Most of it was nuts, but I was determined to be a drummer as soon as I left school.
John BonhamRead
I've always been obsessed with drums. They fascinate me. Any other instrument - nothing. I play acoustic guitar a bit. But it's always been drums first and foremost. I don't reckon on this Jack-of-all-trades thing. I thing that felling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of passion and originality in music over mere technical skill.
In this quote, John Bonham expresses his deep obsession and fascination with drums, stating that no other instrument compares to his love for them. He believes that while technical proficiency is valuable, it is the emotional connection and originality in music that truly matters; being able to express oneself uniquely is more significant than simply mastering complex techniques that may lead to sounding like everyone else.
In practice
At a music workshop, inspiring young musicians to pursue their passion without worrying about technical perfection.
Most of it was nuts, but I was determined to be a drummer as soon as I left school.
Whenever I'm in Kansas City, I think back to all the jazz-blues greats who played the blues here - like Count Basie, Charlie Parker and Jay McShann. I watched those guys jam in different places and heard a lot of things - but I couldn't do what they did. They were too good.
I wasn't a jazz player, but a classical musician, and I improvised arrangements of popular songs using classical motifs.
I always said if a man would have done half the records that I've done, we would know about it. But we don't know all the records I've done for other artists.
People don't want rap to be anything other than it is. But genres expand. My contributions, no matter how they sound, will always be rap, because they'll always be black.
Record labels collude with some of the radio stations, and the radio stations have their play lists, dependent upon what they call the, quote, 'hits.' What's commercially viable gets recycled, endlessly repeated, and as a result of that, the progressive music can't break in.
I get a thrill meeting kids who are into alternative music.
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