5 little-known facts about Led Zeppelin
On September 7, 1968, four British musicians appeared together on stage for the first time. Shortly after, the formation also had a name: Led Zeppelin. Their goal was to launch an attack on people's ears.
'Stairway to Heaven' was never supposed to be released as a single
The band's most famous song was never intended to stand on its own. The band believed in the power of an album. But they couldn't push that notion through for long. The recorded version of the song is over eight minutes, but during their concerts, they often played it much longer. In fact, 30-minute-long versions were not uncommon.
Robert Plant was actually third choice as singer
When selecting the singer for his new band, Jimmy Page first asked British singer Terry Reid, who also later turned down Deep Purple's offer. The second candidate was Steve Marriot from the Small Faces, but he refused as well. Only then did Jimmy Page think of Robert Plant as an option. Maybe not the first, but a good choice. He later wrote the lyrics for the band's world hits.
Descendants of Count Zeppelin wanted to ban the band from using their name
The burning Hindenburg on the cover of the band's first album caused a lot of trouble with a descendant of the aviation pioneer Ferdinand von Zeppelin. She tried in vain to prevent a TV appearance of the band. Nevertheless, she did win a small battle. During their Scandinavian tour in 1970, the band briefly changed their name to "The Nobs." They never played under this name again.
Robert Plant warmed up his voice with slow Elvis songs
The Led Zeppelin singer himself talked about this ritual of his, even telling the King about it personally. Elvis Presley had invited the band into his hotel suite after one of his concerts in 1974. Robert Plant boldly sang one of Elvis's songs to him right then and there. The rest of the band held their breath, Jimmy Page reported later. But Elvis just grinned widely.
Jimmy Page appeared on television for the first time as a kid
Even the wildest rock stars used to be cute little ones. Jimmy Page appeared as early as 1957 on a BBC talent show. He was only 13 years old at the time, though in some YouTube clips the year 1958 is mentioned. Asked back then about his future plans, the young Page did not say that he wanted to become a musician, but that he wanted to do research and discover a cure for cancer.