This week back in 1980, the rock world lost a good one. John Bonham, the fantastic, heavy-footed drummer for Led Zeppelin was found dead in bed in Jimmy Page's Windsor manor house.
It was an ugly end for Bonzo. A longtime heavy drinker -- particularly when separated from his family -- Bonham had consumed 40 shots of vodka in the day before he died. That was no remarkable number for Bonham, which made his death all the more astonishing. Frankly, there's no pleasant way to recount what happened next: The drummer expired by choking to death on his own vomit.
What's awful is that famous rock stars drowning in puke was already something of a sad cliché by then.
Only seven months before Bonham's passing, AC/DC singer Bon Scott died after he similarly filled his lungs with his own vomit. Jimi Hendrix had asphyxiated on his own bile ten years earlier. By the time Eric "Stumpy Joe" Childs, one of Spinal Tap's loudest drummers, choked to death on someone else's vomit in 1984, pulmonary oedema had become a joke.
Folks, asphyxia is no laughing matter! Only vigilance has helped to reduce the incidence of vomit-related drowning among celebs in the past 30 years. To help protect the hard-partying rock stars whom we make our living idolizing (not to mention the weekend wannabes who read this stuff), Rocks Off has put together this scientific tip sheet to help steer our favorite people away from sharing John Bonham's sorry fate.
5. Limit Vodka Intake During Breakfast
On Sept. 24, 1980, Bonham was picked up by an assistant to be taken to rehearsals for Zep's forthcoming American tour--the band's big comeback. Rather than try to work on an empty stomach, Bonzo had his driver stop for breakfast, where he went ahead and ordered a few drinks. Four quadruple vodkas, to be exact - that's 16 shots of the hard stuff to start the day off right.
Today, experts believe that this liquid diet may have been a symptom of a serious disease known as alcoholism. If you ever find yourself compelled by an addiction to consume 24 ounces of liquor during the most important meal of the day, it might be a good idea to make sure that you weigh 600 lbs. or so first and then chase your booze with 60 or 70 English muffins with eggs and jam. Your only other safe choice is to avoid drinking fatal doses of alcohol as soon as you wake up.
4. Always Heed Terrifying Warning Signs
Three months before his death, a soused Bonham collapsed onstage during a Led Zep show in Nuremburg and had to be rushed to a hospital. Any headbanging idiot with a copy of Houses of the Holy at home could tell that the drummer was in pretty bad shape with his addiction, but the band's management insisted that Bonham had simply overeaten.
In our view, this was a mistake. Modern medicine now tells us that collapsing into alcoholic unconsciousness at work in front of several thousand people could be considered a "warning sign" of serious health risks to come. Bonham should have returned to England immediately for rehabilitation, but the band had the all-important American tour looming, and so he was propped back up on his stool.
Had he gotten real help before it was too late, Zeppelin might've been touring the States this summer.
