All language subtitles for A to Zeppelin The Led Zeppelin Story.English

♪

( narrator )
They were the quintessential
hard rock band,

igniting the collision of
wild hedonism

and heavy metal thunder.

And now, more than 35 years
since their formation,

the legacy of Led Zeppelin
still resounds, loudly.

( man )
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 Korner
and the embryo Yardbirds.

But it appears to me that
the bands in the south,

like ourselves
and the Rolling Stones,

were influenced by American
black blues artists.

♪ I hear the blue
all in the air ♪

( Chris )
And that's what tended to turn
on the bands in the south,

like the Yardbirds.

In our very own stages
as a band,

we tried to emulate that sound,
probably badly.

♪ I wanna be your dog

( man )
We started getting imports of
Josh White,

Leadbelly particularly, on--

You know, people like that on
the countryside.

♪ Oh Lord I can pick
a piece of cotton ♪

♪ Oh Lord I can pick a piece
a day ♪

( Roy )
And people like Muddy Waters
and Howlin' Wolf

on the other side.

♪ Got my mojo working

♪ But it just
don't work on you ♪

( Roy )
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 on

♪ Milk cream and alcohol,
alcohol ♪

It was pretty austere in England
for quite a long time.

We'd just come out of
the 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 of the time,

prior to that explosion in
the '60s, was pretty narrow,

it was pretty kitsch.

The British government started
the great art school experiment,

and what happened is people like
myself and Clapton

and Pete Townshend and a lot of
people found ourselves

in this wonderfully liberated,

ridiculously liberated
environment.

We then heard some
black American music.

I worked at this
record store.

There was another guy
across town in this little town

called Woking in Surrey.

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 Page, and...

Doug Houston.
Both from Heston ?

And you're just learning to play
the guitar ?

Yes.
From a teacher.

Can you play anything
except skiffle ?

Yes, Spanish...
Do you ? Well.

( Jimmy )
I mean, you really had
to stick by the radio

and listen to overseas radio
to even hear a good rock record.

The record that made me want to
play guitar was

"Baby Let's Play House,"
Presley.

♪ Come back baby

♪ I wanna play house
with you ♪

Hit it !

I had that record.

I just wanted
to be part of it.

I knew something was going on.

I had an acoustic guitar
and a slap bass

and an electric guitar,

those three instruments,
and my voice.

And it seemed to generate
so much energy.

( Roy )
We were all teenagers together,

more or less; Page, Plant,
Lennon, McCartney, you name 'em.

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 automatically, being
based in the same language,

took America by storm,

so we were exporting what was
already American,

re-exporting it to America.

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 Page
and Eric Clapton--

was just-- was just something
out of this world,

and obviously, the influences
were American blues.

( Jimmy )
One's concentrating more on
blues playing.

I used to go and just
jam on a Thursday night

and somebody came up to me
and said,

would you like to
play on a record ?

I said, yes, why not ?

From that point, I suddenly
started getting

all this studio
work coming in.

We knew Jimmy Page,
but he, at the time,

was very ensconced doing London
session work.

♪

Jimmy was like John Paul Jones,
he came from that old school

even though he was very,
very young at the time.

He was a session guy.

He played on "Little Help From
My Friends," Joe Cocker,

he was the guitarist on that.

I mean, he was a seasoned
session musician

in his early 20s.

( narrator )
There was only one other
session guitarist

who was working as
steadily as Jimmy Page--

Big Jim Sullivan.

I was a better country player
than Jimmy.

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 whenever
there was a rock session,

he would do it.

If you're on your way up

and session work is a part of
your experience,

you know, you get
to see producers,

you get to see the bullshit
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
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-'60s onwards--

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 or the other of us had done
a fantastic solo

and been really tight
and super.

And you get this voice
from the box going,

***Yeah, lads, that was
kind of all right.

***Can we try another one ?

Take 39.***

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 know ?

It was fun in the beginning
of it,

when it was like, oh, do what
you want to do, what you want.

