When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin

by Mick Wall

  Indeed. Though not quite as important, perhaps, as the five Grammy awards he and Alison Krauss won at the 51st ceremony in Los Angeles, in February 2009, the highest tally of any act on the night. ‘When we started this together it was all a mystery,’ Plant said from the stage of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where the awards ceremony was held. The five awards comprised: Best Contemporary/Folk Americana Album Award for Raising Sand; Best Country Collaboration With Vocals Award for the track ‘Killing the Blues’ Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals Award for ‘Rich Woman’ Record of the Year Award for ‘Please Read the Letter’ and Album of the Year Award for Raising Sand.

  Plant also took the opportunity to reveal that ‘Please Read the Letter’ was ‘an old song that me and Jimmy Page wrote together and been given that Nashville touch, and it feels pretty good’. In accepting the night’s biggest award, Album of the Year, for Raising Sand, he said: ‘I’m bewildered. In the old days we would have called this selling out, but it’s a good way to spend a Sunday.’ He and Alison then performed a medley of ‘Rich Woman’ and ‘Gone Gone Gone’.

  Backstage, Plant, Krauss and their producer T-Bone Burnett were jubilant. ‘Yes, we’re doing another record!’ Burnett yelled. While Robert had a curt reply to the journalist who asked if Led Zeppelin would ever tour again. ‘How old are you, man?’ Plant snapped, while still maintaining a semblance of a smile, ‘because you look older than me.’ When that got a chuckle he lightened up again. ‘You try to do “Communication Breakdown” in these pants!’ The following week, Raising Sand had shot back up the US charts from Number 69 to Number 2, selling 77,000 copies in the days immediately after the Grammys.

  Speaking to Ben Jones of Britain’s Absolute Radio digital network in the week of the Grammys, Robert interrupted a pre-production session on his second album with Alison Krauss, to say: ‘For me, well, I don’t have a career, I just have a bunch of great events in my life and a few dips and troughs. I don’t think I’ve ever had a career. I think when Led Zeppelin…when we lost John in 1980, I was desperate to not reinstate but do something for myself, free from the kind of shackles of people’s expectations. And from that moment on, along the line, of course it would be great to get a reflection of your work, but “career”…it’s not something I think about.’

  As for Led Zeppelin, he sighed and said: ‘I guess I…well, you know, the thing is, look at it like this, the reason that it stopped was because we were incomplete, and we’ve been incomplete now for twenty-eight years. And no matter what you do, you have to really guard the discretion of what you’ve done in the past and make sure that you have all the reasons in the right place to be able to do something with absolute, total conviction. I mean, if my great reward is to do this, then I don’t want to do anything where we challenge what we did in the first place by just going back and visiting it without having a new, fresh make over start. I mean, you only get one shot at these things, and if they’re spectacular on day one, if on day ten they aren’t so good…As Alison said, when we cut out, started to make Raising Sand, we gave ourselves a deal about if we don’t get anything going in three days, let’s just go out for lunch and say see you later. And I think the thing about it is really, is that to visit old ground, it’s a very incredibly delicate thing to do, and the disappointment that could be there once you commit to that and the comparisons to something that was basically fired by youth and a different kind of exuberance to now, it’s very hard to go back and meet that head on and do it justice.’

  And for Robert Plant, it seems, it just gets harder every day…

  Notes and Sources

  The foundations of this book, in terms of quotes and the facts of the story so far as I have gleaned them, are based on my own original investigations, beginning with the various interviews and conversations over the years I have enjoyed with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, Jason Bonham and many others, some of whom for reasons of privacy do not wish to be named.

  Other voices that have provided me with invaluable information and insights over the years, often from personal anecdotes or even chance remarks, include Jason Bonham, Peter Grant, Richard Cole and again others who do not wish to be named here. I have also spent a great deal of time over the years compiling as much background material as possible from as much published – and, in a few cases, unpublished – material as there is available, including books, magazine and newspaper articles, websites, TV and radio shows, DVDs, demo-tapes, bootleg CDs and any other form of media that contained useful information, the most important of which I have listed here.

