Original subtitles

[cheering]

[music] Rocky

knocking in the door.

[music]

>> [music]

[music]

[music]

>> What made Led Zeppelin so unique as a

band were the four individuals who made

up the band. [music]

Before them there had been similar type

of bands, but the chemistry of [music]

those four individuals, they were just

the right people for that band at that

time.

>> If you listen to all the arms, you

you'll be able to listen to something

and say that sounds like Ze cuz it's a

sand. You know,

>> there was no yard stick for them. There

was no template, no blueprint. They

couldn't look at 20 other bands [music]

and go, "Oh, okay. That's what they're

doing. We're going to adapt this."

>> How do you feel about the Beatles? We're

completely unlike the breeds that are

sort of in our music.

>> Virtually every guitarist that ever

strapped on a Gibson

sounds like a [ __ ] compared to Jimmy

Paige cuz he wrote the rule book for

heavy rock guitar.

>> We knew we were appreciated by the fact

that people were coming along to see us

in such great vast numbers, but no one

expected this.

Whether you love them or hate them, you

cannot take away the fact that they are

probably one of the most [music]

influential rock bands of all time.

>> Their whole idea of of music from the

beginning of time was for for people to

be happy.

>> Unquestionably the best heavy metal band

there ever was. They were never

seriously challenged.

>> Sydney. FANTASTIC.

[cheering]

[applause]

>> [music]

[music]

>> Hey girl, stop what you doing.

Hey girl, you drive me to ruin.

I don't know what it is about you that a

lot. Such a lot.

But I know, baby, that you got a lot.

That's what I [music] want.

Communication Breakdown.

>> Communication Breakdown was a sharpened

up version of the song Train Kept

Rolling that Jimmy Page used to play

with the Yard Birds.

>> It explodes basically into life. It's um

uh it's, you know, it's got a real

metallic crunch to it. It's they're up

and running straight away.

>> It tells you everything you want to know

about Led Zeppelin in two and a half

minutes. Jimmy Paige's guitar solo comes

in at like 1 minute 25 and it is just

the most ferocious exciting solo you've

ever heard in your life.

>> Led Zeppelin are known for their longer

pieces. So I think it's a really good um

illustration of the way Paige was able

to build a riff in take the other three

with him and create such intensity. And

behind it all is this tight tight rhythm

section of drum and bass which allows

Paige and Plant the freedom to cruise

around on the top before it all comes to

an abrupt climax.

>> John Bonum Communication Breakdown, a

classic track, I guess you call it. Just

that lovely open sound, the big bass

drum. You can feel it resonating

through. I'd say also you get that feel.

There was sort of an underlying almost

funk feel to his playing, those ghost

notes that he would play, very powerful,

very open. And again, all those phrases,

those pushes that he would do with Jimmy

Paige, which were classic trademark

playing styles of his.

>> Great drums, um, you know, solid bass.

The package is there. It's already

delivered to you. Um, straight off.

I've been dazed and confused.

So long is not true.

>> Daisy Confused um in the studio is is a

complete tour to force musical tour to

force live. It's an even bigger tour to

force because it goes on for ages.

>> The original was what 6 7 minutes long 8

minutes long something like that. the

improvisation within that track on stage

live could go anywhere.

>> By the time that I'd heard it being

played live, which was, you know, early

to mid70s on some of the old bootlegs,

it was 27 28 minutes plus.

>> I said you

telling all of your lies,

BABY, BABY, HOW you

>> This was where Zeppelin would just

string it out. um they would just be

having the time of their lives on stage.

They weren't they weren't confined to to

any sort of set pattern that perhaps the

studio version would have tied them to.

When you look at the old footage of them

playing it live, it's just amazing. I

can't think of many bands that would

manage to do that and hold you hold your

attention for 25 minutes. I think it's

the first instance where Jimmy Paige um

starts playing his guitar with the

violin bow,

>> stroking the strings and making all

sorts of atmospheric noises and then

striking it, striking the guitar strings

with the violo and sending the sound

spinning around the room.

>> It tells you Paige is the wildest

most incredibly ferocious guitarist that

had ever walked the earth. This was sort

of fantastic extrovert showmanship

coming from uh Paige and he's he uses it

as a sort of as a total sort of

showpiece for electric guitar playing.

[music]

>> I don't think anyone's ever really

matched his musicality and his uh

improvisation skills. He's a fabulous

guitarist, Jimmy Page. I don't think

anyone would argue with that. Perhaps

lacking the tastefulness of Beck and and

maybe lacking the inspired spontaneity

of Jimmyi Hendris. Um, still he managed

to sort of take uh the guitar solo to

Uncharted Waters. I actually think he

was the first guy to sort of to make the

rock, you know, rock god guitarist, a

sort of axe [music] hero. He sort of

more or less invented it.

>> [music]

>> Baby,

[music]

baby, baby, I'm going to leave you.

[music]

I said, "Baby,

baby,

[music]

I'm really gonna leave you." [music]

the track Babe, I'm going to leave you.

Um, it was obviously early in Led

Zeppelin's career and and a lot of

people uh were getting used to the the

way the band sounded and and and Robert

Plant of [music] course uh fantastic

voice and a very very unusual voice for

the time, soaked in the blues, but also

was bringing on this new tradition of

rock and roll music. You know,

>> Bay Going to Leave You was perfect for

Plant's early vocals. I mean, he had the

vibrancy of, you know, being able to get

the top end, the bottom end, and it had

a lot of emotion in it.

>> Robert Plant was a unique vocalist that

>> I don't think there's anyone like Robert

Plant, and he wasn't a afraid to fall on

his face. [music] And you can hear that

now. And when it works, it's just

spellbinding.

[music]

>> I'm not joking about it, baby.

