From lands across the sea came a band that would go down in history as the greatest rock and roll band to have ever walked this earth.
The English rock band Led Zeppelin rose to fame in the late 60′s and became the biggest band in the world throughout the 70′s. Formed by legendary guitarist Jimmy Page as the “New Yardbirds” who single handedly picked out the greatest musicians of their time…singer Robert Plant, multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. These 4 individuals would soon create a band that 90% of humans on this earth have heard of and has influenced. Led Zeppelin has become the most influential band of all time with their wide variety of musical genre’s and backgrounds to create a sound that has been untouched and will remain untouched forever. Their innovations with mixing in different styles of music and different time signatures brought them to the top of the charts in no time, selling over 300 million albums worldwide. The band reached new heights of commercial and critical success and surpassed the king of rock ‘n roll, Elvis Presley, with their sound and their sold out concerts. Led Zeppelin smashed every record in the book by the time their 4th album came out with their master piece Stairway to Heaven. Led Zeppelin refused to release any singles because they believed that if one song is worth listening to then the whole album must be purchased. It is like a painter cutting out one particular portion of their painting rather than having the full painting, Led Zeppelin’s painting was their albums…beautiful art.
Jimmy Page was the producer, songwriter, lead guitarist and most importantly the leader of Led Zeppelin. Some may say that he IS Led Zeppelin and the greatest guitarist to ever live but he could not do what he did without the help from his band mates. Jimmy was born as James Patrick Page on January 9th, 1944 in the West London suburb of Heston. While still a student, Page was a session guitarist who would often perform with guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. He secured a job as session guitarist and would soon rise to fame as he produced some of the Who’s albums and the Kinks’ albums. After many many years of learning and understanding how to produce records and listening to what people like to hear, Page joined a band called the Yardbirds which would eventually turn into the New Yardbirds then Led Zeppelin.
Robert Anthony Plant was born on August 20th, 1948 in the Black Country town of West Bromwich as a songwriter and singer. Robert Plant is the greatest front man of all time with his high energy performances and voice that’ll shake you. Plant and Page immediately hit it off with shared musical passion and began collaborating on songs that would soon be known as the greatest rock songs of all time. Led Zeppelin’s self-titled album debut hit the charts in 1969 and became known all across the world. Plant’s lyrics were often very mystical, philosophical and spiritual with references to J.R.R. Tolkien (author of the Lord of the Rings) in many of their songs. Some song titles include “The Battle of Evermore”, “Misty Mountain Hop”, “No Quarter”, “Ramble On”, and “Over the Hills and Far Away.”
John Paul Jones born as John Baldwin on January 3rd, 1946 in Sidcup, Kent. Jones started playing piano at the age of six, learning from his father. Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. He played bass, mandolin and keyboards for Led Zeppelin but he also plays the guitar, koto, lap steel guitar, violin, harp, ukulele, sitar, and the cello. John also played as a session player and often crossed paths with Page and became the last member of the Led Zeppelin, completing the 4 piece band. With a brilliant mind, Page was extremely happy to have scored such a talented musician.
Last but not least is Mr. Bonham, the only member of Zeppelin that has passed away which in turn became the reason why Led Zeppelin came to an end. There is no drummer than can pull of what Bonham did, his linear approach to the drums and his famous Bonham triplets has given drummers an extremely difficult time trying to cover a Zep song. John was born on May 31st, 1948 in Redditch, Worcestershire, England and began playing the drums at the age of 5. His first drum set consisted of containers and coffee tins and by the age of ten he received his first snare drum. He received his first drum set at the age of 15 and became a self taught drummer with only the help from other drummers within his town. When Page recruited Plant they were still in need of a drummer, Plant suggested Bonham to Page and after the first jam session with Bonham, it was all over. The search for the greatest musicians was complete and thus…Led Zeppelin was born.
The Immigrant Song, this is the rawest video and is the epitome of Led Zeppelin’s high energy performances and ultimate musicianship on stage. If only we could have seen them…
