The Last Hours of John Bonham's Life

Led Zeppelin's legendary drummer John Bonham passed away from pulmonary aspiration on September 25

1980, after a day-long bout of binge drinking. Despite his reputation as a wild man, the rock

star's final days were full of anxiety, depression, and uncertainty that ultimately proved too much

for him to bear. Today, we're going to take a look at everything that happened on the last day

of John Bonham's life. Now, time to get the lead out. John Bonham's last day began early on Wednesday, September 24, 1980, at Old Hyde Farm in Worcestershire

England, about 30 miles outside of Birmingham. Bonham brought the isolated 100-acre working farm

in 1972. By then, he could have bought the biggest castle in the UK. Led Zeppelin had released three

landmark multi-platinum number one albums and amassed more money than anyone could spend

Probably if it were a Brewster's Million situation, we'd find a way

John moved into Old Hyde with his wife, Pat, and his two children, Zoe and Jason, who were

one and 13 at the time. And the rural sprawl of land filled with horses, livestock, and his vintage car and

motorcycle collection became his version of heaven. That morning, about 18 hours before the end of his life, Bonham was helping his father

Jack, move boxes and furniture into one of the farm's spare cottages. Led Zeppelin had just released In Through the Outdoor five weeks earlier

to strong sales, which meant they'd be soon leaving England to promote the album

Bonham was insistent on getting his father moved into Old Hyde before he left for the rapidly approaching tour. The last thing you want to worry about on your international arena rock

tour is whether your dad can figure out the Wi-Fi. Sometime around noon, Bonham's personal

assistant, Rex King, arrived at Old Hyde. King had orders to drive Bonham to Zeppelin's first

rehearsal for the band's recently booked North American concerts. But Bonham had other ideas

Though King says that Bonham was upbeat when he picked him up that morning, the thought of the

lengthy upcoming overseas North American tour was weighing on him. It meant he'd be far away from

his family for months. Bonham wasn't the only member of Zeppelin that didn't want to go to

North America. Singer Robert Plant didn't want to travel overseas either. He actually had to be

tricked into agreeing to the tour, like B.A. Barakas on the A-Team. The group's manager, Peter Grant

told Plant the tour would only last for two weeks, when in reality, he'd booked a month of gigs

And while Plant was wary of this upcoming North American tour, Bonham was absolutely terrified by it

The thought of being away from his family and his farm was filling the emotionally fragile drummer with anxiety

Unfortunately the only way Bonham knew how to numb the mental anguish caused by being away from his family was to self with drugs booze and groupies But when he became Bonzo it was usually all three at once

Which is probably why Bonham insisted that King pull the car over at the next pub, instead

of driving straight to rehearsals at Bray Studios, about 100 miles away in Windsor

England. Once in the pub, Bonham prepared for that day's rehearsal by drinking four quadruple

screwdrivers within a half hour. If you're doing the math, that converts to approximately

one and a third of a shot of vodka every minute, or entirely too much hooch for one human man

When King reminded Bonham that the reason for the pit stop was because he said he was hungry

he sarcastically took a bite of a nearby ham sandwich to rebuff his concerned assistant

Bonham finally stumbled into Bray's studios well into the afternoon. Bassist John Paul Jones recalls Bonham being completely wasted

shuffling around and taking long draws of vodka straight out of the bottle

Eventually, Bonham made his way to his drum kit, and the group waited for him to count them into their first song of the day

According to onlookers, Bonham kept falling off his stool several seconds into each attempt

After Bonham's third or fourth tumble, Plant calmly announced to Jones and Jimmy Page

let's call it a day and sort it out tomorrow. That is Zeppelin code for our drummer is too hammered to hammer

The band agreed to cut the rehearsal short, let Bonham dry out, and to give it another go the following day

Page's assistant, Rick Hobbs, drove Page and Bonham to Old Mill House, the guitarist's new mansion

he just bought from actor Michael Caine. And before you ask, sadly, Michael Caine

does not feature any more in this particular story. At that time, he was presumably busy filming The Hand

When they got to the house, Bonham reportedly drank three more double vodkas and launched

into an erratic diatribe about how much he hated that the upcoming North American tour

was going to keep him away from his family. After several hours of hysterics, he finally

passed out on the sofa sometime around midnight. Hobbs led him up a spiral staircase and into one

of the mansion's spare bedrooms, where he positioned the drummer on his side and propped

up his body in place with pillows. That would be the last time anyone would see John Bonham alive

Bonham had always been a boozer, so this latest vodka-fueled blackout wasn't shocking to his bandmates

Passing out while he was on the clock was actually becoming a regular occurrence, and everyone in Zeppelin's organization just worked around it

Some of his wilder rock star antics included riding his motorcycle through the Chateau Marmont lobby

which happened to be the same night Plant proclaimed himself a golden god on one of the hotel balconies overlooking Sunset Boulevard fishing for salmon while hanging out the window of a Seattle high rise hotel and getting in wild drinking contests with his mate Keith Moon during Zeppelin gigs

in front of thousands of enthusiastic fans. But on January 19th, 1975, five years before his

untimely passing, something inside Bonham broke. It happened the morning after the first concert

of Zeppelin's 1975 North American tour, the band's first tour anywhere in two and a half years

