The first band ever to garner world-wide success by word-of-mouth only, while being totally rejected by music critics, world wide. Started in 1968 by former Yardbirds guitarist
Jimmy Page, and poular session musician/arranger John Paul Jones, who were both formally trained,well seasoned musicians. Line-up completed with the addition of former Band of Joy vocalist/lyricist Robert Plant and self-taught percussionist John Bonham, two teenagers who considered themselves "country bumpkins" at the time.
First musical effort as a group was the first few bars of the Yardbirds "Train Kept a Rollin", which created a spark of energy that lasted until
September 20, 1980..... the day John Bonham died of
alcohol poisoning. The remaining three musicians had enough respect for their creativity,as a whole, their body of work, their fans, and John Henry Bonham to subsequently end their career as LedZeppelin.
An indication of their ongoing popularity and enormous fan base was realized when, in
October 2007 it was announced the three surviving members would re-unite, to perform one show, as LedZeppelin, with the son of their late drummer...Jason Bonham. The show was sold out in twenty minutes, when the LedZeppelin website crashed, receiving over 1 million requests for the 20,000 seats available at Londons O2 Arena. The event was a memorial for the death of Ahmet Ertegun, the president of
Atlantic records who signed LedZeppelin in 1968.
A LedZeppelin concert would
generally reach well over 100 decibals just from crowd noise alone, before the band ever went onstage.
LedZeppelin once earned over 900,000 dollars for a 3 hour show in Oakland Ca., in 1973, something few bands have done since.
Top albums: Zoso (#4) aka the symbols LP, includes
Stairway to Heaven, a song considered to be their enduring
masterpiece.
Physical Grafitti (#6) a double album.
LedZeppelin III (#3)
Least popular album: In through the out door. (#9)
