Led
Zeppelin
were
an
English
rock
band
that
formed
in
September
1968.
Led
Zeppelin
consisted
of
Jimmy
Page
(guitar),
Robert
Plant
(vocals),
John
Paul
Jones
(bass,
keyboard)
and
John
Bonham
(drums).
With
their
heavy,
guitar-driven
sound,
Led
Zeppelin
are
regarded
as
one
of
the
first
heavy
metal
bands.[1][2]
Their
rock-infused
interpretation
of
the
blues
and
folk
genres
also
incorporated
rockabilly,[3]
reggae,[4]
soul,[5]
funk,[6]
jazz,[7]
classical,
Celtic,
Indian,
Arabic,
pop,
Latin,
and
country.
The
band
did
not
release
the
popular
songs
from
their
albums
as
singles
in
the
UK,
as
they
preferred
to
develop
the
concept
of
album-oriented
rock.[8]
Over
25
years
after
disbanding
following
Bonham's
death
in
1980,
Led
Zeppelin
continue
to
be
held
in
high
regard
for
their
artistic
achievements,
commercial
success,
and
broad
influence.
The
band
have
sold
more
than
300
million
albums
worldwide,[9]
including
109.5
million
sales
in
the
United
States,[10]
and
they
are
the
only
band
to
have
had
all
their
albums
reach
the
U.S.
Billboard
Top
10.[11]
Led
Zeppelin
are
ranked
No.
1 on
VH1's
100
Greatest
Artists
of
Hard
Rock.[12]
Rolling
Stone
magazine
has
described
Led
Zeppelin
as
"the
heaviest
band
of
all
time"
and
"the
biggest
band
of
the
70s".[13]
On
December
10,
2007
the
surviving
members
of
Led
Zeppelin
reunited
for
the
Ahmet
Ertegün
tribute
show
at
The
O2
in
London
.[14]
The
early
days
(1968-1969)
The
New
Yardbirds
The
beginnings
of
Led
Zeppelin
can
be
traced
back
to
the
English
blues-influenced
rock
band
The
Yardbirds.[15]
Page
joined
The
Yardbirds
in
1966
to
play
bass
guitar
after
the
original
bassist,
Paul
Samwell-Smith,
left
the
group.
Shortly
after,
Page
switched
from
bass
to
second
lead
guitar,
creating
a
dual-lead
guitar
line
up
with
Jeff
Beck.
Following
the
departure
of
Beck
from
the
group
in
October
1966,
The
Yardbirds,
tired
from
constant
touring
and
recording,
were
beginning
to
wind
down.
Page
wanted
to
form
a
supergroup
with
himself
and
Beck
on
guitars,
and
The
Who's
rhythm
section
-
drummer
Keith
Moon
and
bassist
John
Entwistle.
Vocalists
Donovan,
Steve
Winwood
and
Steve
Marriott
were
also
considered
for
the
project.[16]
The
group
never
formed,
although
Page,
Beck
and
Moon
did
record
a
song
together
in
1966,
"Beck's
Bolero",
which
is
featured
on
Beck's
1968
album,
Truth.
The
recording
session
also
included
bassist-keyboardist
John
Paul
Jones,
who
told
Page
that
he
would
be
interested
in
collaborating
with
him
on
future
projects.[17]
The
Yardbirds
played
their
final
gig
in
July
1968.
However,
they
were
still
committed
to
performing
several
concerts
in
Scandinavia,
so
drummer
Jim
McCarty
and
vocalist
Keith
Relf
authorised
Page
and
bassist
Chris
Dreja
to
use
the
Yardbirds
name
to
fulfil
the
band's
obligations.
Page
and
Dreja
began
putting
a
new
line-up
together.
Page's
first
choice
for
lead
singer,
Terry
Reid,
declined
the
offer,
but
suggested
Robert
Plant,
a
West
Bromwich
singer
he
knew.[18]
Plant
eventually
accepted
the
position,
recommending
a
drummer,
John
Bonham
from
nearby
Redditch.[19]
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,
at
the
suggestion
of
his
wife,
contacted
Page
about
the
vacant
position.
Being
familiar
with
Jones'
credentials,
Page
agreed
to
bring
in
Jones
as
the
final
piece.
The
group
played
together
on
record
the
first
time
on
the
final
day
of
sessions
for
the
P.
J.
Proby
album,
Three
Week
Hero.
Proby
recalled,
"Come
the
last
day
we
found
we
had
some
studio
time,
so I
just
asked
the
band
to
play
while
I
just
came
up
with
the
words.
...
They
weren't
Led
Zeppelin
at
the
time,
they
were
the
New
Yardbirds
and
they
were
going
to
be
my
band."[20]
The
band
completed
the
Scandinavian
tour
as
The
New
Yardbirds.
