Fact #62416
When:
Short story:
Led Zeppelin release their eponymous debut album in the USA and UK simultaneously, on Atlantic Records.Full article:
1969 - A TIMELINE OF LED ZEPPELIN ACTIVITY IN THE YEAR OF THEIR BIRTH
Jan 69
2. First of four nights at the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles, supported by Alice Cooper.
Jimmy Page : If you are thinking of a show like Alice Cooper, our singer Robert Plant makes the show and that is enough. We don't need any fancy surprises. Our music is hard enough.
Robert Plant : I went wandering down the Sunset Strip with no shirt on … Frank Zappa's girl group, the GTOs, were upstairs. We threw eggs, had silly water battles and had all the good fun that a 19-year-old boy should have.
6. When members of Led Zeppelin succumb to the flu, the Buddy Miles Express takes over from them at the Whisky A-Go-Go, West Hollywood, California. Support band is Alice Cooper.
11. Country Joe And The Fish play the last of three consecutive nights at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, supported by Led Zeppelin and Taj Mahal. During these shows, Country Joe records a live album, entitled Live! Fillmore West 1969, with guest appearances by Jerry Garcia and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane and Steve Miller.
12. Led Zeppelin release their eponymous debut album in the US and UK simultaneously, on Atlantic Records.
Jimmy Page : The stuff was all originally put forward by me as the material to include in the program we played in concert. It had all been well rehearsed as we'd tour Scandinavia as the New Yardbirds before recording the album. We also had a few other things we were doing at the time which never got recorded: Flames, written by Elmer Gantry, was a really good number; As Long As I Have You, was a Garnett Mimms number we had done with the Yardbirds which Janis Joplin had recorded.
It took about 30 hours of recording time. Before we started recording we had already played the numbers live and I already had a good idea of what was going to go on as far as the overdubs went.
On Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, there's an acoustic guitar dubbed over and there's some pedal steel on Your Time Is Gonna Come. We also had worked out a version of Chest Fever in rehearsals, though we never played it onstage. That had organ and pedal steel on it.
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“Jimmy rang me up when he formed the band and asked if I’d make the album,” remembers producer Glyn Johns, “and I said I would.”
The band was Led Zeppelin and the album was their eponymous debut, released by Atlantic Records on 17 January 1969. Page and Johns’ friendship went back to their teenage years, growing up in small town Epsom. When Johns went on to become a studio engineer, he managed to put some guitar sessions in the direction of his old friend. The pair stayed in touch through the sixties and, while Page progressed from a top sessioneer to being the Yardbirds’ lead guitarist, Johns logged up studio hours with The Stones, Who, Kinks, Steve Miller and more.
The long, slow death of The Yardbirds saw Page take control of the group, turn it briefly into the New Yardbirds, and finally evolve into a new entity, Led Zeppelin. “I wanted artistic control in a vice grip,” remembers Page, “because I knew exactly what I wanted to do with these fellows.”
When Page rang him up, Glyn Johns was still an engineer and, realising there was no producer as such, suggested a co-production deal with Page. “They’d rehearsed themselves very healthily before they got near the studio, but once they were inside, I think I did the rest - in fact I know I did, although they may dispute that.”
Page’s version of events during those 30 hours of recording at Olympic Studios in Barnes, is indeed somewhat different. “When we recorded ‘You Shook Me’ I told the engineer Glyn Johns, that I wanted to use backwards echo on the track. He said ‘Jimmy, it can’t be done.’ I said ‘Yes it can, I’ve already done it.’ Then he began arguing, so I said ‘Look, I’m the producer. I’m going to tell you what to do, and just do it.’ So he grudgingly did everything I told him to and, when we were finished, he started refusing to push the fader up so I could hear the result. I had to scream ‘Push the bloody fader up!’ And, lo and behold, the effect worked perfectly.”
Whatever their differences, Johns still rates the album as one of the finest he ever worked on. “I’d never heard arrangements of that ilk before, nor had I ever heard a band play in that way before. It was just unbelievable and, when you’re in a studio with something as creative as that, you can’t help but feed off it.”
What’s never been in dispute is that Page had been unusually astute to finance and completely record Zep’s first album before going to Atlantic. “It wasn’t your typical story where you get an advance to make an album. We arrived at Atlantic with tapes in hand.” Johns is insistent, however, that the finished tape which left him was considerably better than the vinyl album which eventually appeared because “Jimmy Page, being as ignorant as he was in those days, took the tapes to New York to master the album, panicked when he heard it in a room he wasn’t used to, and did all manner of equalisation to it, and actually buggered the tape up.”
Nevertheless, Atlantic’s Jerry Wexler immediately offered the band a $110,000 advance but, before he would sign, Page had more details to iron out. “I made it very clear to them that I wanted to be on Atlantic, rather than their rock label, Atco, which had bands like Sonny And Cher and Cream.” Modest to a fault, he explains, “I didn’t want to be lumped in with those people. I wanted to be associated with something more classic.”
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Jimmy Page : There were a lot of improvisations on the first album, but generally we were keeping everything cut and dried. Consequently, by the time we'd finished the first tour the riffs which were coming out of these spaces, we were able to use for the immediate recording of the second album.
13. Fox Theatre, San Diego, California.
15. University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.
17. First of three nights at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit, Michigan.
20. Wheaton Youth Center, Wheaton, Maryland.
21. Hunt Armory, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
23. First of four nights at the Boston Tea Party, Boston, Massachusetts.
26. Led Zeppelin play for four hours on the last of four consecutive nights at the Boston Tea Party, Boston, Massachusetts.
John Paul Jones (bassist, led Zeppelin) : The early Boston Tea Party concerts was the biggie really for us, and we really knew it was working. Plus, it was the longest concert we ever did; we played four and a quarter hours I think, which, with an hour and a half act, is some going, I can tell you. We played four nights at the Boston Tea Party, and the last night, we just – I think we did the act twice, and then we did everybody else's act. We did The Beatles' songs and Stones' songs and Who songs and everything. It was really good. It was really steaming.
31. Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin and Porter's Popular Preachers play the first of two nights at the Fillmore East, New York City.
FEBRUARY 69
2. Rockpile, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
7. Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull play the first of two nights at the Kinetic Playground, Chicago, Illinois.
Bill Sagan (audience) : I had a date with a beautiful girl in 1969. I took her to the Kinetic Playground in Chicago to see Jethro Tull who were supported by a virtually unknown band called Led Zeppelin. It was a great hall, where they scattered huge cushions on the floor so you could lie on them to watch the bands.
Led Zeppelin were just amazing. It was a huge shift from the kind of bands I’d seen before, a much harder edge to the music and astonishing levels of workmanship … and the ticket cost just $3.25.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, July 2008)
10. State University, Memphis, Tennessee.
14. First of two nights at the Thee Image Club, Miami, Florida.
15. In Rolling Stone magazine, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin claims to be the prize most sought after by groupies. “They all say I’m the best,” he modestly admits.
22. Led Zeppelin enter the US albums chart with their eponymous debut album. It will peak at No10.
24. Lafayette Club, Wolverhampton, UK.
MARCH 69
1. Led Zeppelin begin a UK tour at the Van Dike Club, Plymouth.
3. Led Zeppelin record live versions of the songs You Shook Me, I Can’t Quit You Baby and Dazed And Confused during a BBC radio session in London.
5. Top Rank, Cardiff, Wales.
7. Bluesville 69 Club, Hornsey Wood Tavern, London.
10. Led Zeppelin release a single, Good Times Bad Times, on Atlantic Records.
10. Cooks Ferry Inn, Edmonton, London.
12. Leicester University, Leicester.
13. De Montfort Hall, Leicester, UK.
14. Lecture Hall, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, and also at Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden.
15. Brondby Pop Club, Brondby, Denmark.
16. Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen, Denmark.
17. At the end of a brief Scandinavian tour, Led Zeppelin record a live set for TV Byen, Gladsaxe, Denmark.
19. Led Zeppelin record a live session for the BBC World Service radio show Rhythm & Blues in Maida Vale Studios, London. The session includes Sunshine Woman, a Zeppelin song unavailable elsewhere.
21. Led Zeppelin record a live appearance on BBC tv show How Late It Is at Lime Grove Studios, West London.
22. Mothers, Erdington, Birmingham, UK.
23. Argus Butterfly, Peterlee, UK.
24. Cook’s Ferry Inn, Edmonton, London.
25. Led Zeppelin are recorded and filmed in an abandoned factory in Staines, Middlesex, UK, for a music film known as Supershow.
27. Led Zeppelin record an appearance for German tv Show Beat Club, in Bremen, Germany.
28. Marquee Club, Soho, London.
Peter Grant (manager, Led Zeppelin) : I decided to play the Marquee Club. What I did to generate some publicity was to send out copies of two reviews we’d gotten from America, both of which raved about the band. I also contacted (BBC tv show) The Old Grey Whistle Test and asked them if they’d like to film the gig which they agreed to do.
Anyway, when I got to the club there was a queue stretching for 200 yards down the road. Word had really got out. But the BBC never bothered to show up and never even apologised for the fact.
I thought, ‘Fuck it! I’m not pandering to their system and playing their games if that’s the attitude. It’s the kids who are gonna build this band. That’s why I decided there would never be a Zeppelin single released in the UK. Mind you, 500 copies of Whole Lotta Love were pressed up on 45 and accidentally sent to Manchester, which we subsequently had to recall.
(Raw magazine – 15 May 1989)
29. College of Technology, Bromley, UK.
30. Farx Club, Potter’s Bar, UK.
April 69
1. Klook’s Kleek, West Hampstead, London.
2. Top Rank, Cardiff, Wales. 5. Roundhouse, Dagenham, UK.
6. Boat Club, Nottingham, UK.
8. P.J. Proby releases the album Three Week Hero on Liberty Records. His backing musicians on the album include all four members of Led Zeppelin.
8. Bluesville 69, The Cherry Tree, Welwyn Garden City, UK.
9. The Toby Jug, Tolworth, UK.
12. Led Zeppelin’s eponymous debut album enters the UK albums chart where it will peak at No6.
13. Kimbell’s, Southsea, UK.
14. The Place, Stoke On Trent, UK.
18. New York University Jazz Festival, New York.
24. First of four nights at the Fillmore West, San Francisco.
MAY 69
1. Crawford Hall, Irvine, California.
2. First of two nights at the Rose Palace, Pasadena, California.
4. First of two nights at the Civic Center, Santa Monica, California.
6. First of two nights at the Honolulu International center, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
9. Edmonton Garden, Edmonton, Canada.
10. PNE Coliseum, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
11. Green Lake Aquatheater, Seattle, Washington.
13. Civic Auditorium, Honolulu, Hawaii.
16. Grande Ballroom, Detroit, Michigan.
17. Convocation Center, Athens, Georgia.
18. Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
19. First of two nights in the Boston Gardens, Boston, Massachusetts.
23. Santa Clara Pop Festival, County Fairgrounds, San Jose, California, then fly on to play the first of two nights at the Kinetic Playground, Chicago, Illinois.
25. The Who, supported by Led Zeppelin, play at Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland. Charles E. Brault (audience) : The warm-up band was pretty unknown at that time. I don't think their first album was even out yet, and they sounded like they hadn't played together much.
27. First of three nights at the Boston Tea Party, Boston, Massachusetts.
30. Led Zeppelin, Woody Herman & His Orchestra and Delaney & Bonnie play the first of two nights at the Fillmore East, New York City.