I really mean that guy.

I've got to remember. [music]

>> There's an air of romanticism about it,

but um obviously with the hard edge of

the band um that sort of didn't it took

away any any sort of sugary sweetness

that you might sort of it might

otherwise have found. What you do get

with Babe, I'm going to leave you is is

plant nailing that that whailing baby

baby kind of thing that that almost

became one of his one of his very many

stocks in trade. Once in a while, if you

listen to a few live takes or bootlegs

or what have you, once in a while he

maybe takes things a bit too far. But in

the studio, I I don't think there's

anyone that could ever touch him for

that kind of primal rage that he came

out with.

>> What makes this so special, of course,

is that they were just starting out and

and you know, just to hear it sometimes

sends shivers down your spine.

John Baronham's drumming on Babe I'm

Going to Leave You is very sort of stop

start and disjointed, but it gives the

song a real dramatic quality.

>> Acoustically, uh, you know, it's all

going on, but then you've got a real

solid backbe from John Barnum.

>> It hits a kind of tribal groove. Um, and

and it's there that you see, I think,

from you you really start to see an

example of of the force of that John

Bonum was as a drummer. mix that with

John Paul Jones's baselines on that is

just an incredible song. The rhythm

section interacts in such an amazing way

on that song.

>> It's fairly simple what he's playing,

but just the weight and the intention

[music]

and um he just he knows when not to

play.

>> If anyone else played it, I think it

would just fall flat because it's so

ambitious in terms of this time

signatures and what they're trying to

do. They've got that center section

where it's just Bonham goes into that

wonderful rock and roll beat that he's

got

the open high hats. Big sound, big big

sound. That big bass drum just

resonating. The figures at the end of

those in that sort of bridge section at

the end of the verse where he's playing

all those figures in unison shows you

how tight he can be as a drummer as

well.

>> The way he's he's done that I think is

indicative of of the way he was going to

record many albums on from there. He was

a very very important part of Zeppelin.

the guy could do anything. Um, and and

that's a perfect example of him saying,

"Hey, look, I'm a young P, but boy am I

good."

>> How many more times [music]

treat me the way that you want to do?

How many more times?

[music]

treat me the way that you want to do.

>> How many more times is a great example

of Bonham really playing off John Paul

Jones because it's a very much a jazz

riff.

>> It starts with a almost almost a jazzy

kind of vibe to it. Um, which of course

is intrinsically linked to the rhythm

section led I guess by John Paul Jones's

bass playing. It's got a real groove to

I think it's important to remember that

John Paul Jones was as seasoned a

session musician as Paige was, if not

more.

>> John Paul Jones and and John Bonham

create this sort of stutter at the end

of the phrases da da da da da which is

great. It's really exciting and very

unusual. It's just a groove and you can

just feel Bonham and John Paul Jones

interacting in a kind of really funky

way and you could tell it's interesting.

You could tell they both listen to a lot

of soul music and a lot of James Brown.

>> The rhythm section in in uh in the track

is is indicative of how Zeppelin were

going to put the tracks together. I

think strong drumming, extremely strong

baseline. It moves towards a climax that

shuddters and grinds to a halt and it

finishes one of the most remarkable

albums that anyone had made at that

point. Not only does it end the whole of

Led Zeppelin one very well, but it I

think it sets the tone for what they

were going to do with Led Zeppelin 2 as

well, especially the very heavy blues

stuff that that that they're getting

into right at the end. playing Zeppelin

one. It was clearly a band that had been

out playing the stuff live, practicing

in the studio, and Paige had certainly

been playing it with other musicians or

a lot of the songs with other musicians.

So, by the time he got into the studio,

you know, you're talking the budget of

six or 700, £800 or something like that,

recorded in 4 days, you know, wham bam,

thank you, ma'am. And there's there's

the album. And and the proof was in the

pudding. It was the music that sold it.

>> [music]

>> You need fooling [music]

baby. I ain't fooling.

I'm going to send you

back to school [music]

down.

I'm going to give you my love. [music]

Whole lot of love

continues the swagger that they had

finished their first album with. Well,

it's the rift that the world, isn't it?

Everybody knows it and and it's a

calling card. It's like, hey, we're

here.

>> A whole lot of love is really the most

exciting rock and roll song in the world

ever, bar none.

>> The sexually charged midsection where

where Plant comes into his own, as it

were. Woman

26,000

languages.

Woman,

>> I think that's an interesting thing.

>> This one piece will [music] make 52

layers. Watch on mobile devices or the

big screen. All for free. No

subscription required.

>> It's got all the ingredients. I mean,

Plant's voice is undoubtedly one of the

best known moments in rock music. Um,

it's a bit risque. It's a bit dangerous.

It's a bit threatening. There's sort of

raw sexual energy. The drums

just hold you off. Almost like a kind of

woman teasing you and the drums just

hold you off. And then Jimmy Page just

comes in there with this fiery solo.

[music]

[music]

That really is about the most exciting

Led Zeppelin song and the most exciting

rock and roll moment I can think of in

history.

And I mean that.

>> And if I say to you [music] tomorrow,

take my hand, child, come with [music]

me

to a castle. I will take you.

[music]

But what's to be the [singing] same?

[music]

[music]

>> What isn't What should Never be was a

conscious effort by Led Zeppelin to try

something a bit different on their

second album.

>> What is and what should Never be follows

Whole Lot of Love on Led Zeppelin 2. And

it is contrasting. Um, and you've got

Love at Plant with lyrics that, you

know, are beginning to mean something.

It's very dreamy. The whole atmosphere

of that track is really dreamy.

>> There's moments where you'd be, it's

easy to think that it's not actually

rock music. It's so mellow and dreamy.