One
account
of
the
band's
naming,
which
has
become
almost
legendary,
has
it
that
Keith
Moon
and
John
Entwistle
suggested
that
a
possible
supergroup
containing
themselves,
Jimmy
Page,
and
Jeff
Beck
would
go
down
like
a
lead
zeppelin,
a
term
Entwistle
used
to
describe
a
bad
gig.[21]
The
group
deliberately
dropped
the
'a'
in
Lead
at
the
suggestion
of
their
manager,
Peter
Grant,
to
prevent
"thick
Americans"[17]
from
pronouncing
it
as "leed".[22]
Grant
also
secured
an
advance
deal
of
$200,000
from
Atlantic
Records
in
November
1968,
then
the
biggest
deal
of
its
kind
for
a
new
band.[20]
Atlantic
was
a
label
known
for
its
catalogue
of
blues,
soul
and
jazz
artists,
but
in
the
late-1960s
it
began
to
take
an
interest
in
progressive
British
rock
acts,
and
signed
Led
Zeppelin
without
having
ever
seen
them,
largely
on
the
recommendation
of
singer
Dusty
Springfield.[23]
With
their
first
album
not
yet
released,
Led
Zeppelin
made
their
live
debut
at
the
University
of
Surrey,
Guildford
on
October
15,
1968.
This
was
followed
by a
U.S.
concert
debut
on
December
26,
1968
(when
promoter
Barry
Fey
added
them
onto
a
bill
in
Denver,
Colorado)
before
moving
on
to
the
west
coast
for
dates
in
Los
Angeles,
San
Francisco
and
other
cities.[24]
Led
Zeppelin
Led
Zeppelin's
eponymous
debut
album
was
released
on
12
January
1969,
during
their
first
U.S.
tour.
Its
blend
of
blues,
folk
and
eastern
influences
with
distorted
amplification
made
it
one
of
the
pivotal
records
in
the
creation
of
heavy
metal
music.
However,
Plant
has
commented
that
it
is
unfair
for
people
to
typecast
the
band
as
heavy
metal,
since
about
a
third
of
their
music
was
acoustic.[25]
In
an
interview
for
the
Led
Zeppelin
Profiled
radio
promo
CD
(1990)
Page
said
that
the
album
took
about
35
hours
of
studio
time
to
create
(including
mixing),
and
stated
that
he
knows
this
because
of
the
amount
charged
on
the
studio
bill.
Peter
Grant
claimed
the
album
cost
£1,750
to
produce
(including
artwork).[17]
By
1975,
the
album
had
grossed
$7,000,000.[26]
Led
Zeppelin's
album
cover
met
an
interesting
protest
when,
at a
28
February
1970
gig
in
Copenhagen,
the
band
was
billed
as
"The
Nobs"
as
the
result
of a
threat
of
legal
action
from
aristocrat
Eva
von
Zeppelin
(a
relative
of
the
creator
of
the
Zeppelin
aircraft),
who,
upon
seeing
the
logo
of
the
Hindenburg
crashing
in
flames,
threatened
to
have
the
show
pulled
off
the
air.[27]
Led
Zeppelin
II
In
their
first
year
of
existence,
Led
Zeppelin
managed
to
complete
four
US
and
four
UK
concert
tours,
as
well
as
find
time
to
release
their
second
album,
entitled
Led
Zeppelin
II.[20]
Recorded
almost
entirely
on
the
road
at
various
North
American
recording
studios,
the
second
album
was
an
even
greater
success
than
the
first
and
reached
the
number
one
chart
position
in
the
US
and
the
UK.[28]
Here
the
band
further
developed
ideas
established
on
their
debut
album,
creating
a
work
which
became
even
more
widely
acclaimed
and
arguably
more
influential.[29]
It
has
been
suggested
that
Led
Zeppelin
II
largely
wrote
the
blueprint
for
1970s
hard
rock.[29]
Following
the
album's
release
Led
Zeppelin
completed
several
more
tours
of
the
United
States.
They
played
often,
initially
in
clubs
and
ballrooms,
then
in
larger
auditoriums
and
eventually
stadiums
as
their
popularity
grew.
Led
Zeppelin
concerts
could
last
more
than
three
hours,
with
expanded,
improvised
live
versions
of
their
song
repertoire.[30]
Many
of
these
shows
have
been
preserved
as
Led
Zeppelin
bootleg
recordings.
Led
Zeppelin
III
For
the
composition
of
their
third
album,
Led
Zeppelin
III,
Jimmy
Page
and
Robert
Plant
retired
to
Bron-Yr-Aur,
a
remote
cottage
in
Wales,
in
1970.
