All language subtitles for Becoming.Led.Zeppelin.2025.Hybrid.1080p.BluRay.DTS-HD.MA.5.1.x264-ZoroSenpai

["Good Times Bad Times"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

♪ In the days of my youth

♪ I was told what it means
to be a man ♪

♪ Now I've reached that age

♪ I've tried to do all
those things the best I can ♪

♪ No matter how I try

♪ I find my way
into the same old jam ♪

♪ Good times, bad times

♪ You know I've had my share ♪

♪ When my woman left home ♪

♪ For a brown-eyed man ♪

♪ Well, I still don't seem
to care ♪

♪ I know what it means
to be alone ♪

♪ I sure do wish
I was at home ♪

♪ I don't care
what the neighbors say ♪

♪ I'm gonna love you
each and every day ♪

♪ You can feel the beat
within my heart ♪

♪ Realize, sweet babe

♪ We ain't ever gonna part ♪

[Jimmy Page]
As a kid in England,

we were living in the shadows
of the Second World War.

Your parents
and your grandparents

had been through two World Wars.

And at the end of
the Second World War,

there was this great feeling
of hope towards the future.

[John Paul Jones]
In London,

there was lots of
damaged buildings

and craters and... [chuckles]

I mean,
it was an apres war zone.

There was rationing still.
I remember...

getting eggs and milk
and butter and stuff

with a little book with coupons.

People were recovering.

[Robert Plant]
Outside of London,

in the West Midlands,

it was a post-war,
sort of semi-suburban

quiet life.

So America was my dream...

because it was
a totally different world

to the one that we were in.

["Train Kept A-Rollin'"
by the Johnny Burnette Trio]

♪ I caught a train

♪ I met a dame ♪

♪ She was a hepster ♪

♪ And a real gone dame ♪

♪ She was pretty ♪

♪ From New York City ♪

♪ And we trucked on down
that old fair lane ♪

♪ With a heave and a ho ♪

♪ Well, I just couldn't
let her go ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Hey

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Hup

♪ Giddyap, oh!

♪ Get along ♪

I was listening to this
marvelous rock and roll

coming in from America.

You're hearing all this
electric guitar.

I mean, it was almost like
it was coming from Mars,

even though it was coming
from Memphis.

But here in Britain,

we were stuck
with these musicians

who were really safe

until this force of nature
called Lonnie Donegan arrived.

♪ When you play
the game of life ♪

♪ You've got trouble
You've got strife ♪

♪ Jack o' diamonds
is a hard card to find ♪

♪ Life is like
a game of cards ♪

♪ But it's very, very hard ♪

♪ Jack o' diamonds
is a hard card to find ♪

♪ Jack o' diamonds ♪

♪ Jack o' diamonds ♪

♪ Diamonds is a hard card
to find ♪

♪ Jack o' diamonds ♪

♪ Jack o' diamonds ♪

♪ Diamonds is a hard card
to find ♪

[Page]
I was so mesmerized

by having seen
Lonnie Donegan play.

It was like a portal.

It gave some access

to the sort of freedom that you
hadn't witnessed in England.

♪ A hard card to find ♪

Give it up, Jimmy!

[rocking, funky guitar solo
playing]

So, one day I come to school
and I see...

this fellow standing up
in the field

with lots of people around him.

His name was Rod Wyatt,

and he's playing
the Lonnie Donegan songs

on an acoustic guitar.

So I went up to him and said,

"I've got one of those
at home."

And he said, "Bring it along.
I'll show you how to tune it."

And then...

he showed me some chords
as well.

♪ Well, Mama don't allow
no skiffle around here ♪

♪ Oh no, she don't ♪

♪ Mama don't allow no skiffle
around in here ♪

♪ Well, we don't care
what mama don't allow ♪

♪ Gonna play that skiffle
any-old-how ♪

♪ Mama don't allow no skiffle
around in here ♪

♪ Well, mama don't allow
no guitar playing in here ♪

♪ Oh no, she don't ♪

♪ Well, mama don't allow
no guitar playing in here ♪

♪ Well, we don't care
what mama don't allow ♪

♪ Gonna play that guitar
any-old-how ♪

♪ Mama don't allow
no guitar playing in here ♪

[jaunty guitar melody playing]

[Page]I was absolutely
inseparable from the guitar.

I'd play it before breakfast

and then play it
on the way to school.

I'd go there
and want to practice,

but it would be confiscated

and, uh, given back
at the end of the day.

♪ Gonna play that guitar
any-old-how ♪

♪ Mama don't allow
no guitar playing in here ♪

[Page]
My father was like,

"Well, I don't really understand

all this guitar business, but...

I'm with you on it,

providing you keep
all your schoolwork up."

But my mum was
really supportive to the idea

of me carrying on
and starting in a group and...

she really believed in me.

I mean,
it was really a big deal.

["I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and
Write Myself a Letter" playing]

[Jones]My parents
were in vaudeville.

Mum was the straight singer
in the evening gown...

and my father was a comedian.

He would play the piano.

And so I used to travel
around with them

to all the bases,

where they'd entertain
the troops.

And there would be just one
international act after another.

Accordion players
and banjo players.

I took all this in.

[song continues]

[Jones]So I was from
that musical tradition.

And it was all the basis

for everything I ever did
afterwards.

[song fades out]

[birds chirping]

[Plant]
I grew up in the West Midlands.

My father's bloodline
is from there,

and my mother's
side of the family

are Romani Gypsy.

My childhood
was very sheltered...

until my parents sent me
to a big school

in a big town.

Studied to be
a chartered accountant.

I mean, I'd really dug a lot
of what was going on at school,

but when Little Richard
appeared,

it was so provocative
and all-consuming

and, uh, hypnotic

that it kinda knocked everything
else out of the water.

♪ Well, I saw Uncle John
with bald-head Sally ♪

♪ He saw Aunt Mary coming and
he ducked back in the alley ♪

♪ Oh, baby ♪

♪ Yes, baby ♪

♪ Woo, baby

♪ Having me
some fun tonight... ♪

I knew then that
all I wanted to do was sing.

♪ Well, long tall Sally
She's built for speed ♪

♪ She got everything that
Uncle John need ♪

♪ Oh, baby ♪

♪ Yes, baby ♪

[Plant]
I mean, that was it.

The syringe was in the arm.
Forever.

["Long Tall Sally"
by Little Richard playing]

[song fades out]

[John Bonham] Oh, well,
I'm John Bonham.

I always liked making
drum sounds when I was a kid.

[chuckles]

I got my first drum kit
when I was ten.

And we went to see a film
with Gene Krupa,

and it was just amazing.

[up-tempo, swinging drum solo
playing]

["Sing Sing Sing (With a Swing)"
by Benny Goodman playing]

[song ends]

[Bonham]
Up here in the Midlands,

I used to buy completely
different records, you know.

Johnny Kidd & the Pirates
were a strong influence then.

["Shakin' All Over"
by Johnny Kidd & the Pirates]

♪ When you move in
right up close to me ♪

♪ That's when I get the shakes
all over me ♪

♪ Shakin' all over...

[song fades]

[Jones] You heard it
on all the jukeboxes.

Of course, they've got those
huge 15-inch speakers.

That's about all you could hear,
was the bass.

["Shakin' All Over" continues]

I heard that and thought...

that's a sound
I would really like to make.

♪ Quivers down
the backbone... ♪

[Jones] When I told my father,
he said,

"Bass guitar
is a novelty instrument.

And in two years' time it will
never be heard of again.

Get yourself a saxophone,
you'll always work."

[chuckles]

So I said, "No.
I want a bass guitar, Dad."

He heard me practicing and went,

"Hmm. You're coming with me.

All you've got to do
is watch my left hand."

On the piano. So, uh...

I learnt all the standards
from that.

[solemn organ music playing]

I had a little band.

We were playing
at the youth club.

And I got talking to their
very go-ahead young priest.

He went, "We'd really like
an organist."

I said, "Well, I could be an
organist for you if you like."

Not thinking anything of it.

He went, "Yeah. Okay."

["Jerusalem" on organ playing]

In church music
you have to improvise.

But as I wasn't very good
at playing from music anyway,

I just improvised everything.

I learnt the hymns.

I could figure out
what the hymns were.

I'm not particularly religious
but it was a good gig.

All right?
And he was a really cool priest.

And so I became organist
and choirmaster at 14.

♪ And did those feet
in ancient time ♪

♪ Walk upon England's
mountains green... ♪

which paid me
the princely sum of £25 a year

which bought me a Fender bass.

["Jerusalem" fades out]

[Page] I use to go and jam
on Thursday night

at the Marquee Club.

And after a period
of doing this,

this band called Carter Lewis
and the Southerners

came up to me and asked me

if I'd like to play
on their record.

I said, "Yeah, sure.
That sounds really good."

So I went along with my kit.

The DeArmond foot pedal
and the amplifier

and my brand new
Gibson Les Paul.

And the band'd say,

"Well, just make something up
for the solo."

By the second run-through,
I've already got a part for it.

["Somebody Told My Girl" by
Carter Lewis & the Southerners]

♪ Woo

♪ Oh

[Page] And the buzz
must have gone around

about this young guitarist,

because I started to get calls
for more studio dates.