It's just got this great sort of almost

Sunday afternoon kind of dreamy vibe

about it. And then when they would get

to the main riff, John Bonham would

attack the drum kit, you know, as only

John Bonham could, and it would suddenly

be a huge rock sound.

[music]

>> What is What should Never be was to be a

hallmark of Led Zeppelin song

constructions.

>> [music]

[music]

>> Hey, have you heard the news?

>> Heartbreaker is is a a riff again and

it's a blues riff except he's very

clever because it it shifts. It goes up

a tone musically and it changes key

which was quite unusual for a rock band

to actually change key quite so

dramatic. So it goes from one key to

another key and goes back again.

[music]

I don't care what the people say. I know

what

I do.

>> The song is all about the the musical

interaction between Robert's voice and

Jimmy's guitar.

>> Plant is at his very best here. Um it's

sort of heartfelt. Again, a lot of raw

sexual energy going on. Uh that's the

undertone.

>> This is again a fine example of Jimmy

Paige conjuring up this magical riff

seemingly out of nowhere that's so

simple. I'd say the rhythm section

dominates it more than Paige implant.

And you can't often say that about a

Zeppelin track.

>> Wonderful bass drum technique when he

goes into that cut time feel, double

time feel. He's just playing that open

ride symbol, just giving it all he has.

>> When you listen to it live, it just

shows what a different band Led Zeppelin

were playing live compared to in the

studio. They were great in the studio.

They were more than highly proficient,

but no matter how hard they tried, they

never captured the the essence of what

the band were like live.

>> Live, Heartbreaker was another song that

could get extended from anything up to

10, 15 minutes.

>> And you can just tell that um they're

having the time of their lives. It may

not be the most complicated of Led

Zeppelin songs. certainly doesn't

feature the most complicated set of Led

[music] Zeppelin lyrics, but it's all

about feel. Blues is essentially all

about feel, and this this song has got

it.

[music]

From

[music]

[screaming]

[music]

the land [music] of the ice and snow

of the go

drive our ships to new Immigrant

Song is a classic that became an instant

show opener for the band almost as soon

as they'd written it. By now, Led

Zeppelin were oozing confidence from

every pore. And you can tell in the way

that Paige, John Paul Jones, and Bonham

all batter the riff to insensibility in

their own little individual ways. It

comes thundering out the speakers. It

must have scared the hell out of the

clergy at the time. They wouldn't know

what the hell was going on. Bang.

Straight in your face. It's demonic.

It's it's it sounds almost it it it's

not evil, but it's it's medicine.

[screaming]

[music]

The lyrics are inspired not by Celtic

mysticism but by Norse mysticism come

from the land of the ice and snow. You

know, hammer of the gods, Valh Hower, I

am coming. That, you know, this is all

inspired by the Vikings. I mean,

obviously Robert was on a bit of a

Viking trip.

>> He got the idea for the lyrics when the

band stopped off in Iceland on route to

an American tour and played a show

there. I think years later, Robert Plant

said the lyrics really didn't mean that

much. Um, but then that's quite often

the way with rock songs, isn't it?

They've written what they want to write

and we as fans and and listeners

interpret what we want into it. And for

me, that was definitely and has remained

one of the best Zeppelin tracks ever.

>> [music]

>> When you shake that thing, make

[music]

>> Black Dog is the latest in Led

Zeppelin's storming album openers. And

by now, their bludgeoning riffs were

starting to develop some fish quirks.

The twist on this one comes from a jam

between John Paul Jones and John Bonham.

And it's almost as if they can't quite

believe how good they are at it. Black

Dog is the opening track on Led Zeppin 4

itself. Probably one of the greatest

greatest rock albums of all time. It

couldn't have opened in a more

astonishingly appealing fashion. I mean,

there's that. It's almost like Paige is

winding his guitar up at the beginning

as just a little sort of couple of

seconds of and then bang, they're off.

Hey, hey, mama. Going to make you

groove. Going to make you sweat. Going

to make you move. What else do you want

to know about life? What else do you

want to know about Led Zeppelin?

You know, that's it. All in two two

lines, the whole lot. All said and done.

Perfect.

[music]

>> [music]

>> when it gets into the sort of the main

body of the song. Uh it's it's another

classic page rock and roll riff. Simple,

effective, and powerful.

[music]

lonely.

>> Rock and roll. Um, one of the most loved

Zeppelin tracks. Uh, not one of my

favorites as it happens. Rock and roll

sums up everything that they they, you

know, they were about. And like Black

Dog opens with Paige winding his guitar

up and letting fly. Uh, rock and roll

opens with a little flourish from from

um, John Bonum. Open high hats washing.

See those high hats? If you ever see

them, just sort of washing in the wind.

That's what we say as drummers. Ringo

used to do that. Charlie Watts to some

degree in a different form of course,

but the principle was the same. Just

that wonderful wash of high hat going

all the way through the song. If you

listen to what he's doing on the bass

drum, he sounds like he's got four

drummers playing at four different bass

drums. He's just [music] incredible. And

yet, he's not showing off at all. He was

able to do the work of two or three

different guys. You don't need

percussionists when it comes to Led

Zeppelin.

>> [music]

>> I think why people like it so much. It

was a little bit of light relief to the

kind of heaviness of Led Zeppelin. It

was almost like it had [music] elements

of a pop hit single about it. It was

actually very catchy. They've listened

to a lot of other rock bands by [music]

this point and they've kind of made an

amalgam of all those bands in something

that's very very commercial without it

being a [music] single as such. It's

about the most mainstream that Led Zepp

ever got and um I think actually brought

in some new fans for them as well.

Heat. Heat.

[music]

[music]

>> [music]

>> lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time.

