232-455: Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised Robert Plant (vocals), Jimmy Page (guitar), John Paul Jones (bass and keyboards) and John Bonham (drums). With a heavy, guitar-driven sound and drawing from influences including blues and folk music , Led Zeppelin are cited as a progenitor of hard rock and heavy metal . They significantly influenced
464-505: A Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award with Led Zeppelin. In November 2006, Led Zeppelin was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame . The television broadcasting of the event consisted of an introduction to the band by various famous admirers (including Roger Taylor , Slash , Joe Perry , Steven Tyler , Jack White and Tony Iommi ), an award presentation to Page and a short speech by him. After this, rock group Wolfmother played
696-566: A cease and desist letter, stating that Page was allowed to use the New Yardbirds moniker for the Scandinavian dates only. One account of how the new band's name was chosen held that Moon and Entwistle had suggested that a supergroup with Page and Beck would go down like a "lead balloon", an idiom for being very unsuccessful or unpopular. The group dropped the 'a' in lead at the suggestion of Peter Grant, so that those unfamiliar with
928-615: A 90-minute "UnLedded" MTV project. They later released an album called No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded , which featured some reworked Led Zeppelin songs, and embarked on a world tour the following year. This is said to be the beginning of a rift between the band members, as Jones was not even told of the reunion. In 1995, Led Zeppelin were inducted into the United States Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith . Jason and Zoë Bonham also attended, representing their late father. At
1160-443: A Deluxe Edition, which contained a bonus disc of previously unheard material ( Coda's Deluxe Edition would include two bonus discs). Each album was also available in a Super Deluxe Edition Box Set, which included the remastered album and bonus disc on both CD and 180-gram vinyl, a high-definition audio download card of all content at 96 kHz/24 bit, a hardbound book filled with rare and previously unseen photos and memorabilia, and
1392-410: A Page-Relf composition initially titled "Knowing That I'm Losing You", which would eventually be re-recorded by Led Zeppelin as " Tangerine ". The Yardbirds' 1968 tour proved to be exhausting for the band. Drummer Jim McCarty and vocalist Keith Relf aimed to embark in a more acoustic direction, forming a folk rock duo called Together, whereas Page wanted to continue the heavier blues-based sound of
1624-527: A Yardbirds concert at Oxford . After the show, he went backstage where Paul Samwell-Smith announced that he was leaving the group. Page offered to replace Samwell-Smith, and this was accepted by the group. He initially played electric bass with the Yardbirds before finally switching to twin lead guitar with Beck when Chris Dreja moved to bass. The musical potential of the line-up was scuttled, however, by interpersonal conflicts caused by constant touring and
1856-573: A brief songwriting partnership with then romantic interest Jackie DeShannon . He composed and recorded songs for the John Williams (not to be confused with the film composer John Williams ) album The Maureeny Wishful Album with Big Jim Sullivan. Page worked as session musician on Donovan Leitch's Sunshine Superman , on Engelbert Humperdinck 's Release Me , the Johnny Hallyday albums Jeune homme and Je suis né dans la rue ,
2088-581: A broken ankle and Maureen was badly injured; a blood transfusion saved her life. Unable to tour, he headed to the Channel Island of Jersey to spend August and September recuperating, with Bonham and Page in tow. The band then reconvened in Malibu, California . During this forced hiatus, much of the material for their next album, Presence , was written. By this time, Led Zeppelin were the world's number one rock attraction, having outsold most bands of
2320-540: A ceremony at Guildford Cathedral , he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Surrey . For the 2008 Summer Olympics , Page, David Beckham and Leona Lewis represented Britain during the closing ceremonies on 24 August 2008. Beckham rode a double-decker bus into the stadium, and Page and Lewis performed " Whole Lotta Love ". In 2008, Page co-produced a documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim entitled It Might Get Loud . The film examines
2552-514: A certain degree doesn't care if it's popular. — Bill Wyman in Vulture (2016) The sound of rock is traditionally centered on the amplified electric guitar, which emerged in its modern form in the 1950s with the popularity of rock and roll. It was also greatly influenced by the sounds of electric blues guitarists. The sound of an electric guitar in rock music is typically supported by an electric bass guitar, which pioneered jazz music in
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#17327810678732784-569: A charity concert at the O2 Arena London. According to Guinness World Records 2009 , Led Zeppelin set the world record for the "Highest Demand for Tickets for One Music Concert" as 20 million requests for the reunion show were rendered online. On 7 June 2008, Page and John Paul Jones appeared with the Foo Fighters to close the band's concert at Wembley Stadium , performing " Rock and Roll " and " Ramble On ". On 20 June 2008, at
3016-637: A concert at Tampa Stadium was cut short because of a severe thunderstorm, despite tickets indicating "Rain or Shine". A riot broke out, resulting in arrests and injuries. After 23 July show at the Day on the Green festival at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California , Bonham and members of Led Zeppelin's support staff were arrested after a member of promoter Bill Graham 's staff was badly beaten during
3248-416: A cure for] cancer, if it isn't discovered by then." In an interview with Guitar Player magazine, Page stated that "there was a lot of busking in the early days, but as they say, I had to come to grips with it and it was a good schooling." When he was fourteen, and billed as James Page, he played in a group called Malcolm Austin and Whirlwinds, alongside Tony Busson on bass, Stuart Cockett on rhythm and
3480-669: A different direction from Zeppelin, playing standards and in a more R&B style, highlighted by a cover of " Sea of Love " that peaked at number three on the Billboard chart in early 1985. The studio album Coda – a collection of Zeppelin outtakes and unused tracks – was issued in November 1982. It included two tracks from the Royal Albert Hall in 1970, one each from the Led Zeppelin III and Houses of
3712-524: A drummer named Tom, playing Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis numbers. This band was short-lived, as Page soon found a drummer for a band he'd previously been playing in with Rod Wyatt, David Williams and Pete Calvert, and came up with a name for them: The Paramounts. The Paramounts played gigs in Epsom, once supporting a group who would later become Johnny Kidd & the Pirates . Although interviewed for
3944-527: A few occasions, most notably in 1985 for the Live Aid concert with both Phil Collins and Tony Thompson filling drum duties. However, the band members considered this performance to be sub-standard, with Page having been let down by a poorly tuned Les Paul. Page, Plant and Jones, as well as John Bonham's son Jason , performed at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary show on 14 May 1988, closing
4176-519: A fondness for a good beat, a meaningful lyric with some wit, and the theme of youth, which holds an "eternal attraction" so objective "that all youth music partakes of sociology and the field report ." Writing in Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), he said this sensibility is evident in the music of folk singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked , rapper LL Cool J , and synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys —"all kids working out their identities"—as much as it
4408-481: A foundation of simple syncopated rhythms in a 4 meter , with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four. Melodies often originate from older musical modes such as the Dorian and Mixolydian , as well as major and minor modes. Harmonies range from the common triad to parallel perfect fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Since the late 1950s, and particularly from
4640-628: A frequent addition to the established rock format of guitars, bass, and drums in subsequent progressive rock. Instrumentals were common, while songs with lyrics were sometimes conceptual, abstract, or based in fantasy and science fiction. The Pretty Things ' SF Sorrow (1968), the Kinks' Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969), and the Who 's Tommy (1969) introduced
4872-444: A friend stripped Page's custom modifications and repainted the guitar. From 1969 on the mahogany "Number 1" Les Paul has been Page's main guitar. During the 1970s, Led Zeppelin reached new heights of commercial and critical success that made them one of the most influential groups of the era, eclipsing their earlier achievements. The band's image also changed as the members began to wear elaborate, flamboyant clothing, with Page taking
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#17327810678735104-613: A ham roll. After taking a bite of the ham roll he said to his assistant, "breakfast". He continued to drink heavily after arriving at the studio. The rehearsals were halted late that evening and the band retired to Page's house—the Old Mill House in Clewer , Windsor . After midnight, Bonham, who had fallen asleep, was taken to bed and placed on his side. At 1:45 pm the next day, Benji LeFevre (Led Zeppelin's new tour manager) and John Paul Jones found Bonham dead. The cause of death
5336-501: A high-quality print of the original album cover. On 6 November 2015, the Mothership compilation was reissued using the band's newly remastered audio tracks. The reissuing campaign continued the next year with the re-release of BBC Sessions on 16 September 2016. The reissue contained a bonus disc with nine unreleased BBC recordings, including the heavily bootlegged but never officially released "Sunshine Woman". To commemorate
5568-704: A highly successful mid-1990s tour to support No Quarter , Page and Plant recorded 1998's Walking into Clarksdale , featuring the Grammy Award-winning songs " Most High " and " Please Read the Letter ". Page was heavily involved in remastering the Led Zeppelin catalogue. He participated in various charity concerts and charity work, particularly the Action for Brazil's Children Trust (ABC Trust), founded by his wife Jimena Gomez-Paratcha in 1998. In
5800-491: A job as a laboratory assistant, he ultimately chose to leave secondary school in West Ewell to pursue music, doing so at the age of fifteen – the earliest age permitted at the time – having gained four GCE O levels and on the back of a major row with the school Deputy Head Miss Nicholson about his musical ambitions, about which she was wholly scathing. Page had difficulty finding other musicians with whom he could play on
6032-630: A key feature of psychedelia. Psychedelic rock reached its apogee in the last years of the decade. 1967 saw the Beatles release their definitive psychedelic statement in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , including the controversial track " Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds ", the Rolling Stones responded later that year with Their Satanic Majesties Request , and Pink Floyd debuted with The Piper at
6264-574: A lack of commercial success, although they released one single, " Happenings Ten Years Time Ago ". While Page and Beck played together in the Yardbirds, the trio of Page, Beck and Clapton never played in the original group at the same time. The three guitarists did appear on stage together at the ARMS Charity Concerts in 1983. After Beck's departure, the Yardbirds remained a quartet. They recorded one album with Page on lead guitar, Little Games . The album received indifferent reviews and
6496-573: A loud amplified sound, often centered on the electric guitar, based on the Chicago blues , particularly after the tour of Britain by Muddy Waters in 1958, which prompted Cyril Davies and guitarist Alexis Korner to form the band Blues Incorporated . The band involved and inspired many of the figures of the subsequent British blues boom, including members of the Rolling Stones and Cream , combining blues standards and forms with rock instrumentation and emphasis. The other key focus for British blues
6728-587: A mainstream audience with hits including " Blowin' in the Wind " (1963) and " Masters of War " (1963), which brought " protest songs " to a wider public, but, although beginning to influence each other, rock and folk music had remained largely separate genres, often with mutually exclusive audiences. Early attempts to combine elements of folk and rock included the Animals' " House of the Rising Sun " (1964), which