But then it--

80%, 90% of the time,
I didn't know

what session
I was going in on,

and one day I did a Muzak
session and it was horrific.

It was just reading music
all the way through.

They don't stop.

It's just like you hear in these
horrific lift things, you know.

You just keep turning the music
and playing on it.

That's it,
I'm finished, I'm out.

And that was at the time when I
was hanging around with Jeff,

going to Yardbirds gigs,

and the bass player decided to
leave the band,

and I joined on bass just to
help 'em out in a couple of gigs

and then it was on to guitar.

Direct from England to
Hullabaloo,

the wild beat
of the Yardbirds !

( narrator )
The Yardbirds were heralded
as one of England's

most authentic and pioneering
blues bands in the '60s.

Feeling creatively stifled
as a session player,

Jimmy Page decided to take
advantage

of a once-in-
a-lifetime opportunity.

( Chris )
Paul Samwell-Smith decided to
come off the road

and concentrate on producing.

Jimmy, amazingly enough,
joined us on bass for a while.

Anyone that can play
as well as Jimmy

can play bass pretty well,
you know.

He was so keen to get
in the band.

You know,
he really wanted to join.

He was like a little boy,
you know.

Yeah, I'll
play bass, 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, well, Jeff Beck won't
be doing this gig,

but the bass player's gonna
play lead guitar.

And everyone's--
Oh, no, you know ?

Of course, the bass player
was Jimmy Page,

so I think they were
quite satisfied.

They were touring here.

I think, again,
there was a lot of hope

for what was gonna happen
and I think Beck kind of flaked,

ran off to be with his
girlfriend

in the middle of the tour
and I think the band lost steam.

I freaked out, went mad.

Had a breakdown and I think
I walked out, left the band.

So the Yardbirds continued
without me.

I disappeared,
Jim carried on.

( narrator )
Now taking over the lead
guitarist slot,

Jimmy Page impressed
his fellow bandmates

with his six-string
virtuosity.

He brought his beautiful skill
with chording and riffing

and a much harder edge
and he was very disciplined.

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 precursor
Led Zeppelin mood

with Jimmy Page.

( narrator )
Jimmy's tenure
with the Yardbirds

turned out to be
short-lived,

but something bigger was waiting
right around the corner.

( Jimmy )
You know, I sort of worked
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.

( Dave )
As much as Jimmy
wanted to keep it going,

they finally decided there are
other things that they could do

and I think there were different
musical things going on

with everybody.

He knew and we knew,
we all knew

that this was
the Yardbirds' last tour.

And he also knew that he was
gonna get the name.

And you knew from the
musicianship that he had

that anyone who was gonna be in
the band with him

had to be up to that caliber,
which was gonna be very high.

John Paul Jones, of course,

knew Jimmy from
the old session days

and he said, listen--

He said, I heard you're forming
a band,

he said, I wouldn't mind
going on the road.

You know,
what's it gonna be ?

And that's how they all got
together.

( John )
I was moping around
the house one day.

My missus said to me, would you
stop moping around the house ?

Why don't you join a band
or something.

She said, Jimmy Page
is forming a group,

he just left the Yardbirds.

Why don't you
give him a ring ?

( man )
My brother calls me,
he says this.

Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones
have gotten together.

I went, fucking hell.

Those two ?

♪

( Roy )
John Paul's like an expert.

John Paul's the music buff.

So they had the music buff
in the background...

who is a good keyboard player,
good bass player,

you know, brilliant musician.

The two singers, actually, had
an underground sort of name

at that time in '68 with
Joe Cocker and Terry Reid.

He asked me to be a singer
in this new band

he was putting together,
which, I was very impressed.

I said, I'd love to do it,
can you hold that thought ?

If you're not in now,
you're out.

Terry Reid couldn't do it.

I said, I know this great singer
who lives in Wolverhampton

or wherever,
called Robert Plant.

So Jimmy and Peter went up to
see Robert Plant

perform somewhere.