When I got into
this session world,

I was, like, seven years younger
than anybody else.

And they didn't have somebody
in the old guard,

or the current guard,

who really knew
all the influences

and the points of reference
that the younger bands had.

So, of course, I knew all of it,

whether it was, like, R&B
or whether it was blues

or rock, whatever it was.

Everybody was getting
these records

that originally came over

maybe with the American
merchant vessels.

The R&B boom had kicked in.

["Keep It To Yourself"
by Sonny Boy Williamson playing]

[Plant] I went to see
Sonny Boy Williamson

at the American Folk
Blues Festival.

It was around the time I was
learning to play harmonica too.

It was just this
amazing onslaught

of music from whence
we had no idea.

[soulful blues music playing]

♪ Darling, do me a favor ♪

♪ Keep it to yourself ♪

♪ Please, darling,
do me a favor ♪

♪ Keep our business
to yourself ♪

♪ I don't want you
to tell nobody ♪

♪ And don't mention it
to no one else... ♪

[mellow harmonica solo playing]

[Plant]
Sonny Boy was almost everything

that's become my whole entire
musical bloodstream really.

[song continues]

But in my own hometown,
I had my own hero,

and it was Perry Foster.

And he had this kind of setup
called the Delta Blues Band.

And somehow or another,
I managed to blag my way

into this band.

I was prepared to be a mod
or a rocker

or a beatnik or anything
so long as I could sing

and gather these looks
around me,

just trying to make it
stick on the wall.

[Bonham] I used to play
and used to have a job as well.

Used to be working with my
father in the building trade.

Used to be good builders then.
[chuckles]

But, you know, the job
gradually gets less

and the music more.
That's what seems to happen.

You know, we left school
and we formed small groups,

and things like that,

and played locally
and everything.

You know, for me, soul music
was a strong influence then.

["Please, Please, Please"
by James Brown playing]

[women screaming]

[Bonham] James Brown
was a big favorite

because the drum sound
was just amazing.

I thought,
"I'm gonna get that sound."

[song continues]

[Bonham]
When I was 16,

I went to see a group
with Robert singing.

The gig went incredibly well
because he was bloody great.

[Plant] In the crowd
watching this

was some larger-than-life guy
with his beautiful girlfriend.

He got a hold of me afterwards
and he said,

"Well, you're okay,

but you'd be a lot better with
a proper drummer behind you."

And I thought,
"Jesus Christ. Here we go."

[Bonham] The first time
we played together

we were about 16.

And it was really good.

["I Got To Find My Baby"
by Band of Joy playing]

[Plant]
John was amazing.

He was a really
powerful drummer.

I watched him
with absolute amazement.

He was just...

fantastic.

[Bonham] But it's so competitive
playing locally anyway.

You'd, like, have a time
going on the road

and everything would be roses,

then all of a sudden,
no more gigs, no more money.

You're back to where
you started.

One time, we were running
out of fuel

and I had to siphon the gasoline
from another car

and I was caught by the police
in the middle of the night,

sucking a piece of rubber
into a can.

And him sitting in the back
shivering,

thinking,
"What the hell will Pat say?"

Pat became his wife
and she used to say,

"Don't you dare play
with that Planty.

He's a complete disaster."

["Song of Mexico"
by Tony Meehan playing]

[Jones] I left school at 16.

I failed most of my exams

because I'd been playing
all night in some club

the night before my O-Levels.

And my dad was saying,

"Well, I can get you a job
as a clerk somewhere."

"No, no. I'll find a band, Dad.
I'll find a band."

So there used to be a place
in London

called Archer Street.

And every Monday morning,

all the local musicians
would congregate for work.

And so I went there as a kid.

Every Monday morning,
I was there.

[song continues]

[Jones] And I started getting
booked with bands

and in the session scene.

[Page]
Here comes Jimmy Page

with his electric guitar.

That's my Les Paul,
my Black Beauty.

And this guitar was the guitar

that I played most of
my sessions on.

There we are.
Going in there to see

what I'm gonna be faced with
on that music stand.

["Goldfinger" by Shirley Bassey
playing]

Sessions were a lot of fun
in those days, actually.

When I started, I ended up
playing a lot of sessions

together with Jimmy.

♪ Goldfinger... ♪

[Jones] The "Goldfinger" session
was at Abbey Road.

Jimmy and I
were in the rhythm section.

There was a full orchestra...

and Shirley Bassey.

♪ A spider's touch... ♪

[Page] The whole energy
just to be in there,

I mean, for me,
I'm still a kid, really.

And it's,
"Wow. It's Shirley Bassey."

[Jones] While you were playing,
you could see her.

And she did the whole thing.

♪ Goldfinger
Like that.

It was wonderful to watch.

♪ But don't go in ♪

♪ Golden words
he will pour in your ear ♪

♪ But his lies can't disguise
what you fear ♪

♪ For a golden girl
knows when he's kissed her... ♪

[Page] These studios would work
with ruthless efficiency.

So you couldn't be the one
to mess up

so they went into overtime.

'Course, if you messed up,

you wouldn't have
been seen again.

♪ Beware of this heart
of gold ♪

♪ This heart is cold

♪ He loves only gold...

There'd be a pocket diary,
like this,

that I'd be carrying with me.

I played on sessions with
the Rolling Stones,

David Bowie, Petula Clark...

I was on the Kinks' records.

The first Who record.

I mean, it goes right
across the board.

But I didn't do anything
with the Beatles.

♪ He loves gold

["Sunshine Superman" by Donovan
playing]

[Page] I did quite a lot
of work with Donovan

and I really enjoyed
working with him.

And Mickie Most
was his producer.

♪ It'll take time, I know it ♪

These sessions were great
'cause I could watch

and I could ask questions
about things,

and I certainly did.

I made it my business
to ask engineers

how certain effects were done,

like tape echo and reverb.

And you could see the way
that they were miking

various instruments.

And, basically, that's what
I could do.

I was allowed
to, sort of, do that.

Not only that, I got a chance
to have a solo as well.

So that was good.

[bright, funky guitar solo
playing]

[Jones]
I went to Mickie Most and said,

"Do you need an arranger?"

- "You do arrang..."
- "Yeah, I do arrangements.

Yeah. All the time."
And, uh...

I hadn't really
done that before.

But my dad had always taught me
never turn down work, right?

And had a great working
relationship with him.

["To Sir, With Love" by Lulu
playing]

He used to drive by
in his yellow Rolls-Royce

and drop an acetate
through my letterbox

with "You know what we want.
It's Friday."

And that was it.

I'd be playing bass in sessions
all day, seven days a week.

So I had to write arrangements
at night.

And then nine o'clock
in the morning

I'd go to the session
and do the songs.

I did all the arrangements
for Herman's Hermits

and Donovan,

and had quite a lot to do
with Lulu.

Did all her arrangements
with Mickie Most as well.

♪ How do you thank someone ♪

♪ Who has taken you from
crayons to perfume ♪

♪ It isn't easy

♪ But I'll try... ♪

[Jones]
I even did film work with her,

like To Sir, With Love,
which was a big hit in America.

This was considered the
pinnacle of the music business.

My dad was incredibly proud...

when people he knew
and respected

would come, "Ooh, I saw your
John on so-and-so session

the other day. He's okay.
He's good, you know."

And...

Puffed him up a lot.

[Plant] I was in
a lot of different bands

around that time.

I did a couple adventures
in recording studios.

But my parents,
they weren't that keen at all.

In fact, when I cut my record,
the first single on CBS,

they didn't know anything
about it,

'cause I, um...

I was given the alternative
of staying in the world of

academia and...

my article...
Training for my articles...

as a chartered accountant or...

you just go out into the world
and do what you gotta do.

So I did.

So I waved everybody goodbye.

["You Better Run"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

♪ Whatcha tryin' to do
to my soul ♪

♪ Whatcha tryin' to do
to my soul... ♪

[Plant] I knew there were
singers

who had more chops than me,

but I was just out there,

throwing it up in the air.

I had caftans, painted faces,
bells ringing,

incense blazing,

and... [chuckles]

was just...

[Bonham] Robert used to get up
to more mischief

and little sort of things
than any of us do.

It's ridiculous, you know.

John came up to me and said,
"Well, what's all that about?"

I said, "Yeah, you're right.
What is that all about?"

[Bonham]
It was the end of '67.

We got back together

and the playing
went incredibly well.

["Memory Lane" by Robert Plant
and the Band of Joy playing]

♪ Down the lane ♪

♪ Creeps Auntie Jane ♪

♪ As she has for 60 years... ♪

[Plant]
So we formed the Band of Joy.

We wanted to mix the blues
with psychedelia.

We wanted to be a part
of that huge movement.

We played at Frank Freeman's.

We played Middle Earth
in London.

We went down to Tin Pan Alley
and we recorded "Memory Lane,"

which was my first adventure
in songwriting.

Sadly, we never got it released.

And not many people liked us.

But we liked us.