6960-495: A major element of progressive rock. From about 1967 bands like Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience had moved away from purely blues-based music into psychedelia . By the 1970s, blues rock had become heavier and more riff-based, exemplified by the work of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple , and the lines between blues rock and hard rock "were barely visible", as bands began recording rock-style albums. The genre
7192-429: A major influence on subsequent electronic rock . With the advent of punk rock and technological changes in the late 1970s, progressive rock was increasingly dismissed as pretentious and overblown. Many bands broke up, but some, including Genesis, ELP, Yes, and Pink Floyd, regularly scored top ten albums with successful accompanying worldwide tours. Some bands which emerged in the aftermath of punk, such as Siouxsie and
Led Zeppelin - Misplaced Pages Continue
7424-400: A marriage of blues, hard rock and acoustic music topped with heavy choruses – a combination that had never been done before. Lots of light and shade in the music. Led Zeppelin broke up in 1980 following the death of Bonham at Page's home. Page initially refused to touch a guitar, grieving for his friend. For the rest of the 1980s, his work consisted of a series of short-term collaborations in
7656-556: A mispronunciation as "Leed Zeppelin". Led Zeppelin are one of the best-selling music groups in the history of audio recording. Various sources estimate the group's worldwide sales at more than 200 or even 300 million albums. With 111.5 million RIAA-certified units, they are the second-best-selling band in the United States. Each of their nine studio albums reached the top 10 of the US Billboard album chart, and six reached
7888-410: A more basic form of rock and roll that incorporated its original influences, particularly blues, country and folk music, leading to the creation of country rock and Southern rock. In 1966 Bob Dylan went to Nashville to record the album Blonde on Blonde . This, and subsequent more clearly country-influenced albums, such as Nashville Skyline , have been seen as creating the genre of country folk ,
8120-486: A multibillion-dollar industry and doubling its market while, as Christgau noted, suffering a significant "loss of cultural prestige". "Maybe the Bee Gees became more popular than the Beatles, but they were never more popular than Jesus ", he said. "Insofar as the music retained any mythic power, the myth was self-referential – there were lots of songs about the rock and roll life but very few about how rock could change
8352-589: A national phenomenon. It is often argued that the surf music craze and the careers of almost all surf acts was effectively ended by the arrival of the British Invasion from 1964, because most surf music hits were recorded and released between 1960 and 1965. By the end of 1962, what would become the British rock scene had started with beat groups like the Beatles , Gerry & the Pacemakers and
8584-418: A new supergroup featuring Beck, along with The Who 's John Entwistle on bass and Moon on drums. However, the lack of a quality vocalist and contractual problems prevented the project from getting off the ground. During this time, Moon suggested the name "Lead Zeppelin " for the first time, after Entwistle commented that the proceedings would take to the air like a lead balloon. Within weeks, Page attended
8816-489: A one-off Led Zeppelin reunion in 2007 that was released as the 2012 concert film Celebration Day . Along with the Edge and Jack White , he participated in the 2008 documentary It Might Get Loud . Page is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Rolling Stone magazine has described Page as "the pontiff of power riffing" and ranked him number three in their 2015 list of
9048-517: A photo collection called Jimmy Page: The Anthology , confirming a band documentary for the band's 50th anniversary. A work-in-progress version of the documentary film Becoming Led Zeppelin was screened at the Venice Film Festival in 2021. It is the first time band members have agreed to participate in a biographical documentary. Rock music Rock is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll " in
9280-521: A planned Australian tour. The year 2003 saw the release of the triple live album How the West Was Won , and Led Zeppelin DVD , a six-hour chronological set of live footage that became the best-selling music DVD in history. In July 2007, Atlantic/ Rhino and Warner Home Video announced three Zeppelin titles to be released that November: Mothership , a 24-track best-of spanning the band's career;
9512-459: A preacher, prosecutions of Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry and the breaking of the payola scandal (which implicated major figures, including Alan Freed, in bribery and corruption in promoting individual acts or songs), gave a sense that the rock and roll era established at that point had come to an end. Rock quickly spread out from its origins in the US, associated with the rapid Americanization that
Led Zeppelin - Misplaced Pages Continue
9744-444: A prog rock influence and while ranking among the most commercially successful acts of the 1970s, heralding the era of pomp or arena rock , which would last until the costs of complex shows (often with theatrical staging and special effects), would be replaced by more economical rock festivals as major live venues in the 1990s. The instrumental strand of the genre resulted in albums like Mike Oldfield 's Tubular Bells (1973),
9976-621: A regular basis. "It wasn't as though there was an abundance. I used to play in many groups ... anyone who could get a gig together, really." Following stints backing recitals by Beat poet Royston Ellis at the Mermaid Theatre between 1960 and 1961, and singer Red E. Lewis, who'd seen him playing with the Paramounts at the Contemporary club in Epsom and told his manager Chris Tidmarsh to ask Page to join his backing band,
10208-584: A reissue of the soundtrack The Song Remains the Same , including previously unreleased material; and a new DVD. Zeppelin also made their catalogue legally available for download, becoming one of the last major rock bands to do so. On 10 December 2007, Zeppelin reunited for the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at the O 2 Arena in London, with Jason Bonham again taking his father's place on drums. According to Guinness World Records 2009 ,
10440-446: A rigidly delineated musical definition." In the opinion of music journalist Robert Christgau , "the best rock jolts folk-art virtues—directness, utility, natural audience—into the present with shots of modern technology and modernist dissociation ". Rock and roll was conceived as an outlet for adolescent yearnings ... To make rock and roll is also an ideal way to explore intersections of sex, love, violence, and fun, to broadcast
10672-625: A rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. By the late 1960s " classic rock " period, a few distinct rock music subgenres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock , folk rock , country rock , Southern rock , raga rock , and jazz rock , which contributed to the development of psychedelic rock , influenced by the countercultural psychedelic and hippie scene . New genres that emerged included progressive rock , which extended artistic elements, heavy metal , which emphasized an aggressive thick sound, and glam rock , which highlighted showmanship and visual style. In
10904-721: A route pursued by a number of largely acoustic folk musicians. Other acts that followed the back-to-basics trend were the Canadian group the Band and the California-based Creedence Clearwater Revival , both of which mixed basic rock and roll with folk, country and blues, to be among the most successful and influential bands of the late 1960s. The same movement saw the beginning of the recording careers of Californian solo artists like Ry Cooder , Bonnie Raitt and Lowell George , and influenced
11136-544: A safe deposit box at the Drake Hotel . In 1974, Led Zeppelin took a break from touring and launched their own record label, Swan Song , named after an unreleased song. The record label's logo is based on a drawing called Evening: Fall of Day (1869) by William Rimmer . The drawing features a figure of a winged human-like being interpreted as either Apollo or Icarus . The logo can be found on Led Zeppelin memorabilia, especially T-shirts. In addition to using Swan Song as
11368-555: A session that also included bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones . The Yardbirds played their final gig on 7 July 1968 at Luton College of Technology in Bedfordshire. They were still committed to several concerts in Scandinavia, so McCarty and Relf authorised Page and bassist Chris Dreja to use the Yardbirds' name to fulfill the band's obligations. Page and Dreja began putting a new line-up together. Page's first choice for
11600-537: A single edit of "Whole Lotta Love" in the US and the UK, the only single the band released in their homeland, where it peaked at number 21. November 1997 saw the release of Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions , a two-disc set largely recorded in 1969 and 1971. Page and Plant released another album called Walking into Clarksdale in 1998, featuring all new material, but after disappointing sales, the partnership dissolved before
11832-481: A slogan one only began to hear in 1972 or so, mobilized all those eager to believe that idealism had become passe, and once they were mobilized, it had. In popular music, embracing the '70s meant both an elitist withdrawal from the messy concert and counterculture scene and a profiteering pursuit of the lowest common denominator in FM radio and album rock . Rock saw greater commodification during this decade, turning into
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#173278106787312064-547: A tour of the United States, during which they performed several songs which would later be part of Led Zeppelin's early repertoire, including covers of Johnny Burnette 's " Train Kept A-Rollin' " and " Dazed and Confused ", a song originally written and recorded by Jake Holmes . In early April 1968, the Yardbirds held a recording session at Columbia Studios in New York City, recording a number of tracks including
12296-493: A track called "Scarlet" was cut (the same year he played acoustic guitar on The Stones' "Through the Lonely Nights"). Page reflected later in an interview with Rolling Stone ' s Cameron Crowe : "I did what could possibly be the next Stones B side. It was Ric Grech, Keith and me doing a number called "Scarlet". I can't remember the drummer. It sounded very similar in style and mood to those Blonde on Blonde tracks. It
12528-508: A tribute to Led Zeppelin. During an interview for the BBC in connection with the induction, Page expressed plans to record new material in 2007, saying: "It's an album that I really need to get out of my system ... there's a good album in there and it's ready to come out" and "Also there will be some Zeppelin things on the horizon." On 10 December 2007, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin, as well as John Bonham 's son, Jason Bonham played
12760-464: A variety of directions, including Dylan and the Byrds, who began to develop country rock . However, the hybridization of folk and rock has been seen as having a major influence on the development of rock music, bringing in elements of psychedelia, and helping to develop the ideas of the singer-songwriter, the protest song, and concepts of "authenticity". Psychedelic music's LSD -inspired vibe began in
12992-529: A variety of sources such as the Tin Pan Alley pop tradition, folk music , and rhythm and blues . Christgau characterizes rock lyrics as a "cool medium" with simple diction and repeated refrains, and asserts that rock's primary "function" "pertains to music, or, more generally, noise ." The predominance of white, male, and often middle class musicians in rock music has often been noted, and rock has been seen as an appropriation of Black musical forms for
13224-816: A vehicle to promote their own albums, the band expanded the label's roster, signing artists such as Bad Company , the Pretty Things and Maggie Bell . The label was successful while Led Zeppelin existed, but folded less than three years after they disbanded. In 1975, Led Zeppelin's double album Physical Graffiti was their first release on the Swan Song label. It consisted of fifteen songs, of which eight had been recorded at Headley Grange in 1974 and seven had been recorded earlier. A review in Rolling Stone magazine referred to Physical Graffiti as Led Zeppelin's "bid for artistic respectability", adding that
13456-501: A young, white and largely male audience. As a result, it has also been seen to articulate the concerns of this group in both style and lyrics. Christgau, writing in 1972, said in spite of some exceptions, "rock and roll usually implies an identification of male sexuality and aggression". Since the term "rock" started being used in preference to "rock and roll" from the late-1960s, it has usually been contrasted with pop music, with which it has shared many characteristics, but from which it
