Bio
Led Zeppelin consisted of four musicians: Jimmy Page (guitar); John Bonham (drums & percussion); John Paul Jones (bass & keyboards); and Robert Plant (vocals & harmonica). Together, these four people made music so great, fans have proclaimed that, 'Led Zeppelin is god,' countless times, and for a good reason too.
In June 1966, after spending years as a session musician, Jimmy Page joined The Yardbirds as their bassist (when Paul Samwell-Smith quit). Eventually though, he became half of The Yardbirds' lead guitar duo, with Jeff Beck assuming the other half. Rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja soon became the bassist. Around the same time, John Paul Jones (who was also a session musician) did string arrangements for The Yardbirds' album 'Little Games,' so he and Page briefly met.
Unfortunately, Beck left the band by the end of 1966, and the band's excitement was beginning to wane. Once the band was broken up (by 1968), Jimmy Page just could not sit still. He loved making music too much...and therefore decided to assemble a new band. There were also some Yardbirds tour dates left to fill, so he pretty much had to form a band. He started an 'A' list of musicians to consider for his new band, including Keith Moon, John Entwistle, Steve Winwood, and Terry Reid. None of them joined. Reid, however, reccomended that Page check out vocalist Robert Plant (who, at the time, was with a band called Hobbstweedle). Page trusted Reid enough to go see Plant perform, and he was blown away by Plant's strong, sexy voice. He decided to invite Robert over to his home and get to know him better. Plant was stunned with excitement and anxiousness when he heard that this great guitarist wanted to meet him. He came over to Page's house, and the two men soon became friends. Plant told Jimmy about his drummer friend John Bonham, and Page decided to go see him and was indeed blown away by him as well. However, getting Bonham into the band was not the easiest task. Bonham was touring with Tim Rose and making forty pounds a week, the most money he had ever earned. Page relentlessly did whatever he could to get Bonham to join his new band. Finally, John relented. Meanwhile, John Paul Jones (who had known Jimmy Page when they were both session musicians), read in Melody Maker about Page forming a new band and rang him up, saying, 'Give me a call if you need a new bass player.' Soon enough, Jimmy invited Jones to join the band.
The band was all in place. Shortly after, Page invited his three new bandmates to jam with him to see if they clicked together musically. The band started with The Yardbirds' 'The Train Kept A-Rolling,' before moving into Garnet Mimms' 'As Long As I Have You.' By the end of the initial jam session, the whole band was joyous with excitement. A giddy Jimmy Page told former Yardbirds manager Peter Grant how well things had went, and that he wanted to get the band doing some live performances. Grant pulled out the remaining Yardbirds contracts, made some calls, and within a short while had arranged the band's first minitour ever, billing them as 'The New Yardbirds.' They would begin in Copenhagen, Denmark in mid-September. The minitour went down successfully -- so well, in fact, that Jimmy did not feel that the band had to depend on the name 'New Yardbirds' to capture attention. 'The music will speak for itself,' he said. He changed the band's name to Led Zeppelin.
Later that year, the band created their debut album: Led Zeppelin. Recorded in 30 hours within 9 days, Led Zeppelin was released on January 12, 1969 in the U.S. and March 28, 1969 in the U.K. In late 1968, Peter Grant arranged a series of gigs at British clubs, where Zeppelin received lukewarm audience reception. Peter Grant then made a highly publicized recording contract with Atlantic Records -- the same label that had turned Cream into a phenomenon. Atlantic was looking for the next Supergroup, and Grant had convinced them that Zeppelin was It. Atlantic executive Ahmet Ertegun had not even heard the tapes from the first Led Zeppelin recording session when he brought out his checkbook and wrote Grant a $200,000 advance. More significantly, Grant insisted that the band retain full control over their music. Atlantic's initial promotion of the band was as follows: 'Top English and American rock musicians who have heard the [first Zeppelin] tracks have compared the L.P. to the best of Cream and Jimi Hendrix, and have called Led Zeppelin the next group to reach the heights achieved by Cream and Hendrix.' The band was delighted to hear about the promotion, especially after the disappointing audience reaction at the British clubs.
