I have been listening to them since their first record came out and I still listen to them today. This is a thoroughly in-depth look into Bonham's life before the band how he got into playing the drums, the different drum players he would follow and some that he sought out, and how even when the band finally got together he was such a driving force, especially at concerts. You can hear it on the records when you are listening to the entire album you get a feel of his playing and how he drives a song even when he plays low not loud. The different members of the band talk about and also how difficult it was to continue without him and how they could not think about replacing him. This is a very good book and one that I have already read twice so I thought I better do my review. Very much worth the read.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I found the subject matter really interesting. The book was well written and easy to understand. I highly recommend this book.

I've read a few books on the history of Led Zeppelin and its members' pasts but this is first book that I have read that has focused on an individual member. The writer was able to focus on John Bonham and his background, but a significant portion of his life was defined by his part in Led Zeppelin and as such was still a history of Led Zeppelin.

Four and a half stars, rounding up to five. I love Led Zeppelin's music and have for as long as I can remember, but I'm not really knowledgeable about the musicians who made that music so I was really excited to learn about the birth of the band and its early years. Bonham’s drive and talent were a key part of their success, but as B. P. Fallon is quoted in the book, while “Bonzo was a very warmhearted man... he wasn’t necessarily at all times best equipped for being regarded as a deity.” In his younger years, and in his private life, he seemed like a very charming person. However, adding drugs, alcohol, and fame to the mix made him, as well as his bandmates, at times, very disturbing. The nearly-endless tales of destruction, physical and sexual assault, and darkness were at times overwhelming, even when interspersed with stories of his peaceful and loving family life.

Still, I found Beast to be fascinating and well done, though as a non-musician, I did feel bogged down at times with details about the recording sessions. Definitely a good read if you too are interested in the making of your favorite music and the people who made it. I’m so grateful to NetGalley and Hachette for the opportunity to read and review Beast.

I grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, but after reading Beast and learning how they developed as musicians, and how creative they were, made me go back and listen to many of their songs again. To be honest, I never read about bands, I just enjoyed the music. So other than hearing how some bands destroyed the hotel rooms, smashed instruments on stage, I never paid attention to those things. I paid attention to the music.

John Bonham was a total surprise. He spent his early years working at the family construction company while playing locally with any band he could, from swing bands to blues to rock. He married his sweetheart at age 17 when she became pregnant and they were the center of his universe. From the beginning he seemed a little wild, but always focused on his music and his family.

Once Led Zeppelin formed, they quickly became successful, and just kept getting better. At the same time, the stress increased, they were upset with their coverage by the press, and John resented the lack of understanding when it came to his prowess on the drums. And for a homebody like John, the extensive touring just about tore him apart, leading to excessive drinking and outbursts of violence, thus earning the nickname the Beast for his darkest periods. Sober, he was a gentle, generous man; drunk he was violent.

I liked the anecdotes that showed the different sides of John, how he could charm people with his personality, but also how destructive he could be. His fear of flying, his anxiety before going on stage, and his love of building things and raising show bulls. This book just gave me so much insight into his prowess as a drummer, his devotion to his family, and his insecurities.

I received an advanced reader copy from Hatchette Books and NetGallery;this is my honest review.

This is an exhaustively and meticulously researched biography of John Bonham, the talented and legendary drummer for Led Zeppelin. Zep Heads, especially those in awe of Bonham in particular, should find this book quite satisfactory. For the first quarter of the book, I found Bonham's continual striving to become a professional drummer, and his inexhaustible efforts to find a band that would become successful, quite admirable. He came from a working class family in a small northern British town, and this wasn't exactly an easy task. He suffered many many many years of failure and rejection before managing to meet Robert Plant on the club scene in Birmingham, and once he became the singer for Jimmy Page's new project - which would become Zep - Page himself, and then become drummer for the new band, which was almost instantly successful.

