[Music] [Music] they were the quintessential Hard Rock Band igniting a collision of wild Hedonism and heavy metal Thunder and now more than 35 years since their formation the legacy of Leed Zeppelin still resounds loudly in those days in the 60s there were sort of two geographical areas that were creating new music and one was the north Liverpool where you had the Beatles and then down south there were bands like the Rolling Stones Alexis corner and the embryo Yardbirds but it appears to me that the bands in the South like ourselves and the Rolling Stones uh were influenced by American black blues artists I hear the blues all in the [Music] air and that's what tended to turn on the bands on in the South like the Yard Birds in our very early stages as a band we uh tried to emulate that sound probably badly [Music] we started getting Imports of Josh White Lead Belly particularly um on you know people like that on the [Music] countryside and people like Muddy Waters and Howen wolf on the UR [Music] side but those records were kind of underground but they said something to you they had a direct message which was a very different message from the message that you were getting from your normal pop lyric my doctor put me [Music] on it was pretty auster in England for quite a long time you know we just come out of a European War Americans may not realize but up until you know even quite the late 50s we were still rationed you couldn't get things luxury items were you know pretty minimal also the music at the time prior to that explosion in the 60s was pretty narrow it was pretty kit the British government started the great art school experiment and what happened is people like myself and Clapton and Pete towns in and a lot of people found ourselves in this wonderfully liberated ridiculously liberated environment we then heard some black American Music I worked in a record store there was another guy across town in this little town called woking in s it was a competition between us who could get the records from America the quickest you know all the blues records all the R&B records all the some rock records that were coming out of America you know it was a competition it really is true that that whole era was English musicians getting seriously influenced by what was coming out in the states what are your two names James paig and David house both from and you're just learning to play the guitar yes can you can from a teacher do you play anything except skiffle yes Spanish and dance do as well I mean you really had to stick by the radio and listen to overseas radio and things like that to even hear good rock record the record that main we want to play guitar was uh baby let's play house come I heard that record I just wanted to be part of it I knew something was going on I heard an acoustic guitar and a slack Bas and electric guitar just instruments on my voice and it seemed to generate so much energy we were all teenagers together more or less paig plant lenon mcartney you name by the time we'd reached the age of 20 we were playing that and having our own versions of it which was then a completely new thing among the kids which automatic ially being based in the same language took America by storm so we were exporting what was already American re re-exporting it to America and I realized that they were starting some kind of new genre music from the English side Keith Richards was doing that in satisfaction he had the fuzz tone and all that the lead guitar work of these guys Jeff Beck Jimmy pagee and our Clapton were just was just something out of this world and obviously the influences were American Blues M was concentrating more on Blues playing I used to go and just jam on a Thursday night and uh somebody came out to me said would you not play on a record I said yeah why not from that point I suddenly started getting all this studio work coming in we knew Jimmy Paige but he at the time was very in scon doing London session work well Jimmy was um like John Paul Jones he came from that old school even though he was very very young at the time where he was a session guy he played on little Health my friends Joe Cocker he was a guitarist on that I mean he was a seasoned session musician in his early 20s there was only one other session guitarist who was working as steadily as Jimmy pige Big Jim Sullivan I was a better country player than Jimmy um I could play all the Bendy country stuff better than Jimmy could and he could play The Rock stuff and the blues so we hit a real happy medium in the studio because whenever there was a country session I would do it and whatever was a rock session he would do it if you're on your way up and session work is a part of your you know your experience you know you get to see producers you get to see the [ __ ] that goes on you get to see arrangers how they arrange a piece and you get a sense of Dynamics in music I was a huge fan of um John Paul Jones as well because he played bass on a lot of sessions that I did in London the Rhythm Section during the mid mid 60s onwards uh Bobby Graham on drums John Paul Jones on bass Jimmy and myself we come to the end of this roaring Rock number you know one of the other of us had done a fantastic solo you know it had been really tight and super and you get this voice from the box came yeah Lads that was kind of all right yeah can we try another one take 9 and that's how it's been for 39 takes you know you've given your heart you've done you know and all you get from the box yeah that was okay what kind of inspiration are these people portraying to you you know it was fun in the beginning of it when it was like oh do what you want do what you want but then it 80% 90% of the time I didn't know what what what session I was going in on and one day I did a music session and it was horrific it was just really Musical the way through they don't stop it's just like you hear it in in these horrific lift things you know you just keep turning the music and playing on that's it I'm finished I'm out and that was at the time when I was hanging around with Jeff going to Yard Birds gigs