LED ZEPPELIN
The Stairway to Rock ëNí Roll
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ìBEING GOOD ISNíT JUST ABOUT BEING DEXTROUS AND BEING FLASH. BEING GOOD IS ABOUT BEING AN ALL-ROUND CONTRIBUTOR IN THE GREAT WORLD OF MUSICî ROBERT PLANT
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Band History | 09 Member’s Biographies | 17 Legacy | 27 Where Are They Now | 33
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There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold And she’s buying a stairway to heaven When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed With a word she can get what she came for. Ooh, ooh, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven. There’s a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure ‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.In a tree by the brook, there’s a songbird who sings, Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven. Ooh, it makes me wonder, Ooh, it makes me wonder. There’s a feeling I get when I look to the west, And my spirit is crying for leaving. In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees, And the voices of those who stand looking. Ooh, it makes me wonder, Ooh, it really makes me wonder. And it’s whispered that soon, if we all call the tune, Then the piper will lead us to reason. And a new day 06
will dawn for those who stand long, And the forests will echo with laughter. If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now, It’s just a spring clean for the May queen. Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run There’s still time to change the road you’re on. And it makes me wonder. Your head is humming and it won’t go, in case you don’t know, The piper’s calling you to join him, Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know Your stairway lies on the whispering wind? And as we wind on down the road Our shadows taller than our soul. There walks a lady we all know Who shines white light and wants to show How everything still turns to gold. And if you listen very hard The tune will come to you at last. When all are one and one is all. To be a rock and not to roll. And she’s buying a stairway to heaven. 07
HISTORY IN THE MAKING Led Zeppelin was a four-man British rock band that formed in London in 1968 consisting of members; Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and John Paul Jones. Their sound was initially rooted in blues and psychedelia and drew influences from a wide variety of music including folk. Their style ended up earning them recognition as one of the top pioneers of the heavy metal genre. The band was started under the name The New Yardbirds. After they changed their name to Led Zeppelin and signed a record deal with Atlantic Records. Early in their career, Jimmy Page wrote most of the bands music along with Plant writing the lyrics. Later on, John Paul Jones’ keyboard compositions became the core of the bands music. They recorded and mixed their first album in 9 days with Page covering the costs. They were originally quite unpopular with
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Moon and Entwistle stated that they would go down like a “lead balloon” suggesting their performance was destined for failure. their critics and chose their new name after
Zeppelin released their first, self titled, album during their first US tour where it made number ten on the Billboard chart, it made the sixth spot in the UK. Within their first year they completed four US and UK tours and recorded and released their second self titled album, Led Zeppelin II, which was mostly recorded while traveling in multiple North American studios. Led Zeppelin II reached number one on the charts in both the UK and the US. In the 1970’s, the band reached high commercial success and was dubbed one of the most influential groups of the era. Their style evolved to include 09
“I realized what Led Zeppelin was about around the end of our first U.S. tour. We started off not even on the bill in Denver, and by the time we got to New York we were second to Iron Butterfly, and they didn’t want to go on!” - Robert Plant flamboyant clothing and became rowdy leaving their mark in multiple hotels and venues. They also started to travel in a private jet which just shows how high the bands success had skyrocketed. Between 1969 and 1976 the band recorded and released 7 records. Led Zeppelin took a hiatus from touring in 1975 after Plant and his wife were involved in a serious car accident. During a time of recuperation Plant, Page and Bonham wrote much of their 1976 album, Presence, in Malibu, California. Instead of touring that year, they created a concert film called The Song Remains the Same and a sound track that accompanied the film, which premiered in New York City. They toured again in 1977 setting an attendance record of 76,229 attendees at the Silverdome. This concert is recognized in the Guiness Book of Records as the largest attendance that date for a single act show.
The tour attracted such crowds that many off-stage problems occurred such as riots, arrests and concert-goer and staff injuries.
The band recorded In Through The Out Door in Stockholm, Sweden in 1978, which reached number one in the US and UK charts in just the second week. In ’79, they headlined at the Knebworth Music Festival for a crowd of 104,000 people. Shortly after, John Bonham was starting to show serious signs of alcohol and drug abuse collapsing on stage, hospital visits and drinking
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vodka with breakfast. After a night of drinking in September 1980, Bonham, who had fallen asleep at Jimmy Page’s house, was found dead by Jones and the bands manager from asphyxiation from choking on his own vomit.
The death of Bonham was the demise of Led Zeppelin. The band cancelled their North
American tour and ultimately disbanded feeling that they, as a group, could not go on without Bonham. Following their breakup, Plant and Page worked on some projects together including a project with a band they called the Honeydrippers, which released only one album in 1984. Coda was released in 1982 with a collection of outtakes and unused tracks from Led Zeppelins careers. Though the band only had a decade long run, they were majorly successful and are credited with the development of album-oriented rock, stadium rock, and heavy metal as a genre in itself. They are now
considered the most influential band in history aside from the Beatles. They set standards and broke records with sold out arenas and have sold over 200 million records worldwide.