June 69
13. Town Hall, Birmingham, UK, supported by Blodwyn Pig.
15. Free Trade Hall, Manchester, UK, supported by Blodwyn Pig.
16. Led Zeppelin record a live session for BBC Radio 1 at Aeolian Hall in London.
19. Antenne Culturelle du Kremlin-Bicêtre, Paris, France.
20. City Hall, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK, supported by Blodwyn Pig.
21. Colston Hall, Bristol, UK.
24. Led Zeppelin record a live session in Maida Vale studios, London, for the BBC Radio One show Top Gear, deejayed by John Peel.
26. Guildhall, Portsmouth, UK.
27. Led Zeppelin record a live session for BBC Radio 1 at the Playhouse Theatre, London.
28. Bath Festival of Blues is held at Bath Pavilion Recreational Ground, Bath, UK. Fleetwood Mac, Ten Years After and John Mayall headline over Led Zeppelin, The Nice, Champion Jack Dupree, Chicken Shack, Savoy Brown, Taste, Blodwyn Pig, Colosseum, Clouds and John Peel as emcee. 30,000 fans attend, and the only problems arise when The Nice invite bagpipers onto the stage which promptly collapses.
29. The first day of the Pop Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London, features Led Zeppelin, Liverpool Scene and Blodwyn Pig.
July 69
5. Janis Joplin and the Kosmic Blues Band and Led Zeppelin play at the Atlanta International Pop Festival, in Atlanta, Georgia.
6. While flying from Atlanta, Georgia, to play in the Newport Jazz Festival, Led Zeppelin learn to their surprise that they have cancelled the gig due to the ill health of a band member. The festival organisers have dreamed up this excuse to avoid revealing the unpalatable truth - that local officials have banned the group ‘in the interest of public safety’ following a near riot during the festival's second night. The band’s manager, Peter Grant, insists that their contract is binding and Led Zeppelin go onstage at 1 a.m. Joel Barron (audience) : My father was in the Navy and as a result I lived on the base only 1/4 mile away from the grounds! I could hear the Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows from my house! My next door neighbor and I walked to the concert just outside the base gate. Let's see, Buddy Rich, Herbie Hancock, Gypsy and the Savage Rose, B.B. King and Johnny Winter played before Zeppelin. As Led Zeppelin were coming into town in a limo they noticed all these cars leaving. They were wondering why.
Well, Peter Grant (their manager) found out about George Wein making his announcement of an Led Zeppelin no-show and gave George Wein a piece of his mind and said they were gonna play! Since festival goers had heard about the no-show many had left by the time Led Zeppelin came on. It seemed to be about midnight when they took the stage. Opening with Train Kept a Rollin' that electrified the few that had stayed, the place appeared to be less than half full. Robert Plant said over the loudspeakers that he heard there were rumors of their non-appearance but assured the crowd they never intended not to play. Drawing mostly from their first album they played about an hour. I remember How Many More Times the best. It was my favorite Zep tune. They really jammed. Also, Dazed And Confused sent the crowd crazy with the violin bow section.
George Wein (founder, Newport Jazz Festival) : I always felt that the low point in my life as a producer would have been a high point for other people: in 1969 when I put all the rock groups on in Newport. I had Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull and Mothers of invention, Jeff Beck, Ten Years After, Blood Sweat and Tears, Sly and the Family Stone. The underground press was talking about how jazz was dead and Newport, from 1954 up to the mid-60s, had been the news in the music world, you know, in the non-pop music world.
All of a sudden we were buried in that avalanche of pop music and rock music. So I said, ‘Maybe I have to get up to date’, and I put all these groups together, did a lot of business, and I realized at that point that I had no control of my festivals. They weren’t what I wanted. Some people would have thought it was the greatest thing. Jimi Hendrix called me up and said, ‘Can I be on your festival?’ I said, ‘I don’t have any room for you.’
After that I said, ‘I’ll never use rock again. Well, I did use rock again. It killed me in ‘71.
(Interview in All About Jazz, 2007)
11. Led Zeppelin, Buddy Guy, Al Kooper, Jethro Tull and Johnny Winter play on the first day of the Laurel Pop Festival, Laurel Racetrack, Maryland.
12. Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull play at the Spectrum, Philadelphia. Led Zeppelin are billed as headliners but, on the night, guitarist Jimmy Page falls sick, so Jethro Tull take over the top spot, allowing Zep to play earlier.
Jimmy Page : Jethro Tull is an over-rated band. They get a lot more attention than they deserve. (Source : Stairway To Heaven by Richard Cole, Simon & Schuster, 1993)
Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) : Jethro Tull was once upon a time the opening act for Led Zeppelin. It meant a great deal to us to be on their tour, to be their opening act, to play for twenty-five minutes and try and win the hearts and minds of the audience.
13. Vanilla Fudge, The Jeff Beck Group, Ten Years After and The Edwin Hawkins Singers play at the Singer Bowl Music Festival, in Flushing Meadow Park, Flushing, New York State. Hanging out backstage are members of Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull, who briefly join the Jeff Beck Group for an encore.
Jeff Beck : We were throwing things at each other on stage. I threw a mug of orange juice at Alvin Lee (of Ten Years After) and it stuck all over his guitar. It was just one of those animal things.
18. First of two nights at the Kinetic Playground, Chicago, Illinois, supported by Jethro Tull.
20. Musicarnival, Warrensville Heights, Cleveland, Ohio.
21. Led Zeppelin, B.B.King and Ten Years After play at the Schaefer Music Festival, Wollman Skating Rink, Central Park, New York City.