That was when Grant turned his attention to America. He arranged for Led Zeppelin to perform in various places in America (such as the Grande Ballroom in Detroit and the Boston Tea Party) during Christmas. At first the band members felt troubled at the thought of being away from their families during Christmas, but Grant felt that this tour would do wonders for the band's success. Zeppelin flew over, played the dates, and received so much audience adulation that a dismayed-looking John Paul Jones left the stage a couple of times and said, 'What's wrong with this damn equipment? I can't even hear my own bass!' Zeppelin was getting to the point where their music had to compete with the crowd noise, and very often, the crowd won.
As much as the fans loved Led Zeppelin, the critics obviously did not feel the same way about the band. Zeppelin returned from America feeling euphoric, only to find one demoralizing review after another. 'This is absurd,' Page said. 'The critics don't know a fucking thing about music. They're out of touch. Completely out of touch.' In anger and disgust, he crumpled up some of the reviews into a ball and tossed them into the wastebasket. Peter Grant did his best to put it into perspective: ' A lot of the press are still pissed off about all of Atlantic's hype about the signing of Led Zeppelin. And we're paying the price now.' In Rolling Stone magazine, writer John Mendelsohn commented on Led Zeppelin: 'The popular formula in this, the aftermath era of such successful British bluesmen as Cream and John Mayall, seems to be: add, to an excellent guitarist who, since leaving the Yardbirds and/or Mayall has become a minor musical deity, a competent rhythm section and a pretty soul-belter who can do a good spade imitation. The latest of the British groups so conceived offers little that its twin, the Jeff Beck Group, didn't say as well or better three months ago.' These sorts of reviews annoyed the band so much that for years afterwards, they would often refuse to be interviewed. Gradually the reviews became more complimentary, all but Rolling Stone. Even when the whole world loved Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stone writers would have a negative comment to make on the band.
In late April 1969, Zeppelin began their second American tour. Throughout the tour, Atlantic Records was pressuring the band to finish their second album, Led Zeppelin II. All the band members hated it. 'Let's just tell them to fuck off!' John Bonham once suggested. The band realised though that they had a contractual arrangement they had to take seriously. Page and Plant began frantically scribbling lyrics down in hotel rooms -- such as 'Ramble On' and 'Whole Lotta Love.' Whenever the band had a day off during the tour, Page would find an nearby studio, and the band would go work there from early evening to late at night. On several occasions, Page and Richard Cole (Zeppelin's road manager) would catch a plane into New York, grab a taxi to A&R studios, spend half a day there working on the unfinished tapes, and then fly out to the next concert. This was a stressful period for Zeppelin, but they still found time for some rest during a stay in Hawaii, where they already had a concert scheduled.
Sometime in the mid spring of 1970, Page and Plant headed to Bron-Yr-Aur, a little cottage located in South Wales, and composed a batch of songs including, 'That's The Way,' and 'Immigrant Song.' By mid-May, the band were ready to record the songs for their third album, Led Zeppelin III. This album differed more greatly from its predecessors. Led Zeppelin III featured a few heavy numbers...and a lot of acoustic numbers. Practically the entire latter half of the album consisted of acoustic songs. This was a dramatic change from Zeppelin's hard blues repetoire. 'The element of change has been the thing, really. We put out the first one, then the second... then a third LP totally different from them. It's the reason we were able to keep it together,' Page stated. All in all, the band enjoyed putting together the third album, definitely more so than the second, where the sessions had been filled with pressures and stresses that did not necessarily make it easier for the band to create an album. 'This is the way we have to do it from now on,' Jimmy said. 'I feel energized with this kind of pace.' The band also felt that the atmosphere at Bron-Yr-Aur had helped their creativity ebb and flow, and they even credited the cottage inside the album jacket: 'Credit must be given to Bron-Yr-Aur, a small derelict cottage in South Snowdonia for painting a somewhat forgotten picture of true completeness which acted as an incentive to some of these musical statements.'