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RAMBLE ON
Plant’s lyrics were often inspired by mysitcal, philosophical and spiritual events. He used Norse and Welsh mythology and even J.R.R Tolkien. Tolkiens series inspired the lyrics of multiple songs such as The Battle of Evermore, Misty Mountain Hop and Ramble On.
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LEAVES ARE FALLING ALL AROUND, ITíS TIME I WAS ON MY WAY. THANKS TO YOU, IíMMUCH OBLIGED FOR SUCH A PLEASANT STAY. BUT NOW ITíS TIME FOR ME TO GO. THE AUTUMN MOON LIGHTS MY WAY. FOR NOW I SMELL THE RAIN, AND WITH IT PAIN, AND ITíS HEADED MY WAY. SOMETIMES I GROW SO TIRED, BUT I KNOW IíVE GOT ONE THING I GOT TO DO... RAMBLE ON, AND NOWíSTHE TIME, THE TIME IS NOW, TO SING MY SONG. IíMGOINíëROUNDTHE WORLD, I GOT TO FIND MY GIRL, ON MY WAY. IíVE BEEN THIS WAY TEN YEARS TO THE DAY, RAMBLE ON, GOTTA FIND THE QUEEN OF ALL MY DREAMS. GOT NO TIME TO FOR SPREADINí ROOTS, THE TIME HAS COME TO BE GONE. AND TOí OUR HEALTH WE DRANK A THOUSAND TIMES, ITíS TIME TO RAMBLE ON. RAMBLE ON, AND NOWíS THE TIME, THE TIME IS NOW, TO SING MY SONG. IíM GOINí ëROUND THE WORLD, I GOT TO FIND MY GIRL, ON MY WAY. IíVE BEEN THIS WAY TEN YEARS TO THE DAY, RAMBLE ON, GOTTA FIND THE QUEEN OF ALL MY DREAMS. MINEíS A TALE THAT CANíT BE TOLD, MY FREEDOM I HOLD DEAR. HOW YEARS AGO IN DAYS OF OLD, WHEN MAGIC FILLED THE AIR. TíWAS IN THE DARKEST DEPTHS OF MORDOR, I MET A GIRL SO FAIR. BUT GOLLUM, AND THE EVIL ONE CREPT UP AND SLIPPED AWAY WITH HER, HER, HER....YEAH. RAMBLE ON, AND NOWíS THE TIME, THE TIME IS NOW, TO SING MY SONG. IíM GOINí ëROUND THE WORLD, I GOT TO FIND MY GIRL, ON MY WAY. IíVE BEEN THIS WAY TEN YEARS TO THE DAY, RAMBLE ON, GOTTA FIND THE QUEEN OF ALL MY DREAMS. GONNA RAMBLE ON, SING MY SONG. GOTTA KEEP-A-SEARCHINí FOR MY BABY... GONNA WORK MY WAY, ROUND THE WORLD. I CANíT STOP THIS FEELINí IN MY HEART GOTTA KEEP SEARCHINí FOR MY BABY. I CANíT FIND MY BLUEBIRD!13
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ROBERT PLANT
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Robert Anthony Plant was born in Bromwhich, Staffordshire, England. His music interest started with singing Elvis Presley when he was a young child. Towards his high school years he fell in love with American blues singers such as Willie Dixon and Robert Johnson. He left home at age 16 to pursue music starting with local blues groups in Britain when he met John Bonham and the bones of Led Zeppelin started to form with a band that was initially called the New Yardbirds. He became the front man of the band and collaborated with Jimmy Page on the writings of Led Zeppelins songs. Plant
is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of rock and roll and has influenced many with his charismatic performance and unique vocal style. Some fellow rock singers that were influenced by him were Freddie Mercury of Queen, Axl Rose of Guns’N’Roses and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave. When Led Zeppelin disbanded, his talent gave him a successful solo career spanning over 40 years. He was named the “Greatest Metal Vocalist of All Time” by the magazine Hit Parader and has placed on many “greatest” lists throughout his musical journey. 17
JIMMY PAGE
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Jimmy Page, born James Patrick Page, Jr., was the guitarist and founder of Led Zeppelin. In 1952, the Page family moved, and the new house was where Jimmy discovered his first guitar. Nobody quite knew where it came from, but he started by taking a few lessons at age 12 and after that, was mainly self-taught by listening to records. Page took a lot of influence in his early years from rockabilly guitarists that played on Elvis Presley recordings. Before he abandoned his schooling to pursue music, he wanted to do biological research to find a cure for cancer. At age 16, he joined a band called
the Crusaders. He toured with the band until he fell it with glandular fever, which caused him to take a break from music and go to art school for painting. He continuously performed while in school and eventually secured session work with The Who and The Kinks. In 1966, he, Keith Moon, John Entwistle and Jeff Beck created a supergroup called the Yardbirds, however the project never took off due to vocalist and contractual problems. In 1968 he reconfigured the group enlisting Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones, thus Led Zeppelin was formed.
