Jason Bonham Discovered Problem With Becoming Led Zeppelin

03-13-2025

Jason Bonham revealed that he discovered a problem with the recording of his father's voice as he previewed material for the "Becoming Led Zeppelin" documentary.

"I got to see a version of it a few years ago and the voice was wrong," he revealed to the UCR Podcast about his father John's voice in the film. "Probably from the years of them having a tape and it being transferred, there was a slight pitch issue."

He said in the interview that his mother suggested that he watch the early footage to give his thoughts. He shared, "She didn't tell me what I needed to look for, [but] she felt the same way. Obviously, they're watching me to get my reaction. As I'm watching the documentary, I'm realizing, how are they going to do this? Because everybody's narrating their own story and my dad's not around. So, there was an anxiety when he started to speak and I welled up."

Jason recalled hearing his father's voice in the film and knowing something was not right. "Oh, that's weird, I don't remember him sounding like. At the end, they went, 'We looked for the reaction and we were surprised.' I said, 'Well, that's not him. The voice [has changed with] the translation between tapes and copies. You need to do your research a bit more. You need to listen to the Zeppelin albums, where you [can] hear where the timbre of his voice is."

Ultimately, the producers of the film did fix the issue and John Bonham's voice sounds correct in the finished film that was released last month.