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Was John Bonham aware of Neil Peart?


Walter

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On 6/11/2016 at 9:20 PM, Mercurious said:

That fits.  Hemispheres was recorded at Rockfield Studios in SE Wales during summer of 1978, and released in October, so Page would have likely owned a copy by winter 1978-79 and heard "La Villa Strangiato" -  just "fucking brilliant"  but not a radio-friendly piece like "Closer to the Heart." 

To add more to the likelihood that Bonham was aware of Rush is that Rush played 7 UK dates in 1977 (their first British shows), sold out London, Birmingham and Manchester and then went off to Rockfied to record Farewell to Kings. (Source: 2112.net)   The major British music press gave Rush a very positive reception, and they then returned on a broader European in early 1978 -- including more UK dates -- and back to Rockfield in the summer for Hemispheres

The possibility that Bonham was NOT aware of Rush and Neil Peart does seem pretty remote.

Yes, my neighbor/friend saw them in the UK in ‘77 and said they weren’t well known back then as well. 

Well, now with the passing of Neil we might see more interviews, conversations, etc being brought up and may get a q&a that we haven’t heard about this.

Very sad that they’re both gone now...RIP

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21 hours ago, sam_webmaster said:

I've asked Jason... He said his dad didn't own a RUSH album and never mention Peart to him. Jason first heard them for the first time around 1981/1982, on the 2112 LP and was blown away.

Damn, that's a bit of a shame. Well, at the very least Bonz's son knew of and respected the man, and that's something.

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21 hours ago, sam_webmaster said:

I've asked Jason... He said his dad didn't own a RUSH album and never mention Peart to him. Jason first heard them for the first time around 1981/1982, on the 2112 LP and was blown away.

Thanks for doing that, Sam. Puts it to rest after all these years. ✌🏼

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What Jason said hardly means that John was unaware of Peart.

I don't think Bonham was a huge rock fan so unlikely to have bought any Rush albums & I doubt he had conversations with his Son about every drummer he ever heard of.

Most likely he was aware of Rush & Peart but not a huge fan of either in my opinion.

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2 hours ago, Mook said:

What Jason said hardly means that John was unaware of Peart.

I don't think Bonham was a huge rock fan so unlikely to have bought any Rush albums & I doubt he had conversations with his Son about every drummer he ever heard of.

Most likely he was aware of Rush & Peart but not a huge fan of either in my opinion.

I have to agree with this. When the debut album came out in March 74', every radio station was playing Working Man and almost everyone thought it was a new Zeppelin tune. When Zep came back to the states in January 75' I bet more than a few local groupies and roadies mentioned this to the band. For Zep not to be aware of a band who both sounded and borrowed heavily from Zep is rather hard to believe. Of course Peart was not on the debut album but Rutsey was no slouch behind the drum kit, the man was also a fantastic drummer.

The fact is, Jason was much more into motocross as a kid vs. drumming as Jason really did not get into drumming seriously until after his father died. I doubt Bonzo, like you said, talked much shop with Jason.

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I was reading this thread last night and it was interesting and some excellent posts btw. But I doubt John Bonham was completely unaware of who peart was by the time of his death but just because he hadn’t a Rush album doesn’t mean he had no idea who he was. That’s just my opinion anyway. I’m not saying they were talking every Friday but as I said I find it hard to believe that John Bonham has no idea who Neil Peart  was. 

Edited by Zeppelinandroses
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You'd have to think at the very least - If Playboy ranked Karen Carpenter as a better drummer than Bonzo - there'd have to be some mention of Peart somewhere in "legit" music papers like Rolling Stone, Cream, Circus, etc. In fact I found a fan site with magazine covers from the 1970's that include Rush.

Plus the two photos I know of with Plant & Page reading Cream - It's possible that the entire band knew of Rush - but what they thought of them is a different story.  

Rush.PNG

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I always wondered what Bonzo thought of Carl Palmer. I know that Zeps and ELP's paths crossed a number of times (I'll have to dig out the anecdotes from Keith Emersons autobiography), and he must have been aware of how many times Carl Palmer was voted best drummer in the UK music papers in the 70's, they were very very different drummers and both must have been well aware of each other. Jason Bonham certainly was as his band supported ELP on their come back tour of 92.

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The sad fact is there is precious little when it comes to interviews with Bonzo about his drumming and influences. Unfortunately, no decent in-depth interview was made before he passed. Jeff Ochletree mentioned something like, Bonzo was somewhat bitter and annoyed that no one asked him about drumming and musical influences....all they wanted to know was the sordid stuff. I'm sure Modern Drummer would've done a quality interview with him at some point, but they were relatively new on the scene in the late 70's, and by Sept '80 it was too late. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2/2/2020 at 10:07 PM, Victor said:

I always wondered what Bonzo thought of Carl Palmer. I know that Zeps and ELP's paths crossed a number of times (I'll have to dig out the anecdotes from Keith Emersons autobiography), and he must have been aware of how many times Carl Palmer was voted best drummer in the UK music papers in the 70's, they were very very different drummers and both must have been well aware of each other. Jason Bonham certainly was as his band supported ELP on their come back tour of 92.

There is a Bonham quote about Palmer somewhere. He said something along the lines of 'Carl went for lessons' when he was discussing his early days of drumming. Not much to go on but he was well aware of Carl Palmer.

Palmer is also a Bonham fan, when asked about Bonham around the time DVD came out, he said something like 'Words are meaningless, just watch Moby Dick at RAH'.

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  • 2 months later...
On 5/7/2013 at 7:02 PM, phredzeppelin63 said:

I know from reading peart's books that keith moon was his fave rock drummer,but buddy rich was his fave ever drummer! when he does his solos at rush shows,he does it to big band music with rich on drums piped in!

he also liked bonzo a lot.

Can u elaborate or provide a sourse , I'm not doubting you heck you probably know John and he told you that ,HOWEVER..... since you're the "only one" who has anything specific about this topic and I hope you're right and no disrespect but  how do you know this? Re' :

"your last sentence"

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