All language subtitles for Tragic Stories About Led Zeppelin.en

They defined the phrase "sex, drugs and rock
and roll" — but offstage, the members of

Led Zeppelin didn't have it easy.

From facing countless death threats to losing
one of their own, tragedy seemed to follow

the band wherever it went.

Although he's now hailed as one of the most
iconic rock frontmen of all time, Robert Plant

once suffered from crippling self-confidence
issues.

Plant was still just a teen when Led Zeppelin
first hit the road in 1968, and the screaming

masses were too much for him at first.

Critics weren't kind to Led Zeppelin, and
Plant, being the face and voice of the band,

often took the brunt of their abuse.

After attending a 1969 show, Jon Landau wrote
in Rolling Stone:

"I saw little more than Robert Plant's imitations
of sexuality."

Meanwhile, Rolling Stone's John Mendelsohn
slammed his "prissy" appearance.

The cruel words deeply affected Plant, who
was already prone to self-doubt.

In fact, band manager Peter Grant admitted
to Barny Hoskyns, author of "Led Zeppelin

IV,” that he had to hide bad reviews from
him.

And, as author Stephen Davis noted in his
biography "Hammer of the Gods," Grant sometimes

had to comfort an anxiety-wracked Plant just
to get him on stage.

These issues, which also made him hesitant
to write lyrics, caused bandleader Jimmy Page

to consider him the group's weak point.

As a result, Plant was initially paid less
than tour manager Richard Cole and wasn't

credited on the band's first album.

Following Led Zeppelin's 1970 tour, Cole noted
in Hoskyns' book:

"More than anyone, Robert seemed on the brink
of collapse."

"I had always thought there's another thing
I can do there's another thing I can do."

"But it's a terrible drug being a good singer."

While touring America in 1973, Led Zeppelin
partied hard in New Orleans.

The band was staying at the Royal Orleans
Hotel in the French Quarter, which was notorious

for its rowdy nightlife.

There, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones
invited a person named Stephanie back to his

hotel room, unaware that she was a drag queen,
and calamity ensued.

Jones and Stephanie had smoked a joint together
and fell asleep before properly extinguishing it.

The still-lit joint then ignited the bed sheets
and started an inferno, prompting firefighters

to break down the door.

When they did, they allegedly discovered Jones
and Stephanie unconscious and in varying states

of undress.

Robert Plant later immortalized this version
of the incident in the 1976 Led Zeppelin song

"Royal Orleans."

But in a 2001 interview for Lemon Squeezings,
Jones claimed that Davis's and Plant's accounts

weren't quite accurate.

He clarified that Stephanie was a longtime
friend of the band and there was never any

confusion about gender.

But what remains true is that there was a
fire, and had the fire department not intervened,

he and Stephanie could probably have died
that night.

Jones told the outlet:

"We were in our room, drinking, and probably
fell asleep.

And I found the room full of firemen!"

On July 29, 1973, Led Zeppelin became the
victim of a bizarre crime.

Just before the band's last of three shows
at New York City's Madison Square Garden,

Richard Cole opened the group's safety deposit
box at the Drake Hotel and found it empty.

"One finds it very hard to comprehend that
something could happen like that in a hotel

of this, uh, of this stature."

Led Zeppelin had been robbed of over $200,000
— a significant portion of their earnings

from their tour of the United States.

Not wanting to alarm the band before they
went onstage, Cole tried to handle the matter

as privately as possible.

Nonetheless, the FBI showed up, and while
the band performed, they thoroughly searched

everyone's hotel rooms.

The safe showed no signs of forced entry,
indicating that whoever had swiped the money

had used a key.

Suspecting an inside job, they interrogated
Cole and subjected him to a lie detector test,

which he passed.

After the show, they also questioned the band
members but identified no leads.

The robbery made national news the next day.

Though he presented a bold, fearless presence
on stage, Led Zeppelin's drummer, John Bonham,

struggled immensely while on the road.

A family man at heart, Bonham often found
himself missing his wife and two young children,

who stayed back in England when he toured.

Early in Led Zeppelin's career, Bonham began
drinking heavily to combat his depression

and homesickness, which more often than not
led to mayhem.

