Led Zeppelin... *Drum Rolls...A lil Guitar riff...*
One of the ideal band i have ever seen...
Members :
Jimmy Page - On Guitar.
John Paul Jones - On Bass / Keyboard.
Robert Plant - Vocals / Harmonica.
John Bonham - Drums.
The Band was formed by Jimmy Page who was then in The Yardbird as a bassist. When Yardbird came to a end or rather took a break , Page tried to bring back/create a new Yardbird. Rather then sticking to the Yardbird name he decided on Led Zeppelin.
The name was inspired from the a term Entwistle used to describe a bad gig. I.e when Yardbird members Keith Moon and John Entwistle suggested that a possible supergroup containing themselves, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck would go down like a lead zeppelin.
And thus the band Led Zeppelin * e was droped from Lead just for the pronunciation to be Led and not Leed*
*Zeppelin comes from Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin's Zeppelin which is a type of rigid airship... A Zeppelin airship Hindenburg's crash was the album art of the first album Led Zeppelin*
The band was formed on 1968.
And the first album came out in the early of 1969 *Jan 12th to be precise* recorded from Olympic Studios and was released through Atlantic Records.
The blend of blues, folk and eastern influences with distorted amplification was very well brought in. Though it was more known as a heavy metal band, Plant refused to accept the same.. justifying that about a third of their music was acoustic.
*About the albums released - will be posted later separately*
One Famous incident during this time was the Shark Episode or Mudshark Incident.
*Will post about them separately*
Following the album's release, Led Zeppelin completed several more tours of the United States. They started playing initially in clubs and ballrooms then later in larger auditoriums and eventually stadiums as their popularity grew. The concerts used to last for about 3 hours and always played the improvised live versions.
Led Zeppelin was poorly rated by The Rolling Stones Magazine. The magazine stated that the band was hyped.
So Jimmy Page decided that the next Led Zeppelin album would not have a title, but would instead feature four hand-drawn symbols on the inner sleeve and record label, each one chosen by the band member it represents. "We decided that on the fourth album, we would deliberately play down the group name, and there wouldn't be any information whatsoever on the outer jacket", Page explained. "Names, titles and things like that do not mean a thing."
And as the world knows now it had some of the finest tracks like Stairway To Heaven, Black Dog, Rock and Roll. And the Album managed to score 23 Platinums in U.S.
And the four symbols *used by the four members* were...
*Jimmy Page's Zoso.
*John Paul Jones's a single circle intersecting 3 vesica pisces (a triquetra ).
*John Bonham's symbol, the three interlocking rings.
*Robert Plant's the feather of the Egyptian goddess Ma'at.
The most famous live performance is the Jimmy Page's use of cello bow with the guitar to create a unique solo in the song Dazed And Confused's live version.
Then comes the equally lengthy Moby Dick drumming by John Bonham.
When played live, Bonham's drum solo would last as little as 6 minutes or - more frequently - as long as 20 minutes, while the rest of the band would leave the stage after having played the introduction. During the performance Bonham would often set aside or throw his drumsticks into the audience, and then continue the solo with his hands (sometimes drawing blood as a result); on occasion, the reason for continuing the solo with his hands was breaking his sticks due to ferocious playing.
Then comes John Paul Jones's short piano concerto in the song No Quarter which frequently turning the seven-minute song into a performance exceeding twenty minutes, with Page and Bonham always joining him later in the song. One version of the song, recorded at the Kingdome in Seattle in 1977, lasted thirty-six minutes, where, after the piano solo, Jones leads the group into an R&B based jam.
They were many allegation of plagiarism on the band.
Bring It On Home is a Cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's Bring It On Home and Willie Dixon's Bring It On Back.
Whole Lotta Love is a Cover of Dixon's You Need Love/Woman You Need Love.
Lemon Song is a Cover of Howlin' Wolf's Killing Floor.
Some filed lawsuit some fixed it out-of-court.
And after some times it came out that many songs are compilations of pre-existent material from multiple sources. Most of which were classic blues songs...
Plant's Comment on the same :
"As far as my end of it goes, I always tried to bring something fresh to anything that I used. I always made sure to come up with some variation. In fact, I think in most cases, you would never know what the original source could be. Maybe not in every case -- but in most cases. So most of the comparisons rest on the lyrics. And Robert was supposed to change the lyrics, and he didn't always do that -- which is what brought on most of the grief. They couldn't get us on the guitar parts of the music, but they nailed us on the lyrics. We did, however, take some liberties, I must say [laughs]. But never mind; we did try to do the right thing."
*Source: Guitar World*