22. Led Zeppelin’s eponymous debut album is given a US gold record award.
25. Mid-West Pop Festival, State Fairgrounds, West Allis, Wisconsin.
26. PNE Agrodome, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
27. The First Seattle Pop Festival has the last of its three days, at Gold Creek Park, Woodinville, Washington. Led Zeppelin is among the acts appearing. It was here, apparently, that the band subsequently repaired to the Edgewater Inn on nearby Puget Sound, and whiled away the time watching their road manager insert a dead fish into the front bottom of a young lady called Jackie.
Richard Cole (road manager, Led Zeppelin) : It was the nose that got put in. We caught a lot of big sharks, at least two dozen, stuck coat hangers through the gills and left 'em in the closet . . . But the true shark story was that it wasn't even a shark. It was a red snapper and the chick happened to be a fucking redheaded broad with a ginger pussy. And that is the truth. Bonzo was in the room, but I did it. Mark Stein [of Vanilla Fudge] filmed the whole thing. And she loved it. It was like, "You'd like a bit of fucking, eh? Let's see how your red snapper likes this red snapper!" That was it. It was the nose of the fish, and that girl must have come twenty times. But it was nothing malicious or harmful, no way! No one was ever hurt.
Carmen Appice (drummer, Vanilla Fudge) : During the summer of 69 we played a gig with Ten Years After, The Jeff Beck Group and led Zeppelin, and that’s when Bonzo (of Led Zeppelin) told Tim and I that Jeff wanted to play with us.. So we started talking to Jeff about putting a band together.
29. Kinsmen Field House, Edmonton, Canada.
30. Terrace Ballroom, Salt Lake City, Utah.
August 69
1. Fairgrounds Arena, Santa Barbara, California, supported by Jethro Tull and the Fraternity Of Man.
2. Civic Auditorium, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
3. Music Hall, Houston, Texas.
4. State Fair Coliseum, Dallas, Texas.
Angus Wynne (promoter of the Texas International Pop Festival) : Right after the first number, Robert Plant comes up to the microphone. He says, "Anybody ever hear of the Texas International Pop Festival?' Everybody goes "Yeahh!' There's this deafening roar in the place. Then he says, "Well, we just got to town today, and we seen our names plastered all over billboards and fliers, and I want to tell you that we've never heard of the Texas International Pop Festival. They're trying to rip you off. Don't buy tickets; don't go to the thing. It's a total fucking ripoff.'
Then Plant gets back up to the mike after the number is through and says, "Say, you know that festival we were just talking about? Well, our sniveling, slimy little road manager didn't tell us this, but we're definitely gonna play there, and we're sorry about what we said, so come on out.'
6. Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, California.
7. Community Theatre, Berkeley, California.
8. Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull play at Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, California.
9. Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull play at the Convention Center, Anaheim, California.
10. Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull play at the Sports Arena, San Diego, California.
11. Ice Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada.
14. Municipal Auditorium, Austin, Texas.
15. Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull play at the Hemisfair Arena, San Antonio, Texas.
16. Convention Hall, Asbury Park, New Jersey.
17. Oakdale Musical Theatre, Wallingford, Connecticut.
18. Rockpile, Toronto, Canada.
20. Aerodrome, Schenectady, New York State.
21. Carousel Theatre, Framingham, Massachusetts.
22. First of two days at Pirates World, Dania, Florida.
24. Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida.
27. Casino Ballroom, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire.
30. Led Zeppelin, Buddy Guy and Larry Coryell play at the Singer Bowl Music Festival, State Pavilion, Flushing Meadow Park, New York.
31. Led Zeppelin end their current US tour with a show at the Texas International Pop Festival, Dallas Speedway, Dallas, Texas.
Mike Rhyner (audience) : It was only Led Zeppelin’s second time playing Dallas - they played at the Fair Park Coliseum about a month before. They were just so exciting, I mean it was obvious they were going places.
September 69???
On holiday??
October 69
3. Led Zeppelin begin a European tour at the Circus Theatre, Scheveningen, Netherlands.
4. De Doelen, Rotterdam, Holland.
5. Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Holland.
10. L’Olympia, Paris, France.
12. Lyceum, London.
17. Led Zeppelin start their third US tour at Carnegie Hall, New York City.
June Harris (reviewer, NME) : Though the management was uptight at half the audience dancing on top of their seats and tried desperately to control the encores, the group managed to pull off one of the most exciting performances ever.
18. Olympia Stadium, Detroit, Michigan.
19. Kinetic Playground, Chicago, Illinois.
20. Paramount Theatre, Seattle, Washington.
22. Led Zeppelin release the album Led Zeppelin II in the USA and UK simultaneously.
Robert Plant : It was crazy really. We were writing the numbers in hotel rooms and then we'd do a rhythm track in London, add the vocal in New York, overdub the harmonica in Vancouver and then come back to finish mixing at New York. (Source : Led Zeppelin: The Concert File by Dave Lewis and Simon Pallett, Omnibus Press, 1997)
Jimmy Page : It was done wherever we could get into a studio, in bits and pieces, so I couldn't even tell you how long it actually took. I remember we did vocal overdubs in an eight-track studio in Vancouver where they didn't even have proper headphones. Can you imagine that? It was just recorded while we were on the road.
Thank You, The Lemon Song, and Moby Dick were overdubbed on tour and the mixing of Whole Lotta Love and Heartbreaker was done on tour. In other words, some of the material came out of rehearsing for the next tour and getting new material together. The most important thing about Zeppelin II is that up to that point I'd contributed lyrics. Robert wrote Thank You on his own. That was the first one and it's important because it's when he began to come through as a lyricist. I'd always hoped that he would.
24. Public Hall, Cleveland, Ohio.
25. Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts.
30. Led Zeppelin and The James Gang, with Joe Walsh on guitar, play at Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, New York State.