A friendly and gentle man when sober, Bonham
was prone to anger, recklessness, and violent

outbursts when intoxicated.

He frequently took his alcohol-induced rage
out on hotel rooms and anyone around him when it hit.

Over the years, this behavior earned him the
unflattering nickname "The Beast."

In Barney Hoskyn's book, John Paul Jones had
this explanation for Bonham's behavior:

"[Bonham] drank because he hated being away
from home, he really did.

Between gigs, he found it hard to cope."

Touring also exacerbated Bonham's struggles
with anxiety.

He hated flying so much that he would often
ask his driver to turn around when en route

to an airport.

He also suffered from constant pre-show panic
attacks.

According to Louder Sound, Bonham stated in
a 1975 interview:

"I've got worse.

I have terribly bad nerves all the time.

[...] It's worse at festivals."

As their popularity grew, Led Zeppelin started
playing bigger shows — which came with new problems.

On July 5, 1971, the band played to a rambunctious
crowd of around 15,000 people at a stadium

in Milan, Italy.

Promoters implored the band to ask the audience
to stop starting fires — which frontman

Robert Plant did repeatedly — but to no
avail.

Things escalated, and hundreds of riot police
used tear gas, water cannons, and batons to

subdue the crowd, injuring many.

Disoriented by the blinding smoke, the panicked
audience rushed onstage, causing the band

to abandon their gear mid-show and flee along
with them.

Amidst the chaos, one of the group's roadies
was hit in the head by a broken bottle and

had to be hospitalized.

In "When Giants Walked the Earth," Page had
this to say about the event:

"Absolutely ghastly.

It was just pandemonium, and nowhere was immune
from this blasted tear gas, including us.

I was terribly upset afterwards."

"Well, it's quite the experience, you know,
and I'm still here to tell the tale."

It was just the first of many dangerous performances.

During the band's 1977 American tour, ticketless
fans rushed the gates at multiple shows, resulting

in hundreds of arrests.

That same year, violent riots broke out amongst
a 70,000-strong crowd in Tampa, Florida, when

a show was cut short due to rain, leaving
police outnumbered and powerless.

Then, during a Cincinnati, Ohio, concert,
a fan fell from an upper level and died.

While on a break from touring in 1975, Robert
Plant, Jimmy Page, and their families took

a summer vacation to the Greek island of Rhodes.

But on August 4, tragedy struck.

Robert's wife, Maureen, was driving a rental
car on one of the island's mountain roads

when she lost control of it, sending the car
off a cliff and into a tree.

Robert was thrown on top of his wife, shattering
his right leg and elbow in the process.

Meanwhile, Maureen nearly died, fracturing
her skull and pelvis and later requiring a

blood transfusion.

In fact, her injuries were so severe that
Robert initially thought she was dead.

The accident also happened in a remote area,
so the only help available was a local farmer

who gave them a ride to the hospital in his
fruit truck.

Luckily, everyone eventually recovered.

Robert's leg was placed in a cast that extended
from his hip to his toes.

He then spent six months in a wheelchair,
after which he used a cane for another year.

The traumatic experience changed him.

According to Hoskyn's book, Plant said:

"I know that my kind of vision, or the carefree
element I had, disappeared instantly when

I had my accident.

That kind of ramshackle 'I'll take the world
now' attitude was completely gone."

Led Zeppelin achieved most of their success
in the United States, and, as a result, toured

there 11 times in their 12-year career.

But each tour came with new challenges.

First, the band's married members were forced
to spend months without their families, which

took a toll on their mental well-being.

"It was anything but conducive to normal family
life."

And then there was all the American mayhem
they experienced, which included trouble with

the police, Vietnam War-era civil unrest,
violent audiences, and aggressive encounters

with gun-wielding Southerners.

Though originally enamored with the "land
of the free," the country lost its charm for

the band quickly.

As noted in "When Giants Walked the Earth,"
John Paul Jones said to a writer after a 1970 tour:

"I don't think we can take America again for
a while.

America definitely unhinges you."

Singer Robert Plant also became disenchanted
with the States.