Led Zeppelin III was released on October 5, 1970 in the U.S. and October 23, 1970 in the U.K. The band hoped that the media had changed their attitude towards Zeppelin, but, as expected, most of the reviews were negative. A distraught Robert Plant said, 'The critics are a bunch of fucking hacks. They're critics because they don't have the talent to play music.' Almost immediately after the release of Led Zeppelin III, the band headed back to the studio to record a fourth album, as if to say, 'If the critics don't like this one, wait till they see what comes next!' Page and Plant wrote a few more songs at Bron-Yr-Aur, but most of the songs for the new album were composed right in the recording studio, Headley Grange. It was during this time that Page and Plant composed the phenomenon, 'Stairway To Heaven.' This album also had variety like the third one, with some grinding songs and some acoustic songs. The album was recorded over the end of 1970 and was completed by February 1971, but its release was delayed due to problems especially with the album's titling. There was some talk of calling the album Led Zeppelin IV, but the band insisted -- perhaps as a way of confusing the critics -- that the album remain nameless. 'The music is what matters,' said Page. 'Let people buy it because they like the music. I don't want any writing on the cover! Period!' Atlantic Records executives thought the band was crazy. 'An album without the artist's name on the cover! You guys are signing your own death warrant!' Zeppelin adamantly refused to have their name -- or any writing for that matter -- anywhere on the album, including the spine. However, Jimmy did suggest that each of the band members choose a metaphysical symbol to put on the inside of the album. Most of the symbols chosen came from a book of runes Page showed the band one afternoon. The album was released on November 8, 1971 in the U.S. and on November 12, 1971 in the U.K. Fortunately, the Atlantic executives had released the album as the band requested, without a name. This however did not stop fans from calling the album a number of names -- Led Zeppelin IV, Runes, ZoSo, Four Symbols, and IV being some of those names.
Half a year and several tours later, Zeppelin congregated at Mick Jagger's country home, Stargroves, to make yet another new album, Houses Of The Holy. This album was probably even more experimental than their last ones. From reggae influences to romantic ballads, Houses Of The Holy shows that the band members were immensely burgeoning as musicians. Though the album was completed in the spring of 1972, its release was delayed till March 18, 1973 in the U.S. and March 26, 1973 in the U.K., due to problems with the cover artwork. Page worried that the bright, lavish colours on the cover would make the album look like a cosmetics advertisement in a fashion magazine. However, in the end, he was satisfied with the artwork: '(The cover) denoted the feeling of expectancy for the music contained within.' The cover featured blonde naked children at Northern Ireland's Giant's Causeway. The band was quite proud of this album. However, the critics evidently did not feel the same way. Rolling Stone Magazine's Gordon Fletcher called it, 'one of the dullest and most confusing albums I've heard this year.' But by then, Zeppelin's spirits and success were too euphoric to be lowered just by a few antagonistic comments from some rock critics.
Peter Grant then scheduled an American tour for Zeppelin, beginning in May of 1973. A hiatus took place in the middle, and Grant gave Richard Cole the orders: 'By the time the tour resumes, I want us to have a bigger plane. I don't care what it costs. Get us something so big it won't seem like flying at all.' A month later, Cole had rented a Boeing jet called The Starship from singer Bobby Sherman and one of the creators of The Monkees. The band was thrilled. 'It's like a floating palace,' remarked Robert Plant on his first Starship flight.