( narrator )
Jimmy was so impressed with
Robert Plant's singing

that he invited the fledgling
vocalist to his boathouse

on the Thames

where the two discovered
they shared

the same love of the blues.

Robert was now in and the pieces
were falling into place.

( woman )
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.

( narrator )
Robert Plant immediately went
to work convincing his friend,

drummer John Bonham,
to join the new band.

Bonzo didn't want to join the
band 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 Bonham accepted Page's
offer and decided to join.

( John )
The first time we all met was
in this little room

in Gerhardt Street

to see if we could even stand
each other, you know.

So I said, well,
you know, we're all here,

what are we gonna play ?

And Jimmy said, well, do you
know a number called

"The Train" ?

"Train Kept Running" ?

No.

Well, it's just easy.

Just-- You know,
sort of on an even,

just the G to the...

He started off.

All right, that's good,
count it in.

And so anyway...

The room exploded.

Oh.

And then we just looked at
each other and said, you know,

we're on, this is it.

This is gonna work.

( Marky )
The chemistry amongst
the four of them,

their look, the sound,
their knowledge of music,

Bonham's steady
anchor on the drums,

Page's riffs;
they knew 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 Zep--

to Led Zeppelin.

You know, he was a real
blues man.

Great harp player, great
frontman, looked the part,

but he was a real blueser.

Bonzo was just this unreal
drummer,

so they were a great package.

Started under the name of
the New Yardbirds,

'cause nobody else would have
booked us under anything else,

you know.

Who the hell are they ?

Well, we know Jimmy Page
and we know the Yardbirds.

You're gonna have to be the New
Yardbirds.

We rehearsed an act,
an album and a tour

in about three weeks
and it took off.

He had gigs that were contracted
under the name The Yardbirds,

so Zeppelin did their first
six, eight gigs

under that New Yardbirds name.

One day,
I had a call from Jimmy

and he actually came up 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.

And I said, well,
what's it called ?

He said,
it's "Led Zeppelin."

And I wrote it in my notepad,
and I misspelled it.

I wrote L-E-A-D.

He said, no, no, L-E-D.

So I had the scoop on this
amazing new band.

They chose the name
"Led Zeppelin" through The Who,

actually, because there was
a story that

Keith Moon and John Entwistle

had planned to split
from The Who

and they wanted to form
a supergroup.

I think Jimmy Page was involved
in that, actually.

( Richard )
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 Zeppelin"

was actually John Entwistle,
it wasn't Keith Moon.

And how it came about is,

there was an old saying in
England that

you know, ***it will go down
like a lead zeppelin,***

which means it'll bomb.

( narrator )
After fulfilling all of
the previously booked dates

as The New Yardbirds,

the band made its official
debut as Led Zeppelin

at Surrey University in England

on October 25, 1968.

Really, the basis
of their sound

was the Yardbirds sound

and I remember Jimmy playing
with their first album.

And of course, "Dazed
and Confused" was on there,

we used to play that,

and they did their own version,
which wasn't far away.

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.

( Robert )
It was like--
Just really like a jam.

Things like "How Many More
Times" and "Dazed and Confused"

were really just extensions of

how well we actually fitted
together, you know.

The qualities of "Led Zeppelin
I" can never be touched,

never be matched,
never be equaled.

( man )
The first time I heard
Led Zeppelin,

I put on this-- The record
and I listened to it.

I said, wow.

I really didn't know
who those guys were.

I knew who Jimmy Page was,
I didn't know who they were.

The sound of the record was
really impressive.

Still, to this day,
you put it on,

it puts most
other stuff to shame.

The first song I heard of theirs
was "Good Times, Bad Times,"

and I was immediately
struck by this drumming.

I'd never heard this
drumming before.

( man )
"Communication Breakdown,"
you know,

the first time you hear it,
it was like, "Oh, my God,"

and you try 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 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,
I think about it now.

And I was just blown away.

The tour was paid for,
underwritten by Jimmy Page,

Peter Grant
and John Paul Jones.

