About Me
Led Zeppelin was formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page. Page had joined the Yardbirds in 1966 playing bass guitar while rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja became comfortable with that instrument, then switching to lead guitar. Following the departure of Jeff Beck in October 1966, the Yardbirds, tired from constant touring and recording, were beginning to wind 's Keith Moon and John Entwistle on drums and bass.[3] Vocalists Steve Winwood and Steve Marriott were also considered for the project.[4] The group never formed, although Page, Beck and Moon did record a song together in 1966, "Beck's Bolero", which featured on Beck's 1968 album, Truth. The recording session also included bassist John Paul Jones, who told Page that he would be interested in collaborating with him on future projects.The Yardbirds played their final gig in July 1968, and Keith Relf and Jim McCarty left the band, wishing to pursue an interest in folk music. However, The Yardbirds were still committed to perform several concerts in Scandinavia, and so McCarty and Relf authorised Page and Dreja to use the Yardbirds name to fulfil the bands' obligation. Page and Dreja began putting a new line-up together. Page's first choice for lead singer, Terry Reid, declined Page's offer, but suggested Robert Plant, [5] who accepted the position. Plant recommended drummer John Bonham,[6] with whom he had played in Band of Joy. When Dreja opted out of the project to become a photographer (he would later take the photograph that appeared on the back of Led Zeppelin's debut album), John Paul Jones contacted Page about the empty position. Page, being familiar with his credentials, gladly accepted him as the band's new bassist. The first tune that the band ever played together was "Train Kept A'Rollin'."The band completed the Scandinavian tour, and set about coming up with a new name. The name Lead Zeppelin had been suggested by Keith Moon when Page was considering forming a supergroup with the drummer. Keith Moon himself got the phrase from John Entwistle's term for a bad gig, describing it as "going over" (some sources say "going down") "like a lead zeppelin".[7] The group adopted the name, deliberately dropping the 'a' in Lead to prevent people from pronouncing it as "leed". [1]Shortly after their first tour, the group's eponymous first album was released on January 12, 1969. Its blend of blues and rock influences with distorted amplification made it one of the pivotal records in the evolution of heavy metal music.[2] Although several of Led Zeppelin's earliest songs were based on blues standards, others, such as "Communication Breakdown" had a unique and distinctively heavy sound. Led Zeppelin also featured delicate acoustic guitar on "Black Mountain Side", and a combination of acoustic and electric approaches on the reworked folk song "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You."The immediate success of the first album kick-started the band's career, especially in the United States, where they would frequently tour. The second record, simply titled Led Zeppelin II, followed in similar style later that year: the album begins with the bludgeoning riff of "Whole Lotta Love," which, driven by the rhythm section, defined their sound at the time. Led Zeppelin II was an even greater success for the group, reaching the Number one chart position in both the US and the UK.Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were blues fanatics; their first album had included "I Can't Quit You Baby", a song written by bluesman Willie Dixon, and "You Shook Me", by Dixon and J. B. Lenoir. Jeff Beck also recorded "You Shook Me" for his album, Truth. Since the Led Zeppelin version was released six months after Beck's, he accused them of stealing his idea. This led to a long rift between Beck and Page, who had been friends for years at that point.Led Zeppelin II also included songs which bore striking similarities to Willie Dixon's work, though Dixon was not credited. "Bring It on Home" was very similar to Dixon's "Bring It on Back", and "Whole Lotta Love", was lyrically very similar to Dixon's "You Need Love". In the 1970s, Arc Music, the publishing arm of Chess Records, brought suit against Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement over "Bring It on Home", winning an out-of-court settlement. Dixon himself did not benefit until he sued Arc Music to recover his royalties and copyrights. Years later, Dixon filed suit against Led Zeppelin over "Whole Lotta Love", and a generous out-of-court settlement was reached. Later pressings of Led Zeppelin II credit Dixon for his work.Page was once quoted in an interview as saying: "I've often thought that in the way the Stones tried to be the sons of Chuck Berry, we tried to be the sons of Howlin' Wolf."[8] A version of Howlin' Wolf's song "Killing Floor" featured prominently in Led Zeppelin's early live performances; "Killing Floor" was also the inspiration for "The Lemon Song" on Led Zeppelin II.Led Zeppelin's members also loved American rock and roll: the exuberant styles of Fats Domino and Little Richard were inspirations, and Led Zeppelin would perform rockabilly songs originally made famous by Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran. Led Zeppelin concerts could last more than three hours; expanded, improvised live versions of their song repertoire often incorporated elements of James Brown, Stax and Motown-influenced soul music, and funk (favorites of bassist Jones and drummer Bonham).For the writing of the music on their third album, Led Zeppelin III, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant retired to Bron-Yr-Aur, a remote cottage in Wales. This would result in a more acoustic sound (and a song, "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp", misspelled as "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" on the album cover) strongly influenced by Celtic and folk music, and it also revealed a different side of guitarist Page's versatility. Led Zeppelin III also ushered in an era of unique album covers, this one featuring a wheel which displayed various images through cutouts in the main jacket sleeve when rotated.In November of 1970, Led Zeppelin's record label, Atlantic Records, released "Immigrant Song" as a single against the band's wishes (Atlantic had earlier released an edited version of "Whole Lotta Love" which cut the 5:34 song to 3:10). It included their only non-album b-side, "Hey Hey What Can I Do". Even though the band saw their albums as indivisible, whole listening experiences and their manager, Peter Grant, maintained an aggressive pro-album stance nine other singles were released without their consent. The group also resisted television appearances, which would have reduced their ability to control their presentation and sound quality. Lack of TV exposure also enforced the band's preference that their fans hear and see them in person.