13688-423: Is centered on the electric guitar , usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar , drums , and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a 4 time signature using a verse–chorus form , but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music , lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock
13920-435: Is cited by Page as being his inspiration to take up the guitar, and he would reprise Moore's playing on the song in the live version of " Whole Lotta Love " on The Song Remains the Same . He appeared on BBC1 in 1957 with a Höfner President acoustic, which he'd bought from money saved up from his milk round in the summer holidays and which had a pickup so it could be amplified, but his first solid-bodied electric guitar
14152-540: Is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the music. Four years later, Bill Haley 's " Rock Around the Clock " (1954) became the first rock and roll song to top Billboard magazine's main sales and airplay charts, and opened the door worldwide for this new wave of popular culture. Other artists with early rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry , Bo Diddley , Fats Domino , Little Richard , Jerry Lee Lewis , and Gene Vincent . Soon rock and roll
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#173278106787314384-472: Is generally agreed that garage rock peaked both commercially and artistically around 1966. By 1968 the style largely disappeared from the national charts and at the local level as amateur musicians faced college, work or the draft . New styles had evolved to replace garage rock. Although the first impact of the British Invasion on American popular music was through beat and R&B based acts,
14616-531: Is hard to remember exactly what he did given the enormous number of sessions he was playing at the time. In a radio interview, he explained that "I was doing three sessions a day, fifteen sessions a week. Sometimes I would be playing with a group, sometimes I could be doing film music, it could be a folk session ... I was able to fit all these different roles." Although Page recorded with many notable musicians, many of these early tracks are only available as bootleg recordings , several of which were released by
14848-555: Is in the music of Chuck Berry , the Ramones , and the Replacements . The foundations of rock music are in rock and roll, which originated in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, and quickly spread to much of the rest of the world. Its immediate origins lay in a melding of various black musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music , with country and western . Debate surrounds
15080-467: Is notable for occasionally playing his guitar with a cello bow to create a droning sound texture to the music. Page began his career as a studio session musician in London and, by the mid-1960s, alongside Big Jim Sullivan , was one of the most sought-after session guitarists in Britain. He was a member of the Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968. When the Yardbirds broke up, he founded Led Zeppelin, which
15312-411: Is often distanced by an emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and a focus on serious and progressive themes as part of an ideology of authenticity that is frequently combined with an awareness of the genre's history and development. According to Simon Frith , rock was "something more than pop, something more than rock and roll" and "[r]ock musicians combined an emphasis on skill and technique with
15544-592: Is one of the best-selling albums in history, with 37 million copies sold. It includes " Black Dog ", " Rock and Roll " and " Stairway to Heaven ", with the latter being among the most popular and influential works in rock. Houses of the Holy (1973) includes " The Song Remains the Same " and " Over the Hills and Far Away ". Physical Graffiti (1975), a double album, features " The Rover " and " Kashmir ". Page composed most of Led Zeppelin's music, while Plant wrote most of
15776-399: Is termed as a rock band or a rock group. Furthermore, it typically consists of between three (the power trio ) and five members. Classically, a rock band takes the form of a quartet whose members cover one or more roles, including vocalist, lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist, bass guitarist, drummer, and often keyboard player or another instrumentalist. Rock music is traditionally built on
16008-465: Is the Band." Jimmy Page James Patrick Page OBE (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin . Prolific in creating guitar riffs , Page's style involves various alternative guitar tunings and melodic solos, coupled with aggressive, distorted guitar tones. It is also characterized by his folk and eastern-influenced acoustic work. He
16240-535: The Billboard Hot 100 . The British Invasion greatly influenced garage bands, providing them with a national audience, leading many (often surf or hot rod groups) to adopt a British influence, and encouraging many more groups to form. Thousands of garage bands were extant in the United States and Canada during the era and hundreds produced regional hits. Despite scores of bands being signed to major or large regional labels, most were commercial failures. It
16472-577: The Death Wish III soundtrack, were recorded and produced at his recording studio, The Sol in Cookham , which he had purchased from Gus Dudgeon in the early 1980s. In 1983, Page appeared with the A.R.M.S. (Action Research for Multiple Sclerosis ) charity series of concerts which honoured Small Faces bassist Ronnie Lane , who suffered from the disease. For the first shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Page's set consisted of songs from
16704-469: The Guinness Book of Records , the largest attendance to that date for a single act show. Although the tour was financially profitable, it was beset by off-stage problems. On 19 April, over 70 people were arrested as about 1,000 fans tried to gatecrash Cincinnati Riverfront Coliseum for two sold-out concerts, while others tried to gain entry by throwing rocks and bottles through glass doors. On 3 June,
16936-477: The Al Stewart album Love Chronicles and played guitar on five tracks of Joe Cocker 's debut album, With a Little Help from My Friends . Over the years since 1970, Page played lead guitar on 10 Roy Harper tracks, comprising 81 minutes of music. When questioned about which songs he played on, especially ones where there exists some controversy as to what his exact role was, Page often points out that it
17168-524: The American folk music revival had grown to a major movement, using traditional music and new compositions in a traditional style, usually on acoustic instruments. In America the genre was pioneered by figures such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and often identified with progressive or labor politics . In the early sixties figures such as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan had come to the fore in this movement as singer-songwriters. Dylan had begun to reach
17400-608: The Billboard chart; it was released in the UK, where it peaked at number 6, on 31 March. According to Steve Erlewine , the album's memorable guitar riffs, lumbering rhythms, psychedelic blues , groovy, bluesy shuffles and hints of English folk music made it "a significant turning point in the evolution of hard rock and heavy metal". In their first year, Led Zeppelin completed four US and four UK concert tours , and also released their second album, Led Zeppelin II . Recorded mostly on
17632-481: The Billboard pop albums chart and went gold in the US. It was followed by Mean Business in 1986. The band toured in support of both albums, but soon split up. Various other projects followed, such as session work for Graham Nash , Stephen Stills and the Rolling Stones (on their 1986 single " One Hit (To the Body) "). In 1986, Page reunited temporarily with his former Yardbirds bandmates to play on several tracks of
17864-496: The Box of Frogs album Strange Land . Page released a solo album entitled Outrider in 1988, which featured contributions from Plant, with Page contributing in turn to Plant's solo album Now and Zen , which was released the same year. Outrider also featured singer John Miles on the album's opening track "Wasting My Time". Throughout these years, Page also reunited with the other former bandmates of Led Zeppelin to perform live on
18096-510: The Death Wish II soundtrack (with Steve Winwood on vocals) and an instrumental version of "Stairway to Heaven". A four-city tour of the United States followed, with Paul Rodgers of Bad Company replacing Winwood. During the tour, Page and Rodgers performed "Midnight Moonlight", which would later appear on The Firm's first album. All of the shows featured an on stage jam of " Layla " that reunited Page with Beck and Clapton. According to
18328-637: The Earls Court Arena in London, at the time the largest arena in Britain. Following their triumphant Earls Court appearances , Led Zeppelin took a holiday and planned an autumn tour in America, scheduled to open with two outdoor dates in San Francisco. In August 1975, however, Plant and his wife Maureen were involved in a serious car crash while on holiday in Rhodes , Greece. Plant suffered
18560-614: The Knebworth Music Festival , playing to a crowd of approximately 104,000 on the first night. A brief, low-key European tour was undertaken in June and July 1980, featuring a stripped-down set without the usual lengthy jams and solos. On 27 June, at a show in Nuremberg , West Germany, the concert came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the third song, when Bonham collapsed onstage and was rushed to hospital. Speculation in
18792-609: The Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle upon Tyne . Their first show as Led Zeppelin was at the University of Surrey in Battersea on 25 October. Tour manager Richard Cole , who would become a major figure in the touring life of the group, organised their first North American tour at the end of the year. Their debut album, Led Zeppelin , was released in the US during the tour on 13 January 1969, and peaked at number 10 on
19024-422: The garage rock / post-punk revival in the 2000s. Since the 2010s, rock has lost its position as the pre-eminent popular music genre in world culture, but remains commercially successful. The increased influence of hip-hop and electronic dance music can be seen in rock music, notably in the techno-pop scene of the early 2010s and the pop-punk-hip-hop revival of the 2020s. Rock has also embodied and served as
19256-435: The induction ceremony , the band's inner rift became apparent when Jones joked upon accepting his award, "Thank you, my friends, for finally remembering my phone number", causing consternation and awkward looks from Page and Plant. Afterwards, they played one brief set with Tyler and Perry, with Jason Bonham on drums, and then a second with Neil Young , this time with Michael Lee playing the drums. In 1997, Atlantic released
19488-417: The protest song , rock music has been associated with political activism , as well as changes in social attitudes to race, sex, and drug use, and is often seen as an expression of youth revolt against adult consumerism and conformity . At the same time, it has been commercially highly successful, leading to accusations of selling out . A good definition of rock, in fact, is that it's popular music that to
19720-510: The "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", behind Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton , and ranking 3rd again in 2023 behind Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix. In 2010, he was ranked number two in Gibson 's list of "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time" and, in 2007, number four on Classic Rock ' s "100 Wildest Guitar Heroes". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: once as a member of
19952-547: The "Riot House"), and became the subject of frequently repeated stories of debauchery. One involved John Bonham riding a motorcycle through a rented floor of the Riot House, while another involved the destruction of a room in the Tokyo Hilton , leading to the group being banned from that establishment for life. Although Led Zeppelin developed a reputation for trashing their hotel suites and throwing television sets out of
20184-789: The 12-hour show. In 1990, a Knebworth concert to aid the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Centre and the British School for Performing Arts and Technology saw Plant unexpectedly joined by Page to perform " Misty Mountain Hop ", " Wearing and Tearing " and " Rock and Roll ". The same year, Page appeared with Aerosmith at the Monsters of Rock festival. Page also performed with the band's former members at Jason Bonham's wedding. In 1993, Page collaborated with David Coverdale (of English rock band Whitesnake ) for