[music]

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

[music]

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

[music]

>> [music]

>> Lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely

time.

[music]

>> [applause and cheering]

>> on three you had sort of you know um

mandolins and doul singers you know have

you done anything different on on your

new album? Um there's about there's uh

two two tracks with acoustic going to

California. That's mandolin again on

acoustic guitar.

>> Yeah.

>> You know it's just sort of um songs that

you know that we write and do at the

particular time that an album

>> you know and we say right we're going to

put on an album as

>> and we you know we do the songs that we

were that we writing that particular

time. So the next one will probably be

different still you know.

>> Yeah.

>> [music]

[music]

[music]

>> There's a way who sure [music] all that

glitters is gold and she's falling

stairway to heaven. [music]

>> Stairway to heaven. What can you say

about it?

>> It's a fine track. It's an [music]

awesome piece of music.

>> It's obviously one of the most popular

tracks.

>> It got bigger than life for Led

Zeppelin.

>> Is it Led Zeppelin's finest moment? Yes.

>> Immense amounts of money made out of

sales.

>> Is it one of the greatest songs ever

written? Yes.

>> Radio play.

>> Is it the greatest song ever written?

Yes, it is. [music]

>> Etc., etc.

her way to heaven.

There's a sign on the [music] wall and

she wants to be sure cuz you know

[music] sometimes words have two

meanings

[music]

in the tree.

>> Is Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin's

finest [music] moment? I don't think so

by any means. That's the song that

separates the tourists from the purists

in terms of Led Zeppelin's fans. It's a

song that people love when they hear it

on the radio. If you go to real Zepads,

I think it's one of the last songs

they'd pick because familiarity does

breed contempt and you hear that song

way too much.

>> There's some strange uh some strange

statistic that if you lined up every

time it's being played on American

radio, it would just be playing all the

time. And that's over the past sort of

30 years.

>> As Robert Plant says, it was the right

song at the right time. And it's not his

fault that in [music] years to come it

became more of a cliche.

If there's a bustle in your [singing]

head, don't be alarmed. Now it's just a

sprinkling for the queen. [music]

Yes, there are two

by. [music and singing] In the long run,

there's still time to change the road

you're on.

>> Stairway to Heaven has wonderful vocals,

beautiful guitar playing, especially the

guitar playing, beautiful rhythm

section, everything. It's got the

lyrics, it's got the feel, it's got the

power, it's it's a 10-minute plus epic

and live, it's it's even better. Um, but

the track was ripped off.

The main riff for the song comes from an

instrumental by the West Coast band

Spirit that Jimmy Paige had heard.

>> To me, it was sacrilege to bring an

bring a track out, bring an album out

with a track like Stairway to Heaven and

not openly acknowledge where this has

come from. But if you can close your

mind off to all the distractions about

the song and everything that has

surrounded the song since, the original

magic is still there on the record.

And as we wind down the road, [music]

our shadow sto.

[music]

[music]

[music]

If you listen very hard,

>> if you split

the Zep career in two, the first four

albums, you know, they're exploded out

of the blocks, then they're finding

their feet [music] and understanding who

they are and they they reach that point

with with Led Z 4. From then on, they

can't [music] repeat themselves. So,

they've got to keep on pushing the

boundaries out. And um and that's

[music] what you start to hear in Houses

of the Holies. After the critical

acclaim that was heaped upon Led

Zeppelin 4, Houses of the Holy got a bit

of a muted response at the time from the

critics and the fans basically because

it was the first time Led Zeppelin had

dared to sort of uh move away from the

whole, you know, the rock blueprint.

The album itself seemed a little bit

more fragmented than Le Zeppelin 4, uh,

which had had a a great cohesion to it,

a real power, you know, a real sort of

brooding intensity. Uh, this one was was

um a collection of separate songs

really. It didn't didn't really seem to

have that that that kind of consistency.

[music] It was really a period where

they were beginning to mature musically

and I think that reflected in how the

album felt whether it was what Led

Zeppelin fans expected [music]

didn't matter to them and I think that's

the important thing they were pleasing

themselves and creatively they needed to

do that. People thought up until that

point they knew exactly what to expect

of Led Zeppelin Bulls out rock and

[music] roll and of course they moved

into all these other areas and it just

confused people.

Oh,

baby, please

don't go.

[music]

When I read the letter, you wrote me my

mind.

When I read the words,

made me sad.

>> You know, the crud [music] d you make

all a bit uh sort of tongue and cheek.

Um, the crud coming from uh an idea of a

of an impossible dance and they even

toyed with the idea of putting the dance

steps on the album cover so that you

know to show that you know so I think

they were just having fun

>> at a time in the mid70s early to mid70s

when most people in the UK didn't really

have an idea about reggae they

introduced that sound with through

Jamaica

>> Jamaica is a fantastic track you know a

lot of people have called it cod reggae

you know which is just harsh that's kind

of saying if you're white You can't play

reggae music, you know. Well, [music]

Bob Marley also played rock music, so

you know, it's bollocks basically.

>> Don't go.

>> It was purely those throwaway tracks,

Jamaica, The Crunch, which which seemed

to me and probably weren't thrown

together in the studio. there probably a

lot of thought going behind it and

subsequent uh reviews you you know when

when the album's come out and it's been

remastered or stuck on CD have claimed

that um you know Zeppelin were being

really bold and experimental by by

trying a bit of raggy on Jamaica but at

the time in the cold light of day when

the album came out you just thought hang

on a minute what are these guys playing

the door.

I got a date. I can't be late.

[music] It was a more sophisticated

sound from earlier Zap and it worked

pretty well. I mean, the American market

lapped it up.