and the bass player decided to leave the band and I joined on base just to help me on a couple of gigs and then it was onto guitar direct from England to hollow blue the wild beat of the yard bird The Yard Birds were heralded as one of England's most authentic and pioneering blues bands in the 60s feeling creatively stifled as a session player Jimmy pige decided to take advantage of a once- in a-lifetime Opportunity Paul samel Smith decided to come off the road and concentrate on producing Jimmy amazingly enough joined us on base for a while anyone that can play as well as Jimmy um can play bass pretty well you know he was so Keen to get in the band he really you know really wanted to to join it was like it was like a little boy you know yeah play Bas you know I'll play tambourine if you want you know whatever when we played the carousel in San Francisco and it was one of those days when Jeff was Ill they made an announcement on the PA they said oh well uh Jeff Beck won't be doing this gig but the Bas player is going to play league guitar and everyone's said oh no you know of course the bass player was Jimmy PA so I think they were quite satisfied they were touring here I think again there was a lot of hope for what was going to happen and I think Beck kind of flaked ran off to be with uh his girlfriend in the middle of a tour and I think the the band lost steam I freaked out went mad uh had a breakdown and I think I walked out and left the band so the ey continued without me and I disappeared and Jim carried on now taking over the lead guitarist slot Jimmy pagee impressed his fellow bandmates with his six string virtuosity he brought his beautiful skill with cording and riffing and and a much harder Edge and he was very disciplined he was a he'd come from session work he was a very professional guy you know and he was ambitious and he was fresh so he brought all that energy into the last 18 months of the band you know what I would have called the harder edged precur Led Zeppelin uh mood with Jimmy pagee Jimmy's tenure with The Yardbirds turned out to be shortlived but something bigger was waiting right around the corner you know after sort of working for a long period and no money at the end of it and all that sort of thing there was big management disputes just no chance as much as Jimmy wanted to keep it going they finally decided there are other things they could do and and I think there were different music things going on with everybody he knew and we knew we all knew that this was the yard Bird's last tour um and he also knew that he was going to get the name and you knew from the musicianship that he he had that anyone who was going to be in the band with him had to be up to that caliber which was going to be very high John Paul Jones of course new Jimmy from the old uh uh session days and he said listen he said I heard you form in a band he said I wouldn't mind going on thead Ro you know what's it going to be and that's how they all got together I was moping around the house one day and my M said to me will you stop moping around the house why don't you join a band or something she said Jimmy Paige is forming a group cuz he just left the AR said why don't you give him a ring you know my brother calls me he says this Jimmy Paige and John Paul Jones have gotten together I went [ __ ] hell those two John Paul's like an expert John Paul's the music buffing so they had the music buffing in the background who's a good keyboard player good bass player you know brilliant musician the two singers actually had a had an underground sort of name at that time in 68 was Joe Cocker and Terry Reid he asked me be a singer in this new man he's putting together which was very impressive I say I'd love to do can you hold that thought if you're not and now you're out Terry re couldn't do it he said I know this great singer who lives in wolver Hampton or wherever called Robert Plant so Jimmy and Peter went up to see Robert Plant perform somewhere Jimmy was so impressed with Robert Plant's singing that he invited the fledgling vocalists to his boat house on the temps where the two discovered they shared the Same Love of the Blues Robert was now in and the pieces were falling into place Robert is amazing he was just you know the boy from Birmingham he had such a powerful strong presence about him I don't know when Robert walked in a room you just noticed him Robert Plant immediately went to work convincing his friend drummer John Bonham to join the new band bonso didn't want to join the band for s for the longest time he was earning good money in the local dance band I suppose he didn't want to jeopardize that he didn't want to leave encouraged by the enthusiasm of his old friend Robert Plant John bonam accepted Paige's offer and decided to join the first time we we all met in this little room in Gerard street just to see if we could even stand each other you know so we said well you know we're all here you know what we going to play Jimmy said well do you know what I'm call the train train kept her rolling no said well it's this easy it's just just go you know just sort of on a KN but just the G to the G he started off all right count it in and he went [ __ ] H the room exploded oh and then we just looked at each other and said right we're on you know this is it this is going to work the chemistry amongst the four of them their their their look their sound their knowledge of music BS steady anchor on the drums Pages rips they knew how how at the time how to jam and not lose the jam they knew when to come back at the proper time very tightly Robert brought a lot of the Blues to Z to Leed Zeppelin you know he was a real Blues Man great heart player you know great front man looked theart but he was a real Bluer bonso was just this unreal drummer so they were they were a great package start under the name of the new Yard Birds nobody else's Bookers under anything else you know oh the Hell Are they oh Jimmy well we know Jimmy Paige you we know the yard bird you're going to have to be the new yard bird we rehearsed an act an album and a tour in about 3 