Keith Moon vs. John Bonham POLL

bonzo

Bonham easy. Keith Moon was more interesting when he wasn't playing drums.

I really can't call it, personally, although I'm gonna try and pick one and vote at some point. As a drummer Moon's influenced me more, and purely in playing terms I'd give the edge to him. But Bonham (and I guess Page and Zep's various producers and engineers) created one of the greatest and most perfect drum sounds in recording history, in addition to being a beast of a player in his own right, so it's kinda hard to deny that.

Anyone who would vote for KM should go back and listen hard to Good Times, Bad Times. Flail all he'd like, KM never approached that class of playing.

You could strip Zep of Plant and JPJ and it still would be amazing listening. Hell, maybe even better.

Only one was the inspiration for Animal on The Muppets.

gotta be real and admit i aint know much about led zep so feel free to school me with some xxx hardcore bonham drummeration but this is my shit 4 all time

awesome drummin

somebody make a utube cast 4 bonham plz?

bonham. i've never got the love for KM, what did he do, hit cymbals a lot?

Anyone who would vote for KM should go back and listen hard to Good Times, Bad Times. Flail all he'd like, KM never approached that class of playing.

Moon's drumming is never as tight as Bonham's on GTBT, but Bonham couldn't match what Moon does on "Happy Jack". So because he went slightly beyond what a drummer is basically expected to do, I'm voting for Keith.

people who downplay one or the other are crazy haters...basically your argument should be "this dude's my #1, that dude is only top 10, maybe top 5"

bonham >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> moon

Bonham as an unfair advantage here in that all of his work was properly recorded, while a lot of Moon's best playing (when he was younger, and less in the throes of deep alcoholism) was produced in the 60s style that leads people to say things like "what did he do, hit cymbals a lot?"

Go back and listen to the drumming on I Can See For Miles and Miles. Tell me that's all cymbals.

Either way, both are titans in the drumming world. And neither lived long enough to be as good as Dale Crover is today.

i was never a big who fan but moon just seems like too many fills & playing over the barline, not enough groove

ethan, i thought you would have gone for bonham for the classic breaks at least

sure Moon is the patron saint of too many fills & playing over the barline, but if you fuck with one drummer who does that it's gotta be him. i mean in general i respect groove drummers more, but imo he did the hammy virtuoso style with a kind of personality and panache that hasn't and can never be copied or improved upon.

nahh dogg i respect the rhymin n steelin/lyrical gangbang drums but when the levee breaks is too jamband 4 me

i'm sure that's true, but on some of that led zep live shit bonham does these ridic long fills at whatever place in the phrase and totally sells it too. i know i'm a total bonham stan, but he was one of my guys in high school (duh, when else would you obsess over these guys) and afaic he's got it all.

xp

yeah...Bonham's sense of timing is really one of a kind...there are Zep songs that I've heard on the radio twice a week my entire life that I still can't air drum to without completely falling out of the pocket when he does those insane little fills or pauses or drags behind the beat.

John Bonham:Hendrix::Keith Moon:Randy Rhoads

haha I was formulating (and then abandoning) some comparison a few minutes ago that was like Moon=Hendrix and Bonham=I dunno, Clapton or something?

moon = t-pain
bonham = akon

peart = nate dogg

moon's influence got me in trouble many many times in my first band but it was worth it. plus he named zep right? moon by an inch anyway.

Moon

Moon gets props for playing way outside the norms of his era, but Bonzo would be a great drummer in any era.

bonzo lays down the tastiest grooves known to man. what a feel this guy had. the way he rides the beat is insane.

wait, are we voting based on drumming skills?

i would say it's about personal preference, whether you think one is more skilled or not, etc.

well i don't know shit about either so i'm voting for moon because bonham seemed like an angry drunk

Bonham had one of the best producers anywhere recording him. Moon was in a band made up of three lead instruments. Moon had "Cobwebs And Strange" Bonham had a drag racer in "Moby Dick"

The winner is all of us.

Then there's the time Keith joined Led Zeppelin on stage in 1977

Moon's drumming is never as tight as Bonham's...

That's the essence of it. KM never really knew where the hell he was at, and not by intention. A rock-n-roll drummer needs to define the beat at every available tick, not play above a groove maintained by musicians whose timing might possibly be better than his. Rock-n-rollers' timings suck. You, the drummer, are to make that fact as non-obvious as possible.