20416-454: The 1950s saw the growth in popularity of the electric guitar, and the development of a specifically rock and roll style of playing through such exponents as Chuck Berry, Link Wray , and Scotty Moore . The use of distortion , pioneered by Western swing guitarists such as Junior Barnard and Eldon Shamblin was popularized by Chuck Berry in the mid-1950s. The use of power chords , pioneered by Francisco Tárrega and Heitor Villa-Lobos in
20648-543: The 1970s as the Beatles were in the 1960s. In 1966, London-based session guitarist Jimmy Page joined the blues-influenced rock band the Yardbirds to replace bassist Paul Samwell-Smith . Page soon switched from bass to lead guitar, creating a dual lead guitar line-up with Jeff Beck . Following Beck's departure in October 1966, the Yardbirds became a four-piece with Page as the sole guitarist. This new line-up recorded an album, Little Games , in 1967, before embarking on
20880-473: The 1970s. The group followed up the album's release with tours of the UK , Australasia , North America , Japan , and the UK again from late 1971 through early 1973. Led Zeppelin's next album, Houses of the Holy , was released in March 1973. It featured further experimentation by the band, who expanded their use of synthesisers and mellotron orchestration. The predominantly orange album cover, designed by
21112-467: The 19th century and later on by Willie Johnson and Pat Hare in the early 1950s, was popularized by Link Wray in the late 1950s. Commentators have traditionally perceived a decline of rock and roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s. By 1959, the death of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash, the departure of Elvis for the army, the retirement of Little Richard to become
21344-477: The Banshees , Ultravox , and Simple Minds , showed the influence of progressive rock, as well as their more usually recognized punk influences. In the late 1960s, jazz-rock emerged as a distinct subgenre out of the blues-rock, psychedelic, and progressive rock scenes, mixing the power of rock with the musical complexity and improvisational elements of jazz. AllMusic states that the term jazz-rock "may refer to
21576-628: The Beatles, demonstrating "to the rock generation in general that an album could be a major standalone statement without hit singles", such as on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963). Folk rock particularly took off in California, where it led acts like the Mamas & the Papas and Crosby, Stills, and Nash to move to electric instrumentation, and in New York, where it spawned performers including
21808-554: The Byrds ' shift from folk to folk rock from 1965. The psychedelic lifestyle, which revolved around hallucinogenic drugs, had already developed in San Francisco and particularly prominent products of the scene were Big Brother and the Holding Company , the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane . The Jimi Hendrix Experience 's lead guitarist, Jimi Hendrix did extended distorted, feedback-filled jams which became
22040-431: The Byrds adopted rock instrumentation, including drums and 12-string Rickenbacker guitars, which became a major element in the sound of the genre. Later that year Dylan adopted electric instruments, much to the outrage of many folk purists, with his " Like a Rolling Stone " becoming a US hit single. According to Ritchie Unterberger , Dylan (even before his adoption of electric instruments) influenced rock musicians like
22272-537: The Dominos , followed by an extensive solo career that helped bring blues rock into the mainstream. Green, along with the Bluesbreaker's rhythm section Mick Fleetwood and John McVie , formed Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac , who enjoyed some of the greatest commercial success in the genre. In the late 1960s Jeff Beck , also an alumnus of the Yardbirds, moved blues rock in the direction of heavy rock with his band,
22504-507: The Gates of Dawn . Key recordings included Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow and the Doors ' self-titled debut album . These trends peaked in the 1969 Woodstock festival , which saw performances by most of the major psychedelic acts. Sgt. Pepper was later regarded as the greatest album of all time and a starting point for the album era , during which rock music transitioned from
22736-472: The Holy , were released on 27 October 2014. Physical Graffiti was released on 23 February 2015, almost exactly forty years to the day after the original release. The fourth and final wave of studio album reissues, Presence , In Through the Out Door , and Coda , were released on 31 July 2015. Through this remastering project, each studio album was reissued on CD and vinyl and was also available in
22968-535: The Holy sessions, and three from the In Through the Out Door sessions. It also featured a 1976 Bonham drum instrumental with electronic effects added by Page, called " Bonzo's Montreux ". On 13 July 1985, Page, Plant, and Jones reunited for the Live Aid concert at JFK Stadium, Philadelphia , playing a short set featuring drummers Tony Thompson and Phil Collins , and bassist Paul Martinez . Collins had contributed to Plant's first two solo albums while Martinez
23200-471: The Jeff Beck Group . The last Yardbirds guitarist was Jimmy Page , who went on to form The New Yardbirds which rapidly became Led Zeppelin . Many of the songs on their first three albums, and occasionally later in their careers, were expansions on traditional blues songs. In America, blues rock had been pioneered in the early 1960s by guitarist Lonnie Mack , but the genre began to take off in
23432-506: The Joint " (1949), also covered by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1952; and " Rocket 88 " by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (in fact, Ike Turner and his band the Kings of Rhythm ), recorded by Sam Phillips for Chess Records in 1951. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music (then termed " race music ") for a multi-racial audience, and
23664-649: The Led Zeppelin catalogue and old blues and rock standards. The last two concerts were recorded in Los Angeles and released as a double live album , Live at the Greek in 2000. Following the release of the live album, Page and the Black Crowes continued their collaboration by joining a package tour with the Who in 2000, which Page ultimately quit before completion. In 2001, after guesting with Fred Durst and Wes Scantlin 's performance of " Thank You " at
23896-571: The Led Zeppelin fan club in the late 1970s. Examples include early jam sessions featuring him and guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton covering various blues themes, which were included on compilations released by Immediate Records . Several early tracks were compiled on the twin album release, Jimmy Page: Session Man . He also recorded with Keith Richards on guitar and vocals in Olympic Sound Studios on 15 October 1974. Along with Ric Grech on bass and Bruce Rowland on drums,
24128-848: The London-based design group Hipgnosis , depicts images of nude children climbing the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. Although the children are not shown from the front, the cover was controversial at the time of the album's release. As with the band's fourth album, neither their name nor the album title was printed on the sleeve. Houses of the Holy topped charts worldwide, and the band's subsequent concert tour of North America in 1973 broke records for attendance, as they consistently filled large auditoriums and stadiums. At Tampa Stadium in Florida, they played to 56,800 fans, breaking
24360-503: The Lovin' Spoonful and Simon and Garfunkel , with the latter's acoustic " The Sounds of Silence " (1965) being remixed with rock instruments to be the first of many hits. These acts directly influenced British performers like Donovan and Fairport Convention . In 1969 Fairport Convention abandoned their mixture of American covers and Dylan-influenced songs to play traditional English folk music on electric instruments. This British folk-rock
24592-805: The MTV Europe Video Music Awards, Page once again continued his collaboration with Robert Plant. After recording a cover of "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" for a tribute album, the duo performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 2005, Page was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of his Brazilian charity work for Task Brazil and Action For Brazil's Children's Trust, made an honorary citizen of Rio de Janeiro later that year and won
24824-585: The MacGregors and Themselves. Also in 1984, Page recorded with Plant as the Honeydrippers the album The Honeydrippers: Volume 1 and with John Paul Jones on the film soundtrack Scream for Help . Page subsequently collaborated with Rodgers on two albums under the name The Firm . The first album, released in 1985, was the self-titled The Firm . Popular songs included " Radioactive " and "Satisfaction Guaranteed". The album peaked at number 17 on
25056-718: The Night ", Dave Berry's " The Crying Game " and "My Baby Left Me", Brenda Lee 's "Is It True", Shirley Bassey 's "Goldfinger" , and Petula Clark 's " Downtown ". In 1964, Page contributed guitar to the incidental music of the Beatles ' 1964 film A Hard Day's Night . In 1965, Page was hired by Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham to act as house producer and A&R man for the newly formed Immediate Records label, which allowed him to play on and/or produce tracks by John Mayall , Nico , Chris Farlowe , Twice as Much and Clapton. Also in 1965, Page produced one of Dana Gillespie 's early singles, "Thank You Boy". Page also formed
25288-854: The Redcaps, after the departure of guitarist Bobby Oats, Page was asked by singer Neil Christian to join his band, the Crusaders. Christian had seen a fifteen-year-old Page playing in a local hall, and the guitarist toured with Christian for approximately two years and later played on several of his records, including the 1962 single, "The Road to Love". During his stint with Christian, Page fell seriously ill with glandular fever and could not continue touring. While recovering, he decided to put his musical career on hold and concentrate on his other love, painting, and enrolled at Sutton Art College in Surrey. As he explained in 1975: [I was] travelling around all
25520-476: The Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds , were much more directly influenced by rhythm and blues and later blues music. Soon these groups were composing their own material, combining US forms of music and infusing it with a high energy beat. Beat bands tended towards "bouncy, irresistible melodies", while early British blues acts tended towards less sexually innocent, more aggressive songs, often adopting an anti-establishment stance. There was, however, particularly in
25752-588: The Searchers from Liverpool and Freddie and the Dreamers , Herman's Hermits and the Hollies from Manchester. They drew on a wide range of American influences including 1950s rock and roll, soul, rhythm and blues, and surf music, initially reinterpreting standard American tunes and playing for dancers. Bands like the Animals from Newcastle and Them from Belfast , and particularly those from London like
25984-672: The Seeds ) to near-studio musician quality (including the Knickerbockers , the Remains , and the Fifth Estate ). There were also regional variations in many parts of the country with flourishing scenes particularly in California and Texas. The Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon had perhaps the most defined regional sound. The style had been evolving from regional scenes as early as 1958. "Tall Cool One" (1959) by
26216-591: The US Billboard 200 , with five of their albums certified Diamond in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Rolling Stone described them as "the heaviest band of all time", "the biggest band of the seventies", and "unquestionably one of the most enduring bands in rock history". They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995; the museum's biography states that they were "as influential" in
26448-676: The US was becoming dominated by lightweight pop and ballads, British rock groups at clubs and local dances were developing a style more strongly influenced by blues-rock pioneers, and were starting to play with an intensity and drive seldom found in white American acts; this influence would go on to shape the future of rock music through the British Invasion . The first four years of the 1960s has traditionally been seen as an era of hiatus for rock and roll. More recently some authors have emphasised important innovations and trends in this period without which future developments would not have been possible. While early rock and roll, particularly through
26680-473: The US. In 1969, an edited version of " Whole Lotta Love ", a track from their second album, was released as a single in the US. It reached number four in the Billboard chart in January 1970, selling over one million copies and helping to cement the band's popularity. The group also increasingly shunned television appearances, citing their preference that their fans hear and see them in live concerts. Following
