**Robert Plant Remembers the Day He Brought Bonham to Jimmy Page: “Pat Always Said, ‘Keep Away from Plant’”**
In a moment of rock history that changed the face of music forever, **Robert Plant** recently reflected on the day he first brought **John Bonham** to meet **Jimmy Page**—a decision that would set **Led Zeppelin** into motion.
> “It was when I went to the first rehearsal with the Yardbirds, and I was 19, soon to be 20,” Plant recalled. “I had suggested to Jimmy Page that the drummer he’d lined up was just nowhere near the dynamism of John Bonham… it was a totally different thing altogether. Jimmy agreed.”
At the time, Page was trying to assemble a new group after the Yardbirds’ dissolution. Plant, already in awe of Bonham’s power and precision from their previous collaborations, knew there was only one drummer who could match the ambition Page had in mind.
But convincing Bonham wasn’t easy.
> “Pat always said, ‘Keep away from Plant, because you’re just going to end up broke and in trouble,’” Plant laughed, referencing Bonham’s wife. “Still, once she gave him permission to come to a rehearsal, we were off.”
Borrowing **John’s mum’s van**, the two young musicians made the trek to London—Plant riding shotgun, Bonham at the wheel, both probably unaware they were heading into the history books.
> “In that room, on that afternoon, when we kicked in with a bunch of songs that nobody really knew—‘Train Kept A-Rollin’’, everything clicked,” Plant said.
It wasn’t just a rehearsal. It was a **collision of chemistry, power, and purpose**—and it marked the **birth of Led Zeppelin**.
As Plant puts it, “That was it. We knew.”