To wit, Bonham's achilles heel is Black Dog. Kinda surprised that nobody's mentioned it, but if you listen really close to the recording on IV, you can hear how truly lousy Page's timing gets when he's off the hook. Kinda obvious to me at least that Bonham tried a bunch of things with that crazy ass riff before realizing that he couldn't get JP's time to latch and so he just gave up and decided to nail down the fundies while listening to JP rather than making JP listen to him. This is what a great drummer does when placed in a bad groove, but it's still an obvious white flag.

bulllllllshit. if Moon didn't know where he was when he sounded like he didn't, half of the Who's performances would've fallen apart mid-song. there was a lot of control and purpose within the chaotic aesthetic of his playing.

Page's timing on "Black Dog" always sets me on edge slightly, though, yeah.

Kinda surprised that nobody's mentioned it, but if you listen really close to the recording on IV, you can hear how truly lousy Page's timing gets when he's off the hook. Kinda obvious to me at least that Bonham tried a bunch of things with that crazy ass riff before realizing that he couldn't get JP's time to latch and so he just gave up and decided to nail down the fundies while listening to JP rather than making JP listen to him.

According to the chapter on "Black Dog" in the 33 1/3 book, it's actually Jones who came up with the riff and arranged everything. Apparently the original arrangement was even more complex - causing Page to struggle and Bonham to dig in his heels and plow through in 4/4. There's a bootleg of the early version that has Bonham trying to play more in time with the riff.

OK, the wikipedia article gets into it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dog_(song)

I'm not saying that KM was bad, but he sure as hell wasn't a force in keeping Who shows from falling apart. He was a good drummer, but he had no characteristics of greatness. (xp)

Whether or not JPJ or JP came up with the riff, it was clearly beyond JP's rhythmic capabilities.

Such a great question b/c it's hard to imagine two rock drummers more different. Each was perfect for his band.

"he had no characteristics of greatness" is like some weird shit you hear cable pundits say during presidential elections

Seems to me that Bonham was always just a tad behind the beat, whereas Moon was similarly ahead of it.

Other than that, I really don't want to choose, other than to observe that (a) unlike Moon, Bonham's skills never waned as he approached an alcohol-related death, and (b} it wasn't until Tommy that Moon was finally recorded properly.

Love 'em both, obviously.

Moon is my favorite drummer. I love how he plays and have listened to Who records just to focus on him many times over many years.

Many times I listen to Led Zeppelin, and don't really think about the drumming at all.

The Who have nearly always been my favorite band though, so any thought of what is the best way to go about it starts with them.

these guys are so different and both geniuses, voting between them is pointless. the key with keith is that he played drums like a lead instrument; there's nothing wrong with his timekeeping, but timekeeping or groove-making is not what he did. he added colors and textures and emotional angles to the music in a way that other lead instruments (guitar, saxophone, piano, etc) usually do. in a way it makes moon more like a virtuoso jazz drummer than your average rock virtuso (even though his playing itself was totally rock, not jazz). bonham didn't play lead instrument, he established the grooves. MONSTER grooves. he's the heaviest funky drummer or the funkiest heavy drummer ever. like if james brown was paul bunyan.

love 'em both.

Seems to me that Bonham was always just a tad behind the beat, whereas Moon was similarly ahead of it.

^^^ dude doesn't know what "behind" the beat means.

i would sneak the stuttered hat-kick-kick triplet fills from the "Good Times Bad Times" verse into one of my band's songs when we played it live.

x_ _ x _ _ x _ _ X

shit is like walking on air when you pull it off.

keith moon, in my humble opinion, is the greatest rock musician of all-time.

interesting responses to this thread

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/205/465049102_c141816983.jpg

moon:bonham::townsend:page

moon>bonham, by a whisker of personal preference

but there's no point doing that one

I tend to notice Bonham's drumming in a way I never noticed Moon's, though I do love the Who. I agree Bonham comes off sometimes as "behind the beat" but then he also "owns the beat" so the slight "behind-ness" of it is what actually rules in the end (what in god's name Libcrypt was on about earlier in this thread re: "unwinding the clock", though, I don't know). I'm intrigued that people here seem to think Moon was a genius, but then, not everyone's musical brains are wired the same and I'll confess there's only been a few drummers that I have especially noticed at the expense of all the other instruments in a given band. Jaki Leibezeit from Can is one, Loz Colbert from Ride is another (especially on "Vapour Trail"), Richard Thomas from Dif Juz...and most of all, John Bonham. Maybe it's to do with production somewhat, too...bands who have dared let the drums be front and center vs. those who wouldn't. Certainly that is a variable at least, here, however minor.