26912-619: The USSR and South Africa from 1955 to 1957, influencing the globalisation of rock. Johnny O'Keefe 's 1958 record " Wild One " was one of the earliest Australian rock and roll hits. By the late 1950s, as well as in the American-influenced Western world, rock was popular in communist states such as Yugoslavia, and the USSR, as well as in regions such as South America. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, American blues music and blues rock artists, who had been surpassed by
27144-534: The United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the genres of blues , rhythm and blues , and country music . Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk , and incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock
27376-751: The Wailers and " Louie Louie " by the Kingsmen (1963) are mainstream examples of the genre in its formative stages. By 1963, garage band singles were creeping into the national charts in greater numbers, including Paul Revere and the Raiders (Boise), the Trashmen (Minneapolis) and the Rivieras (South Bend, Indiana). Other influential garage bands, such as the Sonics (Tacoma, Washington), never reached
27608-726: The Who's first single " I Can't Explain " (although Pete Townshend was reluctant to allow Page's contribution on the final recording; Page also played lead guitar on the B-side, " Bald Headed Woman "). Page's studio gigs in 1964 and 1965 included Marianne Faithfull 's " As Tears Go By ", Jonathan King 's " Everyone's Gone to the Moon ", the Nashville Teens ' " Tobacco Road ", the Rolling Stones " Heart of Stone " (along with "We're Wasting Time") (also, Van Morrison & Them 's " Baby, Please Don't Go ", "Mystic Eyes", and " Here Comes
27840-410: The Yardbirds (1992) and once as a member of Led Zeppelin (1995). Page was born to James Patrick Page and Patricia Elizabeth Gaffikin in the west London suburb of Heston on 9 January 1944. His father was a personnel manager at a plastic-coatings plant and his mother, who was of Irish descent, was a doctor's secretary. In 1952, they moved to Feltham , and then to Miles Road, Epsom , in Surrey. Page
28072-516: The Yardbirds, but he declined out of loyalty to his friend. In February 1965, Clapton quit the Yardbirds and Page was formally offered his spot, but unwilling to give up his lucrative career as a session musician and worried about his health under touring conditions, he suggested his friend Jeff Beck. On 16 May 1966, drummer Keith Moon , bass player John Paul Jones , keyboardist Nicky Hopkins , Jeff Beck and Page recorded " Beck's Bolero " in London's IBC Studios . The experience gave Page an idea to form
28304-427: The Yardbirds. Page, with the support of the Yardbirds' new manager Peter Grant , planned to form a supergroup with Beck and himself on guitars, and the Who 's Keith Moon and John Entwistle on drums and bass, respectively. Vocalists Steve Winwood and Steve Marriott were also considered for the project. The group never formed, although Page, Beck, and Moon did record a song together in 1966, " Beck's Bolero ", in
28536-527: The advent of rockabilly, saw the greatest commercial success for male and white performers, in this era, the genre was dominated by black and female artists. Rock and roll had not disappeared entirely from music at the end of the 1950s and some of its energy can be seen in the various dance crazes of the early 1960s, started by Chubby Checker 's record " The Twist " (1960). Some music historians have also pointed to important and innovative technical developments that built on rock and roll in this period, including
28768-510: The album Coverdale–Page and a brief tour of Japan. In 1994, Page and Robert Plant reunited as Page and Plant for an initial performance as part of MTV's " Unplugged " series. The 90-minute special, dubbed Unledded , premiered to the highest ratings in MTV's history. In October of the same year, the session was released as the live album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded , and on DVD as No Quarter Unledded in 2004. Following
29000-532: The band developed a reputation for off-stage excess. In 1970, Page and Plant retired to Bron-Yr-Aur , a remote cottage in Wales , to commence work on their third album, Led Zeppelin III . The result was a more acoustic style that was strongly influenced by folk and Celtic music , and showcased the band's versatility. The album's rich acoustic sound initially received mixed reactions, with critics and fans surprised at
29232-423: The band had autonomy in deciding when they would release albums and tour and had the final say over the contents and design of each album. They would also decide how to promote each release and which tracks to release as singles. They formed their own company, Superhype, to handle all publishing rights. Still billed as the New Yardbirds, the band began their first tour of the UK on 4 October 1968, when they played at
29464-500: The band's 50th anniversary, Page, Plant and Jones announced an official illustrated book celebrating 50 years since the formation of the band. Also released for the celebration was a reissue of How the West Was Won on 23 March 2018, which includes the album's first pressing on vinyl. For Record Store Day on 21 April 2018, Led Zeppelin released a 7" single "Rock and Roll" (Sunset Sound Mix) / "Friends" (Olympic Studio Mix) , their first single in 21 years. In October 2020, Page released
29696-478: The band's excesses may have caught up with them. Page had begun using heroin during recording sessions for the album, a habit which may have affected the band's later live shows and studio recordings, although he has since denied this. Because of Plant's injuries, Led Zeppelin did not tour in 1976. Instead, the band completed the concert film The Song Remains the Same and the accompanying soundtrack album . The film premiered in New York City on 20 October 1976, but
29928-535: The band's performance. The following day's second Oakland concert was the group's final live appearance in the United States. Two days later, as they checked in at a French Quarter hotel for their 30 July performance at the Louisiana Superdome , Plant received news that his five-year-old son, Karac, had died from a stomach virus. The rest of the tour was immediately cancelled, prompting widespread speculation about Led Zeppelin's future. In November 1978,
30160-618: The band's reputation, leading to abortive discussions among members about a reunion. This set included four previously unreleased tracks, including a version of Robert Johnson 's " Travelling Riverside Blues ". The song peaked at number seven on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. Led Zeppelin Boxed Set 2 was released in 1993; the two box sets together contained all known studio recordings, as well as some rare live tracks. In 1994, Page and Plant reunited for
30392-452: The band. "I told them I was busy and they'd simply have to wait," he recalled in 2014. "I would come around eventually, which they were fine with – at least to my knowledge. But it turns out they weren't. And what's even more disheartening, Jimmy used it against me." Jones and Page reportedly looked for a replacement for Plant; candidates including Steven Tyler of Aerosmith , and Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge . However, in January 2009, it
30624-540: The bands the Firm , the Honeydrippers , reunions and individual work, including film soundtracks. He also became active in philanthropic work. Page made a return to the stage at a Jeff Beck show in March 1981 at the Hammersmith Odeon . Also in 1981, Page joined with Yes bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White to form a supergroup called XYZ (for former Yes-Zeppelin). They rehearsed several times, but
30856-585: The biggest selling rock band of all time and they were followed into the US charts by numerous British bands. During the next two years British acts dominated their own and the US charts with Peter and Gordon , the Animals, Manfred Mann , Petula Clark , Freddie and the Dreamers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders , Herman's Hermits, the Rolling Stones, the Troggs , and Donovan all having one or more number one singles. Other major acts that were part of
31088-562: The book Hammer of the Gods , it was reportedly around this time that Page told friends that he had just ended seven years of heroin use. On 13 December 1983, Page joined Plant on stage for one encore at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. Page next linked up with Roy Harper for the 1984 album Whatever Happened to Jugula? and occasional concerts, performing a predominantly acoustic set at folk festivals under various guises such as
31320-461: The chart. Their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964, drawing an estimated 73 million viewers (at the time a record for an American television program) is considered a milestone in American pop culture. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held 12 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the entire top five. The Beatles went on to become
31552-424: The delights and limitations of the regional , and to deal with the depredations and benefits of mass culture itself. — Robert Christgau in Christgau's Record Guide (1981) Unlike many earlier styles of popular music, rock lyrics have dealt with a wide range of themes, including romantic love, sex, rebellion against " The Establishment ", social concerns, and life styles. These themes were inherited from
31784-403: The early 1970s among existing blues-rock and psychedelic bands, as well as newly formed acts. The vibrant Canterbury scene saw acts following Soft Machine from psychedelia, through jazz influences, toward more expansive hard rock, including Caravan , Hatfield and the North , Gong , and National Health . The French group Magma around drummer Christian Vander almost single-handedly created
32016-403: The early 1970s, Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): The decade is, of course, an arbitrary schema itself—time doesn't just execute a neat turn toward the future every ten years. But like a lot of artificial concepts—money, say—the category does take on a reality of its own once people figure out how to put it to work. "The '60s are over,"
32248-407: The early stages, considerable musical crossover between the two tendencies. By 1963, led by the Beatles, beat groups had begun to achieve national success in Britain, soon to be followed into the charts by the more rhythm and blues focused acts. " I Want to Hold Your Hand " was the Beatles' first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 , spending seven weeks at the top and a total of 15 weeks on
32480-413: The electronic treatment of sound by such innovators as Joe Meek , and the elaborate production methods of the Wall of Sound pursued by Phil Spector . The instrumental rock and roll of performers such as Duane Eddy , Link Wray and the Ventures was further developed by Dick Dale , who added distinctive "wet" reverb , rapid alternate picking, and Middle Eastern and Mexican influences. He produced
32712-459: The example set by the Beatles ' 1965 LP Rubber Soul in particular, other British rock acts released rock albums intended as artistic statements in 1966, including the Rolling Stones ' Aftermath , the Beatles' own Revolver , and the Who 's A Quick One , as well as American acts in the Beach Boys ( Pet Sounds ) and Bob Dylan ( Blonde on Blonde ). Garage rock was a raw form of rock music, particularly prevalent in North America in
32944-400: The final member. In August 1968, the four played together for the first time in a room below a record store on Gerrard Street in London. Page suggested that they attempt " Train Kept A-Rollin' ", originally a jump blues song popularised in a rockabilly version by Johnny Burnette , which had been covered by the Yardbirds. "As soon as I heard John Bonham play", Jones recalled, "I knew this
33176-435: The first record, and worldwide hit, for the Virgin Records label, which became a mainstay of the genre. Instrumental rock was particularly significant in continental Europe, allowing bands like Kraftwerk , Tangerine Dream , Can , Focus (band) and Faust to circumvent the language barrier. Their synthesiser-heavy " krautrock ", along with the work of Brian Eno (for a time the keyboard player with Roxy Music ), would be
33408-425: The first time in front of a live audience at Gladsaxe Teen Club at the Egegård School (today Gladsaxe School) festive hall, Gladsaxe , Denmark, on 7 September 1968. Later that month, they began recording their first album, which was based on their live set. The album was recorded and mixed in nine days, and Page covered the costs. After the album's completion, the band were forced to change their name after Dreja issued
33640-402: The folk scene. The first group to advertise themselves as psychedelic rock were the 13th Floor Elevators from Texas. The Beatles introduced many of the major elements of the psychedelic sound to audiences in this period, such as guitar feedback , the Indian sitar and backmasking sound effects . Psychedelic rock particularly took off in California's emerging music scene as groups followed
