Led Zeppelin, an English rock band formed in 1968 and composed of guitarist Jimmy Page, vocalist Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham, and bass guitarist and keyboardist John Paul Jones. Considered as the most successful musical rock group in rock history. Also given the honor of "#1 Greatest Artist of Hard Rock" by VH1, The Who landed at #8 whereas Lynyrd Skynyrd were only at #71.
Page started off with "The Yardbirds" and eventually naming a new band Led Zeppelin in reference to The Who's Entwistle's statement about Page's proposed superband involving Entwistle, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon and Jeff Beck. Entwistle said that the superband would go down like a Lead Zeppelin, a term he used to describe gigs gone bad.
The 'A' of Led Zeppelin was taken out to avoid mispronunciation by some American, who might pronounce it as /Leed/ instead of /Led/.
I, II, III, IV
1969, Led Zeppelin's first album which was named after the band's kicked off the band's rise to success. The album was headlined by the single, "Dazed and Confused" which had a musical solo using a violin bow on an electric guitar.
The same year, they followed up the their first album with "Led Zeppelin II" another success featuring the song "Whole Lotta Love"
15 days short of a year later, they released "Led Zeppelin III" which was headlined by "The Immigrant Song" a song showing the aggressive and violent melody the band was capable of. It also featured "Since I've been Loving You" and the drum-based "Out on the Tiles"
1971, The band released its fourth album. It was unnamed and on the LP in had 4 symbols written on it. The symbols represented the harmonious combination of the four members. "Rock and Roll", "When the Levee Breaks", "Black Dog" and "Stairway to Heaven", which have come to be known as four of the band's most famous songs all came from this album. "Stairway to Heaven" is the top contender of the honor of "greatest rock song ever".
All 4 starting albums were chart toppers, the first made it to #6, while the rest were all #1.
The #1 streak
The band would keep its #1 albums streak with "Houses of the Holy" and "Physical Graffiti" which was released in 1973 and 1975 respectively.
"Houses of the Holy" featured the song "The Song Remains The Same", which would be the title for a future film and "No Quarter"
"Physical Graffiti", ironically featured the song "Houses of the Holy" and "Night Flight"
in 1976, they released a "Concert Film" entitled "The Song remains the same" the first ever released recording of their concerts which was well received by the fans.
The same year, they released Presence which was still a #1 album. It featured "Achilles Last Stand", a song that some fans would consider "better than stairway", the majority of course, begs to differ.
After a 2 year hiatus, the band started recording again and in 1979 the released "In Through the Out Door" which was again #1 in the charts. It featured a more keyboard-based songs such as "Carouselambra" and "Fool in the Rain". Unfortunately this would be the band's final album.
All good things must come to an end
September 25, 1980 after a heavy drinking day, in which he started off by downing 4 quadruple shots of vodka for "breakfast" and ended up with taking in a total amount of 40 shots that day. John Bonham, was found dead in a bed where he was placed when he slept from the drinking session. He choked on his own vomit during his sleep and it ultimately killed him. His alcoholism haunted him since the start of his career and would eventually lead to be the cause of his untimely death.
About two months later, the band would announce its disbanding. "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."
Must Hear Songs
Achilles Last Stand
Stairway To Heaven
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