The other two, Bonham 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,

I was standing there with
Jonesy

and I just said
to him, Jesus Christ,

where'd 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--

This is going back a few years,

when I first went to see
the Beatles,

'cause we mentioned
them a few times,

it was to look at them,
you know.

It wasn't--

You didn't really bother,
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'd do things that you'd think,
how-- how is he--

How's he gonna do this ?
He was the best.

( Carmine )
Being the drummer, first my
attention went to John Bonham

and his foot thing that he did
in "Good Times, Bad Times,"

which was, at the time,
totally unique,

had I thought that.

Upon meeting him, he said to me,
that I got that from you.

I said, I don't do that.

And he pointed out
on the Vanilla Fudge album

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'd ever heard before

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,

you know, those clubs
and everything.

( woman )
They played the Whisky.

It was an amazing show.

It was, like, ridiculous.

Can you imagine that band in
that small club ?

It holds like 300 people.

It was chaos.

They went wild, hands up,
jumping up and down.

Just a great show,
great music.

( man )
They played a place
called The Boston Tea Party.

The Boston Tea Party was
Boston's version

of The Fillmore.

So maybe 200 people, 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 band.

When they started breaking, I
mean, they couldn't believe it.

They started out as really, just
four musicians who, you know,

got together,

and then when they started
breaking, I mean, it was just,

you know, amazing.

By the time they finished
and ended up in New York,

they'd taken the whole country
by storm.

I mean, there wasn't a band that
wanted to play before them.

I mean, they set the precedent

for what they did
a few years later,

which was not to play
with anyone

and just do the two
to two-and-a-half

to three-hour set.

( narrator )
Energized by the overwhelming
success of their inaugural tour

of the States,

Led Zeppelin returned
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 drum set,

which was exactly like mine.

It was a 226 bass drum with
a big tom in the middle,

two floors and a big snare drum
with a gong.

It's a lot of drummers 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 Fillmore's
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.

( narrator )
While on tour, whatever downtime
the group could find

was spent working
on their second album

in recording studios.

( Richard )
Atlantic Records
would do it for us.

Book a studio, the band would
go in, do a bit more,

come out with the tapes,
go into another city,

play another show, go in later
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 dollars

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.

( narrator )
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 & 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 another figure in my mind

of mass acceptance,
which is what we all work for.

( narrator )
When "Led Zeppelin II" was
finally finished,

the album was
released stateside

on October 22, 1969,

and was an instant hit with
timeless classics like

"Whole Lotta Love"
and "Heartbreaker."

It didn't take long for
"Led Zeppelin II"

to knock the Beatles' "Abbey
Road" off the top of the charts.

At five minutes, 33 seconds,
the album's centerpiece,

"Whole Lotta Love,"

was deemed too long for
a.m. radio airplay,

so Atlantic released an edited
version as a single.

The band wasn't happy.

( Richard )
They didn't like releasing
singles,

but I think it may have been
because 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.

But in the past, through
Atlantic Records,

they've worded it into saying,

oh, let's have a single,
let's have a single, you know.

'Cause the top 40 stations over
there and lots of young kids

who probably wouldn't
get into the album

unless they heard a track on
the top 40 stations, you know ?

I personally don't agree
with it.

( Marky )
"Whole Lotta Love,"
that was their single.

Especially in the middle with
the bongos and--

***Ah, ah, ah, ah.***

Then Bonham's big roll.

You know--

And then Page with the lead.

And then come out of it
perfectly.

What a song.

( narrator )
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.

( Pamela )
Well, he wore velvets, though,

and satins and silks
and embroidered things

and beaded things
and you know--

Feminine things, lot of chiffon,
patent leather shoes,

things like that,
you know.

These guys were androgynous.

It feels safe, in a way.

You know, you feel like you're
almost connecting with another

part of yourself.

That was a very interesting draw
for young women, too.

I think Jimmy Page really
invented that image

of the almighty
rock guitar player.