[song continues]

♪ Those were the days ♪

♪ In old Memory Lane ♪

♪ Those were the days ♪

♪ Yes, they were ♪

♪ In old Memory Lane ♪

[Plant] Pat was screaming
at John, saying,

"I told you
to stay away from him.

He'll get you nowhere."

And so he went off with Tim Rose
and...

played "I Got a Loneliness"
and "Morning Dew."

[Bonham] That's how
it used to go, really.

I mean, we had a kid then.

You'd end up having to get a job

in a professional group
to get a bit of money

to sort of live with, really.

I... I just fell from favor
everywhere.

Things were pretty tough
for me then.

I had a brown suitcase
and some penicillin,

and I was homeless.
I had nowhere to live.

So I, uh...

I got a gig with this band
called Obs-Tweedle.

[mellow bass chords play]

I was totally accepted

in the world of being
a studio musician.

I had been caught up
doing the things

that all of the real old-timers
when I joined in were doing.

Like Muzak.

Muzak is what they would
call, like, lift music.

You know? Um...

Very, very difficult to do a,
uh...

a Muzak session,

because you'd have
a whole ream of music

and you'd have to keep
turning it and playing it,

turning it and playing it.

To do that, to actually get
halfway through

without being physically sick
was quite a miracle.

So I knew that... that...

that it was time
to, sort of, come out of there.

All my friends,
like Eric and Jeff,

were all in bands

and they were having
a great time.

I thought, I've got a lot
that I really want

to be able to offer.

And Jeff Beck said,

"It'd be really good if you
came in with The Yardbirds."

So I thought, "How would you
really like to play

if you had the chance?"

"Right. You do it. Do it now.
This is your opportunity."

["Over Under Sideways Down"
by The Yardbirds playing]

♪ Over, under, sideways, down ♪

♪ Backwards, forwards
square and round ♪

♪ Over, under, sideways, down ♪

♪ Backwards, forwards
square and round ♪

♪ Hey ♪

♪ Hey

♪ Hey

♪ Hey

[song ends with flourish]

[applause]

Going into The Yardbirds
with Jeff,

it was touring with a friend
and having a really good time.

But in the middle of
an American tour,

he left the band,

and I... I was quite shocked.

But it gave me the opportunity
to try a totally new direction.

So I took over on lead guitar.

["Glimpses" by The Yardbirds
playing]

[Page] Nobody was interested
in The Yardbirds

over here in England anymore.

So we started to really grow
our underground following

in America.

And it was just a thrill,
an absolute thrill,

just really getting a feel
for the West Coast music scene.

[song continues]

But we were up against
Mickie Most,

who was our producer, so...

we were recording
all these awful singles

for the AM Radio,
which was the pop radio,

and I didn't want to be
making singles anymore.

Being in America

and seeing the advent of
the FM underground radio,

which was playing
whole sides of albums,

I knew that this was gonna be
the way to go in the future.

So that was my plan.

To make albums that
would be played,

a whole side,

on the FM stations.

[song continues]

I had this new sound
for The Yardbirds

already worked out in my head.

I already knew exactly what I
wanted to be doing, guitar-wise,

on the new stuff
that I had in mind

like "Dazed and Confused,"

which was inspired
by Jake Holmes.

["Dazed and Confused"
by The Yardbirds playing]

♪ Hey, hey ♪

♪ Hey, hey ♪

♪ Right, I... ♪

[Page]
That guitar was given to me

by Jeff Beck.

I painted it.

I consecrated the guitar.

This is the guitar that takes
the full journey

like... Excalibur,
the mythical sword.

[warbling guitar melody playing]

I went to a palm reading in LA.

And the palmist said,

"You're gonna be
making a decision very soon

which is gonna
change your life."

A meeting happened two or three
days after the palmist...

where the group said,
"That's it. We wanna fold."

I mean, it was a shock.

I immediately went, "Well,
now I know what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna form my own group,

and I know exactly what it is
that I wanna do with it,"

and I just needed to find
a powerful vocalist.

And so there was a singer
called Terry Reid.

He registered with me

and I thought,
"I'm gonna aim for him."

I asked Peter Grant if he could
track down Terry Reid.

Peter Grant was the manager
of The Yardbirds

and, bless him,
he really believed in me.

This is the thing,
once The Yardbirds folded,

and I said,
"I wanna start a group,"

he was there. You know?
He said, "Great.

Whatever help I can give."

Peter Grant and Mickie Most
were in the same office and...

they had two desks,

and they, more or less, faced
each other across the room.

The next thing that I hear is,

"Oh, unfortunately Terry Reid's
signed a solo deal

with Mickie Most."

And I, "Oh, yeah?"

- Off the press?
- Right. I know that one.

- For you.
- Right.

I thought, "Wow.
This is super ruthless."

But nevertheless,
Terry Reid suggested

a singer from the Midlands
in a band called Obs-Tweedle.

"This is an unusual name.
This is a bit odd."

He and Peter Grant came up
to have a look at me.

He asked me if I knew where
he could find Robert Plant.

And I said, "Yeah. Right here."

He was doing some wonderful
improvised vocals

and I thought
they were marvelous.

So I invited him round my house.

I still had nowhere to live,
sadly.

So I took my suitcase
and got a train to Pangbourne

and knocked on another door.

[Page] Yeah. We had
a really good connection.

And he was looking through
my records,

"I've got that one."
You know?

And I played him
a Joan Baez version

of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You"

and said, "If you can sing
that top line there,

I've got an arrangement
that goes with it."

And it just really, really
dovetailed together.

It was beautiful.

He... He...
He just sang beautifully.

["Babe I'm Gonna Leave You"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

♪ Babe ♪

♪ Baby, baby ♪

♪ I'm gonna leave you... ♪

We knew something
was in the air.

I could feel this stuff
around me.

Jimmy's guitar playing
was just tremendous. Amazing.

Jimmy then said, "We've got
this drummer lined up."

And before he went any further,
I said, "Wait a minute.

There is no drummer
on the planet

to compare with John Bonham.

He's magnificent."

He was playing with Tim Rose.

Jimmy said, "Oh, well,
if that's the case,

let's go and see him."

And I said, "John, you've got
to listen to Jimmy play.

He's amazing."

John said, "Not a chance."

I said, "You gotta be crazy.
You don't wanna do this stuff,"

playing electric folk.

"Come with me."
He said, "Pat would kill me."

"Don't say that!"

I said, "I'll talk to Pat,
and your mum."

[Jones] My wife Mo read that,
"Oh, Jimmy's forming a band.

You should give him a call.

See if he wants a bass player."

Like, "No! I can't...

I've got this to do,
I've got that to do.

I got these arra...
And albums..."

"No," she said. She insisted.
"Give him a call, please."

So I did.

I said, "Hello, Jim.
Heard you're forming a band."

He went, "Yeah, yeah."
I said, "Uh...

Do you want a bass player?"

He went, "Well, actually, yes.

But there's a problem."
I said, "What's that?"

He said, "The drummer is
playing with Tim Rose

and he's getting £40 a week.
Can we best it?"

[chuckles]

So we decided, yeah,
we probably could.

[Page] Peter Grant managed to
get a two-hour rehearsal space

in Gerrard Street.

So we all get there and
I've got my equipment set up.

John Paul Jones is there
with his session equipment,

and John's got his drums.

[Jones] It literally was just
wall to wall amplifiers

and we just picked one up...

"Hello. How are you?"
"Right," you know?

"I'm so-and-so.
He's so-and-so else."

[Bonham]
It was quite strange really,

meeting John Paul and Jimmy.

Coming from where I'd come from,

I'd sort of thought
it was a bit of a joke,

getting telegrams and things,
you know.

There's a chance of becoming
one of The Yardbirds,

it's like a gift from Heaven,
wasn't it?

I said the first number
that I want to do

is "Train Kept A-Rollin'."

"Train Kept A-Rollin'."
"Do you know it?"

I went, "Mm. Nope."

He said, "Well, it's a 12-bar."
[hums riff]

"It's got this riff."
"Okay. Count it in."

And that was it.

And the room just exploded.

We just kept playing it
and doing solo breaks

and all the rest of it,
and Robert's improvising.

I'd never heard
anything like it.

I was expecting
some cool soul singer

and there's this
screaming maniac...

with this fantastic voice
and a fantastic range.

I was like,
"What are you doing up there?

You'll hurt yourself, man."

It was devastating
because it seemed like...

that had been
what I'd been waiting for.

[Bonham]
I was pretty shy.

The best thing to do when
you're in a situation like that

is not to say much
and just soldier along

and suss it all out,
sort of thing.

Well, being a bass player,

and he was probably thinking
the same thing,

you know,
because rhythm sections

are very sensitive creatures
really...

um...

I just needed to know that

we could work together.

[Bonham] The first time
we played together

you could tell it was
gonna be a good group.

Not being sort of flashy
about it.

[Bonham laughs]

But I am.
[Bonham cackles]

Marvelous.

When it finally came to a halt,

I'm absolutely convinced

that everyone knew that that was
a life-changing experience.

I think there was
so much kinetic energy,

so much energy that needed
to come out for everybody.

Let's take it to the next stage
and let's take it to Pangbourne.

