Led Zeppelin are set to celebrate fifty years in the Music industry by releasing the book “Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin” next month. The legendary rockers are marking the notable anniversary of their first gig, way back on September 7th, 1968 in Denmark with a 400-page illustrated insight into their careers.
Produced in collaboration with the living members of the band – their renowned drummer John Banham died in 1980 – the book will feature on and offstage photographs of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and of course Bonham himself. Fans will be able to see previously unpublished photographs and artwork extracted from the Led Zeppelin archives, besides contributions provided by photographers from around the world.
Rumours of a re-union
Whilst rumours continue to persist of a potentially hugely lucrative musical re-union of the iconic group in some form or another, Plant for one has continued to strongly deny that possibility. He has previously even gone as far as claiming that such a re-union would only be possible “in a chip shop in Camden Town!” However, his mood may be mellowing in his 70s and The Sun raised hopes further in recent months, hinting that Plant had contacted Page and Jones about the possibility of hosting some events as early as October. A re-union concert or new album still seems unlikely though.
Origins of the band’s name
Led Zeppelin came into existence as a necessary consequence of the other members of the group the Yardbirds quitting, with guitarist Page needing to quickly assemble a group to fulfil a tour of Scandinavia.
In the summer of 1968 he pulled together what proved to be a formidable line-up of musical talent, in the shape of flamboyant lead singer Plant, bassist and keyboard player Jones and drummer Bonham.
Following that initial gig in Denmark, the band adopted the name “Led Zeppelin” to reflect their concerns that they might go down like a lead balloon.
They cleverly dropped the ‘a’ from lead to avoid Americans mispronouncing their name, whilst the ‘Zeppelin’ part referred to the 1930s airships.
“Led Zeppelin IV” success
Fans may well remember their most famous song as being the unforgettable “Stairway to Heaven”, but the band did not release the memorable track as a single, perhaps recognising that such a stance would boost sales of the album that it featured on.
Their thinking proved to be a master stroke, as subsequent sales of their 1971 album “Led Zeppelin IV” – featuring the track – reached an estimated figure of 23 million.
Their success did not end there by any stretch of the imagination though, with global sales of their musical output having believed to have reached a staggering 200 - 300 million records, making them one of the best-selling and most influential bands of all time. Their legacy was a string of hit albums throughout the late 1960s and into the ‘70s, before the band broke up in 1980 after the tragic death of Bonham.