>> [music]

>> The title was inspired by um the fact

that Zeppelin at this point were playing

bigger and bigger venues. Um obviously

particularly in the states uh you know

the typical American enorm domes um and

I think Robert Plant described them

because they were just so big as the

houses of the holy as if they were sort

of giant cathedrals. It reflects in

tracks like the ocean for example which

uh planned [music] basically the the

theme of the song lyrically is about you

know those sea of faces that he's

looking out at now you know the ever

expanding audience

the 1973 US tour which was off the back

of the house early album is the tour

where Led Zeppelin went from being a

very good lock band to a complete rock

institution the first two dates in

Atlanta and Tampa they played to 90,000

people. Atlanta was 49,000. The opening

day of a US tour. [music] That's a

phenomenal amount of people.

>> House of the Holy was was a departure

from the fourth album obviously because

it had a title which is more than we had

before. Although obviously it didn't

have the band's name on the cover. So we

were still uh slightly confused. It is

the spring

of my loving

the second season. [music]

I am to know

you are the sunlight in [music] my

growing

little warm [music]

I felt before.

>> It's got the angular riffs. It's got

Jimmy Paige at his peak still

particularly dancing days is an obvious

one. Song remains the same but there's

lighter stuff you know you got the rain

song which is like a pastoral symphony

um very different to what anything

they've done before.

[music]

[music]

The rain song itself is is a beautifully

flowing almost ethereal evocative

[music] folky piece. It's so well

presented. You you can actually have the

vision in [music] your mind of the

country, the English countryside. It's a

very English song.

[music]

houses capitalize on, you [music] know,

more orchestrated sounds, synth sounds

instead of staying in a very uh sort of

guitar oriented format.

>> It's an album uh by a band that had been

around the world several times, shagged

a lot of girls, taken a lot of drugs,

and you know, this was this was them

looking back at the last few years.

[music]

as the success grew, [music] as the

audiences grew, um I think their

arrogance grew as well. And it would do.

They were, you know, [music] mid20s

millionaires and, you know, you play to

60,000 people, you're not going to

switch off the light at the end of the

night, you know, go to bed. You're going

to [music] have a good time. And Led

Zeppelin knew how to have a good time.

>> [music]

>> They were, you know, gods on stage and

they were, you know, animals off it.

That's that's that's purely it, you

know. And I think the the the whole

Zeppelin bandwagon was was geared to

that um kind of behavior. Peter Grant

went up to uh Bob Dylan backstage in the

mid70s and introduced himself as Led

Zeppelin um manager and Bob Bob Dylan

said, "I don't come to you with my

problems, so don't come to me with

yours." He was looking after these four

wild men of rock who had been let loose

on the world.

>> They had so much money they didn't know

what to do with, you know, the alcohol's

there, the drugs are there, the women

are there. Who wouldn't do it? They they

would and could hire out an entire floor

of a hotel for themselves and then just

party there.

>> Bestial sex obviously on the menu at

some point. allegedly

>> the whole shark incident in Seattle, you

know, with a groupy and the sharks being

um distributed in certain orififices and

uh you know, Jimmy Payne with all those

naked girls in jacuzzi's and you know,

black magic, the red snapper, be it

about the outrageous antics in hotels,

television sets being thrown out of

windows, Led Zeppelin never debunked the

myths at all. They allowed the mist

[music] to carry on, which means to this

day, a quarter of a century after they

split up, the mists are still as

enormous as they were at [music] that

time.

>> They personified everything that we now

perceive to be, you know, um either from

a cliched piss tape point of view, the

[music] spinal tap thing, or the serious

balls out rock and roll thing. You know,

these guys invented [music] the rock and

roll rule book.

>> [music]

>> Led Zeppelin above everything, above the

myths, uh above the road [music] fever,

the excesses was about the music and

that is what fueled the success and

[music] fueled their motive. motivation

to go out and play those songs live to

that amount of people. Uh it was never

just about let's just have a good time.

It had to be let's move on. Let's once

we get in, [music] you know, to the

studio, let's creatively move on.

[music]

>> All I want

for you to do

is take my [music] body.

You don't get as big as Led Zeppelin

unless you've got that [music] belief in

yourself. It's not arrogance, it's

belief. And they, you know, believed and

they to believe they must know. They

knew how good they were. They knew how

big they were going to be

>> and were huge by the time that um

Physical Graffiti came out. It was an

album people have waited for for a long

time. Um and when it came out, I don't

think it disappointed very many people.

Bearing in mind in my view the

comparative disappointment of Houses of

the Holy

in comparison to its predecessor Zep 4,

suddenly Zeppelin come back on form with

this just really really daunting,

powerful, moody, mesmerizing

project called Physical Graffiti.

>> You know, it was their first Swan song,

their own label. They'd set up their own

label. It was their their their first

release. So possibly they thought, you

know, we want to make it pretty special.

>> The eight tracks got for their sixth

album as it was going to be were too

long for the old vinyl album. I think it

clocked in about 53 minutes, something

like that. So the idea was, do we shove

a couple of the tracks? Didn't really

want to. They're all quality. Uh or do

we go with a double album? Uh, I should

say just over 50% of the stuff is new

and some of the stuff is old crazy

stuff, you know, really good stuff that

we thought we can't keep it in the can

any longer. Let's put it out, you know.

>> Yeah.

>> So, it's about 50/50.

>> Couple of things off Zep 4.

Nightflight's one of them. The Rover is

is from House of the Holy. What else is

it? Down by the seaside is Z 3. Uh,

Boogie with Stew is kind of the same

session they did Rock and Roll with um

Ian Stewart from the Rolling Stones camp

playing piano.

>> I mean, Houses of the Holy, the track

doesn't appear on Houses of the Holy,

but it does appear on physical graffiti.