["Jennings Farm Blues"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

[Page] Pangbourne is on
the River Thames.

I remember when I first
came across this boat house,

I just saw this absolute magic.

It had a good energy to it.

And it was just a cauldron
of creativity.

This is the house I lived in
in 1967 through to 1970.

We set up initially
in the upstairs of the house.

Where those windows are
at the top,

there's a largish room

and that was where we did
the rehearsals.

[song continues]

We were overlooking the river.

It was beautiful.

And we just got to know
each other

and worked pretty hard.

We weren't slackers.

Our aim wasn't to be seen
on the telly.

We all wanted to play music
very badly.

We were working on
the material for the album,

and then we were putting in
other material as well

that was gonna fill out the set.

We were rehearsing for days,

and it would have been
pretty loud.

You'd hear it.
You'd hear it over here.

I did expect somebody to be
knocking on the door

to complain, but nobody did.

[song continues]

[Bonham] We got together
very quickly

because there was already
a tour that had to be done

by The Yardbirds,

which was a few dates
in Scandinavia.

It was convenient that,
lo and behold,

there was this tour
that we could do.

So we could go there
and have the benefit

of playing in front of
an audience

away from London
and all the rest of it.

[Plant]
Off to Scandinavia we went

for our first concert
as The Yardbirds.

And we went on an aeroplane,

me and John sitting next
to each other

having a cigarette,

seeing lots and lots
of silverware,

knives and forks in front of us.

Stuff that we would normally
have stolen

was there in profusion.

Couldn't have even got
enough of it in our bags

to get off the plane without
having somebody help us.

It was great.
Everything was there.

Gin, tonic...

people.

People being kind and charming.

Air conditioning.

It was off we went.

Because you couldn't...
What could you do?

Couldn't go back to Mummy then.

[audience chatter]

[Jones]
When I told my colleagues

and the people that employ me

that I'm giving up session work,

I'm gonna join
a rock 'n' roll band...

everybody said, "You're mad.
You're completely crazy."

["How Many More Times"
by The Yardbirds playing]

On bass guitar, John Paul Jones.

John Paul Jones.

On drums,

John Bonham.

Lead guitar, Jimmy Page.

And myself, Robert Plant.

[mellow blues rock rhythm
playing]

Yes! All right!

Yes!

Come on. Ah, yeah!

[blues rock rhythm continues]

[driving rhythm continues]

♪ How many more times

♪ Treat me the way
that you wanna do ♪

♪ How many more times

♪ Treat me the way
that you wanna do ♪

♪ Would you be
mad with me, baby ♪

♪ Please

♪ Please

♪ Please be true

♪ I'll give you all
I've got to give ♪

♪ Rings

♪ Pearls

♪ And all

♪ I'll give you
all I've got to give ♪

♪ Rings

♪ Pearls, and all ♪

♪ Why don't you get yourself
together, baby ♪

♪ I'm sure

♪ Sure you're gonna crawl ♪

♪ My, my, my, yeah

Yes!

[shrill, intense guitar solo
playing]

[solo continues,
frantic and driving]

[song lumbers behind
loud, driving guitar solo]

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah

[song presses onward,
slowly building]

[song builds]

[song peaks, ends abruptly,
echoes]

[Bonham]
It went so well, really,

that the group started
to make the album

straight after coming back
from Scandinavia.

How long had we been together
about then? What, a month?

[Page] We went into
Olympic Studios at night

over a few weeks.

The very first time we go in
is the 25th of September

in 1968.

Arrival time
from 11:00 p.m. onwards.

[engineer] Let's take one.

Right.

There's Glyn Johns, dear Glyn,

at the controls of
the Helios desk

that was custom-built
for Olympic Studios,

and he was doing
the engineering on it.

- [Jones] Drumming set one.
- [drums play]

[Plant] John, Jimmy,
and John Paul

were much more connected

in these sessions than I was...

because they were
recording it live.

They had to make it work
on the floor.

A take is a take.

So it was an electric
atmosphere.

And I just tried to land
on top of it all.

[Page] John Paul Jones brought
the most amazing bass playing,

and he was quite a force to be
reckoned with musically.

[driving drum beat
and bass line playing]

I was very much in love
with John's right foot.

[chuckles]
I had great respect for it.

And I used to try
and highlight it

and help it along and...

give it space.
[chuckles]

[Jones]
Uh, take three.

So I could be doing a riff
and just leave a note out

and something of his
would pop through

and the rhythm would just
suddenly come alive.

[click, whirring]

["Good Times Bad Times"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

[tapping on drum's rim]

[two-beat guitar chord
reverberates]

[tapping on cowbell]

- [guitar rhythm repeats]
- [tapping continues]

- [guitar rhythm repeats]
- [drum line picks up]

♪ In the days of my youth ♪

♪ I was told what it means
to be a man ♪

♪ And now I've reached
that age ♪

♪ I've tried to do all those
things the best I can ♪

♪ No matter how I try

♪ I find my way
to the same old jam ♪

♪ Good times, bad times

♪ You know I've had my share ♪

♪ When my woman left home
for a brown-eyed man ♪

♪ Well, I still don't
seem to care ♪

♪ Sixteen I fell in love

♪ With a girl as sweet
as could be ♪

♪ It only took
a couple of days ♪

♪ 'Til she was rid of me ♪

♪ She swore that she would be
all mine ♪

♪ And love me 'til the end ♪

♪ But when I whispered
in her ear ♪

♪ I lost another friend ♪

♪ Oh, good times, bad times ♪

♪ You know I've had my share ♪

♪ When my woman left home
for a brown-eyed man ♪

♪ Well, I still don't
seem to care... ♪

[intense, powerful guitar solo
playing]

♪ Good times, bad times

♪ You know I've had my share ♪

♪ When my woman left home
for a brown-eyed man ♪

♪ But I still don't
seem to care ♪

[funky, up-tempo bass line
playing]

[guitar solo resumes]

♪ I know what it means
to be alone ♪

♪ I sure do wish
I was at home ♪

♪ I don't care
what the neighbors say ♪

♪ I'm gonna love you
each and every day ♪

♪ You can feel the beat
within my heart ♪

♪ Realize, sweet babe,
we ain't ever gonna part ♪

[song fades out]

I was gonna throw
everything I could at it.

I was gonna play
acoustic guitar,

I played pedal steel guitar,

I played slide guitar,
electric guitar.

I wanted to have so many
different textures

and moods on it,

that the whole album

would just
totally arrest the listeners

and take them to a realm that
they hadn't been in before.

The guitar's not on
a regular tuning

on "Black Mountain Side."

It is very much like
a sitar tuning.

["Black Mountain Side"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

[Plant] Jimmy and John Paul

were really
at the top of their game.

They'd played on so many
diverse pieces of music

that there was nowhere that they
couldn't find themselves

comfortably going to.

So that gave us a whole
magnificent bunch of colors

to play with.

[bright, up-tempo melody
playing]

[playing intensifies, quickens]

[melody slows slightly,
remains sprightly and bright]

[strums final gentle chord]

[Bonham]
Jimmy produced the album.

Which is great because it's got
a different sound

and I like that.

He had all these ideas
of microphone placement

to get distance, so he knew
what he wanted to hear.

[Page] There were some
really complex things

that went on during the mixing,

like the backwards echo
that comes in "You Shook Me."

When you turn the tape round
and apply the echo

and then turn it back over

and then you get the echo
coming in reverse.

[echoing vocalization]
♪ All night ♪

[echoing vocalization]

[psychedelic guitar melody
playing]

[Page] I was cross-fading
from one song into another

and all these sort of tricks,

so that when people
listened to the whole album,

as I say, it would just
absolutely demand attention.

Well, I mean, it's amazing.
Yeah. I had...

I had a pair of those
big quad electrostatic speakers

in my front room.

You could sort of sit
almost in them.

I just used to play it loud.

["Your Time Is Gonna Come"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

If you finance
the album yourself,

you're in a much better position

than if you're going in with,
like, a demo tape.

So, if you knew what you
were doing,

it made sense
to complete the album

and then go round and do a deal.

[dramatic electric organ melody
playing]

The American producer Bert Berns

had really done a great PR job
for me at Atlantic Records.

When he took me there in 1964,

and I said we should
aim at Atlantic...

so that's what we did.

["Your Time Is Gonna Come"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

[Jones] Yeah.

Yeah. We'd done our bit,

and Jimmy and Peter
were going to convince people

that they really needed it.
[chuckles]

Jimmy had the kind of keys
to the beginnings of a kingdom.

And he went off to New York
with Peter

and through them, they got
to see Jerry Wexler.

♪ Messin' around
every guy in town ♪

♪ Puttin' me down
for thinkin' of someone new ♪

♪ Always the same
playin' your game ♪

♪ Drive me insane ♪

♪ Trouble is gonna come
to you ♪

♪ One of these days
and it won't be long... ♪

We put it on,
and that was a great moment

to actually be able to play it,
regardless of what they thought,

to actually be playing it
to, you know, Jerry Wexler.

[song continues]

♪ Your time is gonna come ♪

♪ Your time is gonna come

♪ Your time is gonna come

♪ Your time is gonna come...