33872-400: The format of rock operas and opened the door to concept albums , often telling an epic story or tackling a grand overarching theme. King Crimson 's 1969 début album, In the Court of the Crimson King , which mixed powerful guitar riffs and mellotron , with jazz and symphonic music , is often taken as the key recording in progressive rock, helping the widespread adoption of the genre in
34104-401: The four symbols appearing on the record label, as Four Symbols , Zoso or Runes . The band had wanted to release the fourth album with no title or information, in response to the music press "going on about Zeppelin being a hype", but the record company wanted something on the cover, so in discussions, it was agreed to have four symbols to represent both the four members of the band and that it
34336-582: The greater incorporation of brass and orchestral arrangements into recordings at the expense of guitars. He stated that his time as a session player served as extremely good schooling: My session work was invaluable. At one point I was playing at least three sessions a day, six days a week! And I rarely ever knew in advance what I was going to be playing. But I learned things even on my worst sessions – and believe me, I played on some horrendous things. I finally called it quits after I started getting calls to do Muzak . I decided I couldn't live that life any more; it
34568-529: The group recorded at Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. The resulting album, In Through the Out Door , featured sonic experimentation that again drew mixed reactions from critics. Nevertheless, the album reached number one in the UK and the US in just its second week of release. With this album's release, Led Zeppelin's entire catalogue returned to the Billboard Top 200 in the weeks of 27 October and 3 November 1979. In August 1979, after two warm-up shows in Copenhagen , Led Zeppelin headlined two concerts at
34800-478: The group with a new line-up to fulfill unfinished tour dates in Scandinavia. To this end, Page recruited vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham , and he was also contacted by John Paul Jones , who asked to join. During the Scandinavian tour , the new group appeared as the New Yardbirds, but soon recalled the old joke by Keith Moon and John Entwistle. Page stuck with that name to use for his new band. Manager Peter Grant changed it to "Led Zeppelin", to avoid
35032-403: The impetus was soon taken up by a second wave of bands that drew their inspiration more directly from American blues , including the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds . British blues musicians of the late 1950s and early 1960s had been inspired by the acoustic playing of figures such as Lead Belly , who was a major influence on the Skiffle craze, and Robert Johnson . Increasingly they adopted
35264-402: The invasion included the Kinks and the Dave Clark Five . The British Invasion helped internationalize the production of rock and roll, opening the door for subsequent British (and Irish) performers to achieve international success. In America it arguably spelled the end of instrumental surf music, vocal girl groups and (for a time) the teen idols , that had dominated the American charts in
35496-459: The label was the recording " Diamonds " by Jet Harris and Tony Meehan , which went to Number 1 on the singles chart in early 1963. After brief stints with Carter-Lewis and the Southerners , Mike Hurst and the Method and Mickey Finn and the Blue Men , Page committed himself to full-time session work. As a session guitarist, he was known as 'Lil' Jim Pea' to prevent confusion with the other noted English session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan . Page
35728-458: The label were R&B oriented white rock bands that made use of jazzy horn sections, like Electric Flag , Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago , to become some of the most commercially successful acts of the later 1960s and the early 1970s. British acts to emerge in the same period from the blues scene, to make use of the tonal and improvisational aspects of jazz, included Nucleus and the Graham Bond and John Mayall spin-off Colosseum . From
35960-446: The late 1950s and 1960s. It dented the careers of established R&B acts like Fats Domino and Chubby Checker and even temporarily derailed the chart success of surviving rock and roll acts, including Elvis. The British Invasion also played a major part in the rise of a distinct genre of rock music, and cemented the primacy of the rock group, based on guitars and drums and producing their own material as singer-songwriters. Following
36192-497: The late 1970s. After Bonham's death in 1980, the group disbanded. The former members have sporadically collaborated and participated in one-off concerts, including the 2007 Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert in London, with Bonham's son Jason Bonham on drums. Led Zeppelin are one of the best-selling music artists of all time , with estimated record sales of between 200 and 300 million units worldwide. They achieved eight consecutive UK number-one albums and six number-one albums on
36424-535: The later 1970s, the band's output and touring schedule were limited by the personal difficulties of the members. Page explained that he had a very specific idea in mind as to what he wanted Led Zeppelin to be, from the very beginning: I had a lot of ideas from my days with the Yardbirds. The Yardbirds allowed me to improvise a lot in live performance and I started building a textbook of ideas that I eventually used in Zeppelin. In addition to those ideas, I wanted to add acoustic textures. Ultimately, I wanted Zeppelin to be
36656-401: The lead on the flamboyant appearance by wearing a glittering moon-and-stars outfit. Led Zeppelin changed their show by using things such as lasers, professional light shows and mirror balls. They began travelling in a private jet airliner, a Boeing 720 (nicknamed the Starship ), rented out entire sections of hotels (including the Continental Hyatt House in Los Angeles, known colloquially as
36888-492: The lead singer was Terry Reid , but Reid declined the offer and suggested Robert Plant , a singer for the Band of Joy and Hobbstweedle. Plant eventually accepted the position, recommending former Band of Joy drummer John Bonham . John Paul Jones enquired about the vacant position of bass guitarist, at the suggestion of his wife, after Dreja dropped out of the project to become a photographer. Page had known Jones since they were both session musicians, and agreed to let him join as
37120-410: The loudest, wildest, most electrified fusion bands from the jazz camp, but most often it describes performers coming from the rock side of the equation." Jazz-rock "...generally grew out of the most artistically ambitious rock subgenres of the late '60s and early '70s", including the singer-songwriter movement. Many early US rock and roll musicians had begun in jazz and carried some of these elements into
37352-416: The lyrics. Jones occasionally contributed keyboard-focused parts, particularly on the band's final album. The latter half of their career saw a series of record-breaking tours that earned the group a reputation for excess and debauchery. Although they remained commercially and critically successful, their touring and output, which included Presence (1976) and In Through the Out Door (1979), declined in
37584-476: The many recordings which have been suggested as "the first rock and roll record ". Contenders include " Strange Things Happening Every Day " by Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1944); " That's All Right " by Arthur Crudup (1946), which was later covered by Elvis Presley in 1954; " The House of Blue Lights " by Ella Mae Morse and Freddie Slack (1946); Wynonie Harris ' " Good Rocking Tonight " (1948); Goree Carter 's "Rock Awhile" (1949); Jimmy Preston 's " Rock
37816-617: The mid-1950s by white singers such as Carl Perkins , Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and with the greatest commercial success, Elvis Presley . Hispanic and Latino American movements in rock and roll, which would eventually lead to the success of Latin rock and Chicano rock within the US, began to rise in the Southwest ; with rock and roll standard musician Ritchie Valens and even those within other heritage genres, such as Al Hurricane along with his brothers Tiny Morrie and Baby Gaby as they began combining rock and roll with country- western within traditional New Mexico music . In addition,
38048-550: The mid-1960s the Left Banke , the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys, had pioneered the inclusion of harpsichords , wind , and string sections on their recordings to produce a form of Baroque rock and can be heard in singles like Procol Harum 's " A Whiter Shade of Pale " (1967), with its Bach -inspired introduction. The Moody Blues used a full orchestra on their album Days of Future Passed (1967) and subsequently created orchestral sounds with synthesizers. Classical orchestration, keyboards, and synthesizers were
38280-479: The mid-1960s and so called because of the perception that it was rehearsed in the suburban family garage. Garage rock songs often revolved around the traumas of high school life, with songs about "lying girls" and unfair social circumstances being particularly common. The lyrics and delivery tended to be more aggressive than was common at the time, often with growled or shouted vocals that dissolved into incoherent screaming. They ranged from crude one-chord music (like
38512-435: The mid-1960s as acts developed a sound similar to British blues musicians. Key acts included Paul Butterfield (whose band acted like Mayall's Bluesbreakers in Britain as a starting point for many successful musicians), Canned Heat , the early Jefferson Airplane , Janis Joplin , Johnny Winter , the J. Geils Band and Jimi Hendrix with his power trios , the Jimi Hendrix Experience (which included two British members, and
38744-401: The mid-1960s onwards, rock music often used the verse–chorus structure derived from blues and folk music, but there has been considerable variation from this model. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock. Because of its complex history and its tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that "it is impossible to bind rock music to
38976-450: The music industry, particularly in the development of album-oriented rock and stadium rock . Led Zeppelin evolved from a previous band, the Yardbirds , and were originally named "the New Yardbirds". They signed a deal with Atlantic Records that gave them considerable artistic freedom. Initially unpopular with critics, they achieved significant commercial success with eight studio albums over ten years. Their 1969 debut, Led Zeppelin ,
39208-414: The new music genre zeuhl with their first albums in the early 1970s. Greater commercial success was enjoyed by Pink Floyd, who also moved away from psychedelia after the departure of Syd Barrett in 1968, with The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), seen as a masterpiece of the genre, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. There was an emphasis on instrumental virtuosity, with Yes showcasing
39440-433: The new music. In Britain the subgenre of blues rock, and many of its leading figures, like Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce of the Eric Clapton -fronted band Cream , had emerged from the British jazz scene. Often highlighted as the first true jazz-rock recording is the only album by the relatively obscure New York–based the Free Spirits with Out of Sight and Sound (1966). The first group of bands to self-consciously use
39672-607: The next 18 months I was living on ten dollars a week and getting my strength up. But I was still playing. While still a student, Page often performed on stage at the Marquee Club with bands such as Cyril Davies ' All Stars , Alexis Korner 's Blues Incorporated , and fellow guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton . He was spotted one night by John Gibb of Brian Howard & the Silhouettes, who asked him to help record some singles for Columbia Graphophone Company , including "The Worrying Kind". Mike Leander of Decca Records first offered Page regular studio work. His first session for
39904-417: The number-one spot. Led Zeppelin were the progenitors of heavy metal and hard rock, and their sound was largely the product of Page's input as a producer and musician. The band's individualistic style drew from a wide variety of influences. They performed on multiple record-breaking concert tours, which also earned them a reputation for excess. Although they remained commercially and critically successful, in
40136-489: The only bands Led Zeppelin had to compete with for the title "The World's Best Rock Band" were the Rolling Stones and the Who. The album was a massive commercial and critical success. Shortly after the release of Physical Graffiti , all previous Led Zeppelin albums simultaneously re-entered the top-200 album chart, and the band embarked on another North American tour , now employing sophisticated sound and lighting systems. In May 1975, Led Zeppelin played five sold-out nights at
