The Complete Discography Thread Led Zeppelin

[Son of JayJamJah]

Jimmy Page



Born: January 9, 1944
Instruments Played: acoustic, electric, and pedal steel guitar, banjo, mandolin
Major Song Writing Credits: Page is credited as co-writer of every single Led Zeppelin original with the exception of the following where he is the only credited writer: “Black Mountain Side”, “Dazed and Confused”, “Tangerine, “Bron-Yr-Aur”.

The most charismatic and popular member of the band, his electric guitar riffs have become a trademark of the Zep’s Blues-rock reputation and legacy. Page began his career as a studio musician on lead guitar and quickly developed a reputation as one of the more talented and sought after players of his day. Page was the last surviving member of the original Yardbirds and became the founding member of Led Zeppelin. His creative and intense guitar playing have made him an Icon in Rock & Roll Music and he is widely considered one of the greatest guitarists of all-time. In his pre-Zeppelin days Page contributed to albums by the Kinks, Them, the Rolling Stones and the Who. After initially declining an offer to replace Eric Clapton with the Yardbirds in 1965, Page joined the band a year later replacing then bassist Paul Samwell-Smith and eventually moving to lead guitar alongside Jeff Beck when Chris Dreja moved to bass. Page remained the Yardbirds lead guitar player after Beck left the band and thus filled the same position for the Zep shortly after. He continues to tour as the years go on playing with Plant and the Black Crowes among others; he is the only Zeppelin member twice elected to the rock and roll hall of fame.







John Paul Jones



Born: January 3, 1946
Instruments Played: 4, 5 and 8 string bass guitar, piano, electric piano, organ, keyboards, synths, mandolin, mellotron, harpsichord, recorder
Major Song Writing Credits: Primarily the band’s musical arranger, Jones was a co-writer on more then 20 songs including the primary melody and structure of “Your time is Gonna Come”, “The Lemon Song”, “Celebration Day”, “Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp, “No Quarter” and “Royal Orleans” with John Bonham.

The musical prodigy and mastermind of arrangement and orchestration. Born the son of musicians, J.P Jones is the most underrated member of Led Zeppelin and one of the more underrated musicians of all-time perhaps. Playing in professional bands from the age of 13, Jones rose to prominence in the 1960’s as a musical director for a lot of the psychedelic and early hard rock mainstays of the era. He became a part of the band after phoning Page in reference to filling the spot of bass player for the New Yardbirds at the last minute after Chris Dreja dropped out of the Scandinavian tour. Jones and Page had a history of working with each other is session work and had grown a respect and admiration for each other. It was the grind of arrangement and studio work that lead Jones to seek a more exploratory and regular gig as a member of the Page’s new band. Continuing to expand his repertoire late into his career, Jones has played over 20 different instruments in all on Led Zeppelin’s studio and live albums and continues to draw praise as a respected producer in the industry.

“I was working at the sessions for Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man, and John Paul Jones was looking after the musical arrangements. During a break, he asked me if I could use a bass player in the new group I was forming. He had a proper music trainin, and he had quite brilliant ideas. I jumped at the chance of getting him”

Page on J.P. Jones


Jones on Bass just one year ago...

[Son of JayJamJah]

Robert Plant



Born: August 20, 1948
Instruments Played: vocals, harmonica, acoustic guitar
Major Song Writing Credits By the second album Page and Plant had become the bands primary song writing team. Plant handling the lyrics mainly.

The signature whine of Plant’s prolific vocals and the desperate delivery he moved back and forth from helped define the sound that would spark the Hard Rock generation of rock and roll music. Not the first choice of Jimmy Page for the spot of front man, in fact never even considered until Page’s primary option Terry Reid turned the part down and recommended Plant for the gig. Traveling all across England music scene trying to find a home for his Blues driven love of music, Plant developed a reputation as a prodigious showman with a powerful set of pipes despite the lack of commercial success of many of his early pre-Zeppelin projects. The shared passion for modernizing the blues and for collaborating on music in general made Page and Plant fast friends and the duo would begin a long and illustrious career as co-writers of many of Zeppelins most popular and acclaimed songs. One of the original “Gods of Rock” Plant legacy as a front man lives on as he continues to play and perform with many of today’s artists including a recent stint with Allison Krauss.

“When I auditioned him and heard him sing, I immediately thought there must be something wrong with him personality-wise or that he had to be impossible to work with, because I just could not understand why, after he told me he'd been singing for a few years already, he hadn't become a big name yet. So I had him down to my place for a little while, just to sort of check him out, and we got along great. No problems.”