I love hearing how MAD Keith Moon was, and the crazy look on his face when he played drums in all those Who videos, but Bonham is like the ultimate as a rock drummer, I think.

That I don't get. Love him, hate him or think he's worse than Bonzo, Moon seems extremely difficult not to notice.

Also WTF is a "lead percussionist" in a band that didn't have any other...percussionists? You want the two-drummered version of The Fall, mate. Don't get confused.

And what the hell was Eddie Van Halen all by himself in all those Van Halen videos?

HAHAHAHAHAHHA
I was gonna mention Van Halen for some insane random reason like 20 min. ago!!!

how can u listen to the who and NOT notice keith moon exactly

Must have been listening to "Sunrise"...

Also WTF is a "lead percussionist" in a band that didn't have any other...percussionists? You want the two-drummered version of The Fall, mate. Don't get confused.

Moon's percussion played a lead role, as opposed to the supporting role that percussion/drums normally plays in a group of that format.

It's true. I always catch myself humming along to the drums when the Who come on the radio.

bop bop a chinka clunk

That's weird. I tap out Roger's singing with my feet and hands.

It's true. I always catch myself humming along to the drums when the Who come on the radio.

Well you see, I think that hits the nail on the head really. I'm such a massive fan of Townshend and what he can do with melody and his voice (when he finally takes the mic from Roger) that though Moon did a fantastic job of drumming (I Can See For Miles comes to mind) it's just NOT the main reason why I listen to the Who at ALL.

unexpected poll results, given all the moon love in this thread

There's really only one proper response (at 5:12):
http://www.youtube.com/v/uzeq-tEmQmQ&hl=en

i listened to this and while i can agree that he adds a lot of excitement and character and that the band might not benefit from a drummer who plays less, it's still not something i really want to listen to. it also seems very dated in a way...given how music has gone in the last 30 odd years, bonham's huge groove has aged a lot better.

One of the great things about The Who is the noninterchangeability of the personnel. They played the way they did with each other because they were inventing it as it happened.

If John Entwistle was keeping the time, it is because that is how they evolved together. Perhaps Moon could have played a more traditional drumming role in that band or another, but I'm glad it wasn't necessary, because I like how the three of them played together, as interdependent and entwined as any trio I've heard.

As useful and great as having a Charlie Watts or Bonham or Stewart Copeland, Ringo, in your band might be, I love The Who because they were a great organic forceful mess.

"Aged a lot better" is in the eye of the beholder. Both still sound pretty huge today IMHO.

aw I'd been thinking about starting this poll for like a month now

good thing I searched first

I think Moon here, by a big margin.

agreed, i love bonzo but moon is sui generis

why can't rock bands/producers/engineers make drums sound this good anymore????

seriously!

there are a couple working who can but you also need a bonham or a moon

otm

bonham's drumming on in thru the out door is amazing as ever, keith's on who are you is not. love them both but i think i dig bonham's a lot more these days where i would have chosen moon easily back in the day

I'd like to make this poll thread a PO10 Bonham / Moon highlights if noone minds.

weirdly, there's an article in the New Yorker this week that discusses this very issue.

bonham's possibly the better drummer. keith's infinitely more fun, more joyous a drummer.

Joe Carducci comments on the James Wood New Yorker article:

He writes, “Sitting behind the drums was like the fantasy of driving (the other great prepubescent ambition)…”, and on Moon drumming: “He seems to be reaching for everything at once.” Wood contrasts Moon to John Bonham profitably (to Glenn Gould less so) but then noting their deaths two years apart, ends, “And then English drumming went quiet.”

Your editor ought to have told you that was a subject worth six pages of the New Yorker: as in, What happened? A good ten years where the UK produces drummers like Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, Mick Avory, Jack Jones, Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell, Moon, Bonham, Bill Ward, Robert Wyatt, Greg Palmer, Bill Bruford, Clive Bunker, John Marshall, Phil Collins, John Weathers, BJ Wilson, Cozy Powell, Ian Paice, Mick Fleetwood, Barrie Barlow, Simon King, dozens more at least… until glitter and punk and media itself turned on music in the hot-house Pop machine that is London.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGe19nbMhaY

Joe Carducci comments on the James Wood New Yorker article:

the band was increasingly tamed by the requirements of AOR programmers

"Hey guys, look, our listeners are really demanding more Terry Riley-esque minimalism...honestly, I don't think we can get you on the radio without it."