The
result
was
a
more
acoustic
sound
(and
a
song,
"Bron-Yr-Aur
Stomp",
misspelled
as "Bron-Y-Aur
Stomp"
on
the
album
cover,
which
was
a
complete
remake
of
Bert
Jansch's
song
"The
Waggoner's
Lad").
Strongly
influenced
by
folk
and
Celtic
music,
the
album
revealed
the
band's
versatility.
The
album's
rich
acoustic
sound
initially
received
mixed
reactions,
with
many
critics
and
fans
surprised
at
the
turn
taken
by
the
band
away
from
the
primarily
electric
compositions
of
the
first
two
albums.
Over
time,
however,
its
reputation
has
recovered
and
Led
Zeppelin
III
is
now
generally
praised.[31][32]
It
has
a
unique
album
cover
featuring
a
wheel
which,
when
rotated,
displayed
various
images
through
cut
outs
in
the
main
jacket
sleeve.
The
album's
opening
track,
"Immigrant
Song",
was
released
in
November
1970
by
Atlantic
Records
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,
removing
the
abstract
middle
section).
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—some
singles
were
released
without
their
consent.
The
group
also
increasingly
resisted
television
appearances,
enforcing
their
preference
that
their
fans
hear
and
see
them
in
person.
The
album
finishes
with
“Hats
Off
To
(Roy)
Harper”,
a
track
dedicated
to
their
influential
contemporary,
Roy
Harper,
that
both
honours
Harper’s
work
and
acknowledges
the
band’s
roots
in
acoustic
music.
"The
biggest
band
in
the
world"
(1971–1975)
The
success
of
Led
Zeppelin's
early
years
would
be
dwarfed
by
this
five-year
period
in
which
the
band
would
release
their
best
selling
albums
and
ascend
to
the
pinnacle
of
musical
success
in
the
1970s.
The
band's
image
also
changed
as
members
began
to
wear
elaborate,
colourful
clothing.
The
band
also
had
a
reputation
for
off-stage
wildness
and
excess.
Led
Zeppelin
began
travelling
in a
private
jet
airliner
(nicknamed
The
Starship[33]),
rented
out
entire
sections
of
hotels
(most
notably
the
Continental
Hyatt
House
in
Los
Angeles,
known
colloquially
as
the
"Riot
House"),
and
became
the
subject
of
many
of
rock's
most
famous
stories
of
debauchery.
One
escapade
involved
John
Bonham
riding
a
motorcycle
through
a
rented
floor
of
the
Riot
House.
The
band
was
known
for
trashing
their
hotel
suites,
and
throwing
television
sets
out
of
the
windows.
Another
example
of
Led
Zeppelin
excess
was
the
infamous
shark
episode,
or
red
snapper
incident,
which
took
place
at
the
Edgewater
Inn
in
Seattle,
Washington,
on
July
28,
1969.[17]
The
fourth
album
Led
Zeppelin's
fourth
album
was
released
on 8
November
1971.
There
was
no
indication
of a
title
nor
band
name
on
the
original
cover,
but
on
the
LP
label
four
symbols
were
printed.
The
band
were
motivated
to
undertake
this
initiative
by
their
disdain
for
the
media,
which
labelled
them
as
hyped
and
overrated.
In
response,
they
released
the
album
with
no
indication
of
who
they
were
in
order
to
prove
that
the
music
could
sell
itself.
The
album
is
variously
referred
to
as
Four
Symbols
and
The
Fourth
Album
(both
titles
were
used
in
the
Atlantic
Records
catalogue),
and
also
IV,
Untitled,
Zoso,
Runes,
Sticks,
Man
With
Sticks,
and
Four.
It
is
still
officially
untitled
and
most
commonly
referred
to
as
Led
Zeppelin
IV.
In
an
interview
with
Rolling
Stone
magazine
in
2005,
Plant
said
that
it
is
simply
called
The
Fourth
Album.[34]
This
album
further
refined
the
band's
unique
formula
of
combining
earthy,
acoustic
elements
with
heavy
metal
and
blues
emphases.
The
album
included
examples
of
hard
rock,
such
as
"Black
Dog"
and
an
acoustic
track,
"Going
to
California"
(a
tribute
to
Joni
Mitchell).[35]
"Rock
and
Roll"
is a
tribute
to
the
early
rock
music
of
the
1950s.
Recently
(as
of
2006)
and
until
mid-2007,
the
song
has
been
used
prominently
in
Cadillac
automobile
commercials—one
of
the
few
instances
of
Led
Zeppelin's
surviving
members
licensing
songs.[36]
The
album
also
featured
"Stairway
to
Heaven"
(sample
(info)),
which
became
a
massive
album-oriented
rock
FM
radio
hit
despite
never
being
released
as a
single.