weeks and uh it took off he had gigs that were contracted under the name the Yardbird so Zeppelin did their you know first six eight gigs under that new yard bird's name one day I had had a call from Jimmy and he actually came out to the office and kind of unannounced really he just wandered in he'd liked a review I'd done of one of his bands he'd been in years before so he thought oh well I'll speak to this guy Chris and tell him about my new group I said what was it called he said it's uh lead Zeppelin and I wrote it in my notepad and I misspelled it I wrote le e a d and he said no no LED so I had the scoop on this amazing new band they chose the name lead Zeppelin through the hoe actually because there was a story that Keith Moon and John Entwistle had planned to split from The Who and wanted to form a superg group I think Jimmy pagee was involved in that actually we were all drunk you know as usual and they were bringing up the thing oh we want to leave the who we want to start a new band and then they were bantering around names but the guy who came up with the name Led Zing was actually John empis or it was in Keith Moon and how it came about is there was an old saying in England that you know it'll go down like a lead Zepp which means it will bomb after fulfilling all of the previously booked dates as the new Yard Birds the band made its official debut as Leed Zeppelin at surri university in England on October 25th 1968 really the the basis of their of their um of their sound was the AR bird sound and I remember Jimmy playing me their first album and go sted and Confused was on there we used to play that and they did their own version which wasn't far away um and they did a couple of other things that were pretty similar it was a springboard our sound was a springboard for them but they took it a bit further they took it into that early heavy metal really it was like just really like a jam things like how many more time and da and Confused really just extensions of how how well we actually fitted together you know the qualities of lead zein can never be touched never be matched never be equal the first time I heard Le zeum I put on this the record and uh I listened I said wow I really didn't know who those guys were I knew who Jimmy pagee was I didn't know who they were the sound of the the record was was really impressive still this day you put it on it puts most other stuff to shame the first song I heard of their was good times bad times and I was immediately struck by this in I'd never heard this drumming before Communication Breakdown you know the first time you hear it it was like oh my God and you tried to play the break and it was just too damn fast you know so you'd wind up scratching your records trying to slow it down and play it backwards and you know all of my records had these these needle marks that went straight across from trying to learn the guitar breaks they wanted us to take them on tour with us as an opening act which is pretty ridiculous and think about it now um and I was just blown away the tour was paid for underwritten by Jimmy pige Peter Grant and John Paul Jones the other two bonam and plant were on salaries there was five shows with the Vanilla Fudge it was actually in the one in Oregon where I really realized during the drum solo and I was standing there with Jonesy and I just said to Jesus Christ where' you find this guy I think that they're coming to listen to what you're playing and not just to look at you and see what you are I mean I remember when I was was going back a few years when I first went to see The Beatles cuz we mentioned them a few times it was to look at them you know it wasn't you didn't really bother what what you were listening to and today it's not what you are it's what you're playing well Bonzo was the best hard rock drummer ever hands down I mean no one comes within a mile of him he kept great time he was Fearless he do things that you think you know how is how's he going to do this he was the best being the drummer first my attention went to John bonam and his foot thing that he did in Good Times bad time which was at the time totally unique had I thought that upon meeting him he said to me uh that I got that from you I said I know I don't do that and he pointed out on the Vanilla Fudge on where I actually did it one time and he took it and took it to the extreme the audience just didn't know what to believe what they were seeing and hearing it was different than what they' ever heard before for and it was powerful it was just nonstop but the thing was that they were so powerful that anyone who came after them they might as well have not gone on the stage without a doubt they were the first band to blow us off the stage Led Zeppelin the band would come in and do what was called underground uh you know those clubs and everything they played the whiskey it was an amazing show it was like ridiculous can you imagine that aband in that small Club it holds like 300 people it was chaos they went wild hands up jumping up and down it's just a a great show great music they played a place called the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Tea Party was Boston's version of The Filmore so maybe 200 people two maybe 250 tops that first night and they blew us all away so I went back on the air the next day and just said you've got to go see this man when they when they started breaking I mean they they couldn't believe it they started out as really just four musicians who you know got together and then when they when they started breaking I mean it was just uh you know Amazing by the time they finished and ended up in New York they taken the whole country by storm I mean there wasn't a band that wanted to play before them I mean they they set the president over what they did a few years later was was not to play with anyone and just do the two to two and a half to three hour set energized by the overwhelming success of their inaugural tour of the states Led Zeppelin return to England but the British media ignored them it was a bitter pill to swallow and after a month and a half