When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin

by Mick Wall

  But what of Plant? ‘We really want do something and Robert doesn’t want to do this, at least for the moment,’ replied Jones. ‘I don’t really know what his plans are. He really doesn’t want to make loud music anymore. We do. I mean, I love acoustic music, but it doesn’t stop me from turning something up.’ Jones also brought up the idea again of a DVD of the O2 show being released, possibly in time with any tour. In an interview with BBC Radio Devon, he added: ‘We are trying out a couple of singers. We want to do it. It’s sounding great and we want to get on and get out there.’ What they were hoping to avoid, however, he said, was ‘a replica of Plant. It’s got to be right. There’s no point in just finding another Robert. You could get that out of a tribute band, but we don’t want to be our own tribute band. There would be a record and a tour, but everyone has to be on board.’

  The best-known singer to try out for the spot was Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, who flew into London the same month for two days of intense rehearsals with the trio. A long-time Zep-o-phile and well-known friend of Jimmy’s since the guitarist guested with Aerosmith on some UK dates in the early Nineties, on paper Tyler was one of the few established rock vocalists who might just have delivered a plausible performance in a revamped Zeppelin line-up – certainly live. But Tyler appeared to be suffering from a heavy cold and his voice was not in its best shape the first day, forcing the rehearsal to be curtailed. When they reconvened the second day, however, according to insiders Tyler made the bold suggestion that the new material Jimmy and Jonesy had been working on didn’t yet contain any recognisable hits. Trying to be helpful but fatally misjudging the situation, Tyler then suggested they might like to try out some of the new songs he’d been working on with his co-writer Marti Frederiksen. A well-known gun-for-hire musician, producer and songwriter whose prowess as a hit-maker for rock artists like Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne and others has made him a 21st-century music industry star, Frederiksen was not the kind of behind-the-scenes worker-bee likely to appeal to Jimmy Page. As a result, according to one insider who does not wish to be named here, ‘Jimmy never said a word when Tyler came out with this stuff, just told his staff to get him a plane ticket home. And that was the end of that.’

  The closest anybody came to actually landing the job was a little-known American singer-guitarist named Miles Kennedy, until then the 39-year-old frontman of US band Alter Bridge, the band formed by former Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti. According to Twisted Sister vocalist Dee Snider, who was the one who let the cat out of the bag, speaking on his syndicated US radio show, Kennedy had landed the gig and, with him on board, the band would shortly announce what was to be the first Led Zeppelin tour since 1980, commencing in the summer of 2009. With any official denial markedly not forthcoming, rumours reached such a pitch it became a topic of open discussion in numerous newspapers, magazines and other media outlets. While everyone had been prepared to jump on the bandwagon of a full-on Zeppelin reformation, no one, it seemed, was keen on the prospect of a Zeppelin tour without Plant at the helm.

  As former Zeppelin promoter Freddy Bannister pointed out: ‘I can see that Jimmy might be doing it because he really wants to play with that band again. But from a promoter’s point of view, I don’t think they would be quite the attraction they would be without Robert. Because Robert and Jimmy were the band – the focal points. I really can’t image the band as just Jimmy.’ Page’s old guitar mentor from his session days, Big Jim Sullivan, was equally sceptical: ‘Robert was another instrument in himself. To replace him with someone of equal standing and experience will be very difficult. Anyone can sing a song, but not the way he did. I can see it happening without him, but I can’t see it being successful.’ Or as former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham put it: ‘Led Zeppelin touring without Robert Plant? It’s like the Stones without Prince Michael of Kent.’

  Page, himself, however appeared sanguine at the prospect, explaining: ‘I’ve been writing music over the last few years. I’ve got various “vehicles”, and they can be used and employed in various situations. I’m ready to present the stuff that I’ve got. I’ve done a number of projects but not an album…I’ve got enough new music to make it tantalising.’ Maybe so, but as veteran Scottish rock DJ Tom Russell says, ‘If Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham want to go off and make music with a new singer then I say good luck to them. Just don’t call it Led Zeppelin.’ Without that magic three-syllable name, though, where would be the hullabaloo; the hundreds of millions of dollars that went with it?

