They have only been together for twelve years, but their global impact as a band has continued even after their breakup decades ago. Led Zeppelin is the band that people still wonder about, listen to, and wish for a reunion. The fans got what they wanted in 2007, and the band reunited after a long time. Apparently, it took a brutal conversation between Robert Plant and John Bonham’s son, Jason Bonham, to make this happen.
Jason Bonham recently opened up on The Vinyl Guide about this conversation and detailed that it was during a dinner with Plant that he had to bear some brutal words and return some brutalism back. He stated that he was not in a good place with his drinking situation and indicated that Plant spoke to him truthfully about it.
After the dinner, he received the notice of a reunion and became the drummer of Led Zeppelin, honoring his father. The musician’s conversation with Robert Plant and the offer he received afterward must have really helped Bonham see that he had what it took to be a part of something great; he just needed to grasp his own potential and take it seriously.
Bonham spoke about the conversation saying:
“Up until that moment, we’d had a little bump in the road, Robert and I, and it was probably through my… At one point when they did the Page and Plant reunion and I was probably at my worst drinking, that took a lot of swallowing because everywhere I went and everywhere I played, all the people asked me ‘Aren’t you good enough to play with them? Why didn’t they ask you?’ So there was always this huge… It’s not like it’s my god-given.
We went out for dinner and then we had a really, really, really good chat that I won’t… it was a very special chat. Basically, it was a gloves-off chat. He was brutally honest, and I was brutally honest.
And then the next thing I know, in March, an email comes in and says ‘Alright, we’re going to get together on June 10 and have a little play and see what we think.’ And I’m like ‘Who is this?’ They went ‘Here’s a list of songs, pick five songs from this list.’ So everybody chose something and I joined in.”
The 2007 concert was an Ahmet Ertegün tribute concert, the beloved founder of Atlantic Records, who passed away the year before. The concert opened with ‘Good Times Bad Times’ and included many of the band’s hits, such as ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ ‘Kashmir,’ and ‘Whole Lotta Love.’ Since then, the band has refused to reunite and has focused on their solo careers.