The problem is that as Bonham becomes more and more successful, he also becomes more and more of an egregious human being. There is no doubt the man was a raving alcoholic, and I'm sure that did not help matters. Bonham does not seem happy unless he is making others miserable. He assaults both men and women. He screams at people. He destroys hotel rooms. He charges the stages of other bands. He very often drives drunk and "plays chicken" with other cars - driving in the wrong lane and only veering out of the lane at the last second. And I can't stop thinking about the poor female reporter that he apparently tried to rape before the gargantuan Peter Grant (the band's tough as nails manager) pulled him off her. The woman had been sent by Life magazine to cover the band, and that was her "reward" for it. The book devolves into tales of this kind of behavior, it becomes monotonous, and unfortunately, it made me thoroughly dislike Bonham. (And don't get me started on Jimmy Page, who has a sexual affair with a 14 year old when he's in his late 20s)

The author offers no judgment on this behavior - and I'm not saying that is a biographer's job, it's not - however, the word choices in describing this behavior make it very clear that this is all considered just rock n roll. "Antics," "pranks," "games," etc is used to describe behavior that would land most of us in prison. By the time Bonham drinks himself to death at 32 years old, I breathed a sigh of relief that he passed on without killing someone else.

C.M. Kushins has authored the first-ever biography of John Bonham and skillfully peels the layers of this complex, talented and often tormented musician.
Born in Redditch, Worcestershire, five year old John Bonham learned to play drums on a self-made kit. Gifted a snare from his mother at age ten and a full kit from his father at age fifteen and mostly self taught, joined various local bands. By the later part of the sixties, he was asked to join the New Yardbirds by front man Robert Plant. In 1968, the band revolved into Led Zeppelin. Already married and a father by seventeen this provided a solid income for Bonham and his family. His love for family was intense and his separation from them when touring increased his anxiety that led to a path to of intoxication, abusive behaviors, endless fights and the destruction of himself and his surroundings. He died at the home of band mate Jimmy Page in 1980 at the age of thirty-two
Known for the power of his drumming, his remarkable solos and distinctive feel, he earned his title as one of the most influential drummers of all time.
A great read for any Zeppelin fan or music lover this is a fine homage to unique talent.
Thank you NetGalley, Hachette Books and the author for the privilege of an ARC in exchange for an honest book review.

I remember after The Beatles had just broken up in 1970 my older brother bringing home a Led Zeppelin album and saying that this band was going to be the next big thing. I never was much enamoured of them, but enjoyed listening to my brother's band belt out Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", white strobe lights pulsating, in a local club in the early eighties. Then I purchased a Led Zeppelin boxed set in the 90's for my husband, which I lightly borrowed- but it wasn't a huge favorite. I admit I am mesmerized watching old concert footage of a beautiful, young Jimmy Page making guitar god moves in black velvet embroidered stage outfits. But when all is said and done, I am more mystified and intrigued by the tragedies that befell this group, along with Jimmy Page's interest in the occult, and how the band ceased to be after the untimely early death of its drummer, John Bonham. After watching a recent Dan Rather interview with Robert Plant, it sparked my interest in them again and I've been purchasing kindle books on Led Zeppelin and its individual band members to delve into their history further. So when I saw this offering I jumped at the chance to read it.

I came to this book only knowing that John Bonham died from alcohol intoxication / choking on his own vomit in his sleep. After reading this biography, his early death seems inevitable. He grew up in Birmingham, England, and had a very strong sense of home. He hated to leave it. He met his wife Pat when they were teenagers, and she was soon pregnant and they married quickly. He loved her intensely and never strayed from her. They first had a son Jason, and years later, a daughter named Zoe. John Bonham's father "Jacko" owned a construction company, and John and his brother Mick both worked there. John would be doing carpentry work for his father's business during the day, and play drums late into the night with various bands. He had his wife and son to support, so he had to make sure he had a regular job for security. Although he was a great and inventive drummer, sometimes his drumming was so loud and powerful he would get kicked out of bands. Robert Plant lived in the same area known as "Black Country" and they were friends before they were ever famous.