Page on Robert Plant



A collection of Plant’s noted vocal displays





John Bonham



Born: May 31, 1948
Instruments Played: drums, timpani, various percussion
Major Song Writing Credits: Bonham was co-writer on a number of Zeppelin tunes including “Good Times, Bad Times”, “Communication Breakdown”, “Heartbreaker”, “Moby ****”, “Out on the Tiles”, “When the Levee Breaks”, “Royal Orleans”, “Rock & Roll”, “The Ocean”, “Kashmir”

The hardest person to convince to join the band turned out to be the skittish percussionist from Worcestershire. Despite the immediate infatuation of Page who had previously considered such luminaries as B.J Wilson, Clem Cattini and Ginger Baker, Bonzo held out on joining the band until the last minute considering other offers. In the end it was probably his relationship with Plant that leads to his rounding out the line-up as the rock and roll drummer proto-type and the backbone of the Biggest Band in the World. Always a wayward spirit Bonham took up the drums late, but took an interest in the arts and music particularity early. He was always looking for new and creative challenges. During his heyday with the band his famous Moby Dick drum solo was a highlight of most live shows. He met his end to soon as substance abuse got the best of him. Bonham died September 25th 1980 after drinking himself to his end. His headstone epitaph reads “Cherished memories of a loving husband and father, John Henry Bonham who died Sept. 25th 1980; aged 32 years. He will always be remembered in our hearts, Goodnight my Love, God Bless.”


A portion of Bonham’s famous Moby Dick solo

[Antonio]

great read! can't wait for the rest of it

[Son of JayJamJah]

Originally Posted by Brent-on-the-Run

I'm looking forward to this as well. I've only started listening to Led Zeppelin in the last decade. In college, I was one of those kids who went all vinyl to be cool. But it turns out, there were some great redeeming qualities. I found Zeppelin, that's for sure.

Originally Posted by Kamikazi Kat

Great read so far. The way you cover their history has the feel of a documentary, mostly because its well written and the videos. I like being able to read about a specific time in the history of Led Zeppelin, while hearing a song or something related to that period of time, it makes the whole experience complete.

Originally Posted by Antonio

great read! can't wait for the rest of it

Thank you all for following the thread, I hope you'll continue to enjoy it.

@Kamikazi Kat

I am very pleased to hear you like the inclusion of videos, your expereince was the exact desired effect I had in mind.

[Guybrush]

Great bios and interesting reads Looking forward to the rest!

[Son of JayJamJah]

"They don't (normally) cheer too madly there, you know? We were really scared, because we only had about fifteen hours to practice together. It was sort of an experimental concert to see if we were any good. I guess."

John Paul Jones

(From the Biography of John Paul Jones)
7 September 1968 - as on every Saturday during the season - there was a Teen Club ball at the Egegård School in Gladsaxe (a suburb in the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark) This evening's top orchestra was "The New Yardbirds". Ahead of the event some disappointment could be noted among the Gladsaxe Teen Club members. Only one of the members of the "old" Yardbirds - Jimmy Page - was part of the new version of the group. Was the new quartet really something compared to the well known and very popular Yardbirds?
Today, what those lucky few (probably around 1,200 - 1,400 youngsters) were to witness in the small school aula in Gladsaxe has become part of rock history. Shortly afterwards "The New Yardbirds" changed their name and became "Led Zeppelin". And the gig at Egegård School was the first time that now legendary Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham and Robert Plant played together before an audience. Actually the group had only been formed very short time before this - their first Scandinavian tour.
As president of the Gladsaxe Teen Club it was Lars Abel who had the pleasure to enter the stage and introduce the group. His old speaking note from that evening - with some of the names of the new group handwritten into the manuscript only minutes before he made the presentation (a small mistake was made Plant became Plat!) - tells of how the group had been rehearsing all afternoon at the school to the great delight of the voluntary Teen Club work staff who were preparing that evening's ball. Lars Abel could therefore also state that the audience would get something that was even better than the old Yardbirds!

On their first tour the future “Led Zeppelin” played a number of different traditional songs and early versions of Yardbird turned Zeppelin numbers.
Exact set lists during the first tours are still sketchy. Old Yardbirds' live staples such as “Train Kept a Rollin'”, “Dazed and Confused”, “White Summer” and “Likely For Your Love” were performed.
Material from the yet unfinished debut album was also included, such as: “Communication Breakdown”, “I Can't Quit You Baby”, “You Shook Me”, “Babe I'm Gonna Leave You”, “How Many More Times” and a Garnett Mimms cover, “As Long As I Have You.”

