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Led Zeppelin

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Christiana Hanaman
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« on: June 13, 2009, 02:25:35 am »

Led Zeppelin



Led Zeppelin in 1968. From left to right: John Bonham, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones
Background information
Origin    London, England
Genre(s)    Hard rock, heavy metal, blues-rock, folk rock
Years active    1968–1980
(Reunions: 1985, 1988, 1995, 2007)
Label(s)    Atlantic, Swan Song
Associated acts    The Yardbirds, Page and Plant, The Honeydrippers, The Firm, Coverdale & Page, Band of Joy, Robert Plant & Allison Krauss
Website    ledzeppelin.com
Former members
Jimmy Page
John Paul Jones
Robert Plant
John Bonham
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Christiana Hanaman
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« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2009, 02:26:12 am »

 were an English rock band formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page (guitar), Robert Plant (vocals), John Paul Jones (bass guitar, keyboards) and John Bonham (drums). With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin are regarded as one of the first heavy metal bands.[1][2][3] However, the band's individualistic style draws from many sources and transcends any one genre.[4] Their rock-infused interpretation of the blues and folk genres[5] also incorporated rockabilly,[6] reggae,[7] soul,[8] funk,[9] classical, Celtic, Indian, Arabic, pop, Latin and country.[10] 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.[11][12]

Close to 30 years after disbanding following Bonham's death in 1980, the band continues to be held in high regard for their artistic achievements, commercial success and broad influence. The band has sold an estimated 200 million albums worldwide,[13][14][15] including 111.5 million sales in the United States[16] and they have had all of their original studio albums reach the U.S. Billboard Top 10,[17] with six reaching the number one spot. Led Zeppelin are ranked #1 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.[18] Rolling Stone magazine has described Led Zeppelin as "the heaviest band of all time" and "the biggest band of the '70s".[19]

On 10 December 2007 the surviving members of Led Zeppelin reunited (along with deceased drummer John Bonham's son, Jason) for the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at The O2 Arena in London.
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Christiana Hanaman
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« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2009, 02:26:45 am »

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Christiana Hanaman
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« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2009, 02:27:39 am »

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Christiana Hanaman
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« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2009, 02:28:26 am »

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Christiana Hanaman
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« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2009, 02:29:06 am »

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« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2009, 02:29:35 am »

The New Yardbirds (1968)

The beginning of Led Zeppelin can be traced back to the English blues-influenced rock band The Yardbirds.[12] Jimmy 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 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.[20] 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.[21]

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.[12][22] Plant eventually accepted the position, recommending a drummer, John Bonham from nearby Redditch.[12][23] When Dreja dropped 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.[24] Being familiar with Jones' credentials, Page agreed to bring in Jones as the final piece.

The group came together for the first time in a room below a record store on Gerrard Street in London.[25][26] Page suggested that they try playing "Train Kept A-Rollin'", a rockabilly song popularised by Johnny Burnette that had been given new life by the Yardbirds. "As soon as I heard John Bonham play," recalled Jones, "I knew this was going to be great... We locked together as a team immediately."[27] Shortly afterwards, the group played together on the final day of sessions for the P. J. Proby album, Three Week Hero. The album's song "Jim's Blues" was the first studio track to feature all four members of the future Led Zeppelin.[28] 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."[29]
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« Reply #7 on: June 13, 2009, 02:29:52 am »

The band completed the Scandinavian tour as The New Yardbirds, playing together for the first time in front of a live audience at Gladsaxe Teen Clubs in Gladsaxe, Denmark on 7 September 1968.[30][31] However, it was clear to the band that performing under the old Yardbirds tag was akin to working under false pretences, and upon returning from Scandinavia they decided to change their name.[32] One account of the band's naming, which has become almost legendary, has it that Keith Moon and John Entwistle, drummer and bassist for The Who, respectively, suggested that a possible supergroup containing themselves, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck would go over like a lead zeppelin, a term Entwistle used to describe a bad gig.[33] The group deliberately dropped the 'a' in Lead at the suggestion of their manager, Peter Grant, to prevent "thick Americans"[21] from pronouncing it "leed".[34]

