Robert Plant would ultimately become as important a contributor to Zeppelin as Page, though initially was an obscure 'find' by Page to join the band. Nowadays, it seems unfathomable that Plant nearly abandoned his music career, given that he also routinely at the top of 'best rock vocalist of all time' polls. And when Freddie Mercury cites you as an influence, you know you've just a little bit of vocal credibility.
Page left home at 16, and started his "real education musically, moving from group to group, furthering my knowledge of the blues and of other music". Over his teenage musical career, Plant would play in several small bands, even signing a deal with CBS Records that saw a few singles released, but nothing of any significance.
One of Plant's musical endeavors - Band of Joy - ended with him being fired because their manager thought he couldn't sing. Plant formed his own version of Band of Joy (twice), with no lasting success. The only good thing to come of this, was his timely re-introduction to drummer John Bonham on the third iteration of the band (who he'd initially played with in the band Crawling King Snakes). By 1968, Plant was fronting a band by the name of Hobbstweedle when Jimmy Page and Peter Grant paid a visit to see/hear Plant in action on July 20 of that year at the Birmingham Teacher Training College auditorium. The timing was rather fortuitous, as Plant had committed to his girlfriend that he would quit the music business if he didn't hit it big by his 20th birthday - which was to come just one month after he first met Page.
It was during their subsequent visit to Page's home in Pangbourne, where they ultimately connected over their love of blues and American rock (more specifically, through the album
Joan Baez Live in Concert, Part One). It was also at this time that |Plant suggested Page check out a drummer he'd worked with in several bands.
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John Bonham starting playing the drums at 5, making his own kit out of boxes and cans. His mother gave him a snare drum at the age of 10, and he received his first proper drum kit from his father at 15 - never with any formal training. To say he had natural talent would be an understatement. In 1964, Bonham joined his first semi-professional band, Terry Webb and the Spiders, met his future wife Pat Phillips around the same time, played in other Birmingham bands, then ultimately took up drumming full-time.
He was 20 years old, married with a child (Jason) working as a part-time carpenter, and drumming for folk rocker Tim Rose (having just left Band of Joy) when he first met Jimmy Page. Page and manager Peter Grant were instantly convinced that he was the perfect fit for their band. It took quite some convincing to get Bonham to come on board with the other three. Bonham negotiated a £50/week salary plus £25 for driving the van. Clearly, Bonham's motivations for joining the band were almost purely financial, as was Plant's, while Page and Jones were in it for the chance at greater musical creativity and stardom. Despite multiple offers to join other bands (including Joe Cocker), Bonham ultimately chose Page's act not just because of the money, but because he felt the music more suited his interests.
Bonham's accolades and legacy are no less impressive than Page's or Plant's. Widely regarded as one of the (if not the) most important, well-known and influential drummers in rock, he too regularly tops the polls for 'greatest of all time' with his craft. The (in)famous drummers that cite his as their influence include Alex Van Halen, Tommy Lee, Peter Criss, Roger Taylor, and Eric Carr, who stated in 1989 that "at least 85% of all of the rock drummers today have gotten influences from Bonham".
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As their manager,
Peter Grant's relevance to the legacy of Led Zeppelin cannot be understated - and at 6'5" and tipping the scales at 300+ pounds, he had an intimidating aura to say the least. It is no less significant than the contributions that the band members made. It started with Grant buying The Yardbirds towards the end of 1966, but it was too late to save the band who, despite being musically successful, were a disaster financially. Having proved himself by making them profitable on the first tour he managed them for (though it was too little, too late), he earned Page's trust. It was Grant's management that made Led Zeppelin the biggest and richest act of the 70s, and perhaps of all time, redefining what it meant to be a touring band, and made Grant himself the most powerful manager in rock.
On the Yardbirds' final US tour, Grant hired a young tour manager,
Richard Cole, who would also go on to be a lasting contributor to the Led Zeppelin legacy - both positive and negative. It was allegedly Cole who took the idea of the band name from a dialog between Keith Moon, John Entwistle and Page... in having the idea of forming a supergroup with Steve Winwood, Entwhistle commented it would probably go over like a "lead zeppelin" (although other accounts suggest it was during the recording of Beck's Bolero, that the supergroup was with Jeff Beck, Moon, Jones and keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, and it was Moon that made the remark). What is not in question is that Grant later encouraged Page to drop the "a", ensuring it would not be pronounced by US fans as "leed" zeppelin.
Formation of Led ZeppelinAfter The Yardbirds played their final gig in July 1968, they were still committed to several concerts in Scandinavia. The band authorized Page to use "The Yardbirds" name to fulfill the band's obligations. Upon the successful recruitment of Plant, Bonham and Jones, Page had his band. The four played together for the first time in a room below a record store on Gerrard Street in London, with Page recounting that he'd "never been so turned on in all my life". The band completed the Scandinavian tour as the New Yardbirds, playing together for the first time in front of a live audience at the Gladsaxe Teen Clubs in Gladsaxe, Denmark, on September 7th, 1968.
When you look back at these four individuals, and how history regards them, it's easy to see how they rose so far so fast, yet also incredible to comprehend that the total was greater than the sum of the individual parts. Greg nailed it:
the world has never experienced a better Rock Band..PERIOD!!!
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Topic: The Led Zeppelin Discography Discussion: v. Everything still turns to gold (Read 55928 times)