  Even one of both Page and Plant’s staunchest former champions, O2 promoter Harvey Goldsmith, weighed in with some very public advice of his own. Speaking to BBC News music reporter Ian Youngs, he said: ‘I certainly don’t think they should do a big tour because I can’t see the point of it.’ He added there may be ‘some opportunities’ for a reunion with Plant in the future. But any plans for attempting such a re-launch without him were surely doomed to failure. ‘I just think it’s a lot of talk, I think it’s wishful thinking. Whether they all come together and do something in the future, they may. I think some of the band really want to go out and do it and other parts of the band need to understand why they’re doing it, and if there’s no compelling reason to do it, then they shouldn’t do it.’ He went on: ‘I don’t think a long rambling tour is the answer as Led Zeppelin. It’s a question of whether they want to do it, and you’ve got to want to do it. Otherwise it’s done for the wrong reasons, and when things are done for the wrong reasons, they don’t work.’ Speaking at the MusExpo music conference in London, Goldsmith said he would ‘hopefully’ be involved in any comeback.

  Page was said to be so furious at Goldsmith’s words that he pulled out of attending that year’s Classic Rock awards when he learned the promoter would also be in attendance. Instead, the evening was notable for a completely unprovoked attack on Zeppelin by no lesser a presence than that of former Cream bassist and vocalist Jack Bruce. Picking up the Classic Album gong for Cream’s Disraeli Gears, he gave an extraordinary after-show interview to the magazine’s writer, Dave Ling, during which he launched into a bitter anti-Zep tirade, comparing their one-off O2 show unfavourably with Cream’s own, much lengthier full-scale tour comeback in 2005. ‘Everybody talks about Led Zeppelin,’ he said, ‘and they played one fucking gig. One fucking lame gig – while Cream did weeks of gigs; proper gigs, not just a lame gig like Zeppelin did, with all the [vocal] keys lowered and everything. We played everything in the original keys.’ Increasingly agitated, he went on: ‘Fuck off, Zeppelin, you’re crap. You’ve always been crap and you’ll never be anything else. The worst thing is that people believe the crap that they’re sold. Cream is ten times the band that Led Zeppelin is.’ When a clearly disconcerted Ling responded by describing Bruce’s outburst as ‘a bold opinion’ the legendary bassist spat back, ‘What? You’re gonna compare Eric Clapton with that fucking Jimmy Page? Would you really compare that?’ Ling: ‘To be fair, they’re different kinds of player, aren’t they?’ Bruce: ‘No! Eric’s good and Jimmy’s crap. And with that I rest my case.’

  In the end it was left to Kennedy himself to bring this sorry state of affairs to an end, possibly prompted by Page and Jones. Interviewed by Eric Blair of The Blairing Out with Eric Blair Show at the National Association of Music Merchants show in January, Kennedy said, ‘I am not singing in Led Zeppelin or any offshoot of Led Zeppelin, but I did have a great opportunity and it was something that I’m very grateful for. But Alter Bridge will go on, and that’s that.’ When asked what it was like performing with his childhood heroes, Kennedy replied, ‘Surreal. It was great.’ He refused, however, to discuss the new material he had been asked to play with Page, Jones and Bonham or to elaborate any further on the situation. ‘I’ll tell that story some day. But for now, it was a good experience, and I’m still pinching myself, let’s put it that way.’

  But why hadn’t it gone any further than ‘jamming’? Speaking so close to the events, insiders are
hugely reluctant to go on the record. Speaking off the record, however, the feeling was that the benefits of having someone like Kennedy taking Plant’s spot – as one put it, ‘Someone young who’d been a fan of the band and would do exactly what he was told by Jimmy,’ including all the songs Robert wouldn’t do – were ultimately outweighed by the sheer body of negative opinion against the idea of returning to life as Led Zeppelin without Plant. Plant may ‘still drive him mad’ but even a hugely frustrated Jimmy now sees that to try and continue without him could damage the long-term credibility of the band. Or as an earlier report on Rolling Stone.com put it, quoting another insider in the Page camp, ‘Whatever this is, it is not Led Zeppelin – not without the involvement of Robert Plant’. Once that reality sank in, it seems, Jimmy’s enthusiasm for the idea sank with it. If he’d wanted to put a ‘new’ band together he could have done it at any point over the past 30 years. He didn’t want to start a new band; he wanted to revive Led Zeppelin. Even with Jonesy and Bonham’s only son by his side, without Robert, it simply wasn’t going to be possible. The world simply wouldn’t allow it.

