On this day in 1980 John Bonham was found dead at Jimmy Page’s house.

Led Zep were practicing and preparing for another tour of the USA and JB had relaxed for the previous day. The relaxation took the form of 40 shots of vodka, inb 4 hours. Not surprisingly he lost conciousness. The drummer then inhaled his own vomit and aphyxiated. His death was the end of the band until nearly 40 years later (2007) when Bonham’s son, Jason, sat at the drum kit for a special concert in London’s O2 Arena in aid of Ahmet Ertegun educational fund.

The support for the gig wasn’t tooo shabby; Bill Wyman, 71, the former Rolling Stones member, and his group the Rhythm Kings warmed up, along with Paul Rodgers, Foreigner, Maggie Bell and 20-year-old Scottish singer Paolo Nutini, the last act signed by Ertegun to Atlantic Records, the record label he started in 1947.

Bonham had a well deserved reputation as a wild man and a hard core party person. He was, also, undeniably, one of the best rock drummers ever to pick up the sticks. Time and again he is voted the best rock drummer ever by the readers of various music magazines. Bonham is also lorded by loads of drummers from Dave Grohl, to Tommy Lee and beyond. Nice to know we fans get right once in a while.