The band was formed in 1968 by guitarist Jimmy Page. Page originally joined the band Yardbirds as a bass player, but quickly joined the band's original guitarist Jeff Beck on double guitar for a short period of time, and became the lead guitarist of the band after Beck left the band. . The "New Soldiers" band was on the verge of disintegration after a series of exhausting performances and recordings. Page once had the idea of ??forming a "superstar band", roughly with Page and Baker on guitar, and The Who's Keith Moon and John Entwistle. ) served as drummer and bassist respectively, while the vocalist position was taken by Steve Winwood of The Traffic or Steve Marriott of The Small Faces. Steve Marriott) fill. Although Page, Beck and Moon once recorded a song together called Beck's Bolero (which was later included in Jeff Beck's debut solo album of the same name), this super group has not yet been formed. But during this period, bassist John Paul Jones expressed interest in serving as the guitarist in Page's future band.
At the same time, two other members of the "Recruits" quit the band, and Page and the "Recruits" bassist Chris Dreja began to form a new band to Scandi Navia Peninsula for scheduled performances. Singer Terry Reid declined Page's invitation to join the band and recommended Robert Plant. Furthermore, Plant, the band's new singer, recommended drummer John Burnham, who had happily collaborated with him. Chris Derega quit the band and became a photographer (his photography appeared on the back cover of the band's future debut album). At this moment, John Paul Jones contacted Page and hoped to fill the bass player vacancy, and was welcomed and trusted by Page.
The band was temporarily named The New Yardbirds. After completing their performances in Northern Europe, the band began to think of a new band name. Zeppelin (or Ryder Zeppelin. The name originated from a joke by Keith Moon (which also included a suggestion from John Nyqvist), who once described Page's utopian "super "Star Band" would crash as quickly as a piloted Zeppelin ("Lead Zeppelin"). In the end, the band adopted this name. In order to avoid the same pronunciation of "Leed" and "Lead", the band officially changed its name to "Leed Zeppelin". Shortly after their Nordic performance, the band's self-titled debut album Led Zeppelin I was released on January 12, 1969. This work, which perfectly blended blues and rock music and was full of exaggerated distortion, eventually became the pioneer of heavy metal music. Many of the band's works during this period were based on arrangements of blues classics, but other songs such as Communication Breakdown still highlight the band's unique and heavy tone; Black Mountain Side showcases Page's exquisite acoustic guitar skills; Babe I'm Gonna A folk song like Leave You was also carefully adapted by the band with alternating acoustic guitar and electric guitar. The overnight success of the first album not only laid the foundation for the band's legend, but also enabled the band to successfully invade the American market.
< p>The second album named Led Zeppelin II came out late in the same year. It basically continued the overall style of the first album. The opening song "Whole Lotta Love" was based on the riff of Jones and Bonham's rhythm section. It was also very amazing. It became the band's representative song. The success of Led Zeppelin II even exceeded that of the first album, and it topped the album charts at the same time in the United Kingdom and the United States.Page and Plant are both blues fanatics; Both albums You Shook Me and Whole Lotta Love were covers or arrangements of blues legend Willie Dixon's works (the band was later sued for copyright infringement, and it was not until 15 years later that the band paid compensation. .
) Page once said in an interview: "The Rolling Stones are the holy sons of Chuck Berry, and our holy father is Howlin' Wolf. The band's musical inspiration was also inspired by the pioneers of American rock music. Inspired by Fats Domino and Little Richard, the band also often performed Elvis Presley's country rock music during Led Zeppelin's performances that often lasted more than three hours. Improvisational singing of James Brown or Motown-style soul songs as well as the funk songs that Jones and Burnham are good at. In order to create their third album Led Zeppelin III, the band specially Seclusion in Bron-Yr-Aur, a remote village in Wales, resulted in this album featuring more Celtic and traditional British folk acoustic instruments than the previous two albums, which also demonstrated Page's versatility. (The album's sleeve design is also special.) In November 1970, Led Zeppelin's Atlantic Records released a single called Immigrant Song against the band's wishes. , the single "Whole Lotta Love" released by Atlantic Records also reduced the length of the song) The back of the single recorded the song "Hey Hey What Can I Do" that was not included in the album. In order to maintain the integrity of the album, the band has always opposed the release of singles. Moreover, the band has even refused to be interviewed by television in order to resist the negative impact of television programs on the quality of their music. The band, which lacks television exposure, can only communicate with fans through excellent live performances and the diverse musical elements of the band in their fourth album. The album was perfectly integrated. This untitled album was only marked with four mysterious symbols representing the four members of the band, so the album released on November 8, 1971 was called The Unnamed Album, Led Zeppelin IV, Zoso. , Runes or Four Symbols. This album includes the hard rock work Black Dog (the title comes from the unknown black dog that haunts the recording studio); the psychedelic style The Battle of Evermore; and of course, the masterpiece of a mixed suite style. Stairway to Heaven. Stairway to Heaven is the band's most famous work and has been played repeatedly on rock radio for decades. However, such a great song has never been released as a single, and the album ends with "When the Levee Breaks". This song was adapted from the work of Memphis/Kansas blues player Joe McCoy. The drumming part in the song is unique and outstanding, and it even appeared in samples of contemporary rock and rap music a few years later.
