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John “Bonzo” Bonham (drums; born May 31, 1948, died
September 25, 1980),
John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards; born January 3, 1946),
Jimmy Page (guitar; born January 9, 1944),
Robert Plant (vocals; born August 20, 1948)
Combining the visceral power and intensity of hard rock
with the finesse and delicacy of British folk music,
Led Zeppelin redefined rock in the Seventies and for
all time.
They were as influential in that decade as the Beatles
were in the prior one. Their impact extends to classic
and alternative rockers alike. Then and now, Led Zeppelin
looms larger than life on the rock landscape as a band
for the ages with an almost mystical power to evoke
primal passions. The combination of Jimmy Page’s powerful,
layered guitar work, Robert Plant’s keening, upper-timbre
vocals, John Paul Jones’ melodic bass playing and keyboard
work, and John Bonham’s thunderous drumming made for
a band whose alchemy proved enchanting and irresistible.
“The motto of the group is definitely, ‘Ever onward,’”
Page said in 1977, perfectly summing up Led Zeppelin’s
forward-thinking philosophy.
The group formed in 1968 from the ashes of the Yardbirds,
for which guitarist Jimmy Page had served as lead guitarist
after Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Page’s stint in the
Yardbirds (1966-1968) followed a period of years as
one of Britain’s most in-demand session guitarists.
As a generally anonymous hired gun, Page performed on
mid-Sixties British Invasion records by the likes of
Donovan (“Hurdy Gurdy Man”), Them (“Gloria”), the Kinks
(“You Really Got Me”), the Who (“I Can’t Explain”) and
hundreds of others.
Page assembled a “New Yardbirds” in order to fulfill
contractual obligations that, once served, allowed him
to move on to his blues-based dream band, Led Zeppelin.
Bassist John Paul Jones also boasted a lofty session
musician’s pedigree. His resume included work for the
Rolling Stones, Donovan, Jeff Beck and Dusty Springfield.
Singer Robert Plant and drummer John “Bonzo” Bonham
came from Birmingham, England, where they’d previously
played in the Band of Joy. Page described Led Zeppelin
in a press release for their first album with these
words: “I can’t put a tag to our music. Every one of
us has been influenced by the blues, but it’s one’s
interpretation of it and how you utilize it. I wish
someone would invent an expression, but the closest
I can get is contemporary blues.” Integrating Delta
blues and U.K. folk influences with a modern rock approach,
Led Zeppelin’s symbiosis gave rise to hard rock, which
flourished in the Seventies under their expert tutelage.
Such classics as “Whole Lotta Love” were built around
Page’s heavyweight guitar riffs, Plant’s raw, half-screamed
vocals, and the rhythm section’s deep, walloping assaults
– all hallmarks of a new approach to rock that combined
heaviness and delicacy. In Jimmy Page’s words, the band
aimed for “a kind of construction in light and shade.”
The members of Led Zeppelin were musical sponges, often
traveling the world –literally traipsing about foreign
lands and figuratively exploring the cultural landscape
via their record collections – in search of fresh input
to trigger their muse. “The very thing Zeppelin was
about was that there were absolutely no limits,” explained
bassist Jones. “We all had ideas, and we’d use everything
we came across, whether it was folk, country music,
blues, Indian, Arabic.” The group’s use of familiar
blues-rock forms spiced with exotic flavors found favor
among the rock audience that emerged in the Seventies.
Led Zeppelin aimed itself at the album market, eschewing
the AM-radio singles orientation of the previous decade.
Their self-titled first album found them elongating
blues forms with extended solos and psychedelic effects,
most notably on the agonized “Dazed and Confused,” and
launching pithy hard-rock rave-ups like “Good Times
Bad Times” and “Communication Breakdown.” Led Zeppelin
II found them further tightening up and modernizing
their blues-rock approach on such tracks as “Whole Lotta
Love,” “Heartbreaker” and “Ramble On.” Led Zeppelin
III took a more acoustic, folk-oriented approach on
such numbers as Leadbelly’s “Gallows Pole” and their
own “Tangerine,” yet they also rocked furiously on “Immigrant
Song” and offered a lengthy electric blues, “Since I’ve
Been Loving You.” The group’s untitled fourth album
(a.k.a., Led Zeppelin IV, “The Runes Album” and ZOSO),
which appeared in 1971, remains an enduring rock milestone
and their defining work. The album was a fully realized
hybrid of the folk and hard-rock directions they’d been
pursuing, particularly on “When the Levee Breaks” and
“The Battle of Evermore.” “Black Dog” was a piledriving
hard-rock number cut from the same cloth as “Whole Lotta
Love.” Most significant of the album’s eight tracks
was the fable-like “Stairway to Heaven,” an eight-minute
epic that, while never released as a single, remains
radio’s all-time most-requested rock song. Houses of
the Holy, Led Zeppelin’s fifth album, was another larger-than-life
offering, from its startling artwork to the adventuresome
music within. Even more taut, dynamic and groove-oriented,
it included such Zeppelin staples as “Dancing Days,”
“The Song Remains the Same” and “D’yer Mak’er.” They
followed this with the Physical Graffiti, a double-album
assertion of group strength that included the “Trampled
Underfoot,” “Sick Again,” “Ten Years Gone” and the lengthy,
Eastern-flavored “Kashmir.” Led Zeppelin’s sold-out
concert tours became rituals of high-energy rock and
roll theater. The Song Remains the Same, a film documentary
and double-album soundtrack from 1976, attests to the
group’s powerful and somewhat saturnalian appeal at
the height of their popularity. The darker side of Led
Zeppelin – their reputation as one of the most hedonistic
and indulgent of all rock bands– is an undeniable facet
of the band’s history. In the mid-to-late Seventies,
a series of tragedies befell and ultimately broke up
Led Zeppelin. A 1975 car crash on a Greek island nearly
cost Plant his leg and sidelined him (and the band)
for two years. In 1977, Plant’s six-year-old son Karac
died of a viral infection. The group inevitably lost
momentum, as three years passed between the release
of the underrated Presence (1976) and In Through the
Out Door, their final studio album (1979). On September
25, 1980, while in the midst of rehearsals for an upcoming
American tour, Led Zeppelin suffered another debilitating
blow. Drummer John Bonham was found dead due to asphyxiation
following excessive alcohol consumption. Feeling that
he was irreplaceable, Led Zeppelin disbanded. Robert
Plant launched a solo career, Jimmy Page formed The
Firm with former Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers, and
John Paul Jones returned to producing, arranging and
scoring music. There were brief reunions at Live Aid
and for Atlantic Records’ 40th anniversary celebration.
Something of the old power was rekindled in 1995 when
Page and Plant reunited to record an album (No Quarter)
and tour with a large and diverse ensemble of musicians.
Meanwhile, the Led Zeppelin legend endures and grows
long after their demise, much like that of the Doors
and Elvis Presley. The lingering appeal of Led Zeppelin
is perhaps best summed up by guitarist Page: “Passion
is the word....It was a very passionate band, and that’s
really what comes through.” At the dawn of the new millennium,
Led Zeppelin placed second only to the Beatles in terms
of record sales, having sold 84 million units. Led Zeppelin
IV is the fourth best-selling album in history, having
sold more than 22 million copies, and four other albums
by the band – Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin II, Houses
of the Holy and Led Zeppelin - also rank among the all-time
top 100 best-sellers. Fittingly, Led Zeppelin is tied
with the Beatles (five apiece) for the most albums on
that esteemed list – a mark of both bands’ impact. In
their ceaseless determination to move music forward,
Led Zeppelin carved out an indelible place in rock history.
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