  It had been touch and go for a while there, though. As recently as January 2009, Page’s personal manager Peter Mensch still appeared to be talking up the inclusion of Kennedy and/or some other singer in a revised Zeppelin line-up, when he told BBC 6 Music the following: ‘People don’t really understand it. Jimmy Page has been playing guitar professionally since he was sixteen years old. Jimmy Page likes being a musician. That’s what he does. He doesn’t want to be a race car driver or a solicitor.’ As a result, he and Jones and Bonham ‘decided that if they could find a singer that they thought would fit their bill – whatever their bill was at this stage in their career – that they’d make a record and go on tour. That’s what Jimmy Page does.’ He added: ‘I can’t comment on any rumours right now. It’s gonna be a long and difficult process. And we’re not soliciting people. So don’t call me about it!’

  However, only days later came this story, via the MusicRadar website: another interview with Mensch, where he now stated categorically that, ‘Led Zeppelin are over! If you didn’t see them in 2007 [at the O2], you missed them. It’s done. I can’t be any clearer than that.’ He did confirm that once that Robert Plant made it known he was continuing his partnership with Alison Krauss and had no intention of returning to Led Zeppelin, replacement vocalists were auditioned to possibly record and tour with Page, Jones and Bonham. ‘They tried out a few singers, but no one worked out,’ said Mensch. ‘That was it. The whole thing is completely over now. There are absolutely no plans for them to continue. Zero. Frankly, I wish everybody would stop talking about it.’ Pressed on what new projects Jimmy Page might now be involved with in 2009, Mensch said, ‘Fuck if I know. I’m waiting to hear.’

  And that, more or less, is how things remain in the summer of 2009. Of course, Jimmy keeps himself busy, pottering about with various projects: for example, the imminent release of the guitar documentary It Might Get Loud, in which he features alongside White Stripes frontman Jack White and U2 guitarist The Edge. A documentary directed by Davis Guggenheim, best known for his directorial role for the Academy Award-winning An Inconvenient Truth, it was well received when screened late in 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival. Described by Sony Pictures Classic, its distributor, as ‘a music lover’s dream’, the film covers three generations of guitar players ‘and our plan is to attract the three generations of fans when we open the film [in the US in the summer of 2009]. We are pleased to be in business with director Davis Guggenheim and producer Thomas Tull, whose obsession with the subject has brought so much to the high quality of the film.’ The spokesperson added, however: ‘There is no news of a European release date as yet.’

  In April 2009, Jimmy officially inducted Jeff Beck into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a celeb-heavy bash at Cleveland Ohio’s Public Hall. He also got up and performed with Beck and his band during a poignant version of ‘Beck’s Bolero’. Beck invited Page up to the stage by introducing him to the audience as ‘a big chunk of Led Zeppelin, right here…’ They also performed a rousing version of ‘Immigrant Song’ with Beck playing the vocal lead on his trademark white Stratocaster. Later in the evening Jimmy joined Jeff, plus Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, Ronnie Wood from the Stones and Red Hot Chilli Peppers bassist Flea for an all-star jam of ‘Train Kept a Rollin”. It was a great moment, and Page’s life now appears to consist of a string of such moments, whether they be with the Foo Fighters, Jeff Beck or whoever else he next chooses to jump up on stage with. But is that all there is to his career now: a series of guest appearances?