the band returned to America once again in front of adoring appreciative crowds Led Zeppelin felt right at home second tour was the summer of 69 and by then I had gotten John his uh his drum set which is exactly like mine it was a 2 26 bass drums with a big Tom in the middle uh two floors and a big SNR with a Gong a lot of Drummond have all these props but don't use them you know they might hit it once a song he used everything we played the same places roughly like the film Wars and the Boston Tea Party and when they went on the stage the second time you could see that they were anticipating the audience was anticipating their arrival and the performance and then it just went up from there while on tour whatever downtime the group could find was spent working on their second album in recording studios Atlantic Records would do it for us Booker Studio the band would go in do a bit more come out with the tapes go on to another city play another show go in late that night or that afternoon and that's how they made the record as Zeppelin's popularity grew so did their bank accounts they were offered a quarter of a million dollar to play the Yale Bowl in New Haven Connecticut but the group turned it down so that they could perform Instead at the bath Festival of Blues and Progressive music back in England the first real major acceptance came over here I think that tends to piss the English critics off anything that gets discovered in America English critics have a problem with the prestige of playing at the festival in their Homeland gave them something that money couldn't buy respect and acceptance Led Zeppelin was fast becoming the number one rock and roll band in the world in our position we've spent years and years on the road sort of playing in little church halls and being beaten up and Bricks thrown through the van windows and everything and to have money at last is just um another figure in my mind of of mass acceptance which is what we all work for when Leed Zeppelin 2 was finally finished the album was released Stateside on October 22nd 1969 and was an instant hit with Timeless Classics like whole lot of love and Heartbreaker it didn't take long for Led Zeppelin 2 to knock the Beatles Abby Road off the top of the charts at 5 minutes 33 seconds the album's centerpiece whole lot of love was deemed too long for AM radio AirPlay so Atlantic released an edited version as a single the band wasn't happy they didn't like releasing singles but I think it may have been because they they wanted to originally one of the things was they wanted to show the whole product of the album if you take a single off an album and stick it out that's just a part of the album it might as well stay on the album you know but in the past through Atlantic Records they've worried us into saying oh let's have a single let's have a single you know there's the top 40 stations over there and lots of young kids who probably wouldn't get into the album unless they heard a a track on the top 40 stations you know I personally don't agree with it oh I love that was this SLE especially in the Middle with the Bongos and then Bottom's big roll you know and then Paige with the lead and then come out of it perfectly what a song the band members were garnering a lot of attention not only for their music but also for the way they dressed on stage especially Jimmy well he wore velvets though and satins and silks embroidered things and beaded things and you know it was feminine thing a lot of chiffon patent leather shoes things like that you know these guys are androgynous it feels safe in a way you know you feel like you're almost connecting with another part of yourself that was a a very interesting draw for for young women too I think Jimmy pige really invented that image of of the almighty rock guitar player The Cloud of Mystique that shadowed the band grew with the news of Jimmy Page's interest in Alistair Crowley an early 20th century Englishman aligned with black magic and demonology Paige's fascination with Crowley led many to believe he was into black magic himself I think he was absolutely fascinated with the man in the knowledge of the will I don't think I mean you know he owned a lot of manuscripts and he he bought the in veress Castle that was also Crowley's and I think with it he had purchased a lot of manuscripts and at one point he had a bookstore in England an ult bookstore and he was really more fascinated by the knowledge of it it was a sincere Fascination and I think he took a lot out of it and I think it came through in his music a lot of that amazing depth and you know mystery and all that came out in his music he was very interested in those types of things otherworldly things you know all that selling the soul of the devil's so that's just [ __ ] none of that took place none of it I mean the whole myth about sending their soul to the devil we want you to cut your hand in blood we want you to make a pack you're going to be a [ __ ] off with the [ __ ] devil and your [ __ ] get out of here you know I mean that I mean he he just wouldn't what the hell are you talking about I mean it it just wouldn't happen despite the truckloads of money that were now pouring in when ever Leed Zeppelin was in Los Angeles they chose to stay at the relatively luxury free Continental Hyatt House on the sunset said strip we of course could have stayed anywhere for that the money that we had but we just preferred that hotel they always used to rent the whole top of the the H house for one thing the swimming pool was on the top on the roof you know so they could always go up to the swimming pool and do the thing but as the lift door opened and I looked out the carpet had about foam about that deep as I looked out this naked girl came sliding past on her belly and then another one and followed by followed by John Paul Jones and John B when our own crew was in town and the Cho crew we obviously had all the what rooms we wanted on the sunset side the rear side we gave to the road crew we went into the road crews rooms took their televisions out and threw them out of the windows on