John
Bonham (31st May 1948 to 25th September 1980)
Here I am at a rural church in Worcestershire countryside
where one of the world’s best drummers ended up after a typical early rock n
roll death. John’s distinctive sound with super-group Led Zeppelin deemed him
irreplaceable and they disbanded after his death.
He was born in Redditch (not far from this grave)
and started banging on stuff from five years old, hitting containers and tins. When
he was ten his mum bought him a snare drum and when he was fifteen his dad
bought him a full drum kit. Still at school he joined the Blue Star Trio. Over
the years there must have been armies of teenagers like him and when John’s
headmaster wrote "He will either end up a dustman or a millionaire"
he probably doubted it would be the latter. He was right for John was a
multi-millionaire in his twenties having made seminal albums with Led Zeppelin
followed by lucrative world tours. I’ve got the most of the LP’s myself, the
fourth one being the whopper.
I won’t go into all the groups John was in before
Zep but he was soon semi-professional (while working as a carpenter through the
day time) and he soon became well known for his power and speed. He was
drumming full time by aged twenty-six and had met his future wife Pat. (His
drum solo entitled "Pat's Delight," later "Moby Dick",
often lasted 30 minutes.)
In September 1980 Led Zep were in Windsor
rehearsing for a tour of North America. They hadn’t toured there for three
years and were practising. John was collected in the morning and asked to stop
for some breakfast. He swigged down four quadruple vodka Screwdrivers (equating
to 16 shots.) The drinking continued (40% vodka shots) as the band rehearsed
through the afternoon. They stopped early evening and went to Jimmy Page's
house in Windsor. John who was quite drunk fell asleep after midnight and was
taken to bed and laid on his side. The next afternoon he had not appeared and
was found unresponsive. The inquest found John had consumed approximately 40
shots and his body had tried to naturally disgorge the excess. However he was so
drunk he was still unconsciousness and choked on the vomit. He had been taking
heroine intermittently for years but none was found in his blood. He had been
taking Motival for anxiety but the inquest could not conclude if this acted
with the alcohol to bring about death.
Zep lost one of the best drummers ever and
disbanded. John’s family lost more. He left behind a wife, two kids and two
younger siblings. Family tree branches still reach across to a village near the
grave. Rich from world tours John had bought The Old Hyde Farm to store his
huge car and motorcycle collection and the family still own it.
While walking round the churchyard I was startled
by three loud sudden gun shots (I suppose this was deep countryside) but
couldn’t see anyone. I was hoping I might see a burglar who’d had his leg shot
off by a rich farmer but did not. I was going to nick a couple of drumsticks
off the grave but put them back thinking I’d be cursed. I wandered in the
church and found the visitor’s book full of entries from people from Sweden,
Iraq, Canada, Oz – everywhere. It’s uplifting to know geeks like me are out
there.
I couldn’t find any entry in the book saying stuff like “organ
wonderful” or “church bell end is a beauty!” but every line related to the
famous resident. I saved the life of a fly. I saw one stuck on the wall inside
the church. It was so motionless I think it was plastic but when I touched it I
saw it fall to the floor. I put it on my finger and put it on a bench outside,
dropping a patina of saliva in front of it. It must have needed a drink as it
soon flew off. I soon flew off myself – I just nipped back into the church to
preach to the imaginary flock about animal welfare (someone has to) and went. I
doubt I’ll pass this way again so I waved at John’s grave and drove away.
The visitors book showed how many
people had visited John…
The church was in the middle of
rural Worcestershire. Around the church were a couple of houses and a community
building…
The side view from the churchyard….as
I said not much there; it’s mostly rural…
