Led Zeppelin's Background History
Led Zeppelin formed as a group in 1968, set up by former Yardbirds guitarist Jimmy Page. They were originally going to be called The New Yardbirds until The Who‘s drummer Keith Moon remarked they would go down like a “lead zeppelin”. Page’s first choice for singer, Terry Reid, declined the offer but recommended Robert Plant, who in turn roped in his mate John Bonham on drums. When bassist Chris Dreja opted out of the project to become a photographer, he suggested his friend John Paul Jones, and the line-up was complete.
The band’s first four albums – ‘Led Zeppelin’, ‘Led Zeppelin II’, ‘Led Zeppelin III’ and ‘IV (Four Symbols)’ – are all seen as rock classics, mixing blues,
folk and eastern influences and making them increasingly huge, especially in the US
and the UK. The group also increasingly resisted television appearances, enforcing their preference that their fans hear and see them live in person. This resulted in
them becoming a massive live band.
As well as their music, the band became notorious for their offstage drama. As well as all the
usual stuff, such as drug use and TVs being thrown out of windows, there were darker
episodes, such the infamous ‘shark incident.'
Between 1971 and 1975 Led Zeppelin could claim to be the biggest band in
the world, Further albums – ‘Houses Of The Holy’
and the double ‘Physical Graffiti’ ( thought to be their best) cemented their
success.
Between 1976 and 1980, things got darker for the Zep. Although albums such as ‘Presence’ and ‘In through The Out Door’ still sold a lot. However, Robert Plant was seriously injured in a car crash, and infant son Kai died of a chest infection. Jimmy Page was using heroin, and John Bonham was an alcoholic. The end came in September 1980, when Bonham died at Page‘s house aged 32 after choking on his own vomit from drinking.
There have been brief sightings since – Live Aid in 1985 and an Atlantic Records birthday bash in 1988.
With songs such as ‘Black Dog’, ‘Communication Breakdown’, ‘Dazed And Confused’, ‘Good, Times, Bad Times’, ‘Rock And Roll’, ‘Heartbreaker’, ‘Kashmir’ and the infamous ‘Stairway To Heaven’ still wildly popular after all these years, and would undoubtedly be wildly successful.