According to Hoskyns' book, he told the crowd
at a 1971 show in Tokyo:

"America doesn't seem to be so good anymore,
unfortunately.

Maybe it'll get better."

It didn't.

By the end of Led Zeppelin's career, the partying
had all but stopped and U.S. tours had become

a chore.

Along with their immense popularity came some
of the negative aspects of fame: Led Zeppelin

soon had their fair share of both deranged
fans and outright haters.

This hatred led to a slew of death threats
against the band.

As Led Zeppelin's publicist Danny Goldberg
noted in "Hammer of the Gods," the threats

started during the group's 1973 American tour,
and became commonplace after that.

In fact, death threats occurred with such
unsettling frequency that John Paul Jones

once considered quitting the band over them.

In one notable incident, famous Charles Manson
follower Lynne "Squeaky" Fromme repeatedly

tried to contact Page.

And in another, a disturbed man was arrested
for insisting Page's death was imminent.

Things got so bad that Led Zeppelin started
traveling with an entourage of bodyguards,

including two former FBI agents, who accompanied
them everywhere.

Band manager Peter Grant also hired security
to guard the elevators on the band's hotel floor.

Page, who began suffering from insomnia, even
had private security guards stationed outside

of his hotel rooms day and night.

None of the members of Led Zeppelin were strangers
to the hedonistic rock-star life, but some

partied harder than others.

Jimmy Page began using heroin around 1975,
and over the years, this habit became a crippling

addiction that rendered him weak, skeletal,
and often sickly.

He also became increasingly unreliable and
erratic.

After interviewing him in 1977, journalist
Dave Schulps described Page as "remarkably

thin and pale."

That same year, a show had to be cut short
due to Page's inability to perform.

John Bonham also sank deeper into his addictions.

In addition to regularly using cocaine and
heroin, he began drinking heavily and engaged

in increasingly aggressive and chaotic ways.

Eventually, a rift formed in the band between
Robert Plant and John Paul Jones — who both

limited their drug and alcohol use — and
Page and Bonham, who were beginning to spiral

as a result of their addictions.

In fact, the band's 1976 album "Presence"
was recorded with the two groups almost completely

isolated from one another, while 1979's "In
Through the Out Door" was pretty much created

by Plant and Jones alone.

Led Zeppelin's tumultuous final North American
tour ended abruptly when Robert Plant received

a life-changing phone call.

The band had just arrived in Louisiana when
Plant's frantic wife, Maureen, called to inform

him that their five-year-old son, Karac, had
contracted a virus and was seriously ill.

Just two hours later, on July 26, 1977, Karac
had died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Plant was devastated.

The remaining tour dates were promptly canceled
and he returned home to grieve with his family.

In Mick Wall's "When Giants Walked the Earth,"
Robert claimed that 1977 was "the year it

all stopped for [him]."

Speaking about his son's sudden and untimely
death, he told Wall:

"Nothing could make it all right again and
nothing ever will."

John Bonham was the only member of Led Zeppelin
who attended Karac's funeral.

According to "When Giants Walked the Earth,"
Plant told tour manager Richard Cole:

"Maybe they don't have as much respect for
me as I do for them.

Maybe they're not the friends I thought they
were."

He eventually attributed his bandmates' aloof
behavior in the face of tragedy to cultural

differences: He and Bonham were raised in
England's Midlands, while Jimmy Page and John

Paul Jones were from the South.

Jones, at least, later made it up to him when
the two co-wrote the moving ballad, "All My

Love," for Karac.

"Every now and again he turns up in songs
for no other reason that I miss him a lot."

In 1980, things seemed to finally be looking
up for Led Zeppelin.

Robert Plant, who nearly quit music after
Karac's death, had decided to continue and

the band was planning a long-awaited "comeback"
tour when tragedy struck yet again — this

time from within.

John Bonham's continued struggle with drug
and alcohol use was no secret.

In fact, he had collapsed on stage just three
songs into a performance on June 27.

The band stated that his illness was food-related
but fans claimed he was visibly intoxicated

during the show.

