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Led Zeppelin
"In the 60s the music was the energetic engine,
and usually the sound was loud enough to be felt as well as heard.
In the rock show you were a vibrating universe,
an aural space that drove everything out of your mind except the moment.
All boundaries and distinctions could dissolve,
and it was possible to have a vivid experience of oneness,
as real as any that happened to any mystic who ever lived."
-Wes Nisker-'Big Bang, the Buddha, and the Baby Boom'

60s & 70s Music 'Main' Store & Reviews

May 2009

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin Website
Led Zeppelin Fan Site

Formed: 1968 in London, England
Years Active: 1968 through 1980.
Group's Main Members: Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham

Led Zeppelin was rock's first real Heavy Metal band. Yet many of their fans were not even fans of metal music.
They came about after guitarist Jimmy Page, (who was rock's most sort after session man in the early and mid sixties)
was left with what was the remains of theYardbirds.
He had join the Yardbirds to record with them on what would be their final album, Little Games in 1967.
In the spring of 1968, Page played lead guitar on Donovan's song "Hurdy Gurdy Man"
which also featured bassist John Paul Jones.
Jones had heard rumors that the Yardbirds might break up and told Page
he would like to be part of any new band he might put together.
By the summer of '68 the Yardbirds' frontman Keith Relf,
along with James McCarty left the band leaving behind Page and bassist Chris Dreja
with the rights to the name and obligation of fulfilling an upcoming fall tour.

Page wanted to hire vocalist Terry Reid as Relf's replacement,
but Reid was still with Procol Harum and suggested
Page check out his friend, Robert Plant,
who was singing for a band called Hobbstweedle.
After hearing Plant sing, Page asked him to join the Yardbirds.
About the same time, Dreja left the band and Jones joined the group.
Plant then suggested that Page hire his former drummer John Bonham,
who played with Plant in the group, The Band Of Joy.
At first Bonham turned them down as he was being offered more money by others,
but by that September he agreed to join them.
They played the previously booked Yardbirds engagements in late September '68 as the "New Yardbirds".
The following month they changed the name to Led Zeppelin
(the name was suggested by the Who's Keith Moon, who got the name from fellow Who member John Entwistle,
who came up with the name and wanted to use it for his backup band).

Page felt a new name was needed since they really were no longer in any way the Yardbirds.
They wanted to play the blues, but in a way not yet done by any other bands.
The rest is Rock N Roll history.

Their eighth studio album, In Through The Out Door, wasn't released till September of 1979.
What would go down as their final tour started in May of '80 in Europe.
That September as they were preparing for their upcoming American tour at Page's home,
Bonham was found dead in bed following an all-day drinking binge.
More than likely rock's best drummer,
Led Zep knew they could not go on without him and disbanded a month later.
After the breakup the remaining members went on to solo careers.
In 1985, they reunited to play Live Aid.
Then in '88 the got together one more time to play at Atlantic's 25th Anniversary Concert.
Page and Plant would get together as a duo in '95 and complete a successful international tour.
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For listen samples and reviews, click on CD cover photo. In new window,
click on CD photo again and scroll down.

Led Zep DVD's
Led Zeppelin were ranked #14 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list
of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time",
and the following year the band received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

In November 2005,
it was announced that Led Zeppelin and Russian conductor Valery Gergiev
were the winners of the 2006 Polar Music Prize.
The King of Sweden presented the prize to Plant, Page, and Jones,
along with John Bonham's daughter, in Stockholm in May 2006.

In November 2006, Led Zeppelin were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.
The television broadcasting of the event consisted of an introduction
to the band by various famous admirers,
a presentation of an award to Jimmy Page
and then a short speech by the guitarist.
After this, rock group Wolfmother played a tribute to Led Zeppelin,
performing the song "Communication Breakdown".

Led Zeppelin (2003) DVD
Starring: Robert Plant, Jimmy Page
Director: Dick Carruthers

The Song Remains the Same (1976) DVD
Starring: John Bonham, John Paul Jones
Director: Peter Clifton, Joe Massot

A to Zeppelin - The Unauthorized Story of Led Zeppelin (2004)DVD

Critical Review (1968-1972) DVD

Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page Website
James Patrick Page OBE (born 9 January 1944)
is an English guitarist, composer and record producer.
He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London
and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968,
after which he co-founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.

Page has been described as "unquestionably one of the all-time
most influential, important, and versatile guitarists and songwriters in rock history".|
In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Page #9
in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice,
once as a member of The Yardbirds (1992)
and once as a member of Led Zeppelin (1995).
Jimmy Page Biography

Robert Plant
Robert Plant Website
Robert Anthony Plant CBE (born 20 August 1948),
rock singer and songwriter in the former rock band Led Zeppelin
also was the lead vocalist and lyricist, known as well for his successful solo career.
He recently released an album, Raising Sand, produced by T-Bone Burnett
with American bluegrass soprano Alison Krauss,
which won the 2009 Grammy Award for Album of the Year for their 2007 effort.
Robert Plant Biography

No Quarter
"No Quarter" is the seventh song on Led Zeppelin's fifth album
Houses of the Holy, released in 1973.
It was written by bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones,
guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant.
The title is derived from the military practice
of showing no mercy to captured enemy.

This military theme is captured in several of the song's lyrics.
From 1973 "No Quarter" became a centrepiece at Led Zeppelin concerts,
being played at virtually every show the band performed until 1980
(it was eventually discarded on their final tour "Over Europe" in that year).
The song took on a very mysterious texture on stage as many lights and simulated fog were used.