Led Zeppelin

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HISTORY

When guitarist Jimmy Page first began to form the band in 1968, he called it The New Yardbirds, since his previous band, The Yardbirds had fallen apart by then. Page had the idea of forming a Supergroup by bringing in members of other bands such as Keith Moon and John Entwistle of The Who. It is to these two men that legend attributes the origin of the name Led Zeppelin. When Jimmy Page told these two his idea, he was greeted with ridicule and the declaration, "that will go over like a lead balloon."^[1] Some versions of this story say that Keith Moon said this phrase, and John Entwistle remarked, "like a lead zeppelin," indicating an even faster and larger disaster.^[1] After gathering the band members who would actually form the new band, Jimmy Page co-opted Entwistle's phrase and used it for the band's name. Their manager, Peter Grant, suggested that they change the spelling of "Lead" to "Led" so that fans would not mistakenly pronounce it as "leed."^[1] Led Zeppelin's huge success has made the name quite ironic.

The phrase "go over like a lead balloon" is a simile that means something will completely fail. The coinage is attributed to a newspaper cartoon in 1924, though the wording was a bit different. It is American in origin, and it also slipped into colloquial language in the United Kingdom. Other versions of this phrase include "go down like a lead balloon" and "go up like a lead balloon."^[1]

A zeppelin is a large airship, invented in 1900 by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. They were commonly used in Germany and became a recognizable image during World War I and World War II. When the zeppelin known as the LZ129 Hindenburg crashed in 1937, zeppelins were declared unsafe and taken out of the air for both civil and military purposes.^[1] Zeppelin flights are now offered commercially by a few select companies.^[1] The crash of the Hindenburg most likely influenced Jimmy Page's usage of the term Zeppelin, and the image of a crashing zeppelin is often associated with the band.^[1]

SIGNIFICANT FACTS

• Led Zeppelin officially broke up in 1980 after the death of drummer John Henry Bonham.^[1]
• In recent years Jimmy Page has attempted to form a Led Zeppelin reunion, featuring John Bonham's son Jason Bonham in place of the deceased drummer. Robert Plant has declined to join the reunion and other lead singers have been considered to take his place. There has been some opposition among Led Zeppelin fans about using the name Led Zeppelin without Robert Plant in the band.^[1]
• The late 1980s band Kingdom Come had such a similar sound to Led Zeppelin that they were given the derisive nickname "Kingdom Clone."^[1]

BAND MEMBERS

• Robert Plant: vocals (born August 20, 1948)
• Jimmy Page: guitar (born January 9, 1944)
• John Paul Jones: bass, keyboards (born January 3, 1946)
• John Bonham: drums (born May 31, 1948)

NAMESAKES AND SPIN-OFFS

• Dread Zeppelin: reggae band
• Led Zepplica: tribute band
• Led Zepagain: tribute band
• Winds of Thor: Led Zeppelin tribute band

Lez Zeppelin : All female Led Zep tribut band.

ALSO CALLED

• LZ
• Led Zep
• Zep
• Zepp
• Zeppelin

Author: Sarena Ulibarri

NOTES