Bonham had quit using heroin but was still
drinking heavily and taking anti-anxiety medication.

He was also very apprehensive about returning
to America.

On September 24, the first day of rehearsals,
Bonham visited a pub.

While there, he drank four quadruple-shot
vodka drinks and ate a few ham rolls.

He then continued drinking throughout the
practice session, passing out when he became

unable to play.

He never awoke.

His death was ruled an "accidental suicide,"
effected by inhaling his own vomit after consuming

around 40 ounces of alcohol.

He was just 32 years old.

Plant was especially impacted by the loss.

He said in "Hammer of the Gods,"

"It was one of the most flattening, heartbreaking
parts of my life.

I had a great, warm, big-hearted friend I
haven't got anymore."

"It was just one ridiculous loss."

A tall and sturdily built former wrestler,
Peter Grant was certainly an imposing figure.

Often considered the fifth member of Led Zeppelin,
he ruthlessly protected and advocated for

the band throughout their entire career as
their manager.

As a result, however, he was drawn into the
violence, drug use, and general chaos of the

music industry.

This came at a great cost to his personal
life.

Frequently left alone in England with their
children while Led Zeppelin toured overseas,

Grant's wife, Gloria, became increasingly
frustrated.

In 1975, after ten years of marriage, she
left him.

According to Louder Sound, Peter's close friend,
producer Mickie Most, later explained:

"The split-up with Gloria was like the final
nail in the coffin.

He was morally broken.

He wasn't the Peter Grant we all knew and
loved.

He became secretive, and you felt uncomfortable
around him."

Bonham's death also affected Grant deeply,
as the two were very close.

Racked with guilt and sadness, he stopped
working and became a recluse who rarely left

his home.

He was also diagnosed with heart problems
and diabetes.

By 1990, Grant had managed to quit drugs,
lost a significant amount of weight, and briefly

returned to the public sphere.

But, unfortunately, his health problems had
finally caught up with him.

On November 21, 1995, he died of a heart attack
at age 60.

The surviving members of Led Zeppelin decided
that without John Bonham, the band simply

couldn't go on.

Indeed, the remaining members have played
together as Led Zeppelin just four times since

his death, typically performing with Bonham's
son, Jason, on the drums in his father's place.

Still, the allure of a partial reunion has
always lurked.

While Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones have
both expressed interest in reuniting, Robert

Plant has remained steadfast in his belief
that the band died with Bonham.

A frustrated Page told NME in 2014:

"Everyone would love to play more concerts
for the band.

[Plant's] just playing games, and I'm fed
up with it, to be honest with you."

In a 2018 interview with Billboard, Jason
Bonham shed more light on Plant's widely criticized

decision to retire Led Zeppelin.

As Bonham revealed to the outlet, Plant said
to him:

"I loved your dad way too much.

It's not disrespect to you; you know the stuff
better than all of us ... But it's not the same.

I can't go out there and fake it."

For his part, Jones felt wounded when his
two bandmates collaborated as Page & Plant

without him in the 1990s, even naming their
album "No Quarter" after his most famous song.

He told Mick Wall:

"It did hurt to have to deal with it.

It was a great shame, particularly after all
we'd been through together."

Led Zeppelin's wild touring exploits and penchant
for "borrowing" songs from blues artists are

remembered just as often as their great tunes.

In fact, they are still commonly presented
as the "poster child" band for rock 'n' roll excess.

But, while they certainly engaged in plenty
of debauchery, the group's negative reputation

isn't completely fair.

"When people say Led Zeppelin to you what
does the word mean to you?"

"One of the greatest rock and roll bands in
the world.

One of the greatest bands in the world."

After all, Led Zeppelin was hardly the only
band living the "sex, drugs, and rock 'n'

roll" life or appropriating Black music in
the 1960s and '70s.

For one, The Rolling Stones, who were guilty
of the same behaviors, were widely celebrated,

while Led Zeppelin was perpetually disparaged
by the media, mothers, and critics alike.

This confusing legacy led Plant to raise a
valid question in a 2003 interview with Vanity Fair:

"How can we be reviled in so many different
generations and then find out that we were

people's favorite band?"