John Bonham was the greatest rock drummer of all time.

I will answer Cons arguments point by point in an effort to show my argument holds true. 1) While I agree that Led Zeppelin was one of the greatest bands ever I did not assess that Bonham was the best just on the fact that he was a member of Led Zeppelin as Con stated. John stood out on his own and was great regardless,however I think that by Bonham being a member of Zeppelin brought out the beast in John. One only need view "Moby Dick" on The Song Remains The Same to see that John was a beast when he played but somehow he managed to play with a lot of soul,character and nuance as well (not neccesarily attributes of today's drummers IMO). I disagree that there is no way to measure the greatness of a band or a person. With John Bonham one could look at the number of drummers he influenced. Chad Smith, Vinnie Paul, Danny Carey, Mike Portnoy, Neil Peart, Jon Fishman, Joey Kramer, Lee Kerslake, Tony Thompson, Dave Grohl, Tommy Lee, Peter Criss, Stewart Copeland, Dave Lombardo and Brad Wilk just to name a few. One could also look to the online and in-magazine polls to further prove Bonhams greatness. Stylus magazine rated Bonham number 1 on its list of the 50 greatest rock drummers,as did the online music magazine Gigwise.com in 2008. In a Rolling Stone reader's poll Bonham was ranked at no. 1 on the list of "50 Greatest Drummers in Rock", and Modern Drummer magazine describes him as "the greatest rock 'n' roll drummer in history". Bonham topped the Blabbermouth.net's list of "Rockers fans want brought back to life", ahead of Elvis Presley and Freddie Mercury. Rhythm magazine voted him the greatest drummer ever, topping the reader's poll in its October 2009 issue.(1) I would also like to include a statement made by another top drummer,Eric Carr (formerly of Kiss) "At least 85% of all of the rock drummers today have gotten influences from Bonham, and all have recognised how great he was. Every band in the business – guaranteed – has tried to do something with that Bonham sound, which shows that everyone from A to Z has listened to him." (2) 2)Con states that who am I to say how many drummers I would need to know to have a say on this issue. True,I couldn't put a number on it. It would seem I would need to know drummers from all walks of life with varied styles and wide range of music in their respective libraries. I can safely say that is the case but I have no way of proving this to Con. My claims of John Bonhams greatness will have to stand on its own. Using the above evidence is ample for my argument to stand. Con would be correct that it would be bold for me to claim" A is the best" because who I think is the best may be the worst in every one elses opinion. However,I think I have given ample evidence that it is not the case with regard to John Bonhams greatness and influence in the world of music. One final note regarding my statement "Perhaps it would be more accurate to say "the greatest drummer I have heard with respect to the fact I have not heard every drummer in the world and couldn't possibly know this for absolute certainty". This was merely an example of what one would need to say to be more "absolutely correct" and a statement that Con would be more likely to agree with. I was also pointing out the silliness of making such a statement verses saying "A is the greatest______ in the world" or equivalent. People have been making such statements to convey their opinion to the listener but I feel that my statement has been made by quite a few other well-respected musicians as well as magazines and online pages. Enough have made the same statement that I have made about Bonham that I feel comfortable that a good portion of the music playing and music listening communities would back up my statement that John Bonham was indeed the best ever. (1) Wikipedia (2) "Kiss Rocks' exclusive 1989 interview with Eric Carr". kissrocks.net. 8 November 1989.