the other side so that when the people came running upstairs they look and see the television still there they didn't comprehend that we' taken them off the other side and thrown them out that window every single floor was a party everywhere you looked there were people hanging out everybody called it the riot house the Hyatt house cuz it was a party house the manager there and Peter and I are standing there and I've got the cash and we're going through the bill and the guy's doing the bill and he say this and that and you know you at these R and you threw that out the window and that and we said you what we [ __ ] know what we done just give us the bill how much do you want fine got out the money the guy look said we [ __ ] P what's wrong with you he said he said it's not that he said he I'm don't you know what I can't imagine what it must be like for you guys I work in this [ __ ] hotel I'd love to smash a room up so Peter said oh is that all it is well go and take one of the rooms and go and smash it up we're leaving in 15 minutes and bring with the bill it was rock and roll it was all about the decadence how could you not like having limos and jets and women and you know the Beatles hanging out with you every night and Stevie Wonder and this and that you know and the champagne and the it was fun yeah I think they sort of pretty much you know set the industry standard there raised the bar in fact it only it only actually increased the interest in them because you stopped thinking about them just totally in this musical sense you know they were just kind of spectacle and uh and it was just a bombardment of light and sound and uh now there was a completely new dimension to this group this appalling behavior and excess and in a way it kind of provided this incredibly Rich soap opera The Band returned home exhausted from months on the road Robert and Jimmy took to a secluded spot in Wales called Brun RAR the isolation of the beautiful countryside was the perfect place to write and inspired the organic acoustic based material that comprised much of the next album lead Zeppelin 3 later the band and crew convened at Headley gra a house in the English Countryside it was this old farming sort of mansion there were four floors so it was like walking into almost the lobby of a hotel it was built in the 18th century and it was had about 10 bedrooms um very spooky especially early in the morning with the Mist you know and this black dog that had died the week before that's where the Zeppelin got that track from there was a dog that died in one of the rooms and big bonial type banquet hall and huge fireplaces huge basement which ran the length and breadth of of the house the main thing is that they're all together so therefore you don't waste time you haven't got four people and an engineer and a uh well it wasn't a producer Jimmy was a producer an engineer coming from different parts to be at a studio to start work at a certain time they were there and when they wanted to start they started the appeal of recording like that is that you you're never under a red light the place is yours to come and go as you wish whatever time you if you want to get up at 2: in the morning and record you can uh so you're not constricted by any um time parameters and it's a very leisurely approach to recording things were getting light on the radio you had Carly Simon James Taylor the people were uh wearing earthtone colors so uh they started getting a little lighter too when you think about it a large portion of their songs were folk songs Just 12 string and acoustic guitars there was a lot of folk in Zeppelin believe it or not probably the heaviest folk band that ever existed work was progressing nicely with songs written and recorded all in the same location lead Zeppelin 3 was released at the end of October 1970 and as with their two previous albums the critics paned it they charged that the record's largely acoustic format was an attempt to piggyback on the success of the popular new group Crosby Stills and Nash I think they were hurt by the thing I mean they're sending more records than anyone else they were sending out more shows than anyone else they were earning more than anyone else and yet all they were doing was getting pummeled by the Press for no reason at all because what the Press was saying didn't match up to the statistics I know that he was very sensitive about what they wrote about him and it really upset him a lot because he was one of the greatest guitar players ever and how dare they judge him you know Leed Zeppelin recognized what really mattered most their fans though it didn't sell as well as Leed Zeppelin too their phenomenal success was showing no signs of abating with the third album topping the charts for four four consecutive weeks before long Paige and plant found themselves back in Wales at Bron RAR writing new material for their fourth album after a brief recording stint in London the band once again headed out to Headley Grange to continue rehearsals and recording trained and also inspirational fellows waiting for a moment to walk in that was the difference with them nothing was truly planned but they were holding in their minds and hearts and down their spines especially Jimmy Pig and John Paul Jones a lot of knowledge pery plant obviously had this gift and bonso was in actual fact at the time no one had played D so you put those four fellows together and you never knew quite what was going to happen you knew it was going to be good and so astounding you felt like some weird Cipher who wasn't ready to catch something that had never happened before and how do I catch this and not let them down how do I deal with this it was so big terrific and wonderful soon they were working in Earnest on an evocative power ballad a song that would unquestionably become their Anthem and in the process become one of the most played songs on rock radio Stairway to Heaven until the whole band comes in on the sixth verse it's basically it's a folk song in a minor and it's a lovely chord sequence and there's a little melron in the back and a flute and