Bonham's drumming was technically better. Moon just did his thing, and it somewhat worked in spite of lack of actual formal drumming skills. When it comes to the myth about the typical drummer personality, Moon will always be the king though, and he also played in the better band of the two.

Take something like "Going Mobile", Moon is going so batshit crazy on the fills on the last part of that song, I just don't see how ANY other drummer could have made it work like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyOibvBoJKM

Moon sounds like three drummers going full anarchy.

Jeff Beck on hanging out with Keith Moon

Also, how did I not notice that Moon rarely uses a hi hat. Ever.

http://www.modculture.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/moon.jpg

Lucked out and found this book used for just a couple bucks. Looks pretty fun! Written by Moon's personal assistant?

hah amazon

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Moon Age Nightmare, March 21, 2013
By
NoName (Staten Island, NY United States) - See all my reviews
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Full Moon: The Amazing Rock and Roll Life of the Late Keith Moon (Paperback)
I can't stand books about drunken parties and destroying hotels (how cliche), this book skips Moons great contribution to rock drumming and gets lost in all the Moon antics, skip it unless you want to journey down a drunken path to nowhere.

Why are you reading this book? Do you see the cover?

Ugh, that book is horrendous. Tony Fletcher's bio is indispensable, but even he doesn't really get to the essence of what made Moon great.

Also, how did I not notice that Moon rarely uses a hi hat. Ever.

― Elvis Telecom, Monday, June 9, 2014 10:51 PM (7 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He used a hi-hat until mid-1966 or so, when he got his first double-bass-drum kit (immediately after watching Sam Woodyard in Duke Ellington's orchestra). From 1966 to 1973 he never used a hi-hat on stage, though he always had a hi-hat on his studio kit.

For the most part, his hi-hat was locked-closed (or half-closed) on studio dates. But sometimes, as on "Won't Get Fooled Again," you can hear him switch up his left foot from bass drum to hi-hat, like at 2:33 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnVjpymrbIY

Starting in 1973, he added a locked-closed hi-hat to his live setup.

Bonham is the drummer I'd 10x rather listen to isolation tracks of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8cSe7RvqSM

and I don't even like that song

awesome post from tarfumes, very illuminating

^^^^ on that.

Thanks! Listening to that isolated WGFA is such a wonderful mindfuck.

"Fool in the Rain" track sounds amazing, and Bonham's sound is unmatched. Glyn Johns points out in his new book that Bonham was meticulous about tuning (and Moon rather less so). But it really reinforces that Bonham and Moon were such utterly different animals as to make comparisons pointless. I'd venture to say that they might as well be playing different instruments.

But if we do compare them as drummers, to paraphrase Andre Previn's famous quote about Stan Kenton and Duke Ellington, John Bonham can lay down a monster groove, and every drummer will nod and say, "Oh, yes, that’s done like this." But Keith Moon skitters over a couple of toms, the band suddenly lifts into the air, and I don't know what it is.

love threads like this one. i'm not a drummer and know so little about this very essential element of so much music i love. good reading, thanks y'all.

also those isolated drum tracks O_O

bonham would never be able to pull off the drum break in “my generation “

fuuuck those isolated bonham tracks rock!

do we have a thread for isolated tracks? we should! there were some really cool isolated malcolm young tracks on the ADCD thread recently

i got Keith's "Two Sides of the Moon" LP last year and really love it. it's messy and silly but you can tell there's a lot of love. it has a pretty star-studded lineup:

Rather than using the album as a chance to showcase his drumming skill, Keith Moon sang lead vocals on all tracks, and played drums only on three of the tracks ("Crazy Like A Fox", "The Kids Are Alright" and "Move Over Ms. L"), although he played percussion on "Don't Worry Baby". The album features contributions from Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, Joe Walsh of the Eagles, Jim Keltner, Bobby Keys, Klaus Voorman, John Sebastian, Flo & Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan of The Turtles), Spencer Davis, Dick Dale, Suzi Quatro's sister Patti Quatro and future actor Miguel Ferrer. Originally recorded for his own album, but not released on it, John Lennon gave Moon the track "Move Over Ms. L" and later did his own version.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Sides_of_the_Moon#Content

highlights include Beach Boys cover "Be My Baby" with drumming by none other than Miguel Ferrer, a really nice and touching strings-based take on "In My Life" and the 50s-rock-via-70s-excess Ricky Nelson cover "Teenage Idol"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAVLggoEa8o

er... that's "Don't Worry Baby". heh i always get those titles confused...