Um, does that mean that it was like a

throwaway track? So, does that then

mean, oh, these were just the tracks

that were left over and they thought,

well, we'll bung them out and and, you

know, give something to the fan. I don't

really feel that that's the case.

>> People said, oh, it's a bit excessive,

isn't it? It was a bit indulgent. A

double album. Well, it's 15 songs. And

in this day and age when we're talking

about CDs, a lot of albums come out as

single albums with 15 songs. 10 of which

are fillers. Three of which are okay and

two of which are rather good. There are

15 great songs on physical graffiti. You

listen to it from beginning to end and

you know hardressed to find a bad song

on there.

>> We did it in different stages. I should

say altogether the new stuff took about

um

four or five months you know but nothing

was there was no continuous work

employed at all you know we worked so

long and then suddenly we feel maybe we

should take a rest for a bit that's

that's Led Zeppelin really the tracks

that really define what Led Zeppelin are

all about if you needed to explain to

someone who had no idea who or what they

were if you just played them custard pie

um cashmere in my time of dying.

It would tell you everything you need to

know.

Well, I'm [music]

falling down.

>> Zeppelin, I think, just pulled it off,

you know. They they they they

just had a they had two albums worth of

material and each song was just

fantastic and the overall atmosphere

that permeated physical graffiti was was

was something else as well. It was um it

was a very consistent very moody album

and and the songs flowed. Uh that

atmosphere was all pervasive.

>> It was a representation of what they did

best. So there was the best rock tracks,

the blues tracks, the light and shade,

[music] the acoustic. Uh, every area

that up to that point they' covered was

covered well. You got the eastern

influence coming in with Kashmir. You've

got the um esoteric feel of in the light

and you got the basic rockers which they

can just do in their sleep. [music]

I swear

I like your

good.

Custard Pie kind of rewrote the rule

book of rock and roll. I I would say in

however [music] long that is, 4 minutes,

5 minutes, whatever. It's it's just so

edgy and um on the money there. You can

see the band just looking at each other

in the room. There's such a vibe there,

you know. It It really defined it. Also,

I think defined the sound of a good rock

and roll record. It was so perfect.

And right from the opening of Custard

Pie, which is about oral sex by the way,

not about culinary activities, all the

way through to the Rover, 10 years gone,

the Wanton song, Bronny or Boogie with

Stew, and of course Kashmir and Trampled

Underfoot. It's just an album full of

tremendous songs. A band at their

absolute peak.

>> Kashmir is one of the best on there. I

think for a lot of Zep, Big Z fans, it's

probably the all-time best Zep track.

>> [music]

[music]

[music]

>> Let the sun beat down upon my face.

Stay with the [music] heavens just

penetrated everything from movies to you

name it u to advertising [music] stuff

but Kashmir um is a step further. It's

more it's much more of an orchestrated

piece. It's got a great melody which

everybody remembers. Robert Plant is

chanting rather than singing. And it's

the way that it actually sort of is

allowed to roll through. There is no

sense of rush. There's no sense of being

extended or elongated. And over the

years, it's become such [music] a

catchphrase for everything in Eastern

inspiration through rock. [music]

>> It's a very strange world [music] Robert

Plant was driving through when he wrote

that song um in Morocco. You know, he

went on this long journey, I think, that

took him two days [music] just down a

straight road. And that's the original

song was called Driving to Kashmir. You

know, there's so much vibe in that

record. It's it's it's dark. Actually,

the lyrics are, I think, quite

optimistic, a lot of them, but the vibe

of the record is just dark.

>> They somehow, and I still don't know how

they've done it to this day, they

they've amalgamated that that very very

atmospheric Middle Eastern feel into a

song of of enormous power. They brought

in

brass players and like a horn section

and and and string players, you know,

they never use session musicians or

really thought about that before.

Brilliant production as well from Jimmy

Paige. It's it's very basic [music] the

production. It's it could have easily

been overloaded with things, but it

wasn't. It was allowed [music] to be

what it should be. Again, serendipity

played his part. Another time, another

studio, another album. Maybe it would

have been overbalanced. This [music]

time it works brilliantly.

[music]

If you're looking for for a track

[music] from Led Zeppelin that uh that

would silence critics and go, "Yeah,

yeah." I mean, they've got their

moments, [music] but you know, they're

just a bit rock and roll really. You

know, here was a here was a track that

that [music] couldn't be missed for its

dynamic, you know, intent.

>> Had Led Zeppelin's career finished with

Physical Graffiti, in some respects,

[music] it might have been the perfect

place to end because The Only Way seemed

to be down after that. The tour began in

the States in [music] 1975 and again

massive tour two legs again playing huge

places got to the point where now if

they booked the [music] you know Los

Angeles Lee's forum it wasn't going to

be two nights it wasn't going to be

three it was five it was six you know it

was you know so many people wanted to

[music] see them at this point

they [music] were going through a lot of

problems by the mid70s I mean it's a

whole myth was growing up about Jimmy

Paige's fascination with Alistister

Crowley uh and black magic and dabbling

in that aspect and the way [music] that

bad karma was starting to affect the

band. And in 1975

when Robert [music] Plant had a car

crash when he was with his wife at the

time Moren and roads in Greece people

suddenly were were talking about oh

that's it the bad [music] car was

starting to hit home and they had to

actually push back the recording of

presence a little bit because of that

car crash. Robert Plant and Jimmy Paige

composed [music] a lot of the material

uh while in Malibu or Hawaii or

somewhere [music] while he was

recuperating from the accident. Um you

know so they were in a in a much in a a

nice mellow environment but very

different [music] to where they'd been

before. Then they went into rehearsals

and and Plant was, you know, sitting in

an armchair with his leg up, you know,

singing. And even he said it was just so

odd to be with Zeppelin like in his

armchair trying to, you know, deliver.