( narrator )
The cloud of mystique that
shadowed the band

grew with the news
of Jimmy Page's interest

in Aleister Crowley,

an early 20th-century
Englishman aligned with

black magic and demonology.

Page's fascination with Crowley
led many to believe

he was into
black magic himself.

( Lori )
I think he was absolutely
fascinated with the man

and the knowledge
of the Will.

I don't think--

I mean, you know,
he owned a lot of manuscripts

and he bought the Inverness
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 occult 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 to the devil--

That's just bullshit.

None of that took place,
none of it.

( Richard )
I mean, the whole myth about
selling their soul to the devil,

oh, we want you to cut your hand
in blood,

we want you to make a pact,
you're going--

oh, fuck off with your
fucking devil and your shit.

Get out of here, you know,
I mean, that--

I mean, he just wasn't--

What the hell are you
talking about ?

I mean, it just wasn't
happening.

( narrator )
Despite the truckloads of money
that were now pouring in,

whenever Led Zeppelin
was in Los Angeles,

they chose to stay at the
relatively luxury-free

Continental Hyatt House
on the Sunset Strip.

We, of course,
could have stayed anywhere

with the money that we had,

but we just preferred
that hotel.

( Jim )
They always used to rent the
whole top of the Hyatt 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 their 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.

Followed by-- followed by John
Paul Jones and John Bonham.

When our old crew was in town,
the ***choko*** crew,

we obviously had all--

What rooms we wanted on
the Sunset side.

The rear side, we gave to
the road crew.

We went into
the road crew's rooms,

took their televisions out,

threw 'em out of the windows on
the other side

so that when the people came
running upstairs,

they'd look and see the
television still there.

They didn't comprehend that we'd
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,

'cause it was a party house.

The manager's 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 says, you know,

this and that and you know, you
had these rooms

and you threw that out
the window, and that--

And I said, you know, we fucking
know what we've done,

just give us the bill,
how much do you want ?

Fine, got out the money.

They guy looked--

And we said, at least
we fucking paid you,

what's wrong with you ?

He said
it's not that easy.

Don't you know what--

I can't imagine what it must be
like for you guys.

I work in this fucking 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, go and smash it up,

we're leaving in 15 minutes,
bring me the bill.

( Lori )
It was rock & 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 and the champagne and the--

It was fun.

( man )
Yeah, I think they
sort of pretty much set

the industry standard there,
raised the bar.

In fact, 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 a kind of
spectacle

and it was just a bombardment
of light and sound.

And now there was a completely
new dimension to this group,

this appalling behavior
in excess

and in a way, it kind of
provided this incredibly rich

soap opera.

( narrator )
The band returned home exhausted
from months on the road.

Robert and Jimmy took to
a secluded spot in Wales

called Bron-Yr-Aur.

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,

"Led Zeppelin III."

Later, the band and crew
convened at Headley Grange,

a house in the English
countryside.

( Andy )
It was this old farming
sort of mansion.

There were four floors.

So it was like walking into,
almost the lobby of a hotel.

( Simon )
It was built in the 18th century
and it had about ten bedrooms.

Very spooky, especially early in
the morning with the mist

and this black dog that
had died the week before.

That's where Zeppelin got that
track from--

there was a dog that died
in one of the rooms--

and big Baronial type banquet
hall and huge fireplaces,

huge basement, which ran the
length and breadth of the house.

( Richard )
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--

Well, there wasn't a producer,
Jimmy was the producer--

An engineer, coming from
different parts

to be at the 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 2:00 in
the morning and record, you can.

So you're not constricted by any
time parameters

and it's a very leisurely
approach to recording.

( Marky )
Things were getting lighter
on the radio.

You had Carly Simon,
James Taylor.

The people were wearing
earth tone colors,

so they started
getting a little lighter, too.

( Simon )
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.

( narrator )
Work was progressing nicely,

with songs written and recorded
all in the same location.

"Led Zeppelin III" was released
at the end of October 1970,

and as with their
two previous albums,

the critics panned 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 & Nash.

