Music Banter - View Single Post - The Complete Discography Thread Led Zeppelin

Son of JayJamJah · 05-21-2009, 10:23 PM

In the time before Zeppelin

That Video from 1957 would never have "led" anyone to predict what little Jim Page would be doing 10 years later, not curing cancer as he aspired then but instead changing the face of music forever, or at least laying the groundwork to do so. The following is a time line chronicling the events leading up to the formation of the band. A more detailed background for each member will be included in an upcoming post. Please enjoy the videos included with this section, they are real treats in my opinion.

Pre-Band Timeline

England Spring, 1966 – Jimmy Page joins the Yardbirds replacing Paul Samwell-Smith on bass guitar, eventually becomes co-lead guitar along with Jeff Beck.

After turning down the spot a year prior, it was Page who suggested Beck as the replacement for Eric Clapton. Rhythm guitar player Chris Dreja moved to bass when Page joined Beck on guitar. Beck would leave the band shortly after leaving Page as the lone lead.

Page on bass for the Yardbirds

England 22nd May 1966 – Jimmy Page, hoping to form a new super group, along with John Paul Jones, Keith Moon and Jeff Beck record “Beck’s Bolero” but never any other music.

Page envisioned the band to include John Entwhistle on bass, and Jones on keyboards proposed front men included Terry Reid, Donovan and Steve Winwood. Nothing ever real came of it though, although it foreshadowed Page’s aspirations to be part of a major band heading in a new direction.

England Summer, 1966 – Robert Plant and John Bonham play together in the band Crawling King Snakes for six months and develop a friendship.

Bonham left the band to rejoin a prior project of his “A Way of Life”. The two would collaborate a lot over the next couple years (we'll get to that soon enough) and it's Plant who would suggest Bonham be the drummer for the “New Yardbirds”

England Winter, 1967 – Robert Plant and John Bonham reunite when Plant forms “Band of Joy”. Their run last just over a year leading up to the formation of Led Zeppelin.

Though they never really became a commercial or critical success, Band of Joy is where Plant developed his reputation as a rising star on rock scene.

England Winter, 1967 – Working out the kinks as musical director on Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man” album, Jones hires and teams with Bonham and Page among others, none of their work makes the album final cut.

Even if the work of Page and Bonham never made the final cuts, the influence is there plain as day, it’s as Zeppelin sounding a song as any other before their time. It was during this session that Jones decided he would work with Page as much as possible in the future.

England Summer, 1968 – The Yardbirds disband leaving several tour dates left to be played.

This opens the door for the "New Yardbirds", eventually Led Zeppelin, to form. The Yardbirds singer (Keith Relf) and drummer (Jim McCarty) dropped out immediately. After Terry Reid passes, Robert Plant accepts the lead singer position and recommends John Bonham as drummer. After Chris Dreja dropped, John Paul Jones contacts Jimmy Page about playing bass on the tour and Page agrees.

Denmark Fall, 1968 – The "New Yardbirds" debut

Led Zeppelin plays their first tour as The Yardbirds starting in Denmark and ending in Sweden 11 days later. The tour was a dynamite success, drawing standing ovations and rave reviews throughout; there is a rush to cut an album as soon as they return to England.

England Fall, 1968 – The band changes their name to Led Zeppelin.

Many stories exist in the legend of the name, the most popular says that Keith Moon described the prospects of the Page envision super band prior to the New Yardbirds as likely to go over like a Lead Balloon. The “a” in Lead was dropped to avoid mispronunciation and thus “Led Zeppelin” was born.

England, 25 October 1968 – Page, Plant, Bonham and Jones perform together for the first time under the name Led Zeppelin

Magic ensues.

Denver, Co. December 26th 1968 – The Band’s United States debut as an opening act for Vanilla Fudge.

The last time they would not headline a bill. Vanilla Fudge and Zeppelin had become close playing together in England, throwing them on the tour last second was a "favor" to the band.

January 12th 1969 – The debut album is released…