One may ask why “The Song Remains The Same,” a live album by Led Zeppelin, hasn’t been included in the band’s boxed sets while exploring the band’s archive. Jimmy Page had previously talked about this enigma, their intention to record a live album in chronological order as a memorial to John Bonham, and the unforeseen roadblock that stood in the way of its release. In May 1993, Page was asked why “The Song Remains The Same” was not included in Led Zeppelin’s boxed sets after the band’s “Led Zeppelin — Boxed Set 2” and “Led Zeppelin — The Complete Studio Recordings” were released. The guitarist talked about their ideas and Robert Plant’s response, saying: “We’ll take care of that later. I wouldn’t mind learning more about the laserdisc and video products that are being sold. As a matter of fact, I recall seeing a portion of the film and observing an awful edit. We also have live tapes from as early as 1970 and up to Knebworth in 1979.
However, I don’t think Robert is all that excited about it being public. Jimmy went on to say how he wished to remember Bonham following his passing: “In fact, I knew how good Bonzo’s drumming was, and I thought it would be a great tribute, so right after we lost him, I wanted to do a chronological live album.” The majority of our songs were intended to be performed live, so it’s fantastic to hear them there. But as Page went on to say, Plant wasn’t all that fond of this notion: It’s also fascinating to observe how the music changed and developed live. However, Robert has never really wanted to do it. If there is someone vetoing the bloody thing, you can’t really proceed. Going through all these videos is a lot of effort, and if he is going to stop, I’m not going to do it. Page and Plant both paid respect to the late drummer in a number of interviews and social media posts, despite not releasing it as an album.
Three days after the anniversary of Bonham’s passing in 2021, the vocalist posted a picture of himself on Instagram showing himself paying respects to the musician’s statue in Redditch, his hometown: “By far still the best!” In 2020, Jimmy also honored John with an Instagram post. The guitarist posted the cover of “Led Zeppelin I,” discussed the song’s creation, and concluded his article with some reflections on Bonham on the 40th anniversary of his death and the 52nd anniversary of the band’s first album’s recording: John Bonham’s amazing drumming technique on “Good Times Bad Times,” the first song off “Led Zeppelin I,” revolutionized drumming forever. Unfortunately, he passed away 40 years ago on this day. His legacy as a musician is heroic. On December 10, 2007, Led Zeppelin played their first complete show since Bonham’s passing at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at London’s O2 Arena. John’s son Jason Bonham sang two songs on backing vocals and played drums at the one-time reunion.
