Source: Blabbermouth.net
In a brand new interview with Rolling Stone magazine, legendary LED ZEPPELIN guitarist Jimmy Page was asked why the band didn’t take time to heal and rebuild itself following drummer John Bonham‘s death in 1980.
“LED ZEPPELIN wasn’t a corporate entity,” he replied. “LED ZEPPELIN was an affair of the heart. Each of the members was important to the sum total of what we were. I like to think that if it had been me that wasn’t there, the others would have made the same decision. And what were we going to do? Create a role for somebody, say, ‘You have to do this, this way?’ That wouldn’t be honest.”
He continued: “There were attempts [at reunion] that didn’t work — trying to push it together in a hurry. That’s why the [2007] show had to be done with such intent — rehearsing as much as we could so Jason [Bonham‘s son] felt he was part of the band as opposed to a novelty. He was filling big shoes, and we needed all of that.”
In a 2012 interview, Jason Bonham revealed that singer Robert Plant‘s emotional difficulties continuing the band without Jason‘s dad ultimately ended any hoped-for reunion of the group’s surviving members.
“It wasn’t just [Robert] going, ‘I don’t want to do it,’ there were other things going on,” Jason explained. “He told me, ‘It doesn’t matter how great you are on the drums, Jason. I love you to bits, and you play absolutely amazing. But John was the drummer in LED ZEPPELIN, and John was part of me and Jimmy and John Paul. We shared something very, very special. I struggle sometimes just thinking about trying to create some magic again when he’s not there. He was a very, very dear friend of mine, that I miss every day.'”
John Bonham died on September 25, 1980 of pulmonary edema which is fluid accumulation in the lungs. He was 32 years old.