40368-519: The press suggested that his collapse had been the result of excessive alcohol and drug use, but the band claimed that he had simply overeaten. A North American tour , the band's first since 1977, was scheduled to commence on 17 October 1980. On 24 September, Bonham was picked up by Led Zeppelin assistant Rex King to attend rehearsals at Bray Studios . During the journey, Bonham asked to stop for breakfast, where he downed four quadruple vodkas (from 16 to 24 US fl oz (470 to 710 ml)), with
40600-458: The project was shelved. Bootlegs of these sessions revealed that some of the material emerged on later projects, notably The Firm's "Fortune Hunter" and Yes songs "Mind Drive" and "Can You Imagine?". Page joined Yes on stage in 1984 at Westfalenhalle in Dortmund , Germany, playing " I'm Down ". In 1982, Page collaborated with director Michael Winner to record the Death Wish II soundtrack. This and several subsequent Page recordings, including
40832-412: The psychedelic rock and the Canterbury scenes came Soft Machine, who, it has been suggested, produced one of the artistically successfully fusions of the two genres. Perhaps the most critically acclaimed fusion came from the jazz side of the equation, with Miles Davis , particularly influenced by the work of Hendrix, incorporating rock instrumentation into his sound for the album Bitches Brew (1970). It
41064-400: The record set by the Beatles' 1965 Shea Stadium concert and grossing $ 309,000. Three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City were filmed for a motion picture, but the theatrical release of this project ( The Song Remains the Same ) was delayed until 1976. Before the final night's performance, $ 180,000 ($ 1,235,000 today) of the band's money from gate receipts was stolen from
41296-413: The regional hit " Let's Go Trippin ' " in 1961 and launched the surf music craze, following up with songs like " Misirlou " (1962). Like Dale and his Del-Tones , most early surf bands were formed in Southern California, including the Bel-Airs , the Challengers , and Eddie & the Showmen . The Chantays scored a top ten national hit with " Pipeline " in 1963 and probably the best-known surf tune
41528-436: The release of their second album, Led Zeppelin completed several more US tours. They played initially in clubs and ballrooms, and then in larger auditoriums as their popularity grew. Some early Led Zeppelin concerts lasted more than four hours, with expanded and improvised live versions of their repertoire. Many of these shows have been preserved as bootleg recordings . It was during this period of intensive concert touring that
41760-400: The rise of rock and roll in the US, found new popularity in the UK, visiting with successful tours. Lonnie Donegan 's 1955 hit " Rock Island Line " was a major influence and helped to develop the trend of skiffle music groups throughout the country, many of which, including John Lennon 's Quarrymen (later the Beatles ), moved on to play rock and roll. While former rock and roll market in
41992-448: The road at various North American studios, it was an even greater commercial success than their first album and reached the number one chart position in the US and the UK. The album further developed the mostly blues-rock musical style established on their debut release, creating a sound that was "heavy and hard, brutal and direct", and which would be highly influential and frequently imitated. Steve Waksman has suggested that Led Zeppelin II
42224-475: The romantic concept of art as artistic expression, original and sincere". In the new millennium, the term rock has occasionally been used as a blanket term including forms like pop music, reggae music , soul music , and even hip hop , which it has been influenced with but often contrasted through much of its history. Christgau has used the term broadly to refer to popular and semipopular music that caters to his sensibility as "a rock-and-roller", including
42456-468: The same era, and by percussion produced from a drum kit that combines drums and cymbals. This trio of instruments has often been complemented by the inclusion of other instruments, particularly keyboards such as the piano, the Hammond organ , and the synthesizer. The basic rock instrumentation was derived from the basic blues band instrumentation (prominent lead guitar, second chordal instrument, bass, and drums). A group of musicians performing rock music
42688-433: The same year, Page played guitar for rap singer/producer Puff Daddy 's song " Come with Me ", which heavily samples Led Zeppelin's " Kashmir " and was included in the soundtrack of Godzilla . The two later performed the song on Saturday Night Live . Following a benefit performance in the summer where the Black Crowes guested with him, Page teamed up with the band for six shows in October 1999, playing material from
42920-555: The second half of the 1970s, punk rock reacted by producing stripped-down, energetic social and political critiques. Punk was an influence in the 1980s on new wave , post-punk and eventually alternative rock . From the 1990s, alternative rock began to dominate rock music and break into the mainstream in the form of grunge , Britpop , and indie rock . Further fusion subgenres have since emerged, including pop-punk , electronic rock , rap rock , and rap metal . Some movements were conscious attempts to revisit rock's history, including
43152-471: The show set a record for the "Highest Demand for Tickets for One Music Concert" as 20 million requests were submitted online. Critics praised the performance and there was widespread speculation about a full reunion. Page, Jones and Jason Bonham were reported to be willing to tour and to be working on material for a new Zeppelin project. Plant continued his touring commitments with Alison Krauss , stating in September 2008 that he would not record or tour with
43384-498: The singles format to albums and achieved cultural legitimacy in the mainstream. Led by the Beatles in the mid-1960s, rock musicians advanced the LP as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, initiating a rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. Progressive rock, a term sometimes used interchangeably with art rock , moved beyond established musical formulas by experimenting with different instruments, song types, and forms. From
43616-413: The skills of both guitarist Steve Howe and keyboard player Rick Wakeman , while Emerson, Lake & Palmer were a supergroup who produced some of the genre's most technically demanding work. Jethro Tull and Genesis both pursued very different, but distinctly English, brands of music. Renaissance , formed in 1969 by ex-Yardbirds Jim McCarty and Keith Relf, evolved into a high-concept band featuring
43848-414: The term would not pronounce it "leed". The word "balloon" was replaced by " zeppelin ", a word which, according to music journalist Keith Shadwick, brought "the perfect combination of heavy and light, combustibility and grace" to Page's mind. Grant secured a $ 143,000 advance contract ($ 1,253,000 today) from Atlantic Records in November 1968—at the time, the biggest deal of its kind for a new band. Atlantic
44080-558: The three-octave voice of Annie Haslam . Most British bands depended on a relatively small cult following, but a handful, including Pink Floyd, Genesis, and Jethro Tull, managed to produce top ten singles at home and break the American market. The American brand of progressive rock varied from the eclectic and innovative Frank Zappa , Captain Beefheart and Blood, Sweat & Tears , to more pop rock orientated bands like Boston , Foreigner , Kansas , Journey , and Styx . These, beside British bands Supertramp and ELO , all demonstrated
44312-400: The time in a bus. I did that for two years after I left school, to the point where I was starting to get really good bread. But I was getting ill. So I went back to art college. And that was a total change in direction. That's why I say it's possible to do. As dedicated as I was to playing the guitar, I knew doing it that way was doing me in forever. Every two months I had glandular fever. So for
44544-402: The time, including the Rolling Stones. Presence , released in March 1976, marked a change in the Led Zeppelin sound towards more straightforward, guitar-based jams, departing from the acoustic ballads and intricate arrangements featured on their previous albums. Though it was a platinum seller, Presence received a mixed reaction among fans and the music press, with some critics suggesting that
44776-460: The turn from the primarily electric arrangements of the first two albums, further fuelling the band's hostility to the musical press. It reached number one in the UK and US charts, but its stay would be the shortest of their first five albums. The album's opening track, " Immigrant Song ", was released as a US single in November 1970 against the band's wishes, reaching the top twenty on the Billboard chart. Page played his 1959 Dragon Telecaster until
45008-409: The vehicle for cultural and social movements, leading to major subcultures including mods and rockers in the U.K., the hippie movement and the wider Western counterculture movement that spread out from San Francisco in the U.S. in the 1960s, the latter of which continues to this day. Similarly, 1970s punk culture spawned the goth , punk, and emo subcultures. Inheriting the folk tradition of
45240-408: The windows, some suggest that these tales have been exaggerated. According to music journalist Chris Welch , "[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". Led Zeppelin released their fourth album on 8 November 1971. It is variously referred to as Led Zeppelin IV , Untitled , IV , or, due to
45472-418: The work of the Beach Boys , formed in 1961 in Southern California. Their early albums included both instrumental surf rock (among them covers of music by Dick Dale) and vocal songs, drawing on rock and roll and doo wop and the close harmonies of vocal pop acts like the Four Freshmen . The Beach Boys first chart hit, " Surfin ' " in 1961 reached the Billboard top 100 and helped make the surf music craze
45704-533: The work of established performers such as the Rolling Stones' Beggar's Banquet (1968) and the Beatles' Let It Be (1970). Reflecting on this change of trends in rock music over the past few years, Christgau wrote in his June 1970 "Consumer Guide" column that this "new orthodoxy" and "cultural lag" abandoned improvisatory, studio-ornamented productions in favor of an emphasis on "tight, spare instrumentation" and song composition: "Its referents are '50s rock, country music, and rhythm-and-blues, and its key inspiration
45936-404: The world, except as a new brand of painkiller ... In the '70s the powerful took over, as rock industrialists capitalized on the national mood to reduce potent music to an often reactionary species of entertainment—and to transmute rock's popular base from the audience to market." Roots rock is the term now used to describe a move away from what some saw as the excesses of the psychedelic scene, to
46168-462: Was John Mayall ; his band, the Bluesbreakers , included Eric Clapton (after Clapton's departure from the Yardbirds) and later Peter Green . Particularly significant was the release of Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (Beano) album (1966), considered one of the seminal British blues recordings and the sound of which was much emulated in both Britain and the United States. Eric Clapton went on to form supergroups Cream, Blind Faith , and Derek and
46400-532: Was asphyxiation from vomit; the finding was accidental death. An autopsy found no other recreational drugs in Bonham's body. Although he had recently begun to take Motival (a cocktail of the antipsychotic fluphenazine and the tricyclic antidepressant nortriptyline ) to combat his anxiety, it is unclear if these substances interacted with the alcohol in his system. Bonham's remains were cremated and his ashes interred on 12 October 1980, at Rushock parish church, Worcestershire . The planned North American tour
46632-414: Was "the musical starting point for heavy metal". The band saw their albums as indivisible, complete listening experiences, disliking the re-editing of existing tracks for release as singles. Grant maintained an aggressive pro-album stance, particularly in the UK, where there were few radio and TV outlets for rock music. Without the band's consent, however, some songs were released as singles, particularly in
46864-460: Was 1963's " Wipe Out ", by the Surfaris , which hit number 2 and number 10 on the Billboard charts in 1965. Surf rock was also popular in Europe during this time, with the British group the Shadows scoring hits in the early 1960s with instrumentals such as " Apache " and " Kon-Tiki ", while Swedish surf group the Spotnicks saw success in both Sweden and Britain. Surf music achieved its greatest commercial success as vocal pop music, particularly