( Richard )
I think they were
hurt by the thing.

I mean, they're selling more
records than anyone else,

they were selling 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.

( Lori )
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 ?

( narrator )
Led Zeppelin recognized what
really mattered most,

their fans.

Though it didn't sell as well as
"Led Zeppelin II,"

their phenomenal success was
showing no signs of abating,

with the third album
topping the charts

for four consecutive weeks.

Before long, Page and Plant
found themselves back in Wales

at Bron-Yr-Aur

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 Page
and John Paul Jones,

a lot of knowledge.

Percy Plant obviously
had this gift, and Bonzo,

well, it's an actual fact
at the time,

no one had played thus.

So you put those four fellas
together and you never knew

quite what was gonna happen, you
knew it was gonna 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.

( narrator )
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.

You know, A-minor and there's
a lovely chord sequence

and there's a little mellotron
in the back and a flute

and they--

You know, until Bonzo comes in,
it's--

It could be Peter, Paul
& Mary on steroids.

( Jimmy )
Well, it was recorded on
location, at Headley.

Andy Jones was doing
the engineering.

And a lot of people,
with a song like that,

would take
two or three days.

It took them two hours.

And then it was done.

And you knew, because you had
worked with them before,

this is a basis for something
really quite special.

And if you think about it,
"Stairway to Heaven,"

number of 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 record it to the beginning
and the end

and that's it, pal.

( Jimmy )
I knew it was good, but I didn't
know it was going to be,

you know,
almost like an anthem,

but I knew it was the gem of
the album, sure.

( J.J. )
Peter called and said,
J.J, I want you to--

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.

And they put it on
and I went--

I just said to him, ***G,***

this is the best thing they've
ever done.

This is just gonna be
incredible.

( narrator )
"Led Zeppelin IV" was released
in November 1971

and quickly rose to
number two on the charts.

"Stairway to Heaven" was the
album's highlight,

but at seven minutes
and 55 seconds,

it was much
too long for the radio.

Atlantic pressed for a shorter
version.

( Richard )
"Stairway" was gonna be
a monstrous record.

I mean, I think it may be quite
clear to Atlantic,

don't fuck
around with us this time.

This is not gonna 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 Led Zeppelin when
Peter Grant

turned it from a single
selling commodity to albums

and that did bring a change,

that they could play
for three hours

and they could
also sell albums.

( narrator )
Led 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 Led Zeppelin,

take it or leave it.

( man )
With Peter 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
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
on the ladder,

that he felt was good for
the band and/or for him.

You know,
he was with you 100%.

( Chris )
We owe so much to that man.

He changed the balance for
musicians to promoters

to the record companies,
et cetera.

I mean, one man.

I mean, so that is creative,
his vision was amazing.

His dedication was with
Led Zeppelin

and between them,
they had a very powerful tool.

( J.J. )
Don't cross him, though.

No, don't cross him.

( Lori )
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.

( narrator )
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 Whisky
and the Rainbow Bar & Grill.

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.

( Lori )
I first heard Led 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 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 Led Zeppelin came to
town and had seen

all these photos

and Jimmy had made a call to
Lee Childer

saying I want to
meet Lori Maddix.

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.

You know, I mean,
come on, I was a--

This is Led Zeppelin.

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 hooked up,

we got together,

I was at the Whisky with him
and he left with this girl.

( Lori )
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.

He's a--

When you do meet him and when
you do get to know him,

you just immediately
fall in love with him

'cause 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 playing in front of 30,000
people at the forum

and there I am, standing there,
and you know, he's playing.

It was the most
beautiful thing ever.

( narrator )
The beginning of 1973 saw the
long-awaited release of

Zeppelin's fifth album,
"Houses of the Holy."

This would mark the first
Led Zeppelin album

to have an actual title.

Ever since the Beatles' breakup
in April of 1970,

Led 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 Four
came calling to see what

the fuss was all about.

George had come to the show
'cause he called me up

and he said,
when do I arrive ?