The
song
has
been
controversial
due
to
unsubstantiated
but
repeated
claims
of
"satanic"
back
masked
messages.[37]
In
2005,
the
magazine
Guitar
World
held
a
poll
of
readers
in
which
"Stairway
to
Heaven"
was
voted
as
having
the
greatest
guitar
solo
of
all
time.[38]
As
of
July
31,
2006,
has
sold
23
million
copies
in
the
U.S.,
making
it
one
of
the
top
four
best
selling
albums
in
the
history
of
the
U.S.
music
industry.[39]
Worldwide,
it
ranks
at
number
eleven
in
album
sales.[40]
Houses
of
the
Holy
Led
Zeppelin's
next
album,
Houses
of
the
Holy,
was
released
in
1973.
It
featured
further
experimentation,
with
longer
tracks
and
expanded
use
of
synthesisers
and
mellotron
orchestration.
The
song
"Houses
of
the
Holy"
does
not
appear
on
its
namesake
album,
even
though
it
was
recorded
at
the
same
time
as
other
songs
on
the
album;
it
eventually
made
its
way
onto
the
1975
album
Physical
Graffiti.[17]
The
striking
orange
album
cover
of
"Houses
of
the
Holy"
features
images
of
nude
children[41]
climbing
up
the
Giant's
Causeway
(in
County
Antrim,
Northern
Ireland).
Although
the
children
are
not
depicted
from
the
front,
this
was
highly
controversial
at
the
time
of
the
album's
release,
and
in
some
areas,
such
as
the
"Bible
Belt"
and
Spain,
the
record
was
banned.[42][43]
The
album
topped
the
charts,
and
Led
Zeppelin's
subsequent
concert
tour
of
the
United
States
in
1973
broke
records
for
attendance,
as
they
consistently
filled
large
auditoriums
and
stadiums.
At
Tampa
Stadium,
Florida,
they
played
to
56,800
fans
(breaking
the
record
set
by
The
Beatles
at
Shea
Stadium
in
1965),
and
grossed
$309,000.[17]
Three
sold-out
shows
at
Madison
Square
Garden
in
New
York
were
filmed
for
a
motion
picture,
but
the
theatrical
release
of
this
project
(The
Song
Remains
the
Same)
would
be
delayed
until
1976.
In
1974,
Led
Zeppelin
took
a
break
from
touring
and
launched
their
own
record
label,
Swan
Song,
named
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
drawing
called
Evening:
Fall
of
Day
(1869)
by
William
Rimmer,
features
a
picture
of
Apollo,
although
it
is
often
misinterpreted
as a
picture
of
Icarus,
Daedalus,
Satan,
or
Lucifer.
The
logo
can
be
found
on
much
Led
Zeppelin
memorabilia,
especially
t-shirts.
In
addition
to
using
Swan
Song
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.[44]
The
label
would
be
successful
while
Led
Zeppelin
existed,
but
folded
less
than
three
years
after
they
disbanded.[17]
Physical
Graffiti
February
24,
1975
saw
the
release
of
Led
Zeppelin's
first
double
album,
Physical
Graffiti,
which
was
the
first
release
on
the
Swan
Song
Records
label.
It
consisted
of
fifteen
songs,
eight
of
which
were
recorded
at
Headley
Grange
in
1974,
and
the
remainder
being
tracks
previously
recorded
but
not
released
on
earlier
albums.
A
review
in
Rolling
Stone
magazine
referred
to
Physical
Graffiti
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.[45]
The
album
was
a
massive
fiscal
and
critical
success.
Shortly
after
the
release
of
Physical
Graffiti,
all
previous
Led
Zeppelin
albums
simultaneously
re-entered
the
top-200
album
chart,[17]
and
the
band
embarked
on
another
U.S.
tour,
again
playing
to
record-breaking
crowds.
In
May
1975,
Led
Zeppelin
played
five
highly
successful,
sold-out
nights
at
the
Earls
Court
Arena
in
London,
footage
of
which
was
released
in
2003,
on
the
Led
Zeppelin
DVD.
The
latter
days
(1976–1980)
By
1976,
Led
Zeppelin
were
becoming
increasingly
popular
worldwide,
having
outsold
most
bands
of
the
time,
including
the
Rolling
Stones.[17]
Their
live
shows
increased
even
further
in
theatricality,
featuring
larger
stage
areas
and
complex
light
shows.
However,
while
there
were
still
massive
musical
and
commercial
successes
for
the
band
during
this
period,
problems
such
as
the
1977
death
of
Robert
Plant's
son,
Jimmy
Page's
heroin
use,[46]
changing
musical
tastes,
and
ultimately
John
Bonham's
1980
death
finally
brought
an
end
to
Led
Zeppelin. |