it you know until bonso comes in it's um it could be Peter Paul and Mary on steroids well it was recorded on location at Headley now Andy Johns was doing the engineering now a lot of people with the song like that would take two or 3 days it took them 2 hours and it was done and and you knew because you had worked with them before this is a base is for something really quite special and if you think about it still would have have they instruments there's the drums there's the bass there's the acoustic guitar there is the Gibson guitar there are the two direct 12 strings after that Percy's voice and Recorders at the beginning of the end and that's it pal I knew it was good and I didn't know it was going to be you know almost like an an but I knew it was the The Gem of the album sure Peter called and said JJ he said I want you I want you to hear something that we've just finished so he sent Richard Cole to come get me at the station and took me directly to the studios they wanted to hear what I felt about this you know and they put it on and I I just said to him gee this is the best thing they've ever done this is just going to be incredible lead Zeppelin 4 was released in November 1971 and quickly Rose to number two on the charts Stairway to Heaven was the the album's Highlight but it's 7 minutes and 55 seconds it was much too long for the radio Atlantic pressed for a shorter version stairway was going to be a monstrous record I mean I think they made it quite clear to Atlantic now Ary don't [ __ ] around with us this time this is not going to be a single and also they knew that if that people wanted to buy Stairway to Heaven they'd have to buy the whole album it became an industry really with lead Zeppelin When Grant turned it from a singles selling commodity to albums and that did bring a change that they could play for 3 hours and they could also sell albums Leed Zeppelin's notorious manager Peter Grant was also throwing his weight around with concert promoters where bands once received 50 to 60% of a Show's profits Peter asserted that the rules had changed from now on a whopping 90% would go to lead Zeppelin take it or leave it with the p grant their pioneering way of altering the structure of the major tours in America where it was the artist rather than the promoter who got the main source of uh revenue from those groups and artists were ripped off in every way from record companies to promoters in every aspect groups were ripped off and Peter Grant wasn't having that I I had nothing but admiration for the man and he never ever forgot anyone no matter how big or how small small on the ladder that he felt was good for the band and or for him you know he he was with you 100% we owe so much to that man he changed the balance for musicians to you know promoters with record companies Etc I mean one man I mean so that is creative his vision was amazing his dedication was with Led Zeppelin um and between them they had a very powerful tool don't cross him though no don't cross him he could be really mean when he wanted to be not to me but just to other people you know he's such a big man and had such a big presence about him that if you ever saw him enraged or you would be terrified of him the promoters had no choice but to buckle under Grant's new demands Led Zeppelin embarked on their eighth tour of the United States raking in more money than ever back in La they returned to their favorite haunts the riot house the whiskey and the Rainbow Bar and real at that point in time there was an influx of baby groupies and I mean babies they were 13 and 14 and I was already the grand old age of 21 boy the guys wanted these baby girls that was the next step for these guys so Jimmy got involved with a young girl named Lori I first hearded Leed Zeppelin in 1973 and obviously it was Stairway to Heaven I became an immediate fan and fell in love with the band from day one and and never had any aspirations of meeting Jimmy or wanting to meet them or anything like that at that particular time I was a teen model and so that's how I met Jimmy actually because he'd seen my photograph and wanted to meet me what happened was is I guess Leed Zeppelin came to town and had seen all these photos and Jimmy had made a call to Lee Childer saying I want to meet Lorie Maddox so next thing you know we were taking a drive down to the Hyatt House to go meet the band and I was terrified because first of all I was still I mean I was a baby I mean come on I was and this was LE Zepplin she was 14 or not quite 14 and he just was intrigued with it you know we our thing had run its course in his mind so not in mine of course and so one day they were in town we we hooked up we got together I was at the whiskey with him and he left with this girl he just had this really wonderful like you know calm demeanor about him something very mysterious and always kind and sweet I don't know how to explain him I is the when you do meet him and when you do get to know him you just immediately fall in love with him cuz he's so sweet I used to stand on the side of the stage and just be in awe and say why me you know he's paying front of 30,000 people at the Forum and there I am standing there and you know he's playing just it was the most beautiful thing ever the beginning of 1973 saw the long awaited release of Zeppelin's fifth album houses of the Holy this would Mark the first Le Zeppelin album to have an actual title ever since the Beatles breakup in April of 1970 Leed Zeppelin had wrestled their Crown away and were deemed Rock's most successful attraction by that time their popularity was so immense and far-reaching that a member of the Fab 4 came calling to see what the fuss was all about George had come to the show cuz he called me up and he said look when do I arrive and I said what do you mean when did you arrive you [ __ ] arrive at the beginning so he said well what about when's the intermission I said what intermission he said you don't have low I said they go on at 8: and they finish at 10:30 he said you're joking I said no he said [ __ ] me we used to be booked for 20 minutes