[Page] Atlantic wasn't allowed
to remix anything.

It was perfect. It was done.

The sequencing was perfect.
There was nothing...

Certainly no single's gonna be
taken off it.

♪ It's my turn to cry... ♪

Having seen a situation
whereby singles

have broken the spirit
of a band,

I didn't want it to break
the spirit of this band.

And I made a point of saying
we're an album band,

we're not doing singles.

We could call the shots
because we owned the album.

♪ Don't care what you say
'cause I'm goin' away to stay ♪

♪ Gonna make you pay... ♪

And here I am,
signing a contract.

Then there's Peter,
looking really cool.

Looking quite like a Mafia don.

♪ People talkin' all around ♪

♪ Watch out, woman, no longer ♪

♪ Is the joke gonna be
on my heart ♪

♪ You been bad to me, woman

♪ But it's coming back home
to you ♪

♪ Your time is gonna come... ♪

[Jones] Peter Grant and Jimmy
had fixed it

so that Atlantic had no say
in what we did whatsoever.

They went there saying,
"Look, you want this band,

and we're gonna give you
the music."

But...

Peter Grant wouldn't let
any record executives

anywhere near the studio.

Or the band.

They were terrified of him,
which was brilliant.

To have that freedom,
I mean, it was unheard of.

♪ Your time is gonna come... ♪

[Bonham] Rather than
keep The Yardbirds name,

the group became strong enough
to start fresh,

and it was a decision that
we'd change the name.

[Page] Keith Moon
had suggested a name,

Led Zeppelin.

I thought that'd be
a great name to use.

I thought, "Yeah.
That's a terrible name.

Nobody's gonna remember that."
[chuckles]

But I couldn't come up
with a better one

so Led Zeppelin we were.

[Plant] So, suddenly I was a dad
and I was nearly married.

And I was in this group that
was now gonna be called

Led Zeppelin.

So I went back to my parents
with an open heart.

I called up my mum and dad
and said,

"You might like to meet
your possible,

most probable,
daughter-in-law-to-be."

And so, of course,

they opened the door.

November the 9th, 1968,

we played Middle Earth.

And just to celebrate the fact
that we did that gig,

I got married on the same day.

Trying to get as many things in
in a day as I can.

The car broke down
on the way to the gig.

All that stuff, you know.

[Jones] We'd figured out
what we were gonna play

and how we were gonna play it.

The first three numbers
were just bam, bam, bam.

You could see people going,
"What on Earth is going on?"

["Communication Breakdown"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

♪ Hey, girl

♪ Stop what you're doing ♪

♪ Hey, girl

♪ You'll drive me to ruin ♪

♪ I don't know what it is
about you that I like so much ♪

♪ Won't you let me hold you

♪ Let me feel
your loving touch ♪

♪ Communication breakdown

♪ It's always the same ♪

♪ I'm having
a nervous breakdown ♪

♪ Drive me insane ♪

♪ Hey, girl

♪ I got something
you ought to know ♪

♪ Oh, my baby, I wanna tell
you I love you so ♪

♪ I wanna hold you
in my arms, yeah ♪

♪ I'm never gonna let you go

♪ 'Cause I like your charms ♪

♪ Communication breakdown

♪ It's always the same ♪

♪ I'm having
a nervous breakdown ♪

♪ Drive me insane ♪

[intense, driving guitar solo
playing]

[song continues]

♪ Communication breakdown

♪ It's always the same ♪

♪ I'm having
a nervous breakdown ♪

♪ Drive me insane ♪

♪ Oh ♪

[psychedelic rock guitar solo
playing]

[Plant scats, vocalizes]

[scats]

♪ Oh, yes, I wanna know, baby

[Plant continues indistinctly]

- [song ends]
- [applause]

[Bonham] It's a funny thing.

You couldn't play big gigs
in England.

You'd say, "Do you want to take
some dates on Led Zeppelin?"

and all this sort of thing.

People wouldn't even
book the band.

[Page]
So Atlantic decided that

the record is going to come out
on the 12th of January,

but only in America.

So Peter gets a tour together
for us.

It was Christmas Eve,
I think, we had to leave.

[Bonham] You suddenly find
the album's coming out

so we sort of had to go
to America to play.

I was concerned I wouldn't
feel home there at all.

[Plant] Pat kept saying, "Told
you not to work with him."

But she and my wife Maureen
were really good friends,

so they had the mutual overview
of celebration

for what John was doing
and what I was doing.

We just rolled with it.

Going to America was my dream,
for every reason.

♪ You know
I'm gonna leave you ♪

["Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

[Page] We're supporting
Vanilla Fudge to begin with,

and they were the only group
that took us under their wing.

[Bonham] They're good friends,
because they were friends

when we had nothing, you know?

[Plant] Carmine and John Bonham
picked up

such a great repartee.

They used to watch and mimic
each other, play little parts.

It was a great exchange of
energies between everybody.

[Jones]
Denver was the first show.

Like playing
in an aircraft hangar.

[Page] There wasn't that many
people there either.

I thought, "Oh, boy."

But I said, "Look,
let's just group together

as though we're playing
in a club,

and just play to each other.

Don't worry about whether
the place

is half or totally full.

Let's just play for ourselves
to get a feel."

[song continues]

[Page] From the handful of dates
with the Fudge,

then we go to
the Whisky a Go Go in LA,

and then we're going
to San Francisco.

[song ends, fades]

[crowd chatter]

[Page] The album is already
being played

on the underground radio

and people are really curious

to see this band
that they're hearing.

So we were gonna go in there
with a hatchet

and just play like
we'd never played before.

Just throw everything we'd got
into it.

[Plant] We're backstage
at The Fillmore,

and, um, Peter Grant says,

"Well, whatever happens,

if you don't crack it here,
it's over."

["Communication Breakdown"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

♪ Hey, girl

♪ Stop what you're doing ♪

♪ Hey, girl ♪

♪ You'll drive me to ruin ♪

♪ I don't know what it is
about you that I like so much ♪

♪ Won't you let me hold you ♪

♪ Let me feel
your loving touch ♪

♪ Communication breakdown ♪

♪ It's always the same ♪

♪ I'm having
a nervous breakdown ♪

♪ Drive me insane ♪

♪ My, my, my baby ♪

[driving, intense guitar solo
playing]

♪ Communication breakdown ♪

♪ It's always the same ♪

♪ I'm having
a nervous breakdown ♪

♪ Drive me insane ♪

[Plant vocalizes]

♪ It's all right

♪ It's all right

♪ It's all right, so good

[funky melody playing]

♪ I don't know much

♪ Just a little bit

♪ I can't take it all,
pretty baby ♪

♪ I just want a little bit ♪

♪ Give it to me ♪

♪ Give it to me ♪

♪ Squeeze my lemon

♪ Just a little bit

♪ Squeeze my lemon

♪ Just a little bit

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ I don't wanna ♪

♪ I don't wanna communicate ♪

♪ Come on, hey

♪ Oh ♪

♪ My, my baby

♪ Come on

- ♪I can't stop it ♪
- [song ends]

[loud cheering]

We knew after that one
that we were on the right track.

["Sugar Mama"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

[Page] Everything is traveling
like wildfire.

The whole thing
is just building.

People were bashing down
the doors to get in

by the time we played
Boston Tea Party

because we were working
across the States

from the West Coast to the East.

[Jones] On FM radio
they would play

one side of your record

and back announce that side,

have one word from a sponsor,
and then play the other side.

People would just listen to it

and they'd go, "They're playing
in your town tonight."

[chuckles]
And so they'd all come on down.

[Wolfman Jack] Rock 'n' roll
with Led Zeppelin.

Robert Plant is here and I know
you feel real good now.

[Plant chuckles]

I'm gonna put another caller
on the phone here.

- You're on the air, dear.
- [woman] Is this Robert Plant?

- [Plant] Occasionally, yeah.
- [woman] Oh, God.

I want you to know that
I'm having heart failure.

[Plant] Oh, good God!

Don't tell me.
You need a doctor!

[woman] I just want you to know
that you are so sexy.

- It's unbelievable!
- [Wolfman Jack] Okay, dear.

Thank you very much.

- Next?
- [man] Hello?

I was gonna go see you
last night

but I couldn't get tickets.

[Plant] Oh, it was
really good last night.

[Wolfman Jack] What's your name?
Oh, forget it.

[laughter]

- [Plant] Hello?
- [woman] Hi.

[Plant] Hi.

[woman] Guess what?
I think you're a fox.

[Plant] What's that mean?

[woman]
You're a very good-looking man.

[Wolfman Jack]
Far out.

[woman]
I really dug the concert.

I really liked it.

I just really think you're a fox

and keep on doing
what you're doing.

[Plant] That's very nice of you.
We will.

[song continues]

[funky drumbeat playing]

[upbeat blues rock rhythm
playing]

♪ Say you love me, sugar mama ♪

♪ I'll never let you go ♪

The anticipation
was overwhelming.

I mean, really overwhelming.

[driving rhythm continues]

[repetitive, staccato
guitar rhythm playing]

[rhythm slows dramatically]

[song ends
with rumbling explosion]

To come back to England
with what we'd experienced,

I just had to keep quiet.

