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The drummer that Phil Collins loved and called remarkable
Phil Collins is nowadays best known as a singer and songwriter, but he first started out as a drummer—and has always been an incredible one. He initially rose to fame as a member of Genesis and, in 1975, had the opportunity to also become the band’s singer. A few years later, he launched an equally successful solo career.
Of course, he never stopped paying attention to the drums or playing—until his health eventually forced him to stop. Over the decades, he spoke about many incredible drummers he admired, describing one of them as particularly remarkable.
The drummer that Phil Collins loved and called remarkable
The drummer that Phil Collins was a big fan of and called “remarkable” was the late legendary Led Zeppelin founding member John Bonham. He praised the musicians during his podcast “The A -Z of Phil Collins” (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
“(I saw him at the Marquee Club) with Tim Rose. Tim Rose was over with a trio, two other guys, with ‘Morning Dew’, which was his big hit. I went to see him because I liked the song and I bought the album. I liked a few songs on that album and I went with one of my best friends Ronnie. He had a drummer with him unlike anybody I’d ever seen and that was Bonham.”
“The bass player was a guy called Steve Dallen and I was watching the drummer, watching his feet and I thought ‘This is incredible!’ I’ve never seen anybody do this with the bass drum pedal. I decided just to keep an eye on this guy, see what else he was doing. I didn’t know anything about the Band of Joy, Robert Plant‘s band, he’d been in that, I think. Then one of the other gigs I went to see was The New Yardbirds, I saw The Yardbirds a few times but The New Yardbirds had Jimmy Page and suddenly was a different band.”
“I remember seeing them at the Marquee, Robert Plant was singing, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and the drummer is John Bonham. That night, which was their first show, I think, probably in London, was fantastic. I became a firm believer from Tim Rose onwards all the way through this. He was a remarkable drummer, remarkable,” Phil Collins said.
John Bonham tragically passed away in 1980 at the age of 32.
He “replaced” John Bonham in Led Zeppelin’s special show
Decades later, the Genesis drummer and frontman had the chance to perform with the surviving members of Led Zeppelin at Live Aid. Collins has always been a good friend of Robert Plant and even helped him in his solo career.
However, he was criticized for his performance as the drummer in this concert with Zeppelin. They performed the songs “Rock and Roll”, “Whole Lotta Love” and “Stairway To Heaven”. However, the band’s guitarist and producer Jimmy Page wasn’t happy with the performance of Phil Collins on the drums. He revealed in an interview with The Times in 2021. (It was) “not very clever” (To reunite and have Phil Collins). “The drummer couldn’t get the beginning of ‘Rock and Roll’. So we were in real trouble with that,” Jimmy Page said.
Collins recalled that moment when talking with Classic Rock in 2020 and explained that the lack of rehearsal was the main problem. “By the time I got there, me and Robert and Jimmy playing together had become The Second Coming Of Led Zeppelin. John Paul Jones was there too. Jimmy says: ‘We need to rehearse.’ And I said: ‘Can’t we just go on stage and have a play?’”
Phil Collins continued:
“So I didn’t rehearse when I got there. But I listened to Stairway To Heaven on Concorde. I arrived and went to the caravans, and Robert said: ‘Jimmy Page is belligerent.’ Page says: ‘We’ve been rehearsing!’ And I said: ‘I saw your first gig in London, I know the stuff!’ He says: ‘Alright, how does it go, then?’”
“So I sort of… [mimes the Stairway To Heaven drum part], and Page says: ‘No, it doesn’t! It doesn’t go like that!’ So I had a word with [co-drummer] Tony Thompson. Cos I’ve played as two drummers a lot and it can be a train wreck. I say: ‘Let’s stay out of each other’s way and play simple.’
“Thompson, rest his soul, had rehearsed for a week, and I’m about to steal his thunder – the famous drummer’s arrived! – and he kind of did what he wanted to do. Robert wasn’t match-fit. And if I could have walked off, I would have done. Cos I wasn’t needed and I felt like a spare part,” Phil Collins said.
John Bonham was once angry because he lost a drummers’ poll to Phil Collins
Curiously, John Bonham’s son, Jason Bonham, revealed a couple of years ago that his father was quite upset when he lost a poll to Collins back in the late ’70s.
He told that in an interview with Steve Newton back in 2010. Jason was only 14 when his father passed away and he said in the conversation that he doesn’t remember taking many drum lessons from his old man. However, he remembers that shortly before his father’s death, he made him learn how to play along to the Genesis hit song “Turn It on Again”.
“I think Phil Collins had just beaten him in the Melody Maker drummer’s poll. He came in and said, ‘Play this.’ (So) I went over it a few times. Then he said, ‘Yep, okay, that’s cool.’ I think it was probably his way of going, ‘Hey, what’s the big deal about that guy? My son can play that!’” Jason Bonham said recalling his father.