The Starship was a big thing, all right. However, something even bigger was beginning to take place: the creation of the legendary Zeppelin film The Song Remains The Same. During the last few concerts of the band's 1973 American tour -- which took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City -- filmmaker Joe Massot and his crew filmed the band's performances and some off/backstage shots. Sometime later, they also filmed a 'fantasy scene' for each of the band members, scenes supposedly derived from each of the band members' thoughts and fantasies. Though it was started in the middle of 1973, the film took an interminable amount of time to complete, and it was not released until 1976.
While the band was staying in New York, an shocking and agitating event occured. Zeppelin tour manager Richard Cole had stored $203,000 in the band's safe-deposit box, but when he went to check on it, the money was all gone. Cole told Peter Grant about it, who told the band members, and within a few hours, the press knew about it. They swarmped the band with questions ('Who took the money, Jimmy?'). Papers were printed bearing the headlines, 'Led Zeppelin robbed of 203G.' No one knew for sure who the culprit was, though since Richard Cole had the only key to the safe-deposit box, he was immediately a prime suspect. However, the band members have denounced this theory. 'I can't believe that Cole had anything to do with it,' said Robert Plant. 'He works for us because he's our tour manager and handled our money for years,' Jimmy Page agreed. 'He works for us because he's trustworthy. My god, if Richard was going to steal some money, he's smart enough to have waited until there was a hell of a lot more of it to take.' Many even suggest he really knows who took the money.
Zeppelin never really did find out who stole the money. It was a terribly disappointing event, but the band had other things and plans formulating in their minds, such as the formation of their own record company, Swan Song. Sometime right before 1974, Zeppelin's five-year contract with Atlantic Records had expired, and Page and Grant both felt it would be more financially and creatively rewarding if they went ahead and materialized their own label. The company was not just a portrayal of Led Zeppelin's ego. It signed acts such as Bad Company and Maggie Bell as well as Zeppelin. The band celebrated the launching of Swan Song with receptions at the Four Seasons Party in New York and the Bel Air Hotel in Los Angeles.
Shortly after the band had returned to England, they retreated to Headley Grange to begin working on their sixth album, Physical Graffiti. This was the record in which Jimmy Page's desire for a double album finally materialized. The band was slightly worried, knowing that double albums were generally more susceptible to criticism; and for a band like Zeppelin, who had already been criticized hundreds of times, they were especially wary. In the beginning of January 1975 -- shortly before the release of Physical Graffiti -- Zeppelin started another tour, beginning in Holland and then moving on to America. Nearly two months later, Physical Graffiti was released (February 24th in both the U.S. and U.K.). Zeppelin's feelings that the album would be heavily criticized were refuted. On the contrary, it became one of the most popular, loved Zeppelin albums. There was a recent poll asking, 'What's your favourite Led Zeppelin album?' Most people had voted on Physical Graffiti. The critics seemed to be coming around as well. Rolling Stone writer Jim Miller praised the band's work: 'This last great Led Zeppelin album, is -- like most double LP's of the era -- a bloated beast. But its self-indulgent swagger is the very thing that makes it so much fun -- and one of the heaviest records of the 1970s. Powered by John Paul Jones' jittery clavinet, "Trampled Under Foot" is viking funk; "In My Time of Dying" is eleven minutes of slow-blues lava. The sprawl of Physical Graffiti also let Jimmy Page and Robert Plant bring Zeppelin's less obvious gifts -- English folk and hillbilly romp -- out from behind the wall of amps. Plant would later cite the mighty Arab-influenced march "Kashmir" as one of Zeppelin's greatest achievements.'
The American tour ended in April, but, beginning on May 17th, Peter Grant scheduled the band for three concerts at the vast England venue Earls Court. The concerts would become legendary, and tapings of the shows were included in the Led Zeppelin DVD nearly thirty years later. It was not even one month later before the band had made so much money that they became tax exiles. The band members eventually all wound up in Jersey. They were planning on starting an American tour later that summer, but all did not go as planned. A terrible, life-threatening thing happened. Maureen Plant was driving her husband, their children, and Jimmy's daughter Scarlet in a rented Austin Mini sedan on Rhodes, Greece, when the car veered off the road and crashed. Fortunately, no one was killed. However, Maureen had lost a critical amount of blood -- and had a rare blood type. She nearly died and probably would have if her sister, Shirley, was not in the car behind them and ready for immediate blood transfusions. Robert's son Karac had fractured his leg; his daughter Carmen had broken her wrist; and Scarlet had only received a few bruises.
