Led Zeppelin
From Wikinfo
From L-R John Paul Jones (bass/Keyboards),Robert Plant(vocals/harmonica), John Bohnham (drums/percussion), Jimmy Page (guitar).
Hailed by the "Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock" as the "definitive dizz-buster heavy metal rock combo", the genesis of Led Zeppelin was in the demise of another British band influential in the blues-rock genre, The Yardbirds.
When the Yardbirds folded, guitarist (and one-time bass player) Jimmy Page was left only with their name and a number of contractual obligations to fulfil in Scandinavia. In a sense, he already had a nucleus of another band, having frequently crossed paths with fellow session musician John Paul Jones who had expressed interest in forming a group.
When the time came to complete the line-up, Robert Plant from Birmingham was recomended as the singer by first-choice vocalist Terry Reid. Plant, in his turn, suggested Band of Joy drumming colleague John Bonham. Thus was born The New Yardbirds.
Following the pre-scheduled concerts, this band became Led Zeppelin, apocryphally after The Who's drummer,Keith Moon, said, "With that line up you'll go down like a lead baloon". The word "lead", as in the metal lead, was deliberately misspelled to avoid confusion with lead as in "lead singer" .
Led Zeppelin then embarked on their inaugural concert tour, playing small clubs in and around London. Their posters quietly footnoted their "Formerly Yardbirds" status.
In the meantime, Peter Grant, formerly a tour manager for the likes of Little Eva, Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent, had taken up management of the group and secured a recording contract from the Atlantic label, then primarily dealing with soul music.
It is rumored that the Atlantic executives were covinced not by any demos (Grant had none) but by the band members' reputations and, more importantly, on Dusty Springfield's praise of their musicianship.
The first eponymous album was released in 1969. A combination of blues and rock influences with distorted amplification, itsinfluence on the future of heavy metal music is difficult to over-estimate.
Perhaps partly due to an early and definite group decision to concentrate their efforts there, the United States were enraptured with them from the beginning; frequent tourists, their aggregate album sales in that most sought-after of markets were exceeded only by The Beatles.
Led Zeppelin II followed a similar groove the same year and contained what is, to many, the band's defining theme, the riff-laden "Whole Lotta Love".
The song was written by Willie Dixon but, as with so many of Zeppelin's blues 'borrowings', it was uncredited on the album. It wasn't to be until Chess Records's lawsuit many years later that credit � and monetary settlement - were finally given where it was due
In additon to being blues aficionados, the band also loved American rock 'n' roll They would happily cover songs by Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran and their live shows, some known to have lasted over three hours, often featured expanded, improvised, jammin' versions of their repertoire incorporating James Brown, Stax, Motown-influenced soul music and funk music.