Presence is definitely not Led

Zeppelin's best album, but it's still a

great Led Zeppelin record. You know, I

think maybe the songs weren't as as um

timeless as a lot of the material that

they'd released before that.

>> Some people say it's a lesser part of

their cannon. I would disagree. I think

it's one of the most vital things they

ever did. It's edgy, uncomfortable,

guitar, bass, drums, bass, lacks the

diversity of some of the earlier albums

or the other albums, but what it's got

is immense power. Achilles Last Stand,

For Your Life. This is a band on the

edge, challenged. Their whole lifestyle

is in is now in question. The lead

singer can't walk. They can't tour. You

know, they're challenged. And that

brought out the best certainly in Jimmy

Paige.

>> Jimmy Paige took a greater control over

it. A lot of the compositioning was his,

production was his and uh he said

himself, "This album is us with our

backs against the walls screaming really

loudly was his quote." [music] Um, so

there's a there's a there's a power from

the album.

Any

album that opens up with 11 minutee long

track called Achilles Last Stand that is

just this enormous swirling rock and

roll statement.

How can you not like that? I think

Achilles Last Stand, had it been written

earlier, and who knows, maybe it was,

but it it actually would have fitted in

very very well with the material that

was on side one and two of physical

graffiti. It it had that sort of very

full vibrant sound that Led Zeppelin

managed to achieve really from House of

Holy Onwards.

It's a a fully orchestrated track. It's

it's uh it's again one of those sort of

epic Kashmiri type tracks. Stay with the

heaven. It's in its length and it's and

it's it whole shape and and color.

[music]

[music]

fast.

[music]

>> The urgency of the playing in that

album, the questioning, you know, of the

lyrics, the lyrical content is very

questionable. Plant saying, well, you

know, I've got this far and yet, you

know, it can all stop within seconds.

You know, you know, we're at the top of

the tree and suddenly I have a car crash

and everything stopped. And I think that

changed a lot of his thinking [music]

out of that worrying period. they came

back stronger and presence if you listen

to it in that context

is a very emotional and a very powerful

edgy record.

>> The sound of presence is slightly raw

raer but it was recorded over a much

shorter period of time than physical

graffiti was. Um but yeah I mean it's

back down to a single album and even

though you open with like an 11 minute

song the songs are starting to get

shorter. It is almost as if they're

aware of the changing kind of mood of

music and even though it's very majestic

all the way through and just very very

zeppelin um it's quite raw and it does

[music] rock. any other band would be

delighted to have made presence, but I

think with Led Zeppelin, maybe it isn't

seen as one of the real classics, you

know, among amongst the fans. [music]

And and you know, I think the songs

aren't as tight or as timeless, but I

think the playing is still fantastic.

[music]

>> [music]

>> when the world

when they [music] regrouped and started

In through the Outdoor, a lot of people

felt something had gone out of the band.

and you listen to Into the Outdoor and

there are people who regard it as their

weak point.

>> When it first came out, I just thought

it was an album without takes to be

honest with you. I didn't really realize

it was a new album.

>> It wasn't recorded in in [music] Britain

or America. It was actually recorded in

ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm.

>> So, they went away to Stockholm. Jimmy

was going through huge drug problems. I

don't think it's any secret at that

point. The motivation for Paige because

of his house wasn't really there. So

what you finding with that album, it's

not a Jimmy Page album. It's a John Paul

Jones album.

>> John Paul Jones got his keyboards back

out for for the album. I think he was

strictly on bass for uh for the

preceding record presence. Um which

which lends it, you know, a slightly

more lightweight feel.

>> There are some ideas on In through the

Outdoor [music] that don't quite work.

It's got more sort of synthesizer kind

of sounds on it, which would have been a

bit alien to a lot of sort of Zet fans.

It's a much more light-hearted record,

I'd say. Um, and it's less straight out

rock and roll, you know, they're

stretching out into a lot of other

territories.

>> In the evening, [music] Caris Alumbra,

these these are pretty good songs. Um,

you know, I mean, in the evening, it

that's got the whole that's that's, you

know, the sort of the the creepy

mysticism and then the stomping rock. In

the evening is a is a fantastic opening

track. [music] It says, "Here we are

again." And pages on form for that.

a very very good taunting track typical

of the stuff that Zeppelin would use to

open a show or open a um an album

[music] and you saw that with Presence

with Nobody's Fault but Mine. It's in

the same vein as that

>> again very sort of almost slightly

laidback.

late night in a bar with smoke filled

rooms type of atmosphere to them. And

there's some very good music on on In

through the [music] Outdoor.

>> They were very aware of the the onset of

punk and that a lot of these kind of 70s

guys were going to land up looking like

dinosaurs. They were very aware of that

and so I think they were moving on at

that point and were

not going to be left behind and and

looking out of date really. They were

fascinated by what we now know as world

music at the time. And you listen to

something like All My Love, which is

Robert Plant's song to his late son. And

it's a [music] wonderful piece of music.

And it really has a sense of emotion and

presence in there as it were. Yours is

the cloth. Mine is the hand that serves

time.

His is the force that lies within.

Ours is the fire all [music] the we can

find.

He is a [singing] feather in the wind.

All of my love. [music]

All of my love.

All of my love

to you now.

All of my love.

Oh

yes. [music] All of my love.

>> The standout track is All My Love. Um

which is just so so sensitive and so so

well rendered and and has has become,

you know, I think quite a little

Zeppelin classic um in it in its quiet

way. And I think if people [music] take

that song in isolation

>> and listen to it and then you tell them

[music] it's off in through the outdoor,

you'll think, "Hang a minute, that was

on Led Zeppelin 3. It was on Liz Zeppin

4. Now it was on In through the

Outdoor."