And I said, what do you mean
when do you arrive ?

You fucking arrive
at the beginning.

So he said, what about--
When's the intermission ?

I said, what intermission ?

He said, you don't have--

No, they go on 8:00 and they
finish at 10:30.

He said, you're joking,
I said no.

He said, fuck me, we used to be
booked for 20 minutes

and be off stage in 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.

( Richard )
Jimmy called me wanting $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 Garden,

I needed to get the money out to
pay the film crew

and pay off the jet
or whatever bits and pieces,

business, what you do.

So Peter said, take all--
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,

they knew I didn't steal it.

They 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 $203,000 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 Led 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,
Swan Song Records.

We were like, the first band
that they ever signed

and it just so happened that
they were launching Swan Song

that month,
so we, as their proteges,

had to go to the openings in LA
and New York, of Swan Song,

the launch parties.

First time I met Bonzo was when
he gave us a lecture

on behaving ourselves.

Bonzo 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 10, 1974, Led Zeppelin

hosted an elaborate launch party
in LA for their new label.

Jesus, I mean, I'd never seen
celebrities like Groucho Marx.

When Groucho walked in with
these two blondes,

one on each arm, he just stopped
the proceedings.

Groucho may
have impressed them,

but when Led Zeppelin heard that
their musical hero,

Elvis Presley, was
playing the LA Forum,

they arranged a meeting
with the king.

Tom Hulett, the concert
promoter, was also--

Would promote Led Zeppelin,
that group, 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 Hulett, he asked Elvis

if it was okay if he brought
Led Zeppelin

to see him and he said yeah.

And they came up, you know,
they met Elvis.

They were just
thrilled as could be.

They always idolized Elvis
and you know, they--

one of the other groups said,

if it wasn't for Elvis,
we wouldn't have been musicians,

and it was exciting for them
and Elvis was thrilled.

You know,
they were nice guys.

It was a whole funny evening,
you know.

But I mean, they were--

Everyone was kind of tiptoeing
around, 'cause this was Elvis

and you know, I'm sure it'd
be like meeting

the Queen of England or
something, you know,

someone that you're really
never gonna get close to

or even imagine you're gonna
have anything to do with.

( narrator )
February 24, 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 Malibu 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, three weeks.

( Jimmy )
There was no time to really
think the things out.

I just had to lay it down,
more or less.

First track,
harmonize, second track.

You know, it was really fast
working on that

and all the guitar
overdubs in "Presence"

were done in one night.

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 sections.

It sort of crystallized and
everything was just pouring out,

you know.

I was very happy with the guitar
playing on that whole album,

you know, as far as the maturity
of playing goes.

( Richard )
They rehearsed it and
wrote it out in Malibu,

flew into Munich.

I mean, Page had this wonderful
idea which I hated

that he always recorded
in the miserable places

in the cold weather.

I don't know whether he did it
on purpose

'cause he knew there
was nothing else to do

but work and that way
they'd have to

get out there quick.

If they'd done it in Barbados,
they'd never get anything done.

( narrator )
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 Massot 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 Sheraton
Hotel in Boston.

And everybody was sitting
around talking about a film

which we talked about
for some time,

the group had
talked about it.

And somebody said, why
don't we make a film, ***G*** ?

So I said, yeah,
that's an idea.

It's one gig at
Madison Square Garden

interspersed by what we would
consider to be representations

of how we would like ourselves
to be seen or--

Offstage, you know ?

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's
been quite a few films

that have just been
concerts on the stage

and we wanted to
get beyond that.

( Robert )
Yeah, if we're gonna be
self-indulgent,

we might as well try and expand
that indulgence a little bit,

you know.

They were
totally in charge.

They had a picture in their mind
of what they wanted to see.

It was a matter of
having the director shoot

what was in their mind.

( Jimmy )
I mean, there's certain things
that piss me off about

the actual film, but
nevertheless, I mean,

as far as it goes,

I'm really
pleased it is there.

It's a documentary more than
anything else.