31. Municipal Auditorium, Springfield, Massachusetts.
November 69
1. Onondaga War Memorial, Syracuse, New York State.
2. O’Keefe Centre, Toronto, Canada.
4. Memorial Centre, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
5. Memorial Hall, Kansas City, Kansas.
6. First of three nights at Winterland, San Francisco, supported by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
8. Led Zeppelin’s second album, Led Zeppelin II, enters the UK albums chart where it will peak at No1.
10. Led Zeppelin is awarded a US gold disc by the R.I.A.A. for the album Led Zeppelin II.
15. Led Zeppelin enter the US albums chart with their second album, Led Zeppelin II, which will peak at No1.
22. Led Zeppelin release a new single, Whole Lotta Love, in the USA.
December 69
6. Chatenay Malabry, Paris, France.
27. Led Zeppelin II becomes the No1 album in the US, making it America’s last No1 album of the 60s.
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Timeline researched and compiled by Johnny Black
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Roger Glover (bass, Episode Six/Deep Purple) : I had visions of my doing a one man-one guitar thing. Then I heard Led Zeppelin I and that changed all my ideas musically. I suddenly realised that I wanted to be in a heavy band. so, when the Deep Purple thing came up, it was an opportunity to play what I wanted to play.
(Source : Sounds May 21, 1977)
Keith Richard (guitarist, Rolling Stones) : I played their album quite a few times when I first got it, but then the guy's voice started to get on my nerves. I don't know why. Maybe he's a little too acrobatic. But Jimmy Page is a great guitar player.
(Source : NME interview by Ritchie Yorke, Dec 6, 1969)
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Jan 69
2. First of four nights at the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles, supported by Alice Cooper.
Jimmy Page : If you are thinking of a show like Alice Cooper, our singer Robert Plant makes the show and that is enough. We don't need any fancy surprises. Our music is hard enough.
Robert Plant : I went wandering down the Sunset Strip with no shirt on … Frank Zappa's girl group, the GTOs, were upstairs. We threw eggs, had silly water battles and had all the good fun that a 19-year-old boy should have.
6. When members of Led Zeppelin succumb to the flu, the Buddy Miles Express takes over from them at the Whisky A-Go-Go, West Hollywood, California. Support band is Alice Cooper.
11. Country Joe And The Fish play the last of three consecutive nights at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, supported by Led Zeppelin and Taj Mahal. During these shows, Country Joe records a live album, entitled Live! Fillmore West 1969, with guest appearances by Jerry Garcia and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane and Steve Miller.
12. Led Zeppelin release their eponymous debut album in the US and UK simultaneously, on Atlantic Records.
Jimmy Page : The stuff was all originally put forward by me as the material to include in the program we played in concert. It had all been well rehearsed as we'd tour Scandinavia as the New Yardbirds before recording the album. We also had a few other things we were doing at the time which never got recorded: Flames, written by Elmer Gantry, was a really good number; As Long As I Have You, was a Garnett Mimms number we had done with the Yardbirds which Janis Joplin had recorded.
It took about 30 hours of recording time. Before we started recording we had already played the numbers live and I already had a good idea of what was going to go on as far as the overdubs went.
On Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, there's an acoustic guitar dubbed over and there's some pedal steel on Your Time Is Gonna Come. We also had worked out a version of Chest Fever in rehearsals, though we never played it onstage. That had organ and pedal steel on it.
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“Jimmy rang me up when he formed the band and asked if I’d make the album,” remembers producer Glyn Johns, “and I said I would.”
The band was Led Zeppelin and the album was their eponymous debut, released by Atlantic Records on 17 January 1969. Page and Johns’ friendship went back to their teenage years, growing up in small town Epsom. When Johns went on to become a studio engineer, he managed to put some guitar sessions in the direction of his old friend. The pair stayed in touch through the sixties and, while Page progressed from a top sessioneer to being the Yardbirds’ lead guitarist, Johns logged up studio hours with The Stones, Who, Kinks, Steve Miller and more.
The long, slow death of The Yardbirds saw Page take control of the group, turn it briefly into the New Yardbirds, and finally evolve into a new entity, Led Zeppelin. “I wanted artistic control in a vice grip,” remembers Page, “because I knew exactly what I wanted to do with these fellows.”
When Page rang him up, Glyn Johns was still an engineer and, realising there was no producer as such, suggested a co-production deal with Page. “They’d rehearsed themselves very healthily before they got near the studio, but once they were inside, I think I did the rest - in fact I know I did, although they may dispute that.”
Page’s version of events during those 30 hours of recording at Olympic Studios in Barnes, is indeed somewhat different. “When we recorded ‘You Shook Me’ I told the engineer Glyn Johns, that I wanted to use backwards echo on the track. He said ‘Jimmy, it can’t be done.’ I said ‘Yes it can, I’ve already done it.’ Then he began arguing, so I said ‘Look, I’m the producer. I’m going to tell you what to do, and just do it.’ So he grudgingly did everything I told him to and, when we were finished, he started refusing to push the fader up so I could hear the result. I had to scream ‘Push the bloody fader up!’ And, lo and behold, the effect worked perfectly.”
Whatever their differences, Johns still rates the album as one of the finest he ever worked on. “I’d never heard arrangements of that ilk before, nor had I ever heard a band play in that way before. It was just unbelievable and, when you’re in a studio with something as creative as that, you can’t help but feed off it.”
What’s never been in dispute is that Page had been unusually astute to finance and completely record Zep’s first album before going to Atlantic. “It wasn’t your typical story where you get an advance to make an album. We arrived at Atlantic with tapes in hand.” Johns is insistent, however, that the finished tape which left him was considerably better than the vinyl album which eventually appeared because “Jimmy Page, being as ignorant as he was in those days, took the tapes to New York to master the album, panicked when he heard it in a room he wasn’t used to, and did all manner of equalisation to it, and actually buggered the tape up.”