  However, extra special mention should also go to a handful of books and articles that proved especially helpful, in terms of adding to my own insights and investigations. First and foremost, the series of excellent books and articles by renowned Zeppelin historian Dave Lewis of Tight But Loose fame; also my old mate Chris Welch, who has also written great books on Peter Grant and John Bonham; Richard Cole, whose own memoir remains insightful and wincingly honest – a great achievement; Stephen Davis also, whose Hammer of the Gods is well known, rightly so; Ritchie Yorke for his many articles and book; Pamela Des Barres whose I’m With The Band was essential reading; Stuart Grundy and John Tobler’s first class The Guitar Greats; Alan Clayson, heroic author of many invaluable tomes on the Yardbirds, Brian Jones and others; Nick Kent, for his always excellent articles back in the Seventies for NME and more recently, in Q; Steve Rosen, similarly, for his unique take on things; Dave Schelps, whose trilogy of in-depth articles for Trouser Press in 1977 were magnificent; the 2003 Q Zeppelin special, which was especially helpful; and Brad Tolinski and Greg Di Benedetto, whose look back on all the Zeppelin albums in Guitar World in 2004 was also illuminating.

  There were many others, too, which I have endeavoured to list below, all of which deserve praise and acknowledgement for the role they played in helping shape the direction of this book. I extend my thanks and would urge readers to seek them out. Most of these articles I purchased either when they were first published or via a back-catalogue resource. Many, however, I now discover are available via the internet. If you can get hold of the originals though, I would recommend it for there is nothing quite like holding a vintage Rolling Stone or similar from the late Sixties or early Seventies, if just for the special smell of the now yellowing paper. As such, there are many titles I did not take direct quotes from that were also helpful in terms of background, cultural insight and – no other word for it – vibe. Titles such as Street Life, Friends, Cashbox, National Rock Star, New York Rocker, Pop Swap, and so many others, it will be years before I find a place to file them all. Again, my utmost thanks to one and all.

  Books

  A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr (Macmillan, 2007)

  A Pictorial History of Magic and the Supernatural by Maurice Bessy (Spring Books, 1964)

  At The Heart of Darkness: Witchcraft, Black Magic and Satanism Today by John Parker (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1993)

  Backstage Passes, Life on the Wild Side with David Bowie by Angie Bowie (Orion, 1994)

  Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out by Bill Graham with Robert Greenfield (Doubleday, 1992)

  Black Easter, or Faust Aleph-Null (After Such Knowledge; in Three Volumes) by James Blish (Faber & Faber, 1969)

  Blues Fell This Morning: The Meaning of the Blues by Paul Oliver (Cassell, 1960) Brian Jones by Alan Clayson (Sanctuary, 2003)

  Brum Rocked On! by Laurie Hornsby (TGM Ltd, 2003)

  Call Up The Groups! by Alan Clayson (Cassell Illustrated, 1985)

  Celebration by Dave Lewis (Omnibus, 1991)

  Celebration II by Dave Lewis (Omnibus, 2003)

  Dazed and Confused: The Stories Behind Every Song by Chris Welch (Carlton, 1998) Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blue Revival by Colin Harper (Bloomsbury, 2000)

  Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta by Robert Palmer (Viking, 1981)

  Dictionary of Occult, Hermetic and Alchemical Si
gils by Fred Gettings (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982)

  Eliphas Levi, History of Magic: Including a Clear and Precise Exposition of Its Procedure, Its Rites and Its Mysteries by Eliphas Levi, translated by Arthur Edward Waite (Unknown Binding, 1969)

  Fallen Angel, The Untold Story of Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin by Thomas W. Friend (Gabriel Publications 2002)

  Hammer of the Gods: Led Zeppelin Unauthorised by Stephen Davis (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985)

  I’m With The Band: Confessions of a Groupie by Pamela Des Barnes (Helter Skelter, 2005)

  In the Houses of the Holy: Led Zeppelin and the Power of Rock Music by Susan Fast (Oxford University Press Inc, 2001)

  Jeff Beck: Crazy Fingers by Annette Carson (Backbeat Books, 2001)

  Jimmy Page: Magus, Musician, Man, An Unauthorised Biography by George Case (Hal-Leonard, 2007)

  Jimmy Page: Tangents Within A Framework by Howard Mylett (Omnibus, 1983) John Bonham: A Thunder of Drums by Chris Welch and Geoff Nicholls (Backbeat Books, 2001)

  John Bonham: The Powerhouse Behind Led Zeppelin by Mick Bonham (South Bank Publishing, 2005)

  Led Zeppelin IV by Barney Hoskyns (Rodale, 2006)

  Led Zeppelin IV by Erik Davis (33 1/3 publishing, 2005)

  Led Zeppelin, The Press Reports by Robert Godwin (Collector’s Guide Publishing, 2003)

  Led Zeppelin: The Definitive Biography by Ritchie Yorke (Virgin, 1999)