( man )
Led Zeppelin in
concerts and beyond.

I think a lot of the joy went
out of Zeppelin when they 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 seemed
to go pear-shaped.

( narrator )
On July 26, 1977, tragedy struck
when news came from England

that Robert Plant's
five-year-old son, Karac,

had died from a stomach
infection.

Robert was devastated.

And then there was the terrible
news that Robert Plant's son,

Karac,
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--

Went out of Zeppelin,

certainly as far as Robert Plant
was concerned.

( Richard )
No one pushed him
to do anything.

Peter and the band sat back
and said, look, you know,

whenever you're ready,
let us know what you want to do,

if you want to do something,
and that was really it.

( narrator )
Eventually, Robert
reunited with the band

to record their ninth album.

Released at the end
of 1979,

"In Through the Out Door"
went on to sell more than

5 million copies.

The release of our album
"Head Games"

coincided with the release of
"In Through the Out Door."

Somebody brought me a test
pressing of it

and I heard it and I--

Oh, Jesus.

( narrator )
Despite the success of
"In Through the Out Door,"

discernible cracks were
beginning to form within

Led Zeppelin's airtight
organization as well.

I've witnessed Bonzo
just cut loose.

He had definitely split
personality,

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 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.

( Simon )
With Bonzo, it was like
going out with a sailor

who had 12 hours to live,
'cause 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 door--

"Come in."

And there he was.

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 wrapping them
individually.

"This is for Zoe,
I don't see enough of her."

And they were all laid out
in a row in this suitcase

and I thought, wow.

People don't realize how much
time they spend 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
the baby or something like that.

( narrator )
By September, Led Zeppelin was
ensconced in rehearsals

for their upcoming highly
anticipated tour of America,

but it was during these
rehearsals

that the group was dealt
an unthinkable blow.

( Carmine )
Bonzo, when he got drunk, was--

You didn't want to be in the raw
end with him.

But he was just very--

Gets very nasty, very wild,
you know.

The booze, you know.

The booze, I mean, that's what
killed him, you know.

( narrator )
John Bonham was known as
a man who loved his alcohol.

On September 24, 1980,

Bonham was picked up from his
hotel for rehearsals

at Bray Studios.

During the journey, Bonham
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,
Bonham had fallen asleep

and was taken to bed.

He died in his sleep
later that night.

He was only 32.

( Simon )
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 that the time
he drunk and they put him to bed

and you know,
the classic rock & roll death,

you know, choking on
his own vomit,

so I thought
he had a car crash.

It were drugs,
I had no idea.

I just knew
something terrible--

The fallout from this was gonna
be disastrous,

'cause they were such
a tight-knit band,

and if one went,
that was it.

( Richard )
Yeah, there were four equal
members, you know,

when they
were on that stage.

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.

You know, Bonham was
an integral part,

but that was what Led Zeppelin
was, was those four guys.

When he died, the band
evaporated,

or 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.

( Chris W. )
I think everybody probably
wanted Led Zeppelin to continue,

and there were plenty of
contenders for the job of being

the drummer with
Led Zeppelin--

Cozy Powell,
Carmine Appice,

and people that could have
played it,

they could have done the gig,

but it wouldn't have been
the same

because John Bonham
was so special.

His personality
was so powerful

and of course, as I mentioned
before, they were a team.

They were friends and you
couldn't really replace him

and I think, in retrospect,
it was the best thing to do.

Part of my charisma is,
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,

'cause if I wanted to play,

who else would I need for
a drummer but Bonzo, you know ?

And the same with Jimmy
and Jonesie.

I don't think it could--
It wouldn't be right.

( Roy )
Bonzo 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 it took a big toll
on the other two as well.

♪

Led Zeppelin,
what can you say ?

They're a huge influence.

Huge influence
on everybody.

It was the most amazing
thing ever,

you'll never see rock &
roll like that ever again.

There was nothing like it

and 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 ?

( Simon )
Zeppelin 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 be the best.

♪