Nevertheless, Atlantic’s Jerry Wexler immediately offered the band a $110,000 advance but, before he would sign, Page had more details to iron out. “I made it very clear to them that I wanted to be on Atlantic, rather than their rock label, Atco, which had bands like Sonny And Cher and Cream.” Modest to a fault, he explains, “I didn’t want to be lumped in with those people. I wanted to be associated with something more classic.”
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Jimmy Page : There were a lot of improvisations on the first album, but generally we were keeping everything cut and dried. Consequently, by the time we'd finished the first tour the riffs which were coming out of these spaces, we were able to use for the immediate recording of the second album.
13. Fox Theatre, San Diego, California.
15. University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.
17. First of three nights at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit, Michigan.
20. Wheaton Youth Center, Wheaton, Maryland.
21. Hunt Armory, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
23. First of four nights at the Boston Tea Party, Boston, Massachusetts.
26. Led Zeppelin play for four hours on the last of four consecutive nights at the Boston Tea Party, Boston, Massachusetts.
John Paul Jones (bassist, led Zeppelin) : The early Boston Tea Party concerts was the biggie really for us, and we really knew it was working. Plus, it was the longest concert we ever did; we played four and a quarter hours I think, which, with an hour and a half act, is some going, I can tell you. We played four nights at the Boston Tea Party, and the last night, we just – I think we did the act twice, and then we did everybody else's act. We did The Beatles' songs and Stones' songs and Who songs and everything. It was really good. It was really steaming.
31. Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin and Porter's Popular Preachers play the first of two nights at the Fillmore East, New York City.
FEBRUARY 69
2. Rockpile, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
7. Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull play the first of two nights at the Kinetic Playground, Chicago, Illinois.
Bill Sagan (audience) : I had a date with a beautiful girl in 1969. I took her to the Kinetic Playground in Chicago to see Jethro Tull who were supported by a virtually unknown band called Led Zeppelin. It was a great hall, where they scattered huge cushions on the floor so you could lie on them to watch the bands.
Led Zeppelin were just amazing. It was a huge shift from the kind of bands I’d seen before, a much harder edge to the music and astonishing levels of workmanship … and the ticket cost just $3.25.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, July 2008)
10. State University, Memphis, Tennessee.
14. First of two nights at the Thee Image Club, Miami, Florida.
15. In Rolling Stone magazine, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin claims to be the prize most sought after by groupies. “They all say I’m the best,” he modestly admits.
22. Led Zeppelin enter the US albums chart with their eponymous debut album. It will peak at No10.
24. Lafayette Club, Wolverhampton, UK.
MARCH 69
1. Led Zeppelin begin a UK tour at the Van Dike Club, Plymouth.
3. Led Zeppelin record live versions of the songs You Shook Me, I Can’t Quit You Baby and Dazed And Confused during a BBC radio session in London.
5. Top Rank, Cardiff, Wales.
7. Bluesville 69 Club, Hornsey Wood Tavern, London.
10. Led Zeppelin release a single, Good Times Bad Times, on Atlantic Records.
10. Cooks Ferry Inn, Edmonton, London.
12. Leicester University, Leicester.
13. De Montfort Hall, Leicester, UK.
14. Lecture Hall, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, and also at Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden.
15. Brondby Pop Club, Brondby, Denmark.
16. Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen, Denmark.
17. At the end of a brief Scandinavian tour, Led Zeppelin record a live set for TV Byen, Gladsaxe, Denmark.
19. Led Zeppelin record a live session for the BBC World Service radio show Rhythm & Blues in Maida Vale Studios, London. The session includes Sunshine Woman, a Zeppelin song unavailable elsewhere.
21. Led Zeppelin record a live appearance on BBC tv show How Late It Is at Lime Grove Studios, West London.
22. Mothers, Erdington, Birmingham, UK.
23. Argus Butterfly, Peterlee, UK.
24. Cook’s Ferry Inn, Edmonton, London.
25. Led Zeppelin are recorded and filmed in an abandoned factory in Staines, Middlesex, UK, for a music film known as Supershow.
27. Led Zeppelin record an appearance for German tv Show Beat Club, in Bremen, Germany.
28. Marquee Club, Soho, London.
Peter Grant (manager, Led Zeppelin) : I decided to play the Marquee Club. What I did to generate some publicity was to send out copies of two reviews we’d gotten from America, both of which raved about the band. I also contacted (BBC tv show) The Old Grey Whistle Test and asked them if they’d like to film the gig which they agreed to do.
Anyway, when I got to the club there was a queue stretching for 200 yards down the road. Word had really got out. But the BBC never bothered to show up and never even apologised for the fact.
I thought, ‘Fuck it! I’m not pandering to their system and playing their games if that’s the attitude. It’s the kids who are gonna build this band. That’s why I decided there would never be a Zeppelin single released in the UK. Mind you, 500 copies of Whole Lotta Love were pressed up on 45 and accidentally sent to Manchester, which we subsequently had to recall.
(Raw magazine – 15 May 1989)
29. College of Technology, Bromley, UK.
30. Farx Club, Potter’s Bar, UK.
April 69
1. Klook’s Kleek, West Hampstead, London.
2. Top Rank, Cardiff, Wales. 5. Roundhouse, Dagenham, UK.
6. Boat Club, Nottingham, UK.
8. P.J. Proby releases the album Three Week Hero on Liberty Records. His backing musicians on the album include all four members of Led Zeppelin.