  Plainly, Jimmy would like to think not. But without Robert Plant to front a Led Zeppelin revival, he still seems markedly reluctant to take on any big new musical projects. Which is a great pity, for as his one-time collaborator, Whitesnake vocalist David Coverdale, says, ‘It breaks my heart to see him frustrated like this. I can’t tell you what it would do to me if someone said I can’t do Whitesnake. It’s who you are. What you do and he should be allowed to do it. But if he can’t, what I said to him was why doesn’t he do like a Carlos Santana and get a whole load of different vocalists in? He and John Paul Jones have probably written some amazing new stuff, and why shouldn’t they? They’re both amazing musicians. And I think it’s absolutely right and proper that they should want to bring Jason in on drums too. He’s family. And if Robert doesn’t want to do it, fair enough, ask some other people that would be only too happy to come in and lend a hand. I’ve said that me and [Def Leppard vocalist] Joe Elliot would be there in a shot…’

  It’s a good idea, one his old pal Jeff Beck certainly seems to have embraced in recent times, too. Talk is that Beck – now sixty-five and Jimmy’s closest living contemporary – plans to retire at seventy, and in the meantime intends to ‘make the most’ of the next few years, including a star-studded series of shows around the world like the special Fourth of July concert he put on at the Albert Hall this summer, where he was joined on stage by a special guest star in the form of Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour. Why couldn’t Jimmy Page do something similar? And if Plant changes his mind at some point and agrees to do some shows as Led Zeppelin, all to the good. Just put less all-or-nothing emphasis on it…So far, though, Page simply refuses to entertain the possibility. So far…

  Elsewhere, both Jones and Bonham appear to have accepted that they will not be touring the world as Led Zeppelin any time soon. Indeed, Bonham has recently announced that he has rejoined Airrace, the group he helped form to no particular success back in the Eighties. He also played on some sessions for the forthcoming solo album from former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, and even joined tribute band Led Zepagain during their 77 Tour Revisited set at LA’s House of Blues in March, coming up for the encore of ‘Rock and Roll’.

  Jones, of course, continues to potter around on various low-key projects, like the collaboration in April 2009 with Seattle alt.rock legends Sonic Youth, an original musical piece entitled ‘Ninety Ninety’, for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, which they later performed together in Brooklyn Academy of Music, along with cocomposer, mixed-media ‘sound sculptor’ Takehisa Kosugi. It was part of Merce Cunningham’s ninetieth birthday celebrations, a four-day festival dedicated to the choreographer’s work and influence. (Later in the year the show travelled to Madrid, Champaign-Urbana, Paris, Berkeley, and London.) And then there was the release of the debut solo album from Nickel Creek’s Sara Watkins which Jones produced. In an interview for noted Zep fan-site Tight But Loose, Jones told TBL founder Dave Lewis, ‘The really great thing about the whole process of making the album is that we achieved exactly what we set out to do. As for myself as producer, the entire vision I had for this record came to fruition. I’m really pleased with it. I wanted her voice to be really to the fore with a sparse accompaniment. It was a real throwback to the old days of recording.’

  As ever, the only for
mer member of Led Zeppelin who continues to really capture the wider public’s imagination is – no coincidence surely – the same one who is no longer interested in being involved in the group: Robert Plant. Awarded a CBE in the Queen’s 2008 end-of-year honours list, ‘for services to music’, Plant continues to work his own idiosyncratic, stubbornly individualistic groove. As well as one-off appearances, variously, on stage with Fairport Convention last year, for their special Cropredy concert in memory of the 30th anniversary of the death of Sandy Denny, where he duetted on ‘Battle of Evermore’ with Kristina Donahue, so far this year he has recorded a duet with fellow West Midlands singer Scott Matthews, for a track, ‘12 Harps’, on his latest album, Elsewhere, and, more recently, put in a surprise appearance on stage at the Womad Festival in Abu Dhabi, where he joined Strange Sensation guitarist Justin Adams and the West African riti (a one-string violin) master Juldeh Camara. Plant’s last-minute inclusion on the bill was seen as a coup for the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (Adach) and for Womad, whose director, Chris Smith, said: ‘The fact is that Robert Plant only does things that he wants to do [and] he was excited by the thought of performing at a free festival in Abu Dhabi.’ He added: ‘Robert is a lovely guy who is very keen not to steal the thunder from the others.’

  Jimmy Page might have something to say on that subject, of course. But for now, the last word continues to go to Robert, who told reporters at the festival: ‘This is so straightforward, without any big production deals or anything like that. It’s where music came from. And as time goes on, the less the hassle and the more the adventure, the more stimulating it is for me. This is just another one of those moments along the way.’