Jimmy Page was in The Yardbirds and was also a hard working session guitarist. When The Yardbirds were reaching its demise, Page was looking to create his own band. When bassist John Paul Jones heard that Page was creating this band, he asked if he could join. Jones was also a well known session musician, but much more than that. His biggest, time-consuming job was creating arrangements for studio recordings of the musical outfits that hired him. It was an overwhelming job, and he just wanted to get out and play with a band. Bonham was already touring with a band and making a regular guaranteed income, which wife Pat much approved of. So it was a leap of faith and a blessing when she agreed for John to join this newly created band which would at first tour as "The New Yardbirds", because The Yardbirds contractually still had a tour booked to fulfill. At the end of these remaining gigs, they changed their name officially to Led Zeppelin. This name came about when rumors spread about Page scouring the music scene for promising young musicians. Drummer for The Who Keith Moon predicted that Page's ambition to expand the scope of hard rock would "go down like a lead balloon", while bassist John Entwistle corrected his band colleague: it would "go down like a lead Zeppelin".

John Bonham became famous for his 15-30 minute drum solos which were never boring. He originally named them "Pat's Delight" after his wife, but was later renamed "Moby Dick". He even used just his bare hands at times during these solos, as well as incorporated sonic accents. He preferred Ludwig drum kits, and a new one was delivered to Headley Grange, a small Hampshire manor (purportedly haunted) where Zeppelin recorded some of their albums. Not wanting to transport this large drum kit upstairs to other floors, the kit was assembled in the massive entrance hallway in front of the spiral staircase. This turned out to be a fortuitous accident as it created an incredible drum sound on "When the Levee Breaks".

When Led Zeppelin started making huge money, they had to stay out of England a certain amount of days for tax shelter reasons. This turned out to be a huge problem for Bonham. He was a homebody, and missed his wife and kids desperately. He drank heavily and got into loads of trouble trashing hotel rooms and getting into fights with people. Reading about these incidents was very disturbing for all the senseless destruction that took place in various hotels. Bonham also became famous for attending other band's concerts and insisting on taking over the drums. In some cases, it really ruined a special evening for the band involved, especially if Bonham was in a drunken and dangerous state. There was another horrible story about how Bonham walked up to an older gentleman on a plane and ripped off and smashed his glasses for no reason at all. However, when Robert Plant's 5-year old son Karac suddenly died from a stomach ailment, Bonham was there to comfort him. Likewise, when Bonham died, Robert was tasked with breaking the tragic news to his long time friend's wife and family.

This is the first book I've ever read about Led Zeppelin, and learned a lot. It focused mainly on John Bonham, but also touched on the individual band members and the detailed creation of each of their albums. It was a long and lush read of a very iconic rock band and its amazingly talented drummer.

Thank you to the publisher Hachette Books for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

John Bonham rightly so was one of the most controversial figures of Rock and Roll. This biography is for the most part a biography of Led Zeppelin, but with Bonzo as the focus.

Bonham's early years in the Birmingham area begin the book, including his early fascination with drumming and the family business of construction. As a teenager, Bonham played with every band in town. At 17, he became a husband and a father rather quickly, beginning a lifelong devotion to his family, the separation from which during the massive world tours, left him with nothing but frustration and an appetite for inebriated destruction unparalleled by anyone in rock history.

This painstakingly researched book spends its time tracing the originality of Bonham's drumming and the production of each album and the solos in concert. Nevertheless, there is no candycoating the out of control beast that Bonham became on the road, leaving wrecked hotel rooms, bloody walls, and never ending fights. His appetite for booze surpassed that of many rugby teams.

A picture is painted here of a tormented maestro with undeniable talent, but who drowned in the excesses of stardom. Get your accompanying playlist ready. It will come in useful as the author discusses various songs and you need to hear what is being described.