  Led Zeppelin: The Story of a Band and Their Music 1968-1980 by Keith Shadwick (Backbeat Books, 2005)

  Lennon Remembers by Jann S. Wenner (Verso, 2000)

  Magick In Theory And Practise by Aleister Crowley (Book Sales, 1992) Me, Alice: The Autobiography of Alice Cooper by Alice Cooper (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1976)

  The Psychology of Hashish: An Essay on Mysticism Aleister Crowley (Holmes, 2001)

  Peter Grant: The Man Who Led Zeppelin by Chris Welch (Omnibus, 2002)

  Rebel Heart: An American Rock and Roll Journey by Bebe Buell with Victor Bockris (St. Martin’s Press, 2001)

  Rhythm and the Blues: A Life in American Music by Jerry Wexler with David Ritz (Alfred a Knopf 1993)

  Small Faces: The Young Mods ‘Forgotten Story by Paolo Hewitt (Acid Jazz Books, 1995)

  Stairway To Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored by Richard Cole and Richard Trubo (Simon & Schuster, 1993)

  Stardust: The David Bowie Story by Henry Edwards and Tony Zanetta (McGraw-Hill, 1986)

  Stoned by Andrew Loog Oldham (Becker & Warburg, 2000)

  The Aleister Crowley Scrapbook by Sandy Robertson (Quantum, 2002) The Book of Signs by Rudolf Koch (The Limited Editions Club, 1930)

  The Book of the Goetia of Solomon The King, translated by Aleister Crowley (Facsimile edition, Equinox 1976)

  The Book of the Law: 100th Anniversary Edition by Aleister Crowley (Red Wheel/Weiser; Centennial Edition, 2004)

  The Books of the Beast by Timothy d’Arch Smith (Mandrake Press, 1991) The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography by Aleister Crowley (Law Book Co of Australasia; New Edition, 1979)

  The Guitar Greats by Stuart Grundy, John Tobler (BBC Books, 1983)

  The Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside The Music Business by Frederic Dannen (Random House, 1990)

  The Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan (Century, 2005)

  The Magical Diaries of Aleister Crowley, edited by Stephen Skinner (Jersey, Neville, 1979)

  The Origin of the Species: How, Why & Where It All Began by Alan Clayson (Chrome Dreams, 2006)

  The Times Deceas’d by Timothy d’Arch Smith (Stone Trough Books, 2003) The Yardbirds by Alan Clayson (Backbeat Books, 2002)

  There Must be A Better Way: The Story Of The Bath & Knebworth Festivals 1969 – 1979 by Freddy Bannister (Bath Books, 2003)

  Trips: Rock Life in the Sixties by Ellen Sander (Scribner, 1973)

  Truth: Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and the Jeff Beck Group by Dave Thompson (Cherry Red, 2006)

  Unknown Legends of Rock and Roll by Richie Unterberger (Backbeat Books, 2000)

  Waiting For The Sun: Strange Days, Weird Scenes and the Sound of Los Angeles by Barney Hoskyns (Viking, 1996)

  Newspapers and Magazines

  Live review, Melody Maker, 24 October 1968

  Plant interview, International Times, Spring 1969

  Review first album, John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 15 March 1969

  Review first album, Felix Dennis, Oz, March 1969

  Page interview, Keith Altham, Top Pops, 13 September 1969

  Page interview, Record Mirror, February 1970

  Page interview, Keith Altham, Record Mirror, 27 February 1971

  Plant interview, Record Mirror, March 1972

  John Bonham quote, Disc, June 1972

  Plant interview, Lisa Robinson, Creem, 1973

  Review, Houses, Phonograph Record, May 1973

  Review, Houses, Jonh Ingham, Let It Rock, June 1973

  Article, Charles Shaar Murray, NME, 16 June 1973

  Plant interview, Charles Shaar Murray, NME, 25 June 1973

  Page interview, Nick Kent, NME, 1 September 1973

  David Byron interview, Tony Stewart, NME, 8 September 1973

  Page interview, Steven Rosen, Los Angeles Free Press, December 1973

  Page interview, Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 23 March 1974

  Page and Plant interviews, Cameron Crowe, Rolling Stone, 13 March 1975

  Groupie article, Phonograph Record, March 1975

  Page interview, Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, May 1975

  Physical Graffiti review, Chris Salewicz, Let It Rock, May 1975

  Physical Graffiti review, Jaan Uhelszki, Creem, May 1975

  Page interview, William S. Burroughs, Crawdaddy, June 1975

  John Bonham interview, Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 21 June 1975

