Why would it be under debate? He's really not doing anything extraordinarily fast or difficult. It's just a boom slap boom whack kind of thing to end the song. There's really nothing notable here. He's done much more intense things than this.

...sorry if I've derailed this. It really didn't impress me. Don't get me wrong. I respect the guy. Buddy did some average things, too. So did Gene. I'm saying that of all the things that could be debated, this one really shouldn't be.

I have no idea why people debate this. I've been watching TSRTS for years and never thaught twice about it. On YouTube where I got the clip there is a major debate going on. I do not think people doubt his ability to play fast but question whether or not it was sped up.

It may not seem extraordinary to some but I must humbly admit that I can not play that fast yet. I am working on it but not quite there yet.

The clip looks sped up, because, it's on film, not video. Bonham, Buddy Rich, and anyone with serious chops are faster than what can be recorded with film cameras..at that time. Add this with what mcjnic said.

That makes sense.

Super B is on the right track. With motion picture film cameras, the speed of film, the angle of the rotary shutter, the rate that the film is moving past the shutter, and phase/timing of the film moving past the shutter can affect the look of the motion image. In this case, it was probably shot on 16mm film in low lighting with a fixed shutter, so it doesn't suprise me that it has a choppy or sped up look to it. If a camera's sync motor isn't functioning properly, the rate at which the film is movng past the shutter can vary - giving it a sped up/slowed down look. You'll notice that around 0:06, the sync of the image and sound are slightly off - evidence that this might be happening.

But let's face it - there are a lot of people out there that can play fast as lightining. So it's not like were witnessing something that is impossible to play. Just don't ask me to play it....I'll have to speed the camera up for that!

Great video.

I was backstage that night...

Stole his girlfriend.....:D:D

On a related note, I have a cd someone burned for me with the drumtracks only from the In Through the Out Door sessions....I think I've stumbled across them on the net too.....and after being a "Bonham is God" guy for years, hearing these tracks made me think: he's really not doing anything that extraordinary. After seeing the Led Zeppelin DVD (which I own) I started thinking the same thing. Don't get me wrong either, I still love the man's playing to this day, but after actually watching and hearing the drums only, I guess I'm not as impressed as I used to be. I was able to get the "Good times bad times" bass drum triplet down years ago. Whats the trick? A Speed King pedal. Really not that hard or impressive when you do it....I never seem to get the "what was that?" or "how did you do that?" like I'm sure Bonham did at first. The older I get the harder I am to impress I guess. What impresses me more is Ringo's playing with the Beatles....some of that later stuff from the Revolver album and Strawberry Fields Forever (ya I know there are two different tracks layered over each other) is just amazingly impossible to replicate on stage correctly! And don't get me started on the cool bop era jazz greats! Cool DudeBurger Kin

I wonder if his wife knew about this said girlfriend? LoLoLoLoLoLoLoLo

This is one of my all-time faves. Sometimes it's hard to breath when I focus on it. Unreal depth of groove there. That, to me, defines what jazz drumming can be. We all have goals. One of mine is to get a smile from the man behind that kit on something deep that I've slipped past him on my own kit. I understand the logistics involved in why it won't happen, but man oh man...wouldn't that be sweet.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_v7mUGoKDc[/ame]