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JOHN BONHAM
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John Bonham starting forming his love for drums at age 5, making his first set out of coffee tins and other miscellaneous containers. His mother gifted him a snare drum at age 10 and his father gave him his first drum kid at 15. He never formally took drum lessons, only asked advice of fellow drummers from the town he grew up in. He joined his first band, Terry Webb and the Spiders, in 1964. He moved from band to band taking up drumming full time, but in 1966, the band he was in flopped and he joined Crawling King Snakes, where he
first met Robert Plant who was the lead singer. When Plant formed Band of Joy, he chose Bonham to be his drummer, and after opening for Tim Rose, he was invited to drum for him as a regular income gig. When Page formed the New Yardbirds and recruited Plant, he, in turn, suggested Bonham to be the drummer. He had also received offers from Joe Cocker and Chris Farlowe, but chose the Yardbirds because he liked their sound better. He died at age 32 but is to this day known as one of the best drummers of all time.
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JOHN PAUL JONES
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John Paul Jones, born John Baldwin, is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. He is best known for his roll as keyboardist, bassist and co-writer for Led Zeppelin. John was taught to play piano by his father, who was a pianist and arranger, at age 6. He was sent to boarding school at a young age where he was able to formally study music. He became choirmaster and an organist for a local church at age 14. The Deltas was the first band he joined, at age 15. The British group The Shadows hired him in 1962 for a two-year gig. After his two years were
up, he did session with Decca Records. During the four years he worked there he appeared in hundreds of recordings and expanding his work into keyboards and arranging, giving himself a good name in the studio business. tWhen Page joined The Yardbirds, John contributed to an album. When the Yardbirds disbanded, he inquired with Page about the vacant bassist position and Page excitedly accepted him as a new member. Since Zeppelin disbanded, he has worked on projects with multiple famous musicians such as Foo Fighters , Lenny Kravitz and the Butthole Surfers.
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Queen
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Metallica
LEGACY
Madonna
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Chris Cornell
Tina Turner
Beastie Boys
Stone Temple Pilots
Led Zeppelin is said to have been the father band of Metal and Rock’ N ’Roll music, creating a sound that had never been heard before. They left behind a huge legacy and artist from past decades have picked up and built off the style they created. Many musicians from multiple different genres have named Led Zeppelin as a big influence in their music from Madonna to Metallica. Some have even created tributes to the bad such as Tina Turner and Stone Temple Pilots. Others that have listed them as influence are Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave,
Beastie Boys and Alice Cooper. The band has also been referenced in several films such as Wayne’s World, School of Rock, Small Soldiers, and Silver Linings Playbooks. With music as ever evolving as it is, one thing remains the same, Led Zeppelin is and always will be an extremely influential band.
“Heavy Metal would not exist without Led Zeppelin, and if it did, it would suck.” Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters
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LedZeppelin L e dZe ppe l in II LedZeppelin III Le d Ze ppe li n I V
Houses of the Holy
Physical Graffiti P r e s e n c e
The Song Remains the Same 28
In Through The Out Door 29
WHERE ARE THEY NOW
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Since Led Zeppelin disbanded, the band released a few albums. Coda was released in 1982 with outtakes and unused tracks from the previous decades when the band was still recording and John Bonham was still alive. In 2002, Latters Days, a “best of � album was released, and in 2012 Celebration Day, which was a benefit concert, was released as an album and also a film. Though they have worked with eachother on projects, the band has no intent on touring anytime in the near future. Robert Plant attempted to take up teaching soon after the death of his bandmate but had a change of heart before he started. He has since worked on numerous projects giving himself a very successful solo career. He brought back Band of Joy, which was his first
band, and performed a 12-date summer tour. He also worked with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss where the collaborated and released a record. His current project is with a band he formed called Sensational Space Shifters. Also, in 2009, he was honored at Buckingham Palace and received his CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) award from Prince Charles. Jimmy Page has kept busy since the disbandment of Led Zeppelin as well. He has appeared in multiple performances with musical acts such as the Foo Fighters, alongside John Paul Jones, and Leona Lewis. He also published a hand crafted autobiography with limited copies. In 2014, he announced that he would be forming a new band, creating a wide
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variety of music that would span back to his years with the Yardbirds. He, like Pant, also received a CBE award from Prince Charles after his charity work for Task Brazil and Action for Brazil’s Children’s Trust and was also made an honorary citizen of Rio de Janeiro and was awarded a Grammy. John Paul Jones has collaborated with a number of artists since the group disbanded. He provided the soundtrack to the film Give My Regards to Broad Street and produced an album for the group Heart. He also appeared on sessions for Paul McCartney. In 1999 he debuted a solo album called Zooma and then another two years later called The Thunderthief. 32
Along with any Led Zeppelin reunion shows, he has appeared in multiple shows and festivals, including Bonaroo. His most recent project is a super group with Dave Grohl and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) called Them Crooked Vultures. They released their first album in 2009.
Pictured above: Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and tJohn Paul Jones were honored with rainbow ribbons and medals by President Obama at the Kennedy Center for the legacy they left in music over the past 40 years. 33
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