Neil Peart’s opinion on Led Zeppelin

When Rock and Roll fans are asked who the greatest drummer of all time was, many will mention either Led Zeppelin‘s John Bonham or Rush’s Neil Peart. The British musician sadly didn’t live long enough to say whether he liked Rush’s music or to someday have the opportunity to meet his Canadian peer. However, during his career, Peart talked a lot about John and Led Zeppelin, giving his opinion on them.

What was Neil Peart’s opinion on Led Zeppelin

Neil Peart was a big fan of Led Zeppelin and especially their drummer John Bonham, who he said was a major influence on him, particularly during his drum solos with Rush. “In many ways, my drum solo remains an ever-changing tribute to all the drummers that I have ever appreciated. You don’t have to listen too hard to hear me emulate Gene Krupa’s tom-tom rhythms, Buddy Rich’s driving snare work, Michael Giles’s intricate syncopations, Keith Moon’s explosive fluidity. Or John Bonham‘s ‘big foot’ triplets. They were all so great.”

“When I was starting out, very young, John Bonham and Led Zeppelin were new in those golden days. John Bonham did always the big triplets with his giant bass drum. I had two little bass drums at the time. So I just added those in. (I also) had kind of four-beat triplets as my variation on it. So then over the years I found many ways to develop that. Also to apply it to songs outside of the solo,” Neil Peart said in the 2005 movie “Anatomy of a Drum Solo”. Although he loved Bonham, Peart admitted in a 2011 interview with Modern Drummer that sometimes his drum solos could be overwhelming.

He said:

“I’ve watched some historic solos, John Bonham, for example, and even as a drummer and an admirer, it does get overwhelming. So I appreciate concision. I think you’re even more critical of yourself in the onstage situation, where I won’t let myself dwell. Or I’ll feel like I’m meandering long before I am. So there’s an automatic steering wheel that corrects and keeps you moving,” he said.

Neil Peart was four years younger than John Bonham. He started his musical career in 1968, one year before Led Zeppelin released their first studio album. When the British musician tragically passed away in 1980 at the age of 32, Peart had already recorded six studio albums with Rush. It’s possible that Bonham had heard their music, but there are no known records of him commenting on Peart’s drumming. His bandmates Geddy and Alex had the chance to meet Robert Plant and Jimmy Page for the first time in the 1990s.

Curiously, on Rush’s first album, which featured John Rutsey on drums, the band was often compared to the English group. They were even called the “Canadian Led Zeppelin.” However, after Neil Peart joined the band, their sound changed significantly, even though he was a fan of Bonham’s.

Neil Peart mentioned John Bonham and Karen Carpenter as examples of how popularity does not necessarily mean quality

Although music is not a competition like sports, fans and the press have often compared artists, ranked them. Peart didn’t believe that approach applied to music. He once mentioned Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham and The Carpenters’ Karen Carpenter as examples of how popularity doesn’t necessarily mean quality.

“Obviously quality is not a popularity contest. I often think of how Buddy Rich must have felt during the ‘6os and 7os, looking at the various musician polls and seeing himself way down the list behind so many callow beat-keepers, even as he struggled to keep his big band working. John Bonham, on tour with Led Zeppelin during the 7os, bewailed his own ranking in the Playboy polls behind Karen Carpenter (who, may she rest in peace, didn’t even play on the Carpenters’ records.”

“It was Hal Blaine, a legendary session drummer, who, after playing on so many hit records that sold millions and millions for Phil Spector, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas, Frank Sinatra, Simon and Garfunkel, John Denver, and so many more, now lives on social security in a small town in the California desert),”  Neil Peart said in his book “Traveling Music”.

It’s not a coincidence that Neil Peart mentioned the Led Zeppelin drummer and Buddy Rich. He and Bonham were both big fans of the American drummer. The American Jazz scene was an influence for their style. Peart had the chance to produce and play on the tribute album “Burning For Buddy” (1994).