and be off staging 15 on the tour Led Zeppelin played to sold out crowds at New York's Madison Square Garden but the bigger story was the one that occurred offstage at the nearby Drake Hotel Jimmy called me one it's $600 or something to buy a new guitar and I went to the safe and I got the 600 and locked it back up again gave him his money and when we were leaving the hotel to go to Madison Square Gardens I needed to get the money out to pay the film crew and pay off the jet or whatever bits and pieces business wanted to do so said take all the bring all the money with you well when I looked in there the only thing in there were four passports they you know they'd known me for years and I didn't steal it I mean there weren't pissed off with me I think they were pissed off that it was gone the FBI conducted an investigation but the culprit was never found nor was the $23,000 in cash the band returned home and spent the remainder of the year with their families the end of 1973 also spelled the end of Leed Zeppelin's contract with Atlantic Records because of their immense popularity the price for a contract renewal would be steep part of that price was the formation of the band's own label swans song records we were like the first band that they ever signed and it just so happened that they were launching swansong that month so we as their proteges had to go to the openings in LA in New York of swansong the launch parties first time I met bonso was when he gave us a lecture on behaving ourselves bonso marched into our rooms and said this is a big day for us and you know keep the British flag flying and behave yourself don't drink too much all right bless him on May 10th 1974 Leed Zeppelin hosted an elaborate launch party in La for their new label Jesus I mean I've never seen celebrities like grouo marks when grouo walked in with these two blondes one on each arm he just stopped the proceedings grouo may have impressed them but when Led Zeppelin heard that their musical hero Elvis Presley was playing the LA for for they arranged a meeting with the king Tom ulet the concer promoter was also would promote the lead Zeppelin that grou up their shows and they happened to be in La at the time we were playing The Forum and they wanted to meet Elvis and Tom ulet he asked Elvis okay for brought Ls up in the see him and he said yeah and they came up you know they met Elvis they were just thrilled could be they always idolized Elvis and you know they one of the other groups said you know if it wasn't for elv us we wouldn't have been musicians and uh it was exciting for them and was was thrill they were nice guys it was a whole funny evening you know but I mean they were everyone was kind of tiptoeing around cuz this was Elvis I'm sure it be like meeting the queen of England or something you know someone you really never going to get close to or even imagine you're going to have anything to do with February 24th 1975 saw the release of Led Zeppelin's sixth album and their first on Swan Song a double album Physical Graffiti quickly Rose to the number one chart position the band settled in IU to write songs for the next album and relax near their private playground of Los Angeles then in November of 1975 Led Zeppelin entered musicland studios in Munich Germany to record The Presence album in a whirlwind 18 days they were quick I mean presence was done in like 3 weeks there was no time to really think the things out I just said lay it down more first track harmonize second track you know it's really fast working on that all the guitar over D the presents were done in one night but I didn't think I'd be able to do it in one night I thought it would take I'd have to do it across maybe three different nights to get the individual section sort of crystallized and you know it was everything was just pouring out you know I was I was very happy with the guitar playing on that whole album you know as far as the maturity of playing they rehearsed it and wrote it out in malibo flew into Munich I mean paig had this wonderful idea which I hated that he always recorded in miserable places and cold weather I don't know whether he did it on purpose cuz he knew there was nothing else to do but work and that way they have to get out there quick if they' done in Barbados theyd never get anything done in October of 1976 an idea that Peter and the band had put in motion years earlier finally came to fruition they had hired Joe Masset to make a movie about Led Zeppelin on the road and the resulting The Song Remains the Same was finally released it all started in the Sheran Hotel in Boston and everybody is sitting around talking about a film which we talked about some time group of talked about it and somebody said why don't we make a film G so I said yeah that's an idea it's uh one gig at Madison Square Garden interspersed by what we would consider to be uh representations of how we'd like ourselves to be seen or off stage you know see I think the main thing was to get over the fact that it just wasn't a film of a concert I mean there's been lots of sort of well not lots but there been quite a few films that have just been concerts on stage and we wanted to get beyond that yeah if we going to be self-indulgent we might as well try and expand our Indulgence a little bit you know they were totally in charge they had a picture in their mind of what they wanted to see that was a matter of having the director shoot what was in their mind I mean there were certain things that pissed me off about the actual filming but nevertheless I mean as far as it goes I'm really pleased it is there it's a documentary more than anything else Led Zeppelin in concert and Beyond I think a lot of the uh the joy went out was at Zeppelin When there were a succession of tragic events which shocked everybody really Zeppelin were at their Peak selling albums by the truckload and everybody wanted to see them and their shows are huge sellouts Zeppelin were highly respected and then suddenly everything to go PE on July 26th 1977 tragedy struck when news came from England that Robert Plant's 5-year-old son