I mean, over here,
the record wasn't out yet.

So I just didn't have
anything to say.

People would have laughed at me.

So Bonzo and I
used to get together and go...

"Well, what was that?"
"Well, I don't know."

"What happened?"
"I don't know."

[Bonham] It was just
absolutely stunning.

You know? Ridiculous.

We came back from America

and we'd gone through
a big change,

and feeling good about it all.

But it does affect you.

[Plant] Think about it.
We're 20 years old,

and suddenly there were drugs

and there was a lot of girls,

and so many characters that
suddenly arrive on the scene.

This huge sort of sub-subculture
that spins around fame.

Especially fame
in its very early stages.

'Cause that's the place
where you can smell...

something new coming.

It felt good.

As it might. [chuckles]

Especially as we were doing it
without the press,

who didn't seem to like us,

the few reviews
we did seem to get,

the obvious one being
the Rolling Stone review.

I remember reading that review,

thinking, "Who are they
talking about?

Do they mean us?"

[Plant] A lot of those writers
at that time,

I don't know whether they were
studying the music

to criticize it or whether
they were more concerned

about the sort of
social activities.

But do you really care
about other people's responses

if you're playing like that?

Well, the answer is...

unfortunately, yeah.

That's where you can
come unstuck.

Fortunately, as four guys,
we did not care that much.

We were more caring about
how we turned ourselves on.

[Bonham] The first album,
it just got ripped to pieces.

Like, loads would say, "Oh no.

I don't like Zeppelin's
sort of music,"

for some reason, you know?

So we all thought
it was a bit of a joke.

We worked really, really hard
and...

people got it,
and you could see they got it.

Then they told their friends
that they got it.

"Get some too."

The venues are jam-packed,
so what people are hearing

as opposed
to what they're reading

is what really makes the band.

["Dazed and Confused"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

[plodding bass line playing]

[guitar chord reverberates
loudly]

[Page] It was exciting
to be doing these concerts

and being able to have
this communion

with the four of us

and be able to just change,
you know,

things with a sense of humor
or an intensity

or a level of aggression
or whatever.

And this is how connected
we are,

that we can be moving
in any direction

and everyone's following.

If the guitar's leading,
they're all following.

I can just hold back
and change this.

The improvisation is just
at an extraordinary level.

With "Dazed and Confused,"

the intensity is building.
It's positively evil.

♪ I've been dazed and confused
so long it's not true ♪

♪ Wanted a woman,
never bargained for you ♪

♪ Sweet little baby,
say what you will ♪

♪ Tongue wag so much
when I send you to hell ♪

Uh!

♪ I said you hurt and abuse

♪ Telling all of your lies ♪

♪ Sweet little baby, baby

♪ How you mesmerize ♪

♪ I try to love you, baby

♪ But I don't know
what to see in you ♪

♪ Every time I kiss you, woman
I think I wanna spit on you ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

[dramatic, repetitive melody
playing]

[dark, heavy rhythm playing]

♪ I told you, baby,
time and time and time again ♪

♪ I would never
leave you, woman ♪

♪ God knows since when ♪

♪ I'll tell you everything
that could ever, ever satisfy ♪

♪ But all you ever do to me,
baby ♪

♪ Is make me break down
and cry, yeah ♪

♪ I can't take it, baby

♪ My, my, my

♪ Mm

[discordant chords pealing]

[plucky, dramatic melody
playing]

♪ Mm

[distorted, echoing notes
playing]

[wailing rhythm reverberating]

[shrill, jarring note]

Oh! Ah!

♪ My, my, my, my ♪

♪ Oh

[jarring, warbling rhythm
playing]

♪ Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

[pace quickens]

[up-tempo rock melody playing]

[frantic guitar rhythm over
steady, driving bass line]

[Plant vocalizes,
imitates guitar]

[Plant vocalizes with guitar]

Hey!

♪ Oh, my baby

[slow, sludgy chords playing]

♪ Been dazed and confused

♪ For so long it's not true ♪

♪ Said I wanted a woman,
never bargained for you ♪

♪ Sweet little baby

♪ Say what you will ♪

♪ Tongue wag so much
when I send you the bill ♪

♪ I can't take it, baby ♪

♪ Hey, yeah, yeah ♪

[song ends
with dramatic flourish]

[cheering and applause]

[Page] I knew what we had
and I just really wanted

to knock everybody dead with it.

I had a whole vision
for the next album.

It was going to be
very cinematic

in its approach to how the music
is done in the first place,

let alone what the overdubs
and the layers are gonna do.

So I called for a rehearsal
at the house

and we rehearsed two new songs,

"Whole Lotta Love"

and "What Is and What Should
Never Be."

Jimmy would sit down
with an acoustic guitar

and we'd work the songs out.

[Bonham] He just comes in
and plays what we've written.

Then we, all together,
suss it all out.

We went into Olympic Studios
in April

and we were just really excited
to be back in the studio again.

My songwriting capacity's
starting to kick in...

because of the color of
the plane that surrounded me.

So, with "Whole Lotta Love,"

Jimmy had done some work
on the chorus.

He showed me his riff
which was incredible really.

["Whole Lotta Love"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

And for the verse, I just sang
a Willie Dixon lyric.

♪ You need coolin' ♪

♪ Baby, I'm not foolin' ♪

♪ I'm gonna send ya
back to schoolin' ♪

And, you know, it was like...

I was finding the best bits
of Black music

and putting it
through the wringer,

one way or another.

I think there's no point
in having "Whole Lotta Love"

and then having another riff

which was pretty much
the same sort of sound.

[mellow guitar music playing]

So, the thing with "What Is
and What Should Never Be"

is that it's got these
laid-back, gentler verses

and then it comes in with,

I won't call them
a power chorus,

but it's more intensity to it

so that you could
then illustrate

John Bonham's power
and the group's power as well,

the whole thing.

["What Is and What Should
Never Be" playing]

We had this tour coming up

and I think it's going to be
really a hoot

to be able to record
in various locations in America.

The idea was to be inspired by,

you know, the love of the people

and to get the reaction
of the audience.

["Moby Dick"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

[funky rock melody playing]

[Page] It was just a joy
to be able

to go into studios
in the States.

You've got the energy
of being on the road

and you're actually
documenting it

within whatever
you're recording.

[song continues]

[song fades]

- [cymbal crash]
- [plodding drumbeat]

John Bonham's kit
was going to be spread

right across the stereo picture.

So then you could have
the placement

of the instruments within
and the layering within.

[upbeat drum line playing]

He knew how to tune.

He had the science
of tuning the drum.

So that when he hit it,

it just resonated
out of the top.

It just projected.

And he played with his wrists.

It's not all this
forearm smashing.

But he could also do an accent
on the bass drum

and you'd feel it, you know,
more or less in your gut.

[Jones]
He was so inventive.

And inspiring to play with,
you know.

You'd hear the stuff and,
well, I don't wanna just go...

[imitates bass line]
over that.

I want to do something that'll
fit in really well with it.

That's what bass players do best
is to fit in.

So everybody could be heard.

That was the important thing
for me,

that everybody could be heard,

what they were doing,
on a separate record.

["Moby Dick" by Led Zeppelin
playing]

["The Lemon Song"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

[song continues]

♪ Yeah, baby

[Jones] We just recorded
what we liked.

Zeppelin always had completely
different influences.

We all listened
to different things.

I always said that Led Zeppelin
was the area in the middle.

In between us all.

[song continues]

♪ Baby, yeah... ♪

[Plant] It was very encouraging
to peel back

the vulnerabilities

of starting to create a writing
partnership with Jimmy,

where we were breaking down
the sensitivities

and the possible embarrassments.

Writing is
a very intimate thing.

You expose yourself.

[Page] I had written some lyrics
on the first album,

and also on the second album,

but I wasn't as confident
about my lyrics

as I was about
my guitar playing.

[Plant]
I had to start thinking about

what do I do as a singer

and as a guy
who's gonna bring melody

or even a story to something.

The idea was to inspire him
through the music

to be inspired lyrically.

And then he came with
these lyrics for "Ramble On."

Yeah, this is, um...

a rough shot of "Ramble On."

"Leaves are falling all around.

Time I was on my way."

That is the story of my life.

["Ramble On"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

♪ The leaves are falling
all around ♪

♪ Time I was on my way ♪

♪ Thanks to you ♪

♪ I'm much obliged
for such a pleasant stay ♪

♪ But now it's time
for me to go ♪

♪ The autumn moon
lights my way ♪

♪ For now I smell the rain
and with it pain ♪

♪ And it's headed my way ♪

♪ Ah, sometimes
I grow so tired ♪

♪ But I know I've got
one thing I got to do ♪

♪ Ramble on ♪

♪ And now's the time,
the time is now ♪

♪ To sing my song ♪

♪ I'm going round the world
I gotta find my girl ♪

♪ On my way ♪

♪ I've been this way
ten years to the day ♪

♪ Ramble on ♪

♪ Gotta find the queen
of all my dreams... ♪

I was really keen to have
a lot of texture and layering,

certainly on behalf
of the guitar,

with "Ramble On."

