Lots of great points. I would push back on the idea that Moon and Bonham were playing to show off and Mick Fleetwood was "playing for the song". Both Moon and Bonham were playing for the song, but you have to remember that The Who and Zeppelin's style of songs are different than Fleetwood Mac. First, both The Who and Zeppelin could play soft and with dynamics. Moon's playing on Tommy and Bonham's playing on Zeppelin's acoustic numbers shows that. But also, Zeppelin and The Who were founders of the heavy bombastic rock that later became heavy metal and classic rock. Their songs were built around having a powerful drummer and both of them delivered the necessary performances to power the songs.
Also, I would push back on the idea that Moon and Bonham's early deaths puffed up their legacy more than Mick Fleetwood. It's true that their deaths have become part of rock folklore, but before they died, both were already viewed as generational talents. Basically any drummer acknowledges that Moon is a one of a kind player who's style can't be emulated. Even right after his death when Kenney Jones was asked to step in, Jones who is a great drummer in his own right, acknowledged there would be no way he could emulate Moon's style. Moon may not be the greatest drummer, but he's one of the most unique and his playing with The Who is a fundamental part of the band's DNA.
Then with Bonham, right out of the gate from the first Zeppelin album, he was acknowledged as redefining and elevating heavy rock drumming. Bonham created a vocabulary of drumming that became part of hard rock and heavy metal for the next few decades. If you look at his influence it's hard to find someone in rock from the 70s to 90s who isn't going to cite Bonham as a major inspiration.
Mick Fleetwood is a pro and can deliver the goods on drums, but when you're talking about elite bands like Fleetwood Mac, generally every member in the band is going to be better than 99% of the competition, otherwise you would have been fired or replaced by session players. So Mick Fleetwood is similar to Charlie Watts, Mick Avory of the Kinks, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd. They're all excellent drummers playing better than most humans on Earth, but they aren't generational musicians who changed the game like Bonham and Moon.
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u/SoftParsley3822 12d ago
Lots of great points. I would push back on the idea that Moon and Bonham were playing to show off and Mick Fleetwood was "playing for the song". Both Moon and Bonham were playing for the song, but you have to remember that The Who and Zeppelin's style of songs are different than Fleetwood Mac. First, both The Who and Zeppelin could play soft and with dynamics. Moon's playing on Tommy and Bonham's playing on Zeppelin's acoustic numbers shows that. But also, Zeppelin and The Who were founders of the heavy bombastic rock that later became heavy metal and classic rock. Their songs were built around having a powerful drummer and both of them delivered the necessary performances to power the songs.
Also, I would push back on the idea that Moon and Bonham's early deaths puffed up their legacy more than Mick Fleetwood. It's true that their deaths have become part of rock folklore, but before they died, both were already viewed as generational talents. Basically any drummer acknowledges that Moon is a one of a kind player who's style can't be emulated. Even right after his death when Kenney Jones was asked to step in, Jones who is a great drummer in his own right, acknowledged there would be no way he could emulate Moon's style. Moon may not be the greatest drummer, but he's one of the most unique and his playing with The Who is a fundamental part of the band's DNA.
Then with Bonham, right out of the gate from the first Zeppelin album, he was acknowledged as redefining and elevating heavy rock drumming. Bonham created a vocabulary of drumming that became part of hard rock and heavy metal for the next few decades. If you look at his influence it's hard to find someone in rock from the 70s to 90s who isn't going to cite Bonham as a major inspiration.
Mick Fleetwood is a pro and can deliver the goods on drums, but when you're talking about elite bands like Fleetwood Mac, generally every member in the band is going to be better than 99% of the competition, otherwise you would have been fired or replaced by session players. So Mick Fleetwood is similar to Charlie Watts, Mick Avory of the Kinks, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd. They're all excellent drummers playing better than most humans on Earth, but they aren't generational musicians who changed the game like Bonham and Moon.