Carrick had died from a stomach infection Robert was devastated and then there was the terrible news that Robert pant's son Carrick had died back in England so they had to cancel the tour and everybody had to fly back I think a lot of the fun went out out of Zeppelin certainly as far as Robert Bart was concern concern no one pushed him to do anything Peter and the band sat back and said look you know when if you're ready let us know what you want to do if you want to do something and that was really it eventually Robert reunited with the band to record their ninth album released at the end of 1979 in through the outdoor went on to sell more than 5 million copies the release of our album head games coincided with the release of uh into the outdoor somebody brought me a test pressing up it I heard it I oh Jesus despite the success of in through the outdoor discernable cracks were beginning to form within Leed Zeppelin's airtight organization as well I've witnessed bonso just cut loose he had definitely split personality he when he was drinking when he wasn't drinking he was a big teddy bear he wasn't one of the ones who messed around a lot at all he wanted to go home to his wife and kids he was such a good father and he really loved his wife and he really loved his kids Zoe and Jason I think that John's only problem was he had a classic drinking problem his his personality completely he was a different person sober than he was drunk and when he became drunk he became loud and boisterous and a different person but when he was sober he was like gentle as a lamb with bonso it was like going out with a sailor who had 12 hours to live cuz he packed it all in he was he was a lovely guy at the end of one tour I went up to say goodbye knocked on his his door come in and there he was he he was packing his suitcase very fastidious John he had all his clothes hung and very neat and tidy but he was wrapping these sort of Japanese dolls and little dolls that he collected from various countries and towns for Zoe his little daughter and he was rapping them individually and this is Zoe I don't see enough of them and they were all laid out in a row in this suitcase I thought wow people don't realize how how much time they spent away from home so he was he would get really drunk and then become a whole other human being a real angry guy the mixed feelings would come when he had to go to work and he didn't particularly want to go to work he wanted to be at home with his wife and maybe having the baby or something like that by September Led Zeppelin was in scon in rehearsals for their upcoming highly anticipated tour of America but it was during these rehearsals that the group was dealt an unthinkable blow bonso when he got drunk was he didn't want to be in the raar end with him well he's just very gets very nasty you know very wild you know the booze you know the booze I mean that's what killed him John bonam was known as a man who loved his alcohol on September 24th 1980 bonam was picked up from his hotel for rehearsals at Bray Studios during the journey bonam consumed a steady diet of quadruple screwdrivers and continued to drink heavily at the studio a halt was called to the rehearsals late in the evening and the band retired to Jimmy Page's house in Windsor after midnight bonam had fallen asleep and was taken to bed he died in his sleep later that night he was only 32 shocked I mean I was just shocked no one knew at that moment how he died we knew that they were rehearsing but how could he die in a rehearsal you know this was the thing we didn't realize at the time he'd drunk and they put him to bed and you know the classic rock and roll death you know choking on his own vomit so I thought he had a car crash with drugs I no I didn't I just knew something terrible The Fallout from this was going to be disastrous cuz there was such a tight-knit band and if one went that was it yeah there were four equal members you know when they were on that stage I mean as a say you know one would shine more than the other for a certain part but I mean together they were a unit I mean I think that's why they broke up that they you know bonam was an integral part but that was what L zeppin was was those four guys when he died the band evaporated and I think those guys just knew that you couldn't put anybody else in there and do what Bonham did and make that band work I think everybody probably wanted lead Zeppelin to continue and there were plenty of contenders for for the job of being the JAMA with lead Zeppelin cozy Powell car minder piece um people that could have played it they could have done the gig but um it wouldn't have been the same because John bonam was so special and his personality was so powerful and of course as I mentioned before they were a team they were friends and uh you couldn't really replace him and I think in retrospect it was the best thing to do part of my Charisma is uh you know is reliant on the other three you know and the same with everybody else you know we really get off on playing together that's the whole secret of I couldn't really go away and play with anybody else cuz if I wanted to play who else would I need for a drummer but bonso you know and the same with Jimmy and jamy I don't think it could it wouldn't be right bonso was one of Robert's best friends from a very early age so Robert was almost mortally wounded he was wounded forever after it took a big toll on Robert and I think um it took a big toll on the other two as [Music] well Leed Zeppelin what can you say out there they're huge influence h huge influence on everybody it was the most amazing thing ever you never see rock and roll like that ever again there was nothing like it I mean they were the most fantastic live rock band ever no band has ever matched Them Bands have come along who have been fantastic but who can do all of that Zepplin will always be the number one hard rock band they were four amazing guys they looked great they played great they were the first adventurous hard rock band and by virtue of that fact they'll always see the best [Music] [Applause] [Music]