Grant also secured for the new band an advance deal of $200,000 from Atlantic Records in November 1968, then the biggest deal of its kind for a new band.[29] Atlantic was a label known for a 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.[26][35] Under the terms of the contract secured by Grant, the band alone would decide when they would release albums and tour, and had final say over the contents and design of each album. They also would decide how to promote each release and which (if any) tracks to release as singles,[27] and formed their own company, Superhype, to handle all publishing rights.[36]
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« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2009, 02:30:23 am »

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« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2009, 02:30:46 am »

Early days (1968–1970)

With their first album not yet released, the band made their live debut under the name "Led Zeppelin" at the University of Surrey, Guildford on 25 October 1968.[37] This was followed by a US concert debut on 26 December 1968 (when promoter Barry Fey added them to a bill in Denver, Colorado[38]) before moving on to the west coast for dates in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities.[39] Led Zeppelin's eponymous debut album was released on 12 January 1969, during their first US tour. The album's blend of blues, folk and eastern influences with distorted amplification made it one of the pivotal records in the creation of heavy metal music.[40] 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.[41] On their first album Plant receives no credit for his contributions to the song writing as a result of his previous association with CBS Records.[42]
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« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2009, 02:30:58 am »

In an interview for the Led Zeppelin Profiled radio promo CD (1990) Page said that the album took about 36 hours of studio time to create (including mixing), and stated that he knows this because of the amount charged on the studio bill.[26][43] Peter Grant claimed the album cost £1,750 to produce (including artwork).[21] By 1975, the album had grossed $7,000,000.[44] Led Zeppelin's album cover met an interesting protest when, at a 28 February 1970 gig in Copenhagen, the band were 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.[45]

In their first year, Led Zeppelin managed to complete four US and four UK concert tours, and also released their second album, entitled Led Zeppelin II.[29] 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.[46] Here the band further developed ideas established on their debut album, creating a work which became even more widely acclaimed and arguably more influential.[47] It has been suggested that Led Zeppelin II largely wrote the blueprint for 1970s hard rock.[47]
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« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2009, 02:31:29 am »

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« Reply #12 on: June 13, 2009, 02:31:47 am »

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.[12] Led Zeppelin concerts could last more than four hours, with expanded, improvised live versions of their song repertoire. Many of these shows have been preserved as Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings. It was also during this period of intensive concert touring that the band developed a reputation for off-stage excess.[10] One alleged example of such extravagance was the shark episode, or red snapper incident, which is said to have taken place at the Edgewater Inn in Seattle, Washington, on 28 July 1969.[10][21]

Led Zeppelin's popularity in the early years was dwarfed by their triumphant mid-seventies successes and it is this period that continues to define the band.[10][21] The band's image also changed as members began to wear elaborate, flamboyant clothing. Led Zeppelin began travelling in a private jet airliner (nicknamed The Starship),[10][48] 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,[10] while another involved the destruction of a room in the Tokyo Hilton, leading to the band being banned from that establishment for life.[26][49] However, although Led Zeppelin developed a reputation for trashing their hotel suites and throwing television sets out of the windows, some suggest that these tales have been somewhat exaggerated. Music journalist Chris Welch argues that "[Led Zeppelin's] travels spawned many stories, but it was a myth that [they] were constantly engaged in acts of wanton destruction and lewd behaviour."[26]
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« Reply #13 on: June 13, 2009, 02:32:17 am »

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", misspelt as "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" on the album cover), which was strongly influenced by folk and Celtic music, and revealed the band's versatility.[36]

The album's rich acoustic sound initially received mixed reactions, with many critics and fans surprised at the turn taken away from the primarily electric compositions of the first two albums. Over time, however, its reputation has improved and Led Zeppelin III is now generally praised.[50][51] It has a unique album cover featuring a wheel which, when rotated, displays 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.[52] 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 live concerts.[26][53]
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« Reply #14 on: June 13, 2009, 02:32:54 am »

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