It has these various
guitar parts that go in it.

There's, like, guitar rolling

that is moving over
some of the verses.

Then there's the whole texture
of the solo.

[gentle, lilting guitar solo
playing]

It was just a joy to to be able
to do these tracks

and everyone do their part
and then come back

and go, "Wow.
What's he done with this?"

[Plant] There were so many
diverse places

that it was coming from.

That very fact that we were
able to be intimate in writing,

that's the big breakthrough,

because it's a total exposure.

As a kid, my parents took me
to every mystical mountain top

and every beautiful ruin and...

all that sort of great
resonance of another people.

Well...

that's what that song's
all about really.

Me, you, and the other people.

♪ How years ago
in days of old ♪

♪ When magic filled the air ♪

♪ 'Twas in the darkest depths
of Mordor ♪

♪ I met a girl so fair ♪

♪ But Gollum, the evil one

♪ Crept up
and slipped away with her ♪

♪ Her, her, yeah ♪

♪ Ain't nothing
I can do now ♪

♪ I guess I'll keep on

♪ Rambling ♪

♪ I'm gonna... ♪

Gig after gig,
night after night,

maybe we had 20 songs to choose
from at that point in time.

Soon we'd have 40.

We'd opened the door to America
and there was a glint of light

and, obviously, you're gonna
kick the door open

and go in and really...
and really...

It's a massive continent.

We really wanted
to get the word across

through performances.

We toured horrendously at first.

We toured for months on end
pretty much.

Three of these guys
had families already

at that point in time,

and this is our fifth tour
in seven months,

so they were away from
their children

for a long time.

It is difficult
when you've got a family.

I flew with my wife Mo
to all the good spots.

She'd come to New York.

She'd just take
the kids shopping.

Go to shows. It was great.

But then they'd go home
and leave us

to get on with
touring the rest of the country.

There weren't tour buses
or any niceties in those days.

It was just like getting
whatever transport you can,

get to the gig, play it,
then try have Richard Cole

find the next venue,
or even the city sometimes.

You could always tell,
when he was like,

you'd get to a junction
and see him going like this...

you'd go, "Oh no.
We're lost again." [chuckles]

[Bonham] It's so much easier
to tour around England.

If you're in America,
you're all day in a hotel

having arguments with bloody
turd heads and everything.

It does affect you, what's
happened previously in the day.

[Jones]
It was all commercial airlines

so you had to get up
early in the morning and go

and sit in some airport waiting
for a plane to somewhere.

But that's how everybody
got to hear us in America.

[dramatic harmonica sting]

["Bring It On Home"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

♪ Tell you, pretty baby

♪ You love
to mess me round... ♪

[Bonham] We came back
from America

and everybody wanted
to book the group.

It was a change of tune.

[Jones]
There was no publicity

and, strangely,
you'd get to a British show,

"How did these people
know we were coming?"

We figured out
it was just word of mouth.

♪ I'm going
to give you loving, baby ♪

♪ I'm going to give you more ♪

♪ Bring it on home

♪ Bring it on home

♪ All right

[song ends]

["Thank You" by Led Zeppelin
playing]

[Plant] I just liked the idea
of the stimulus

of travel and attention.

What do you know
if you don't seek?

You've got to go
and have a look for it.

♪ And so today
my world, it smiles ♪

♪ Your hand in mine,
we walk the miles ♪

♪ Thanks to you,
it will be done ♪

♪ For you to me
are the only one... ♪

[Plant] We were playing
festivals in America

two years after
the Summer of Love.

I know that really has
no real significance,

but to me
it had every significance

'cause I was in a place
that I really wanted to be,

emotionally.

["Living Loving Maid
(She's Just a Woman)" playing]

♪ Alimony, alimony
paying your bills ♪

♪ Living, loving,
she's just a woman ♪

♪ When your conscience hits,
you knock it back with pills ♪

♪ Living, loving
she's just a woman ♪

♪ Come on, babe
on the roundabout ♪

♪ Ride on the merry-go-round ♪

♪ We all know
what your name is ♪

♪ So you better
lay your money down... ♪

[Jones] I can remember John
doing a sound check

at Newport Jazz Festival

and I could just see
all of James Brown's drummers

coming out of different doors

going, "What the...
What is going on here?"

He's going...
[imitates drumming]

He's going, "Oh, yeah. I know.
I know who's watching me."

[chuckles]
But it was great.

It's what made
Zeppelin unique in that way.

It's just the way
he approached rhythm

and what he did.

[frantic, pounding drum solo
playing]

["Heartbreaker" by Led Zeppelin
playing]

[intense rock guitar solo
playing]

[song ends]

[Plant]
We recorded all the songs

for Led Zeppelin II
on that tour.

It was like a kind of hurricane.

A whirlwind of energy
and release.

We hadn't really had a chance,
obviously,

with the amount of time that
we were spending in America,

to concentrate that much
at home.

So we came back
and actually played

our first British festival.

[host] Would you welcome,
please, Led Zeppelin.

And, of course,
you still wonder, is this...

gonna have any resonance?

Is this gonna bring it on home?

["I Can't Quit You, Baby"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

Wow.

[blues rock guitar solo playing]

[Plant vocalizes on video]

[song ends
with dramatic flourish]

[cheering and applause]

[Page] I've seen a photograph
of the first Bath Festival

but to see moving images of it,

well, that's absolutely amazing.

That was probably
the first festival

that we'd done in Britain.

And it didn't rain,
so it was really good,

and it was fun.

[Plant] But how long do you want
off between a tour and a tour

and a tour? Not long, really.

I mean, we had no idea
of fatigue.

There's just energy and power.

♪ Ah

♪ I

♪ I can't quit you

♪ Babe ♪

["I Can't Quit You, Baby"
continues]

♪ I think I gotta
put you down... ♪

[reporter]
32 minutes past the hour,

liftoff on Apollo 11.

♪ I said
I can't quit you, babe ♪

♪ I think I got
to put you down for a while ♪

♪ You know I love you but you
messed up my happy home ♪

♪ Made me mistreat
my only child ♪

♪ Yes, you did

[song fades]

[Neil Armstrong]
That's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind.

["I Can't Quit You, Baby"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

♪ Oh... ♪

[blues rock music playing]

I can just remember
we were in a tent

and somebody landed on the moon.

[Plant chuckles]

I mean, can you imagine
just being in America...

as a kid, more or less,
and just looking up...

You got this thing going on
with the music

and you look up
and there's a man on the moon.

[song continues]

♪ Nineteen years old

♪ She's got ways
just like a baby child ♪

♪ Oh, yeah

♪ There's nothing I can do
to please that woman ♪

♪ To keep, to keep
that little girl ♪

♪ Satisfied, yeah...

[Plant] You know,
it's a big old world out there,

and I'm sure that 99% of people
are far more interested

in the fact that these guys
got back safely from the moon.

But the day they got back,
that was a big day for us too.

♪ Oh ♪

- [song fades out]
- [crowd cheering]

That is the biggest deal

if you're a kid
and you want to be a singer.

You get a gold record.

I mean... [blows raspberry]
What happens next?

Doesn't matter, does it?

[Page] I just really wanted
to make sure that

this album was really gonna
get everybody excited.

I wanted it to be something
that they hadn't heard before.

The acoustic and the electrics
and the more radical

and even avant-garde.

So, when it came
to doing the mix

for Led Zeppelin II,

I'd mixed it with Eddie Kramer
at A&R Studios in New York.

I think he did an amazing job.

And, as was the case
with these mixing things,

there was often more
than two hands on the desk.

I really wanted to do something
with "Whole Lotta Love"

to stop it being a single.

So it was gonna have
a radical avant-garde section

in the middle that began with
a sonic wave.

[wave pulses]

Then when I put
the overdubs on it

for what was gonna go
in the middle,

I de-tuned the guitar
all the way down

and I was just pulling
the strings across and across.

[prolonged notes and feedback]

Then there was lots of panning.

That means moving things
from left to right.

[distorted notes bouncing]

[gentle, pulsing drumbeat
playing]

[Plant vocalizes]

[distortion buzzes]

[heavier, faster drumbeat
kicks in]

[music fades out]

[Page]
And so that was it.

Led Zeppelin II was completed...

and ready to be delivered.