The band's next studio album, Houses of the Holy, was more experimental, with more powerful melodies, longer compositions and more use of the Mellotron electronic synthesizer. The album's The Song Remains the Same, No Quarter and the reggae-style D'yer Mak'er (including LY's favorite The Rain Song) have become masterpieces. This album also represents the band's impact on rock music. Feng's ambition. The band's 1973 Tampa Stadium show in Florida, USA, attracted 56,800 people, surpassing The Beatles' 1965 attendance record. A few years later, the band released a video documenting three sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden that same year.
After the release of Physical Graffiti, all six of Led Zeppelin's released albums simultaneously entered the Billboard Hot 200. The band begins a new US tour and breaks audience records again. At the end of the same year, the band performed five shows at Earls Court in the UK to full houses (during this performance, the band used large-screen monitors on stage for the first time, and part of the performance was released on DVD 28 years later).
There is no doubt that Led Zeppelin has reached the peak of the band's career at this time and became the greatest rock band in the world at that time.
As famous as the band is on stage and in the studio, they are equally famous for their extravagance and excess off stage. The band had their own private jet (nicknamed the "Starship"), often renting out entire hotels, and eventually became the subject of numerous famous rock gossips. Many band members (Groupies) have published stories about themselves and their band members' debauched lives. However, the band members have denied most of these stories. After the 1973 tour, Led Zeppelin spent a quiet 1974, not releasing a new album or holding any shows. But one thing is very important. They established their own record label, Swan Song, and all their subsequent albums were released by themselves. In addition, bands that released albums on this record label include DAVE EDMUNDS, BAD COMPANY, the PRETTY THINGS and others. Several. "Physical Graffiti", a double album, was released in February 1975. This was also Led Zeppelin's first album released on Swan Song. The album was an immediate success upon its release, reaching number one on both the US and UK charts. Just as Led Zeppelin was preparing to hold a major tour in the United States in the late summer of 1975, Robert Plant and his wife were involved in a serious car accident while on vacation in Greece. The tour was canceled and Plant spent the rest of his 75 years recovering.
Led Zeppelin did not become active again until the spring of 1976, when they released the album "Presence". Although the album topped the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom upon its release, it was lukewarm from music critics; similarly, the live concert video "The Song Remains The Same" released in 1976 was also not well received. Accepted by music critics. Finally, the band began to tour the United States in the spring of 1977. However, two months into the show, Robert Plant's six-year-old son, Karac, died of a stomach infection. Led Zeppelin immediately terminated the tour and did not say whether it would reschedule the tour, which caused widespread concern about the band's future. For the time being, it seemed that Led Zeppelin was truly finished. Plant spent the second half of 1977 and much of 1978 in isolation. It wasn't until the late summer of 1978 that Led Zeppelin began working on a new album. They began recording at ABBA's Polar studio in Sweden. A year later they embarked on a short European tour, playing in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria. In August 1979, Led Zeppelin played two major gigs at Knebworth, their last gigs in the UK.
"In Through The Out Door", their belated eighth studio album, was finally released to everyone in September 1979. This is another album that topped both the US and UK charts. In May 1980, Led Zeppelin embarked on their final European tour. In September, Led Zeppelin began rehearsing for their upcoming US tour at Jimmy Page's house. Tragedy struck again: on September 25, John Bonham died in his bed - he suffocated to death on his own vomit after a long day of binge drinking (so similar to AC/DC's Bon Scott, pathetic) of alcoholics). In December 1980, Led Zeppelin announced their disbandment and they could not live without Bonham.
After the breakup, the remaining band members began their solo careers. John Paul Jones, who had never released a solo album, returned to his production duties. After creating the soundtrack for Death Wish II, Jimmy Page compiled Coda, a collection of unreleased Led Zeppelin songs, which was released in late 1982.
In the same year, Robert Plant released his first solo album "Pictures At Eleven".
In 1984, Plant and Page had a brief reunion with the all-star plastic surgery geezers the Honeydrippers. After releasing an EP with the Honeydrippers, Plant returned to his solo career, and Page formed the Firm with former Bad Company frontman Paul Rogers.
In 1985, Led Zeppelin temporarily reunited for Live Aid, and at this time rumors about their possible reunion spread. In fact, the reorganization never materialized.
In 1988, they gathered together again for the company's 25th anniversary concert in Atlanta. In 1989, Page remastered the band's one-box set, Led Zeppelin, which was released in 1990. The four-disc box set became the best-selling multi-disc box set of all time.
In 1994, Page and Plant reunited for MTV's Unplugged concert, from which they released an album titled Unledded in the fall of 1994. Although the album achieved platinum sales, the anticipated Led Zeppelin reunion still did not materialize. In the following year, Page and Plant held a successful international tour...
Although these activities repeatedly made fans feel that Led Zeppelin would appear in front of them again, they always was not realized. Maybe Led Zeppelin really has become a legend forever. As a rock band with great influence and professionalism, whether they still exist or not, their music and spirit are enough to bring them into the immortal kingdom. (Reprinted from Paranoid Metal Network)