As if the incident was not devastating enough, it was also threatening to Led Zeppelin's exsistence. Robert's right elbow and ankle were shattered. The pain was intolerable. 'I just don't know whether I'm going to be the same onstage again,' he moaned. 'I can't imagine doing three hours in front of an audience, at least not for a long time.' After a while, Peter and Jimmy began to worry about the band becoming stagnant. 'The longer we wait,' Page stated, 'the harder it's gonna be to come back.' Finally, in September, Plant said he felt strong enough to begin working on the band's seventh album, which would become Presence.
Page and Plant decided to resume their songwriting in a little beach house at Malibu, California. They remained there for over a month, composing songs such as 'Achilles Last Stand' and 'Tea For One.' While they were there, John Bonham and John Paul Jones flew out to begin rehearsing for the next album. From Malibu, the band flew out to Musicland studios in Munich to record the songs for Presence. It only took three weeks of recording and mixing before the entire album was finished. The Rolling Stones were scheduled to record in Musicland right after Zeppelin. When Mick Jagger arrived, he asked Pagey, 'Did you manage to get down a few tracks while you were here?' When Jimmy told him the album was done, Jagger was flabbergasted. 'Wait -- but you've been here only three weeks!' 'Yeah, that's all we needed, ' Page replied. This was the only album in Zeppelin's history where he ever seemed completely satisfied. Otherwise he would emerge from the studio feeling insecure about the tracks, as though he could have done something to perfect them even a little bit more. Presence was released on March 31st, 1976 in the U.S. and April 5th, 1976 in the U.K. Jimmy and John Paul were relieved about the album's release. After Robert's accident, there had been superfluous speculation about how strongly the band could come back. Page and Jones felt that this album put the concerns to rest. Rolling Stone's Stephen Davis commented that Zeppelin were the 'heavy metal champions of the universe,' yet also stated, 'Give an Englishman 50,000 watts, a chartered jet, a little cocaine, and some groupies, and he thinks he's a god. It's getting to be an old story.' However, as Richard Cole remarked, 'The negative reviews were getting to be an old story, too.'
In October 1976, The Song Remains The Same's long-overdue release finally came to be. A premiere was held at Cinema I in New York City. It was promised that the film would 'reveal them as they really are and for the first time the world has a front row seat on Led Zeppelin.' The band, however, was not particularly enamored with the film. Jimmy Page felt that the Madison Square Garden shows did not live up to the band's capabilities, and John Bonham wondered why there was not more humour in the film. Nevertheless, the film's popularity proliferated with the Zeppelin fans.
Half a year later, Zeppelin's eleventh American tour began. It was the larget Zeppelin tour ever -- 51 dates -- and in addition, it was the tour in which Robert Plant was springing back from his accident, and the singer felt he had something to prove to the fans. However, his leg still had some healing to do, and he did not feel completely complacent. At times the pain was still unbearable. 'Sometimes I envy you, Bonzo,' he remarked to John Bonham, 'just sitting on your drummer's stool for the entire concert. Let me know if you ever want to change places.'
On the 26th of July, Robert received a phone call from his wife, only to hear that his six-year-old son, Karac, had died of a viral infection. There was no question that Led Zeppelin would be put on hold again. Robert was perturbed and deeply saddened by Karac's death. 'It really puts things in perspective, doesn't it?' he said with tears rolling down his cheeks. 'I've got all this fame and wealth, but I don't have my son anymore. How much is all this really worth?' The other band members were unhappy about the news as well. Jimmy was worried that Led Zeppelin might become stagnant for good, and there were copious speculations about the band breaking up. However, he felt uncomfortable pressuring Robert about getting back to making music.
In December of 1978, Robert felt he was ready to return to the studio. 'Maybe I waited too long,' he stated, 'but I couldn't push myself. The music had to come back on its own.' The band flew to Stockholm, Sweden to record a new album -- In Through The Out Door -- in Polar Studios. Jimmy encouraged the band members to experiment and drive themselves in new directions. From classical solos to samba beats, this album was indeed one of Zeppelin's most experiemental works. Jimmy -- who had previously been the leading factor in Zeppelin's music -- was often sick during the making of the album, hence John Paul Jones led most of the album work. He gave the keyboards a more major album presence than ever, and co-wrote every song other than the Texas rocker 'Hot Dog.' It has been said that the album 'belongs to' Jones.
Zeppelin made a triumphant return to the stage that August, making two performances in Hertfordshire's open-air Knebworth Festival at Knebworth Park. The concerts were a huge success. Page, feeling renewed after the concerts, said, 'We can still reach our fans without the wear and tear on our own bodies and psyches.' The agreement was unanimous. In Through The Out Door was released shortly after -- on August 15th in the U.S. and August 20th in the U.K. Fans were hankering for some fresh Zeppelin, and in America alone the album sold a mind-boggling four million copies.
The band then toured in Europe during the summer of 1980. They were also planning on touring America soon. Things were beginning to look bright again for Zeppelin. However, the most tragic blow struck the band, this time impounding them for life. On September 24th, the band had congregated at Jimmy's Windsor home to begin rehearsing for the upcoming tour. John Bonham had been drinking all day and was growing increasingly intoxicated. When he passed out, well after midnight, Page's chaffeur, Rick Hobbs, carefully helped Bonham into bed and quietly closed the door. The next morning, John Paul Jones and Zeppelin roadie Benji Le Fevre checked in on Bonham, only to find him lying stone cold in a pool of vomit. They quickly phoned an ambulance to take John to the hospital, where they desparately tried to revive him, but he was dead.
Even those who did not know Bonzo felt the world had lost someone special. Atlantic executives slumped in their seats and secretaries cried. Fans gathered at the places where he most loved to be, such as the Rainbow bar in Los Angeles. His funeral was held at Rushock Parish Church, just a short way from his home.
After Bonham's death, the media kept on reporting about who might replace him in Led Zeppelin, with Carmine Appice and Cozy Powell most frequently named. The band, however, never really had the intent to go on with out Bonham. They finally released a sententious statement through Atlantic: 'The loss of our dear friend and the deep respect we have for his family, together with the sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were.'
As for the band members, it took an interminable amount of time for them to recover from the effect of Bonham's death. Jimmy Page did not pick up a guitar for months, and often wondered if he ever would again. But finally, Zeppelin released a final album, Coda. This destive album contained session recordings such as 'We're Gonna Groove' and 'Poor Tom' dating back to the earliest days of Zeppelin. Each of the members went on to launch their own solo careers. John Paul Jones produced records for artists such as Heart and composed the soundtrack for the film Scream For Help; while Jimmy Page formed the band The Firm -- though eventually they broke up -- and continued to perform music, even releasing records such as 'Outrider.' Robert Plant has released plenty of solo albums, including 'Pictures At Eleven' and 'Dreamland.' In 1994, Page and Plant teamed up to perform in their No Quarter: Unledded video; and a year later, Led Zeppelin was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Despite the many rumours, hopes, and pleas of a reunion, the band members of Zeppelin have only performed together several times, and they say they will never truly reform the band. 'We cannot go on without Bonham,' Robert said. Some people agree, some still feel that if they cannot see Led Zeppelin, they want something close enough to it.
Led Zeppelin may have collapsed years ago, but their music remains superfluously remembered, loved, influential, and venerated.