The 4 symbols each standing for a Led Zeppelin member. From left to right: (Top) Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, (Bottom) John Bonham, Robert Plant.[edit]
The biggest band in the world (19711975)
Led Zeppelin's fourth album was released on November 8, 1971. There was no indication of the band's name on the original packaging, and the title of the album was given as four symbols - . It is variously referred to as The Unnamed Album, Untitled, Led Zeppelin IV, Zoso, Runes, Sticks or Four Symbols. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 2005, Plant said that it is simply called the fourth album.The album included hard rock, such as "Black Dog" (supposedly titled in tribute to a dog which loitered around the recording studio) along with gentler, acoustic folk-style tracks such as "Going to California" (a tribute to Joni Mitchell). Both genres are combined in "Stairway to Heaven", one of the most popular rock songs ever recorded. Stairway to Heaven would become a massive album-oriented rock FM radio hit, despite being eight minutes long, and never being released as a single. It has spawned countless cover versions.The Battle of Evermore, commonly believed to be based on J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings', is the only Led Zeppelin song to feature a guest vocalist, Sandy Denny.concludes with a radically altered version of a Memphis Minnie/Kansas Joe McCoy blues song, "When the Levee Breaks". Led Zeppelin's version opens with a distinctive, pounding drum beat, which has been sampled for use in many modern rock and rap releases.[3]As of 2004, had sold 22 million copies in the US, making it the fourth biggest selling album in the history of the US music industry. [4]Their next studio record, 1973's Houses of the Holy, featured further experimentation: powerful melodies, longer tracks and expanded use of synthesisers and Mellotron orchestration. With "The Song Remains the Same", "No Quarter" and "D'yer Mak'er", Led Zeppelin was again expanding the limits which defined their music. Their 1973 tour of the U.S. again broke records for attendance: at Tampa Stadium, Florida, they played to 56,800 fans (more than The Beatles' 1965 concert at Shea Stadium). Three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York were filmed for a motion picture, but this project would be delayed for several years.In 1974, Led Zeppelin launched their own record label, named Swan Song after one of only five Led Zeppelin songs which the band never released commercially (Page later re-worked the song with his band, The Firm, and it appears as "Midnight Moonlight" on their first album). The record label's logo, based on a painting called Evening: Fall of Day (1869) by William Rimmer, features a picture of Apollo (although it is often misinterpreted as a picture of Icarus, Lucifer, Satan, or Daedelus). The logo can be found on much Led Zeppelin memorabilia. In addition to using it as a vehicle to promote their own albums, the band expanded the label's roster, signing artists such as Bad Company, Pretty Things, Maggie Bell, Detective, Dave Edmunds, Midnight Flyer, Sad Café and Wildlife.February 24, 1975 saw the release of Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin's first double-album, on the Swan Song label. The band again showed its impressive range with songs such as the complex "Ten Years Gone", the acoustic "Black Country Woman", the driving "Trampled Under Foot" and the thundering, Indian/Arabic-tinged "Kashmir". A review in Rolling Stone magazine referred to the album as Led Zeppelin's "bid for artistic respectability", adding that the only competition the band had for the title of 'World's best rock band' were the Rolling Stones and The Who.[5]Shortly after the release of Physical Graffiti, all previous Led Zeppelin albums simultaneously re-entered the top-200 album chart.[citation needed] The band embarked on another U.S. tour, again playing to record-breaking crowds. In May 1975, Led Zeppelin played five sold-out nights at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London (footage from these concerts was released in 2003, on the Led Zeppelin DVD). This series of concerts is widely considered by fans to be amongst the best of the band's career.If the band's popularity on stage and record was impressive, so too was its reputation for excess and off-stage wildness. Led Zeppelin traveled in a private jet (nicknamed The Starship), rented out entire sections of hotels, and became the subject of many of rock's most famous stories of debauchery. Tales of trashed hotel rooms and groupies have become more extraordinary with each passing year. Several people associated with the band would later write books about the wild escapades of the group, while band members themselves have disavowed many of the tales.[edit]
The latter days (1976-1982)