While Bonham was nursing a hangover in his Chicago hotel suite while mentally preparing for the tour's second gig later that night

he saw the February 1975 issue of Playboy had named Karen Carpenter the best rock drummer of the year

Hey, he actually did buy it for the articles. Bonham had received a special round of boos and jeers

from the Minneapolis audience during the concert the night before after a subpar performance of his signature Moby Dick solo

When Bonham was in good health, the Moby Dick solo, arguably the peak of every Zeppelin gig

could last up to a half an hour. However, Bonham had gained a lot of weight

and had very little stamina after Zeppelin's two and a half year sabbatical from the road

So when Bonham discovered that Carpenter won a drummer pole over him, he went ballistic, destroying everything in his hotel suite

Any other time, he might have laughed the pole off, but he knew he wasn't playing at the top of his game

He was slow and overweight and had even recently instructed his drum tech

to simplify his kit to help him sound louder and play with more ease. Being Led Zeppelin's drummer started becoming a difficult chore

and the fact that the fans and critics were beginning to notice it too was devastating

Bonham's confidence was already at an all-time low, but the seemingly minor Playboy pole pushed him over the edge

Sadly, from that day on, it seemed as though he never regained his drive and passion

Ironically, when she was asked on an American talk show about how she felt about being named the best rock drummer of the year

Carpenter was thankful for the honor, but noted that she was a fan of Bonham's

and was concerned that he might be upset, saying, I hope he's not mad at me. I had nothing to do with the pole

But he said that I couldn't last 10 minutes with Led Zeppelin. Tragically, Carpenter herself was all too familiar

with the pressures of being a rock star. But that's a story for another time. On September 24th, at approximately 1.45 PM

tour manager Benji Lefebvre picked up Plant and Jones from the Blake Hotel and drove the pair back to Bray Studios

about a 10-minute trip. Since they'd be driving by Page's place anyway, the three decided it would be a good idea to pop in

and make sure Bonham and Page were awake and ready for rehearsals. Although it was way past noon

Plant figured Bonham and Page would need to be roused out of bed, assuming they had been up all night tying one on

Considering Bonham's state the previous day, this was a pretty safe bet. As the three let themselves into Old Millhouse they were surprised to see that Page was already up and about that there was no sign of Bonzo Page said he hadn seen him all day but said that the drummer should still be in the bedroom by the top of the stairs Lefebvre headed up the spiral staircase followed immediately by

Jones. Plant stayed downstairs and chatted with Page. Lefebvre then tiptoed into the spare bedroom

with Jones behind him, calling out for Bonham. Lefebvre shook Bonham a few times, then tried

again more forcefully. Then Lefebvre turned the drummer over and saw that his face was pale and

blue. He and Jones immediately checked Bonham's vitals, but Bonzo had no pulse and was cold to

the touch. It was obvious he was gone. Lefebvre and Jones just looked at each other, speechless

John Bonham had passed away at 32. As Lefebvre was still hunched over Bonham, a stunned Jones

stepped out of the bedroom and walked down the spiral staircase. As he wandered around the house

looking for Plant and Page, Jones recalls that he eventually found them having a smoke on the back

patio and even doubled over in laughter over a story one of them was in the middle of telling

Jones recalled the surreal feeling of interrupting the pleasant moment Plant and Page were sharing

when he told them that he and Lefebvre had just found Bonham's lifeless body. Plant immediately

headed towards the house, but Lefebvre stopped him at the stairs. He didn't want Plant to see

his friend in such an unsettling state. Instead, it was suggested that Plant and his wife Maureen

head over to Old Hyde and break the news to Bonham's wife before the news hit the airwaves

Plant agreed, wanting to support Bonham's wife the same way Bonham had been there for him

when his five-year-old son suddenly succumbed to a stomach virus three years earlier

Plant later shared details of the last conversation he had with Bonham the day before

during the car ride to rehearsals. Bonham, already about eight hours into his vodka spree

was telling Plant how unhappy he was and how he didn't want to be the drummer for Led Zeppelin

anymore. I've had it with playing drums, he'd said. Everybody plays better than me. I'll tell

you what, when we get to the rehearsal, you play the drums and I'll sing

After 12 years of being Led Zeppelin's drummer, John Bonham's demons became too much for him to

bear. On December 4th, 1980, a little over two months after Bonham's passing, the band's record

label finally released an official statement addressing the band's uncertain future. We wish

it to be known that the loss of our dear friend and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by

ourselves and our manager have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were. While

Plant, Page, and Jones have reunited several times since 1980, with Bonham's son Jason filling in

behind the kit, Led Zeppelin ended when John Bonham did. But thanks to the band's classic

material and his genre-changing, heavy-hitting style, Bonzo will always be considered one of the best rock drummers

in history. And hey, maybe he could have sang a few Zeppelin tunes

They let Ringo sing every once in a while