Beast cover art

Beast

John Bonham and the Rise of Led Zeppelin

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

 A compelling narrative biography of the legendary drummer John Bonham, his wild ride with iconic rock band Led Zeppelin, and the highs and lows that made up his wild (and tragically short) life.

John Bonham is considered by many to be one of the greatest drummers of all time. He was recruited to join the band who would eventually become known as Led Zeppelin–and before the year was out, Bonham and his bandmates would become the richest rock band in the world.

Throughout the 1970s, Led Zeppelin reached new heights of commercial and critical success, making them one of the most influential groups of the era, both in musical style and in their approach towards the workings of the entertainment industry. In September of 1980, Bonham–plagued by alcoholism, anxiety, and the after-effects of years of excess–was found dead by his bandmates.

As Adam Budofsky, managing editor of Modern Drummer, explains, "If the king of rock 'n' roll was Elvis Presley, then the king of rock drumming was certainly John Bonham." Entertainment & Celebrities Music

Critic reviews

"C.M. Kushins gives us a wild, behind-the-scenes look at one of the greatest rock bands ever, and brings John ‘Bonzo’ Bonham back to life in this well-written rock classic."
—Peter Leonard, Bestselling Author of Voices of the Dead
All stars
Most relevant
As a massive fan of Bonzo I’ve been waiting to get my teeth into this book for ages. While it is detailed & interesting, the narration is professionally managed by Matthew Wolf & Chris Abell but is pretty monotone and the instance on doing all of the quotes in a flat, cod Birmingham-ish accent which occasionally wavers between the Midlands & Liverpool, often making every one of the people quoted start sounding like the same impression of Ringo Starr which which was possibly bearable for a chapter or two but after several chapters REALLY starts to grate. A great book & insight into JHB, fan or not will like the story. Reading Dave Grohl’s fantastic intro for him (I’m sure he would have obliged) & the flat cod Brum quotes took the edge off for me

A long wait

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Nicely written and narrated, I thoroughly enjoyed this audio book. Listening to it brought a lot of my memories of adventures with Led Zep as the soundtrack.

thoroughly enjoyable listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent biography. I enjoyed every minute. I have followed Zeppelin since their beginnings. And have seen them several times. I have lived in the area Rob and John Bonham lived and grew up in so a lot of the places were familiar to me. Still a very sad loss to me and I listen to the band daily.

Superb Biography

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Plain and simple, brilliant, exiting, funny and said. But very good. And very crazy and unbelievable, in a good way

Love the band and love the book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
stories of the rock drummers life peppered with interesting technical nuggets of kit and set up

A must for Bonham fans

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews