the genius of Page, Plant, Jones & Bonham

I have spent some time lately rediscovering the power of the Zeppelin canon and reveling at what and incredibly diverse, eclectic, and musically tight group were Mssrs. Page, Plant, Jones, and the late John Bonham. The three instrumentalists were all so highly skilled and brought their unique abilities to shape the influential Zeppelin sound, which has been aped countless times (almost always badly) since. Page and Plant received most of the attention, and still do, but the rhythm section was what differentiated the band from countless imitators. John Paul Jones was probably the best overall musician in the band, playing bass, keys of all types, mandolin, guitar, and probably a host of other things as well. He was also a highly skilled arranger, due to his years of session work before joining Zeppelin. John Bonham was far more than just some run-of-the-mill skins pounder. Capable of incredible volume, he was also an extremely dynamic and tasteful player who could swing like crazy. Many say that Bonham was the true key to Zeppelin and based on the evidence, I would have to agree.

The sledgehammer power of Zeppelin was always counterbalanced with incredibly nuanced playing. Detractors tend to just denounce the band as blues screamers with no dynamics, but based on their discography, that claim is a fallacy. Sure, they could rock harder and louder than most, but critics tend to forget the beautiful “That’s The Way”, the tender “Going to California” and the acoustic carousing of “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp”, instead deciding to focus on rowdy classics like “Heartbreaker”, “Immigrant Song”, “Black Dog” and of course, the riff that defined headbanging in the seventies, “Whole Lotta Love”, at the expense of more balanced assessment. Thankfully true fans of the band realize what a groundbreaking group they were and that all the rock that followed was influenced, in one way or another, by what Zeppelin accomplished. No band, save the Beatles, has sold more records and few bands that have been disbanded for 27 years have so devoted a following. That they went out on a high, refusing to engage in the nostalgia and make zillions off of it (I am talking to the Rolling Stones, though I love them, and the Who) after Bonham’s passing is further testament to their greatness.