>> All My Love is from Robert's point of

view is a very reflective song. [music]

I mean, obviously, you know, uh um

coming back and writing lyrically, you

know, when you've lost your son, it is,

you know, you're not going to sing uh

really [music] upbeat, happy songs a

lot. You want you're going to be in it

some sort of reflective state.

[music]

>> They use strings in there. Um and it was

technically [music]

very very well put together and I think

today actually stands they stand out as

tracks that are easy very easy to listen

to. They may not be typical Zeppelin or

classic Zeppelin, but they're actually

more listenable in some ways than some

of the earlier material was ever going

to be.

>> I mean, yeah, they they they there are a

couple of songs on there that I mean,

the Hot Hot Dog, which is, you know, I

mean, I love country music, but I don't

really want to hear Led Zeppelin take

tackle country music.

>> So, when you look at this album, In

Through the Outdoor, you've got

Southbound Sorz,

not my favorite at all. Fall in the

rain, it's okay. Hot dog, which is

complete and utter rubbish. So you got

really three bad tracks out of seven.

[music]

As an album, I don't [music] think it

holds together quite as well as what

went before. It's possibly, and this is

all comparative, the weakest of Led

[music] Zeppelin's studio albums.

However, it's still got enough strong

moments on it to make it far [music]

more than just a throwaway record which

marked the end of a career and something

to be buried under a carpet.

>> There isn't a sense of closure about In

through the Outdoor. is a sound of a

band who know who they are and they know

what they've done but they're also aware

that if they're going to carry on,

they've got to [music] be able to not

match what's happening but move with the

times and and adapt their sound

accordingly.

>> They were ready to carry on. You know,

there was new places to go and I think

Into the Outdoor was a launch pad for

what was going to be the next step. But

ultimately, they didn't get to the next

step. None of them would have realized

that when they recorded In through the

Outdoor, it would be the last record

that the four of them would ever record

with each other. You know, no one knew

that what was what happened to John

Bonner was going to happen to him.

[music]

They book a [music] month in America to

be in the October and that was going to

be the first part of what they were

going to call the Led Zeppelin 1980s

[music]

um campaign and it was going to go into

Europe the next year and then good plans

and they were going to be called an

album and it was all going on. It was

you know [music] the morale was good. So

all that was ready to go when the

rehearsal [music]

for the first um US dates was set up in

Bray Studios and that's where John

Bonham arrives very drunk [music] and

he's plainly not that well and he's not

that fit to play. I think they played

for about an hour. Um they're all

staying [music] at Jimmy Pa's house in

Windsor and they all went back. John Bon

was put to bed. [music] Um and that was

the end of it. John Bull Jones tells the

story that he woke up in the morning. Um

John Bottom hadn't got up. Um they left

until about 2 or 3 in the [music]

afternoon.

John Paul Jones goes up to stir him. No

answer. Goes in and he was dead. Um he

was dead. He died. Choked on his own

vomit. [music]

When John died, uh there were definitely

tremors, you know, felt throughout the

uh the music world. Um

purely because he was just such a

fantastic drummer and indeed created

those tremors, you know, when when he

when he hit his drum skins. I mean, he's

just got such a unique style to me. To

me, you always when I listen to him, it

just sounds like he he's playing drums

while he's falling off the edge of a

cliff.

>> John Bonham was certainly the the most

um exciting rock and roll drummer I

think there's ever been. Um he also he

also invented what we now know as heavy

rock drumming. An

>> absolute showoff at what he did, which

was part of the magic and the brilliance

of his drumming. But technically he was

not a brilliant drummer. He wasn't not

brilliant, but he he wasn't out he

wasn't superb. He was big because of the

band he was in, but he was more than

able to carry it off as well.

>> He was so integral to Led Zeppelin. So

that when he died and Led Zeppelin

basically said, "We're not carrying on,"

everyone [music] understood.

>> Plants right the moment John Bonham was

gone. No Led Zeppelin.

>> [music]

>> It would have been fascinating to hear

what they would have come [music] up

with if they'd have carried on certainly

for a couple more years. I mean, I'm

sure at some point they would have

probably all felt, well, this is it. We

can't do any more than we've done. um go

our separate ways. But um I think that's

that's something that's possibly haunted

Jimmy Paige more than anyone else.

>> If you listen to any of the artists solo

albums, you know, you listen to Robert

Plant's solo albums when he where he's

gone on and made quite a number since

Zeppelin split up or ended. And Jimmy

Paige has had sporadic efforts. John

Paul Jones has as well, but not one of

those solo albums has been anywhere near

in the class of any one of the Led

Zeppelin albums. And I think it's a

classic case of the sum of all the parts

made up an absolutely brilliant band.

sounds [music] my ear.

No matter what I heard, could I relate?

The story [music and singing] was quite

clear.

>> I don't know anybody in the US who

wouldn't hail them as the definitive

band. Absolutely. And I mean in some

quarters they are the heavy metal band.

You know, I'm sure they hate that. Uh

but they were the template. You know,

Zephr often called a heavy metal band,

which is completely wrong. They're just

a a really really awesome powerful rock

band. The band were brilliant live.

The band had their moments of brilliance

in the studio, but in [music] many

cases, they were grossly overrated as as

this super hyped, brilliant band. There

were other bands that were just as good,

if not better. They're not the most

influential band. They're the most

influential rock band. So they wrote the

rules and defined the rules for rock and

roll in the 70s. In a 100 years time,

you want to know what rock and roll is?

This is it. You just you basically play

people three or four Led Zeppelin

albums. That's rock and roll.

My baby

son

baby

my baby.

Oh my baby.

Sweet, sweet.

[music]