THE REVIEWS ARE IN…

Press Review: "Jimmy Page has put a new band together. The music is the same, only better than ever... Robert Plant should face some small criticism and a lot of praise for an excellent performance. There is no doubt that he is a good singer, but he doesn't have to twist his body like he's having a ruptured appendix, does he? Musically, the band is super-great. Their hard disciplined beat is amazing. Of course, it was foremost Jimmy Page that was responsible for this but the drummer should also be mentioned; a drum solo so wild and good is hard to find. It was so good that one almost wished that John Bonham wouldn't stop."

In Teen Club Nyt (Gladsaxe Teen Club's monthly members' magazine) in October 1968 Bent Larsen (who was the magazine's normal reviewer) gave this rave review of the new Yardbirds first concert:
"The English group YARDBIRDS had been rehearsing their new set most of the afternoon. So when they entered the scene they were really hot to get started and give it all. Their performance and their music were absolutely flawless, and the music continued to ring nicely in the ears for some time after the curtains were drawn after their show. Let me in particular give my praise to JIMMY PAGE who has made a great job with the 3 new men. They really succeeded and in particular the guitar solo by Jimmy Page created huge applause. We can therefore conclude that the new YARDBIRDS are at least as good as the old ones were."


“We realized we were working under false pretences, the thing had gone quickly beyond where The Yardbirds had left off. We all agreed there was no point in retaining the New Yardbirds tag so when we got back from Scandinavia we decided to change the name [of the band]. It was a fresh beginning for us all.”

Jimmy Page

[jacklovezhimself]

Thank you so much for having the intelligence to fit the yardbirds into a Led Zepplin thread. I was a little afraid you would leave them out and they would be nothing without that background. Amazing thread so far.

[Son of JayJamJah]

What started as a vision of a blues-rock super power, evolved into a series of settling for “second best” only to find a combination more potent then even Page’s wildest aspirations may have ventured to suppose. From the start it was Page who guided the bands embryonic evolution.

"Our music should be a marriage of blues, hard rock and acoustic music topped with heavy choruses" with "lots of light and shade in the music."

Jimmy Page

"I Think People Just Bought What They Liked"

You'd never convince a kid today that the music of Led Zeppelin was "too hot for TV", but it was a different time and people had never seen an act like this unless they'd been looking for it really hard. There was no internet, no magazines, hardly an underground scene, and how would one even find out about it. Another fact is the time of their debut the Album Oriented Rock era was still in it's infancy.

The first Shows under the new and permanent name were in England and though it’d be easy and poetic to suggest that they were a sensation from day one, it’s really not the case. The band had shed the popularity associated with the Yardbirds name and accompanied with their new heavier style found themselves being looked at only as an opening act initially. They played in front of a host of Bands in England and the Western United states including most notably Vanilla Fudge, who the group (Plant in particular) befriended in England. They quickly developed a reputation as a raucous and unprecedented live act, so much so that they quickly released two albums and were thrust onto the Media circuit. Constantly touring and recording, their first 14 months of existence were ultimately the bands most prolific and grueling era.

One consistent theme with the attitudes of Early Led Zeppelin is a sort of "take this as it goes" mentality. I don't think they seen it coming, I think even though Jimmy Page had always imagined it, he hadn't believed even when he first saw it for himself. These interviews show the begining of their realization of just what their music was doing and what the Led Zeppelin brand was becoming. They are unquestionably cool and relay a sort of humble sincerity and in such a soft spoken nature striking such sharp contrast to their preferred form of musical expression. This captivating dichotomy would eventually crumble as the band's popular reached unparalleled heights and so did the acts of lunacy and debauchery.

I'll Leave you with my favorite of all...

[Comus]

I've cited that last interviews loads of times about how the Beatles were never about the music. This thread makes me so happy

[Son of JayJamJah]

Originally Posted by toretorden

Great bios and interesting reads Looking forward to the rest!

Thanks Tore, always nice to know you're reading.

Originally Posted by jacklovezhimself

Thank you so much for having the intelligence to fit the yardbirds into a Led Zepplin thread. I was a little afraid you would leave them out and they would be nothing without that background. Amazing thread so far.

Couldn't tell the story proper without it, glad you appreciate it as much as I do, thanks for the compliment and the support.

Originally Posted by Comus

I've cited that last interviews loads of times about how the Beatles were never about the music. This thread makes me so happy

That's great man, I love old footage of bands doing interview's or press videos. Did you see the first video in the opening thread of 13 year old James "Jim" Page?