8. Bluesville 69, The Cherry Tree, Welwyn Garden City, UK.
9. The Toby Jug, Tolworth, UK.
12. Led Zeppelin’s eponymous debut album enters the UK albums chart where it will peak at No6.
13. Kimbell’s, Southsea, UK.
14. The Place, Stoke On Trent, UK.
18. New York University Jazz Festival, New York.
24. First of four nights at the Fillmore West, San Francisco.
MAY 69
1. Crawford Hall, Irvine, California.
2. First of two nights at the Rose Palace, Pasadena, California.
4. First of two nights at the Civic Center, Santa Monica, California.
6. First of two nights at the Honolulu International center, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
9. Edmonton Garden, Edmonton, Canada.
10. PNE Coliseum, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
11. Green Lake Aquatheater, Seattle, Washington.
13. Civic Auditorium, Honolulu, Hawaii.
16. Grande Ballroom, Detroit, Michigan.
17. Convocation Center, Athens, Georgia.
18. Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
19. First of two nights in the Boston Gardens, Boston, Massachusetts.
23. Santa Clara Pop Festival, County Fairgrounds, San Jose, California, then fly on to play the first of two nights at the Kinetic Playground, Chicago, Illinois.
25. The Who, supported by Led Zeppelin, play at Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland. Charles E. Brault (audience) : The warm-up band was pretty unknown at that time. I don't think their first album was even out yet, and they sounded like they hadn't played together much.
27. First of three nights at the Boston Tea Party, Boston, Massachusetts.
30. Led Zeppelin, Woody Herman & His Orchestra and Delaney & Bonnie play the first of two nights at the Fillmore East, New York City.
June 69
13. Town Hall, Birmingham, UK, supported by Blodwyn Pig.
15. Free Trade Hall, Manchester, UK, supported by Blodwyn Pig.
16. Led Zeppelin record a live session for BBC Radio 1 at Aeolian Hall in London.
19. Antenne Culturelle du Kremlin-Bicêtre, Paris, France.
20. City Hall, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK, supported by Blodwyn Pig.
21. Colston Hall, Bristol, UK.
24. Led Zeppelin record a live session in Maida Vale studios, London, for the BBC Radio One show Top Gear, deejayed by John Peel.
26. Guildhall, Portsmouth, UK.
27. Led Zeppelin record a live session for BBC Radio 1 at the Playhouse Theatre, London.
28. Bath Festival of Blues is held at Bath Pavilion Recreational Ground, Bath, UK. Fleetwood Mac, Ten Years After and John Mayall headline over Led Zeppelin, The Nice, Champion Jack Dupree, Chicken Shack, Savoy Brown, Taste, Blodwyn Pig, Colosseum, Clouds and John Peel as emcee. 30,000 fans attend, and the only problems arise when The Nice invite bagpipers onto the stage which promptly collapses.
29. The first day of the Pop Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London, features Led Zeppelin, Liverpool Scene and Blodwyn Pig.
July 69
5. Janis Joplin and the Kosmic Blues Band and Led Zeppelin play at the Atlanta International Pop Festival, in Atlanta, Georgia.
6. While flying from Atlanta, Georgia, to play in the Newport Jazz Festival, Led Zeppelin learn to their surprise that they have cancelled the gig due to the ill health of a band member. The festival organisers have dreamed up this excuse to avoid revealing the unpalatable truth - that local officials have banned the group ‘in the interest of public safety’ following a near riot during the festival's second night. The band’s manager, Peter Grant, insists that their contract is binding and Led Zeppelin go onstage at 1 a.m. Joel Barron (audience) : My father was in the Navy and as a result I lived on the base only 1/4 mile away from the grounds! I could hear the Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows from my house! My next door neighbor and I walked to the concert just outside the base gate. Let's see, Buddy Rich, Herbie Hancock, Gypsy and the Savage Rose, B.B. King and Johnny Winter played before Zeppelin. As Led Zeppelin were coming into town in a limo they noticed all these cars leaving. They were wondering why.
Well, Peter Grant (their manager) found out about George Wein making his announcement of an Led Zeppelin no-show and gave George Wein a piece of his mind and said they were gonna play! Since festival goers had heard about the no-show many had left by the time Led Zeppelin came on. It seemed to be about midnight when they took the stage. Opening with Train Kept a Rollin' that electrified the few that had stayed, the place appeared to be less than half full. Robert Plant said over the loudspeakers that he heard there were rumors of their non-appearance but assured the crowd they never intended not to play. Drawing mostly from their first album they played about an hour. I remember How Many More Times the best. It was my favorite Zep tune. They really jammed. Also, Dazed And Confused sent the crowd crazy with the violin bow section.
George Wein (founder, Newport Jazz Festival) : I always felt that the low point in my life as a producer would have been a high point for other people: in 1969 when I put all the rock groups on in Newport. I had Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull and Mothers of invention, Jeff Beck, Ten Years After, Blood Sweat and Tears, Sly and the Family Stone. The underground press was talking about how jazz was dead and Newport, from 1954 up to the mid-60s, had been the news in the music world, you know, in the non-pop music world.
All of a sudden we were buried in that avalanche of pop music and rock music. So I said, ‘Maybe I have to get up to date’, and I put all these groups together, did a lot of business, and I realized at that point that I had no control of my festivals. They weren’t what I wanted. Some people would have thought it was the greatest thing. Jimi Hendrix called me up and said, ‘Can I be on your festival?’ I said, ‘I don’t have any room for you.’
After that I said, ‘I’ll never use rock again. Well, I did use rock again. It killed me in ‘71.
(Interview in All About Jazz, 2007)
11. Led Zeppelin, Buddy Guy, Al Kooper, Jethro Tull and Johnny Winter play on the first day of the Laurel Pop Festival, Laurel Racetrack, Maryland.
12. Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull play at the Spectrum, Philadelphia. Led Zeppelin are billed as headliners but, on the night, guitarist Jimmy Page falls sick, so Jethro Tull take over the top spot, allowing Zep to play earlier.
Jimmy Page : Jethro Tull is an over-rated band. They get a lot more attention than they deserve. (Source : Stairway To Heaven by Richard Cole, Simon & Schuster, 1993)
Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) : Jethro Tull was once upon a time the opening act for Led Zeppelin. It meant a great deal to us to be on their tour, to be their opening act, to play for twenty-five minutes and try and win the hearts and minds of the audience.