Led Zeppelin took a break from touring in 1976, and began filming "fantasy" segments for the concert film "The Song Remains The Same". During this break, Robert Plant and his wife were in a car crash while on holiday in Greece. Plant suffered a broken ankle; Maureen Plant was very seriously injured, and only a flight back to London and a timely blood transfusion saved her life.Unable to tour, the band returned to the studio and, with Plant sitting on a stool during the sessions, they recorded their seventh studio album, Presence. A highlight of the album was Achilles Last Stand, a ten minute epic featuring a driving bass line, thundering drums, melodic guitar riffs and a memorable guitar solo. However, the album marked a change in the Led Zeppelin sound, with straightforward, guitar-based jams such as "Nobody's Fault But Mine" outnumbering the intricate arrangements typical of previous albums. Presence was a platinum seller, but the album received mixed responses from critics and fans; while some appreciated the looser style, others dismissed it as sloppy, and some critics speculated that the band member's legendary excesses might have caught up with them at last. 1976 marked the beginning of Page's heroin use, which may have interfered with Led Zeppelin's later live shows and studio recordings, although Page has denied this.October 21, 1976 finally saw the release of the concert film The Song Remains the Same, and the soundtrack album of the film. The recording had taken place during three nights of concerts at Madison Square Garden in 1973, during the Houses of the Holy tour. Due to its flawed production, The Song Remains the Same is not generally considered to be a great live album, but it would be the only official live document of the group available until the release of the BBC Sessions in 1997.In 1977, Led Zeppelin embarked on another massive U.S. tour, again selling out up to five nights in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Many shows from this tour were the sources of bootleg recordings prized by fans.[6] Following a show at the "Days on the Green" festival in Oakland, California, the news came that Robert Plant's five year old son, Karac, had died from a respiratory infection. Other problems during the tour included the arrest of several members of the band's support staff (including manager Peter Grant) after a member of promoter Bill Graham's Oakland concert staff was badly beaten during the concert. This resulted in the rest of the tour being canceled. Malicious critics and superstitious fans imputed the bands' misfortunes to a "curse", said to be related to Page's supposed interest in the occult. The band scoffed at such charges.The summer of 1978 saw the group recording again, this time at ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. The resultant album, In Through the Out Door, features "All My Love", a tribute to Plant's late son. The album was released with several different cover designs, each having the viewpoint of a different person in a bar watching a man burning something, which is revealed inside to be a Dear John letter.After a decade of recording and touring, Led Zeppelin was now considered obsolete in some quarters, as mainstream musical tastes had moved in favour of disco, and critical focus had turned to punk rock. Perhaps in response to shifting trends, In Through the Out Door features a great deal of sonic experimentation, making much use of Jones' keyboard skills, notably in synthesizer driven sections of the ten-and-one-half minute long "Carouselambra", and in "Fool in the Rain", which exhibits a Latin feel. These departures from the band's usual style once again drew mixed reactions from fans and critics. Nevertheless, the band still commanded legions of loyal fans, and the album easily reached ..1 on the Billboard album chart).In August 1979, after two warm-up shows in Copenhagen, Led Zeppelin headlined at the Knebworth music festival. Close to 400,000 fans witnessed the return of Led Zeppelin and, with the release of In Through the Out Door on August 15, they were ready to tour again, planning a short European tour followed by another American tour.The 1980 American tour was not to be, however. On September 25, 1980, shortly before embarking on the U.S. leg of the tour, drummer John Bonham died of accidental asphyxiation after a day-long alcohol binge at one of Jimmy Page's houses. For two months the remaining band members considered whether to continue with a replacement, but decided that because of Bonham's death, they could not continue as Led Zeppelin. In December 1980, they announced that the group had disbanded. For many years afterwards, there would be rumours of a reunion, and plans for various collaborative projects. One short-lived project, which included former members of Yes and Led Zeppelin, was called XYZ, for Ex-Yes/Zep. Other than a brief demo recording that was later passed around by collectors, nothing came of it.Two years after Bonham's death, Led Zeppelin released Coda, a collection of outtakes from previous recording sessions. In the years to follow, a steady stream of boxed sets and greatest hits collections would keep the band on the charts, as Led Zeppelin continued to garner heavy airplay on rock radio.