["Whole Lotta Love"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

♪ You need coolin'

♪ Baby, I'm not foolin' ♪

♪ I'm gonna send ya ♪

♪ Back to schoolin' ♪

♪ A-way down inside ♪

♪ A-honey, you need it ♪

♪ I'm gonna give you my love ♪

♪ I'm gonna give you my love ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Wanna whole lotta love ♪

♪ Wanna whole lotta love ♪

♪ Wanna whole lotta love ♪

♪ Wanna whole lotta love ♪

♪ You've been learnin' ♪

♪ Baby, I've been learnin' ♪

♪ All them good times
baby, baby ♪

♪ I've been yearnin' ♪

♪ A-way, way down inside ♪

♪ A-honey, you need-ah ♪

♪ I'm gonna give you
my love, ah ♪

♪ I'm gonna give you
my love, ah ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Whole lotta love ♪

♪ Wanna whole lotta love ♪

♪ Wanna whole lotta love ♪

♪ Wanna whole lotta love ♪

- [extended guitar slide]
- [Plant speaks indistinctly]

[repetitive, staccato
percussion rhythm playing]

[up-tempo bongo rhythm joins]

[disjointed, random cymbal hits
resonating]

[guitar distortion warbling]

[Plant vocalizing]

[Plant moaning sensually
in rhythm]

[guitar distortion continues]

[Plant vocalizing in rhythm
with music]

[Plant's vocalizations echo over
intense warbling distortion]

♪ No, no, no

[jarring, scratching guitar
chords resonating]

[musical elements overlap,
intensify]

♪ Love

[distortion warbling]

♪ Love

[short, dramatic
drum solo playing]

[driving blues rock melody
kicks back in]

♪ You've been coolin'

♪ Baby, I've been droolin' ♪

♪ All the good times, baby
I've been misusin' ♪

♪ A-way, way down inside ♪

♪ I'm gonna give you my love ♪

♪ I'm gonna give you
every inch of my love ♪

♪ I'm gonna give you my love ♪

♪ Hey ♪

♪ All right, let's go ♪

♪ Wanna whole lotta love ♪

♪ Wanna whole lotta love ♪

♪ Wanna whole lotta love ♪

♪ Wanna whole lotta love ♪

[song slows]

[distant, echoing]
♪ Way down... ♪

[at full volume]
♪ Way down inside ♪

[distant, echoing]
♪ Inside, woman... ♪

[at full volume]
♪ Woman ♪

♪ You need, yeah ♪

[dramatic two-beat chord
and drum hits playing]

♪ Love ♪

[driving blues rock rhythm
kicks back in]

♪ My, my, my, my

♪ My, my, my, my ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Shake for me, girl

♪ I wanna be
your backdoor man ♪

♪ Hey, oh

♪ Hey, oh ♪

♪ Hey, oh

♪ Ooh

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Cool, my, my baby ♪

♪ A-keep it coolin', baby

♪ A-keep it coolin', baby

♪ A-keep it coolin', baby

♪ A-keep it coolin', baby

[Plant wailing sensually]

[song fades out]

[cheering and applause]

[Page]
January the 9th, in 1970,

we played the Royal Albert Hall
in London,

and if we're thinking back
a year,

January the 9th, 1969,

is when we were playing
in San Francisco.

So this is
a whole year's progress.

[Plant]
It was far out.

I mean, I was just having
a great time.

[chuckles]

No chartered accountant here.

This is like a London concert,
so, of course,

this is where the families come.

Yeah, it's like a gathering
of the clans.

Just to go in there
and tread those boards

was just something else,
you know? Fabulous.

And it was our own show,

so we just went out there
and did it.

[crowd cheering loudly]

[audience chanting]
Led Zep! Led Zep!

Led Zep! Led Zep!

Led Zep! Led Zep!

Led Zep!

[cheering continues]

[instruments tuning]

♪ And if I say to you
tomorrow ♪

["What Is and What
Should Never Be" playing]

♪ Take my hand, child,
come with me ♪

♪ It's to a castle
I will take you ♪

♪ Where what's to be
they say will be ♪

♪ Catch the wind, see us spin
Sail away leave today ♪

♪ Way up high in the sky ♪

♪ But the wind won't blow,
you really shouldn't go ♪

♪ It only goes to show ♪

♪ That you will be mine

♪ By takin' our time

[mellow musical interlude]

♪ And if you say to me
tomorrow ♪

♪ Oh, what fun
it all would be ♪

♪ Then what's to stop us,
pretty baby ♪

♪ But what is
and what should never be ♪

♪ Catch the wind, see us spin,
sail away, leave today ♪

♪ Way up high in the sky ♪

♪ But the wind won't blow,
you really shouldn't go ♪

♪ Only goes to show ♪

♪ That you will be mine

♪ By takin' our time

♪ Everybody needs it, yeah

[music slows]

[mellow, bluesy guitar melody
playing]

[music intensifies
into driving rock rhythm]

♪ So if you wake up
with the sunrise ♪

♪ And all your dreams
are still as new ♪

♪ And happiness
is what you need so bad ♪

♪ Girl, the answer
lies with you, you, you ♪

♪ Catch the wind, see us spin,
sail away, leave today ♪

♪ Way up high in the sky ♪

♪ But the wind won't blow,
you really shouldn't go ♪

♪ Only goes to show

♪ That you will be mine

♪ By takin' our time

♪ Everybody needs it so bad

[rock guitar solo playing]

♪ Well, the wind won't blow
and we really shouldn't go ♪

♪ And it only goes to
show-ow-ow ♪

♪ Catch the wind
we're gonna see it spin ♪

♪ We're gonna shake it, girl ♪

♪ Bop-a-do, bop-bop-a-do-oh

♪ Everybody I know
seems to know me well ♪

♪ But they really didn't know
that I move like hell ♪

♪ Baby, baby, baby

♪ Oh, I love you

♪ Oh, yeah

[song ends
with echoing drum hit]

[cheering and applause]

[cheering and applause]

Thank you very much.

[cheering]

[audience chanting]
Led Zep! Led Zep!

Led Zep! Led Zep!

Led Zep! Led Zep!

Led Zep!

My dad came to see that show.

He was really proud,
which was great.

Said, got great passion
and fire and all that.

It was really nice.

[Bonham] John Paul and me,
we get on really good.

I mean, we all do, you know.

Each member of the group,
they're quite different,

but you find that
they're quite lads, actually.

They're their little category
on their own, really.

Um, it was at least
the middle of '69

before I got to really know
each of them.

It's a gradual thing, isn't it?

I could talk
about Robert forever

because I know him
so well really

that it's ridiculous.

And Jimmy's pretty shy,
actually.

But knowing him like I know,
he's really great.

You can like each one of them
for what they're doing.

But I always love
playing in the group so...

I don't need to do
anything else.

[Plant] We got there
in the first place,

on the first day,

playing "Train Kept A Rollin',"

'cause we were drawn
to that moment

and it worked.

But all the preamble to that
was just out there,

throwing it up in the air.

So why should it ever stop?

If you have something
that you know is different

in yourself,

then you have
to put work into it.

You have to work
and work and work.

You also have to believe in it.

But as long as you can stay
really true,

your aim is true,

you can realize your dreams.
I do believe that.

I believe that that can be done,
'cause this is what happens.

["C'mon Everybody"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

♪ Well, c'mon everybody and
let's get together tonight ♪

♪ I got some money
in my jeans ♪

♪ And I'm really gonna
spend it right ♪

♪ Well, I been doin'
my homework all week long ♪

♪ And now the house is empty
and my folks have gone ♪

♪ Ah, who cares?
C'mon everybody ♪

♪ Well, my baby's number one

♪ But I'm gonna dance
with three or four ♪

♪ And the house'll be
a-shakin' ♪

♪ From the bare feet
a-slappin' on the floor ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ When you hear the music
you just can't sit still ♪

♪ If your brother won't rock
your sister will ♪

♪ Ah, my-my-my,
c'mon everybody ♪

♪ Oh, yeah

♪ I really need you

♪ Yeah

♪ Well, we're gonna
have a party ♪

♪ But we better put
a guard outside ♪

♪ If the folks come home

♪ I'm afraid they're gonna
have my hide ♪

♪ Well, there'll be no more
movies for a week or two ♪

♪ No more runnin' round
with the usual crew ♪

♪ I wanna know who cares!
C'mon ♪

♪ Oh, don't you, please

♪ Ah, c'mon everybody ♪

♪ Whoa, whoa ♪

♪ My, my, my, my

♪ Whoa, whoa

♪ Ah

[song fades out]

["Somethin' Else"
by Led Zeppelin playing]

♪ Hey, look a-here

♪ What's all this ♪

♪ I never thought
I'd see this before ♪

♪ But here she is
a-knocking at my door ♪

♪ The car's out front ♪

♪ And it's all mine ♪

♪ Just a '41 Ford, not a '69 ♪

♪ Now you're stopping me
from thinking to myself ♪

♪ The car's fine-looking, man ♪

♪ Somethin' else ♪

♪ Hey, look-a here

♪ What's all that ♪

♪ There's a girl,
she's all mine ♪

♪ We're gonna go
all night long ♪

♪ See my baby
Don't you understand ♪

♪ Every time I kiss her
I'm in the promised land ♪

♪ If that ain't somethin',
I'm thinking to myself ♪

♪ If I get another woman, man
well, that's somethin' else ♪

♪ Oh, yeah

[blues rock guitar solo playing]

♪ Hey, look-a here

♪ Here she comes

♪ Here's a girl
I really wanna know ♪

♪ She's my baby
and I love her so ♪

♪ My new [indistinct]
that's out of my class ♪

♪ She's got some money
I've got some gas ♪

♪ That ain't stallin' if
I'm workin' it all out, man ♪

♪ She's fine-looking, man

♪ She's somethin' else ♪

♪ Whoa, she's somethin' else

♪ She's somethin' else

- [song ends]
- [audience cheering]

[Plant] Thank you.

[cheering continues, fades]