Jason Bonham

Does this guy get enough credit among rock fans? I know the bulk of his career has been simply as a drummer for other bands, but Bonham, the band, put out two excellent albums. The Motherland album, Peace 4 Me, is woefully underrated. As is When You See the Sun, by the Jason Bonham Band.

That's not a lot of music, really, but it seems to be disregarded by most fans. Am I the only one that thinks these are great albums?

I enjoy his Bonham albums and his stuff with Black Country Communion. Nothing groundbreaking but very solid. I guess if you aren't a drummer or even know much about it you can take if for granted.

Very underrated. The guy can play his ass off.

Saw him with Foreigner opening for Def Leppard, he played great

I'm not talking about him as a drummer. He'll always be underrated there, living in the shadow of his father. I'm talking about the bands that he has played a prominent role in, those that were more like his bands than someone else's, you know.

How prominent was he in Virginia Wolf ?

James B. wrote:

How prominent was he in Virginia Wolf ?

Not very, but I agree with eyesore, Bonham was a great band

James B. wrote:

How prominent was he in Virginia Wolf ?

That was a great band, though. Airrace, too. Even their most recent "reunion" album, though sans Bonham, is really good.

I think I had the first Bonham album back on cassette at one time. Don't recall much of it, other than being more-or-less a Zep clone. Decent, but nothing extraordinary. Haven't heard it in 15 years, so maybe it's better than I remember.

Motherland I owned on cd at one time too, but ditched it. Don't remember a thing about it.

In The Name of the Father, the tribute album to his dad & Zeppelin wasn't bad either, however I would find myself wanting to hear the real Led Zeppelin albums while I was playing that, so I eventually sold that one off too.

When You See The Sun has a Soundgarden vibe to it, if I remember corretly. That one I still have. Might have to give it a fresh spin.

I never bothered to look at the credits for any of those albums though. Does he write any of the music or lyrics? As a drummer, I think he's good, but I don't know how involved he is in the music he makes.

He's good on the Black Country Communion albums as well, but nothing mind-blowing.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I think I had the first Bonham album back on cassette at one time. Don't recall much of it, other than being more-or-less a Zep clone. Decent, but nothing extraordinary. Haven't heard it in 15 years, so maybe it's better than I remember.

Motherland I owned on cd at one time too, but ditched it. Don't remember a thing about it.

When You See The Sun has a Soundgarden vibe to it, if I remember corretly. That one I still have. Might have to give it a fresh spin.

I never bothered to look at the credits for any of those albums though. Does he write any of the music or lyrics? As a drummer, I think he's good, but I don't know how involved he is in the music he makes.

He's good on the Black Country Communion albums as well, but nothing mind-blowing.

On the Bonham he was given song writing credits but then so were the other 4 members of the band, and as was producer Bob Ezrin on a few cuts

How do those Bonham albums sound today? Dated or do they hold up?

MetalGuy71 wrote:

How do those Bonham albums sound today? Dated or do they hold up?

IMO the first one 'Disregard for Time Keeping' sounds a bit dated, thankfully they had Bob Ezrin at the helm, which think helps it to not sound like Kingdom Clone II, even if the lads were purposely going for that Led Zeppelin sound.

Disregard...was the one I owned. I remember seeing a stripper dancing to 'Wait For You' and the next day, I went and shop lifted the tape from Tower Records.

Funny now, thinking back about how many tapes I purchased or swiped on account of seeing a stripper dance to a certain song. I aquired allot of sh*tty music that way.

He'll always live in the shadow of his father. Similar style, but no one will ever really near Bonzo's talent.

I have Disregard for Time Keeping and Mad Hatter (somewhere but for some reason I never put it into my computer) and while they weren't bad, there wasn't anything fully remarkable about them. I can try to give the former another spin but not the latter as it's somehwere in one of seventeen boxes in a storage unit. Just not worth digging it out.

The only song I remember about them is "Wait For You". I've seen the video back in the day several times.

My favorite tune from the two Bonham albums:

Eyesore wrote:

My favorite tune from the two Bonham albums:

The vocals remind me of Oni Logan from Lynch Mob.

I never really listened to him back in the day. Only got into him when Black Country Communion came around. He comes across as a pretty solid drummer. Nothing flashy, but the kind of guy I would want holding down the rhythm if I was in a band.

I know that he wrote the song "Save Me" for BCC 2 which has a definite Zep vibe to it, as well as some songs on "Afterglow".


I was recently watching the O2 video and noticed that he seemed to do a pretty good job of backing up Robert Plant on vox as well.

Eyesore wrote:

James B. wrote:

How prominent was he in Virginia Wolf ?

That was a great band, though. Airrace, too. Even their most recent "reunion" album, though sans Bonham, is really good.

I forgot about Airrace.... They were even more AOR than Virginia Wolf if memory serves......

I liked Jason in UFO, too bad that didn't pan out further.

Anybody here seen the Led Zeppelin Experience thiang he's doing on the side of BCC ?

manny wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

How do those Bonham albums sound today? Dated or do they hold up?

IMO the first one 'Disregard for Time Keeping' sounds a bit dated, thankfully they had Bob Ezrin at the helm, which think helps it to not sound like Kingdom Clone II, even if the lads were purposely going for that Led Zeppelin sound.

I still enjoy Disregard. It does sound a little dated but it is still an enjoyable album.

Disregard is fantastic (the only one I own of his) and gets regular play from me. I keep seeing Mad Hatter for around $5.00 but haven't picked it up.

exact33 wrote:

manny wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

How do those Bonham albums sound today? Dated or do they hold up?

IMO the first one 'Disregard for Time Keeping' sounds a bit dated,  thankfully they had Bob Ezrin at the helm, which think helps it to not sound like Kingdom Clone II, even if the lads were purposely going for that Led Zeppelin sound.

I still enjoy Disregard. It does sound a little dated but it is still an enjoyable album.

I picked this up cheap on ebay. Listening to it now for the first time in 15-18 (?) years, I have to say it sounds a bit dated. Enjoyable, but the keyboards and overly slick production just kills it for me. That "80's synth sound" is a pet peeve of mine these days. I can't help but think how much better/timeless this would sound without so much artificial shine. Ahhh, sign of the times I guess.

I hold onto it though for the time being. It's still a good listen. Don't know that I'll be as anxious to hear the follow-up Mad Hatter album though. Might hold off on that one for a bit.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

exact33 wrote:

manny wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

How do those Bonham albums sound today? Dated or do they hold up?

IMO the first one 'Disregard for Time Keeping' sounds a bit dated,  thankfully they had Bob Ezrin at the helm, which think helps it to not sound like Kingdom Clone II, even if the lads were purposely going for that Led Zeppelin sound.

I still enjoy Disregard. It does sound a little dated but it is still an enjoyable album.

I picked this up cheap on ebay. Listening to it now for the first time in 15-18 (?) years, I have to say it sounds a bit dated. Enjoyable, but the keyboards and overly slick production just kills it for me. That "80's synth sound" is a pet peeve of mine these days. I can't help but think how much better/timeless this would sound without so much artificial shine. Ahhh, sign of the times I guess.

I hold onto it though for the time being. It's still a good listen. Don't know that I'll be as anxious to hear the follow-up Mad Hatter album though. Might hold off on that one for a bit.

I have owned Mad Hatter for years, can't recall a single tune off the album