47096-419: Was a label with a catalogue of mainly blues, soul, and jazz artists, but in the late 1960s, it began to take an interest in British progressive rock acts. At the recommendation of British singer Dusty Springfield , a friend of Jones who at the time was completing her first Atlantic album, Dusty in Memphis , record executives signed Led Zeppelin without having ever seen them. Under the terms of their contract,
47328-473: Was a major influence on subsequent rock-influenced jazz artists, including Herbie Hancock , Chick Corea and Weather Report . The genre began to fade in the late 1970s, as a mellower form of fusion began to take its audience, but acts like Steely Dan , Frank Zappa and Joni Mitchell recorded significant jazz-influenced albums in this period, and it has continued to be a major influence on rock music. Reflecting on developments that occurred in rock music in
47560-460: Was a member of Plant's solo band. The performance was marred by a lack of rehearsal with the two drummers, Page's struggles with an out-of-tune guitar, poorly functioning monitors, and Plant's hoarse voice. Page described the performance as "pretty shambolic", while Plant characterised it as an "atrocity". The three members reunited again on 14 May 1988, for the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert, with Bonham's son Jason on drums. The result
47792-510: Was a second-hand 1959 Futurama Grazioso , later replaced by a Fender Telecaster , a model he had seen Buddy Holly playing on the TV and a real-life example of which he'd played at an electronics exhibition at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London. Page's musical tastes included skiffle (a popular English music genre of the time) and acoustic folk playing, and the blues sounds of Elmore James , B.B. King , Otis Rush , Buddy Guy , Freddie King , and Hubert Sumlin . "Basically, that
48024-413: Was a top-ten album in several countries and features such tracks as " Good Times Bad Times ", " Dazed and Confused " and " Communication Breakdown ". Led Zeppelin II (1969), their first number-one album, includes " Whole Lotta Love " and " Ramble On ". In 1970, they released Led Zeppelin III which opens with " Immigrant Song ". Their untitled fourth album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV (1971),
48256-567: Was a very personal thing. This "other guitarist" was a boy called Rod Wyatt, a few years his senior, and together with another boy, Pete Calvert, they would practise at Page's house; Page would devote six or seven hours on some days to practising and would always take his guitar with him to secondary school, only to have it confiscated and returned to him after class. Among Page's early influences were rockabilly guitarists Scotty Moore and James Burton , who both played on recordings made by Elvis Presley . Presley's song " Baby Let's Play House "
48488-403: Was active from 1968 to 1980. Following the death of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham , he participated in a number of musical groups throughout the 1980s and 1990s, more specifically XYZ , the Firm , the Honeydrippers , Coverdale–Page , and Page and Plant . Since 2000, Page has participated in various guest performances with many artists, both live and in studio recordings, and participated in
48720-412: Was again disjointed: Plant and Page had argued immediately prior to taking the stage about whether to play "Stairway to Heaven", and Jones' keyboards were absent from the live television feed. Page described the performance as "one big disappointment" and Plant said "the gig was foul". The first Led Zeppelin box set , featuring tracks remastered under Page's supervision, was released in 1990 and bolstered
48952-472: Was cancelled, and despite rumours that Cozy Powell , Carmine Appice , Barriemore Barlow , Simon Kirke , Ric Lee or Bev Bevan would join the group as his replacement, the remaining members decided to disband. A 4 December 1980 press statement stated that, "We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend, and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were." The statement
49184-405: Was confirmed that the project had been abandoned. "Getting the opportunity to play with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham was pretty special," Kennedy recalled. "That is pretty much the zenith right there. That was a crazy, good experience. It's something I still think of often ... It's so precious to me." A film of the O2 performance, Celebration Day , premiered on 17 October 2012 and
49416-424: Was continued in the 1970s by figures such as George Thorogood and Pat Travers , but, particularly on the British scene (except perhaps for the advent of groups such as Status Quo and Foghat who moved towards a form of high energy and repetitive boogie rock ), bands became focused on heavy metal innovation, and blues rock began to slip out of the mainstream. By the 1960s, the scene that had developed out of
49648-401: Was educated from the age of eight at Epsom County Pound Lane Primary School, and when he was eleven he went to Ewell County Secondary School in West Ewell . He came across his first guitar, a Spanish guitar, in the Miles Road house: "I don't know whether [the guitar] was left behind by the people [in the house] before [us], or whether it was a friend of the family's—nobody seemed to know why it
49880-449: Was founded in Britain), and Band of Gypsys , whose guitar virtuosity and showmanship would be among the most emulated of the decade. Blues rock bands from the southern states, like the Allman Brothers Band , Lynyrd Skynyrd , and ZZ Top , incorporated country elements into their style to produce the distinctive genre Southern rock . Early blues rock bands often emulated jazz, playing long, involved improvisations, which would later be
50112-405: Was getting too silly. I guess it was destiny that a week after I quit doing sessions Paul Samwell-Smith left the Yardbirds and I was able to take his place. But being a session musician was good fun in the beginning – the studio discipline was great. They'd just count the song off and you couldn't make any mistakes. In late 1964, Page was approached about the possibility of replacing Eric Clapton in
50344-461: Was given a lukewarm reception by critics and fans. The film was particularly unsuccessful in the UK, where, unwilling to tour since 1975 because of their tax exile status, Led Zeppelin faced an uphill battle to recapture the public's affection. In 1977, Led Zeppelin embarked on another major concert tour of North America . The band set another attendance record, with an audience of 76,229 at their Silverdome concert on 30 April. It was, according to
50576-422: Was going to be great ... We locked together as a team immediately". Before leaving for Scandinavia, the group took part in a recording session for the P. J. Proby album Three Week Hero . The album's track "Jim's Blues", with Plant on harmonica, was the first studio track to feature all four future members of Led Zeppelin. The band completed the Scandinavian tour as the New Yardbirds, playing together for
50808-449: Was great, really good. We stayed up all night and went down to Island Studios where Keith put some reggae guitars over one section. I just put some solos on it, but it was eight in the morning of the next day before I did that. He took the tapes to Switzerland and someone found out about them. Richards told people that it was a track from my album". Page left studio work when the increasing influence of Stax Records on popular music led to
51040-466: Was mainly called into sessions as "insurance" in instances when a replacement or second guitarist was required by the recording artist. "It was usually myself and a drummer", he explained, "though they never mention the drummer these days, just me ... Anyone needing a guitarist either went to Big Jim [Sullivan] or myself." He stated that "In the initial stages they just said, play what you want, cos at that time I couldn't read music or anything." Page
51272-455: Was not a commercial success, peaking at number 80 on the Billboard 200 . Though their studio sound was fairly commercial at the time, the band's live performances were just the opposite, becoming heavier and more experimental. These concerts featured musical aspects that Page would later perfect with Led Zeppelin, most notably performances of " Dazed and Confused ". After the departure of Keith Relf and Jim McCarty in 1968, Page reconfigured
51504-442: Was released on DVD on 19 November. The film grossed $ 2 million in one night, and the live album peaked at number 4 and 9 in the UK and US, respectively. Following the film's premiere, Page revealed that he had been remastering the band's discography . The first wave of albums, Led Zeppelin , Led Zeppelin II , and Led Zeppelin III , were released on 2 June 2014. The second wave of albums, Led Zeppelin IV and Houses of
51736-399: Was signed simply "Led Zeppelin". Following Led Zeppelin's dissolution, the first significant musical project by one of its members was the Honeydrippers , which Plant initially formed in 1981. The group, featuring Page on lead guitar, along with studio musicians and friends of the pair, including Jeff Beck, Paul Shaffer , and Nile Rodgers , released its only album in 1984. Plant focused on
51968-411: Was taken up by bands including Pentangle , Steeleye Span and the Albion Band , which in turn prompted Irish groups like Horslips and Scottish acts like the JSD Band , Spencer's Feat and later Five Hand Reel , to use their traditional music to create a brand of Celtic rock in the early 1970s. Folk-rock reached its peak of commercial popularity in the period 1967–68, before many acts moved off in
52200-548: Was taking place globally in the aftermath of the Second World War . Cliff Richard is credited with one of the first rock and roll hits outside of North America with " Move It " (1959), effectively ushering in the sound of British rock . Several artists, most prominently Tommy Steele from the UK, found success with covers of major American rock and roll hits before the recordings could spread internationally, often translating them into local languages where appropriate. Steele in particular toured Britain, Scandinavia, Australia,
52432-407: Was the favoured session guitarist of record producer Shel Talmy . As a result, he secured session work on songs for the Who and the Kinks . Page is credited with playing acoustic twelve-string guitar on two tracks on the Kinks' debut album , "I'm a Lover Not a Fighter" and "I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain", and possibly on the B-side "I Gotta Move". He played rhythm guitar on the sessions for
52664-439: Was the first commercially successful folk song to be recorded with rock and roll instrumentation and the Beatles " I'm a Loser " (1964), arguably the first Beatles song to be influenced directly by Dylan. The folk rock movement is usually thought to have taken off with the Byrds ' recording of Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man " which topped the charts in 1965. With members who had been part of the café-based folk scene in Los Angeles,
52896-411: Was the fourth album. With 37 million copies sold, Led Zeppelin IV is one of the best-selling albums in history, and its massive popularity cemented Led Zeppelin's status as superstars in the 1970s. By 2021, it had sold 24 million copies in the United States alone. The track " Stairway to Heaven ", never released as a single, was the most requested and most played song on American rock radio in
53128-430: Was the major force in American record sales and crooners , such as Eddie Fisher , Perry Como , and Patti Page , who had dominated the previous decade of popular music, found their access to the pop charts significantly curtailed. Rock and roll has been seen as leading to a number of distinct subgenres, including rockabilly, combining rock and roll with "hillbilly" country music, which was usually played and recorded in
53360-400: Was the most popular genre of music in the U.S. and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2010s. Rock musicians in the mid-1960s began to advance the album ahead of the single as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, with the Beatles at the forefront of this development. Their contributions lent the genre a cultural legitimacy in the mainstream and initiated
53592-458: Was the start: a mixture between rock and blues." At the age of 13, Page appeared on Huw Wheldon 's All Your Own talent quest programme in a skiffle quartet, one performance of which aired on BBC1 in 1957. The group played "Mama Don't Want to Skiffle Anymore" and another American-flavoured song, "In Them Ol' Cottonfields Back Home". When asked by Wheldon what he wanted to do after schooling, Page said, "I want to do biological research [to find
53824-400: Was there." First playing the instrument when aged 12, he took a few lessons in nearby Kingston , but was largely self-taught: When I grew up there weren't many other guitarists ... There was one other guitarist in my school who actually showed me the first chords that I learned and I went on from there. I was bored so I taught myself the guitar from listening to records. So obviously it
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