3 separate solos, each spontaneously. Then after they were recorded and mixed, the band listened to each version, and the one they liked the most was the one that ended up on the album. Same with Bonham and the others.
He said they were by far the greatest band he ever worked with in his career. He said they all got along on a personal level too and cared about each other deeply, like brothers, unlike many other bands who only got together to write music because they were legally forced to by the record company, and had constant ego battles whether it be about creative differences or whatever else.
"A mediocre drummer can make a great band mediocre: A great drummer can make a mediocre band great." ~ Jon Usry
Bonzo !!!! Youll always live in our hearts. My favorite drummer, forever,,,,
the GOAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Look up “Rick beato when the levee breaks” for the true story
A brilliant drummer but is he the GOAT? So close for me with Ian Paice I cant call it but my third all time favorite is Michael Shrieve, his unique stick hold is something I find truly brilliant
Trad grip is unique? Nuh uh.
Black Dog of course gets cudos as well. Ya, I was a beginner drummer in 6th grade when I bought my first 45 record at the music store where I took lessons. "whole Lotta love" and the B side was "livin' lovin Maid" about 1970. I wore the grooves out of it on my dad's completely inadequate strereo. Oh, to have a time machine...
Led Zeppelin 😮was superb in the studio!!! But LIVE they were the MASTERS OF THE BEAT! They can take the beat and move it in different direction per LIVE SHOWS! And could go slightly a different direction therefore unpredictable and never the same wether it was bonzo taking the lead in a different direction or Jimmy or John Paul Jones or of course Robert directing it lyrically in a different direction they all knew where to go and finish different every time!
You can’t talk about great drummers unless you include Jim Gordon. Go check out the songs he played on either as a sessions drummer or part of a group. Nobody can top it.
The only band I did and still do listen to for the drums.
Binson Echo Device
The best
No one ever mentions that everything except the vocals are slowed down.
Now you all GIVE CREDIT to Robert Johnson, Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, Son House, T-Bone Walker, Albert King, John Lee Hooker, Bukka White, Memphis Slim & all the other black delta Bluesmen who architected the style that Zeppelin & other rock bands emulated & ripped from while most of these blues architects died broke & manipulated & passed on poverty to their children. And YES, Bonham was a prolific drummer who also studied black music art forms which is apparent & prevalent in how "Bonzo" grooved hard!
😊😊😊😊😊❤❤😊❤😊❤❤
Amazing drummer - no question!
But... Am I getting old or is this video way too busy and glitchy and distracting?
I was 10 years old when Bonzo passed. God I wish I could have seen him live, in concert.
"Only the good die young..." -Billy Joel
Saw them twice… unforgettable experiences
@@Philip_LasVegas Righteous!
Zeppelin is and forever will be the yardstick by which I measure all music.
Great band in concert. Was lucky enough to see them 5 times back in the day. Nothing quite as heavy as a Led Zeppelin concert.
Bless you my friend wish I could say I seen them once rock on
Mahavishnu Orchestra!
Do you want to know who can play this she’s probably about 14 years old now a little Japanese girl by the name of Yokohama
also imagine how good it would sound if it was actually played with two bass drums instead of a double bass pedal
No one could work two bass drums the way Ginger Baker could he was also the one that brought two bass drums into rock ‘n’ roll .. along with the very first drum solo
GO NOW & listen to 'Sick Again' from Physical Graffiti. Best bits of drumming you will ever hear
Excellent choice.
My personal choice is The Crunge, Rock with just a sprinkling of funk.
Actually all of Bonhams drumming is epic. You really can't pick one.
Sounds from my teen days