  Page interview, Lisa Robinson, NME, 1975

  Page interview, Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 13 March 1976

  Presence review, Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 10 April 1976

  Presence review, Rolling Stone, Stephen Davis, 1976

  Plant interview, Chris Charlesworth, Creem, May 1976

  David Bowie interview, Cameron Crowe, Playboy, September 1976

  Page interview, Mick Houghton, Circus, 12 October 1976

  Joe Massot quote, Rolling Stone, 13 January 1977

  Plant interview, Roy Carr, NME, January 1977

  Page interview, Chris Salewicz, GIG, May 1977

  Johnny Rotten interview, Kris Needs, ZigZag, June 1977

  Page interview, Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, July 1977

  Article, Jaan Uhelszki, Creem, July 1977

  Three-part Page interview, Dave Schulps, Trouser Press, 1977

  Page interview, Chris Salewicz, Creem, November 1979

  Beck interview, Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1986

  Plant interview, Tom Hibbert, Q, 1988

  Plant interview, Mat Snow, Q, May 1990

  Plant, Jones, Mat Snow, Q, December 1990

  Malcolm Dent interview, Nick Hunter, Sunday Mail, 24 March 1991

  George Hardie quote, Rolling Stone, July 1991

  Aubrey Powell quote, Rolling Stone, July 1991

  Page interview, Guitar World, 1991

  Bill Graham obit, Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 3 November 1991

  Plant interview, Mojo, May 1996

  Bebe Buell interview, Mojo, May 1996

  John Paul Jones interview, Mat Snow, Mojo, December 1997

  Page interview, Mat Snow, Mojo, December 1997

  Peter Grant interview, Paul Henderson, Classic Rock, 1999

  John Paul Jones interview, Dave Ling, Classic Rock, August 1999

  Article, Phil Sutcliffe, Mojo, April 2000

  Article, Jon Hotten, Classic Rock, December 2001

  Article, Dave Lewis, Classic Rock, April 2002

  Carmine Appice quote, Led Zeppelin, Q Special, March 2003

  George Hardie quote, Q Special, March 2003

  Jerry Wexler quote, Q Special, March 2003

  Pamela Des Barres
quote, Q Special, March 2003

  Page interview, Nick Kent, Q Special, March 2003

  Article, Phil Sutcliffe, Q Zep Special, March 2003

  Storm Thorgerson quotes, Lois Wilson, Q Zep Special, 2003

  Joe Massot quote, Peter Doggett, Q Zep Special, March 2003

  Ian McLagan, Small Faces: The Darlings of Wapping Wharf Launderette E1, issue no. 24, a fanzine, 2003

  John Paul Jones interview, Dave Lewis, Tight But Loose, December 2003

  Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page interview, Charles Shaar Murray, The Guv’nors, Mojo, July 2004

  Page interview, Brad Tolinski with Greg Di Benedetto, Guitar World, 2004

  Article, Brad Tolinsky, Black Magic, Guitar World, April 2004

  Plant quote, Nigel Williamson – Uncut, 2005

  Plant interview, The Guardian, 14 October 2005

  Article, Word, January, 2006

  Lamar Fike quote, Elvis cover, Mojo, May 2006

  Article, Nick Kent, Mojo 70s Special, June 2006

  Plant quote, Record Collector, Dave Lewis, June, 2006

  Plant quote, Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone, July 2006

  Kenneth Anger interview, Bizarre, Mark Berry, 2006

  Page interview, Peter Makowksi, Classic Rock, 2006

  Malcolm Dent interview, Calum Macleod, The Inverness Courier, 3 November 2006

  Ace Frehley quote, Classic Rock, December 2007

  Ann Wilson quote, Classic Rock, December 2007

  Eddie Kramer quote, Classic Rock, December 2007

  Ric Lee quote, Classic Rock, December 2007

  Richard Cole quote, Classic Rock, December 2007

  Roy Harper quote, Classic Rock, December 2007

  Zacron interview, Classic Rock, December 2007

  Page interview, Mark Blake, Mojo, December 2007

  Plant interview, Sylvie Simmons, Guardian, 16 May 2008

  Some Useful Websites

  www.cuttingedge.org

  www.darklinks.com/doccult.html

  www.furious.com

  www.golden-dawn.com

  www.inthelight.co.nz/ledzep/zososymbol.htm

  www.ledzeppelin.com

  www.members.aol.com/lzhistory/index.html.