I think the first time I witnessed Bonham play the first three fills in the Danmarks Radio version of "Dazed and Confused," I had my entire existence rocked off its fault line. Napster had just become a thing (circa 2000-2001), and I was trying to scour the depths of the world wide web for any live Led Zeppelin material I could find. With the simple search of "Live Led Zeppelin," I was quickly exposed to the "Listen To This Eddie" performance of "The Song Remains The Same," and the entirety of the Danmarks Radio performance. Needless to say, it cemented John Bonham as the Zeus of all drummers in my mind, and now twenty years later, I'm sitting here in my garage making a video about that mythical performance.

Here is the original Danmarks Radio performance:    • Led Zeppelin: Live on TV BYEN/Danmark...  

Some poor saps might argue that the visual element of seeing Bonzo perform these fills is what makes them seem cool, but after countless years of downloading and listening to bootlegs ala Presence's fantastic site (RIP Jason Peterson - the contributions you made to the world of Zeppelin will resonate until the sun swallows the Earth), the musical quality and ingenuity of these fills definitely stand on their own. To some degree, it ruined a lot of performances of Dazed and Confused for me, because I would listen in hopes of hearing even one of these fills thrown into the performance. Alas, the brilliance of Bonzo was in not having to repeat himself; his fearlessness, creativity, and respect for the instrument and the music that he was playing would almost always lead to something new and exciting.

I apologize for any harsh cuts in this video. I ended up babbling for over an hour when I filmed this, and in the effort to chop it down to some manageable length, I had to make some concessions in the quality of the cuts. Still, I hope it serves it's purpose and helps fill in any gaps or answers any questions you may have about his amazing performance!

If you like this video and want to support me on Patreon, please visit:   / kickitlikebonham