13. Vanilla Fudge, The Jeff Beck Group, Ten Years After and The Edwin Hawkins Singers play at the Singer Bowl Music Festival, in Flushing Meadow Park, Flushing, New York State. Hanging out backstage are members of Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull, who briefly join the Jeff Beck Group for an encore.
Jeff Beck : We were throwing things at each other on stage. I threw a mug of orange juice at Alvin Lee (of Ten Years After) and it stuck all over his guitar. It was just one of those animal things.
18. First of two nights at the Kinetic Playground, Chicago, Illinois, supported by Jethro Tull.
20. Musicarnival, Warrensville Heights, Cleveland, Ohio.
21. Led Zeppelin, B.B.King and Ten Years After play at the Schaefer Music Festival, Wollman Skating Rink, Central Park, New York City.
22. Led Zeppelin’s eponymous debut album is given a US gold record award.
25. Mid-West Pop Festival, State Fairgrounds, West Allis, Wisconsin.
26. PNE Agrodome, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
27. The First Seattle Pop Festival has the last of its three days, at Gold Creek Park, Woodinville, Washington. Led Zeppelin is among the acts appearing. It was here, apparently, that the band subsequently repaired to the Edgewater Inn on nearby Puget Sound, and whiled away the time watching their road manager insert a dead fish into the front bottom of a young lady called Jackie.
Richard Cole (road manager, Led Zeppelin) : It was the nose that got put in. We caught a lot of big sharks, at least two dozen, stuck coat hangers through the gills and left 'em in the closet . . . But the true shark story was that it wasn't even a shark. It was a red snapper and the chick happened to be a fucking redheaded broad with a ginger pussy. And that is the truth. Bonzo was in the room, but I did it. Mark Stein [of Vanilla Fudge] filmed the whole thing. And she loved it. It was like, "You'd like a bit of fucking, eh? Let's see how your red snapper likes this red snapper!" That was it. It was the nose of the fish, and that girl must have come twenty times. But it was nothing malicious or harmful, no way! No one was ever hurt.
Carmen Appice (drummer, Vanilla Fudge) : During the summer of 69 we played a gig with Ten Years After, The Jeff Beck Group and led Zeppelin, and that’s when Bonzo (of Led Zeppelin) told Tim and I that Jeff wanted to play with us.. So we started talking to Jeff about putting a band together.
29. Kinsmen Field House, Edmonton, Canada.
30. Terrace Ballroom, Salt Lake City, Utah.
August 69
1. Fairgrounds Arena, Santa Barbara, California, supported by Jethro Tull and the Fraternity Of Man.
2. Civic Auditorium, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
3. Music Hall, Houston, Texas.
4. State Fair Coliseum, Dallas, Texas.
Angus Wynne (promoter of the Texas International Pop Festival) : Right after the first number, Robert Plant comes up to the microphone. He says, "Anybody ever hear of the Texas International Pop Festival?' Everybody goes "Yeahh!' There's this deafening roar in the place. Then he says, "Well, we just got to town today, and we seen our names plastered all over billboards and fliers, and I want to tell you that we've never heard of the Texas International Pop Festival. They're trying to rip you off. Don't buy tickets; don't go to the thing. It's a total fucking ripoff.'
Then Plant gets back up to the mike after the number is through and says, "Say, you know that festival we were just talking about? Well, our sniveling, slimy little road manager didn't tell us this, but we're definitely gonna play there, and we're sorry about what we said, so come on out.'
6. Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, California.
7. Community Theatre, Berkeley, California.
8. Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull play at Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, California.
9. Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull play at the Convention Center, Anaheim, California.
10. Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull play at the Sports Arena, San Diego, California.
11. Ice Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada.
14. Municipal Auditorium, Austin, Texas.
15. Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull play at the Hemisfair Arena, San Antonio, Texas.
16. Convention Hall, Asbury Park, New Jersey.
17. Oakdale Musical Theatre, Wallingford, Connecticut.
18. Rockpile, Toronto, Canada.
20. Aerodrome, Schenectady, New York State.
21. Carousel Theatre, Framingham, Massachusetts.
22. First of two days at Pirates World, Dania, Florida.
24. Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida.
27. Casino Ballroom, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire.
30. Led Zeppelin, Buddy Guy and Larry Coryell play at the Singer Bowl Music Festival, State Pavilion, Flushing Meadow Park, New York.
31. Led Zeppelin end their current US tour with a show at the Texas International Pop Festival, Dallas Speedway, Dallas, Texas.
Mike Rhyner (audience) : It was only Led Zeppelin’s second time playing Dallas - they played at the Fair Park Coliseum about a month before. They were just so exciting, I mean it was obvious they were going places.
September 69???
On holiday??
October 69
3. Led Zeppelin begin a European tour at the Circus Theatre, Scheveningen, Netherlands.
4. De Doelen, Rotterdam, Holland.
5. Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Holland.
10. L’Olympia, Paris, France.
12. Lyceum, London.
17. Led Zeppelin start their third US tour at Carnegie Hall, New York City.
June Harris (reviewer, NME) : Though the management was uptight at half the audience dancing on top of their seats and tried desperately to control the encores, the group managed to pull off one of the most exciting performances ever.
18. Olympia Stadium, Detroit, Michigan.
19. Kinetic Playground, Chicago, Illinois.
20. Paramount Theatre, Seattle, Washington.
22. Led Zeppelin release the album Led Zeppelin II in the USA and UK simultaneously.
Robert Plant : It was crazy really. We were writing the numbers in hotel rooms and then we'd do a rhythm track in London, add the vocal in New York, overdub the harmonica in Vancouver and then come back to finish mixing at New York. (Source : Led Zeppelin: The Concert File by Dave Lewis and Simon Pallett, Omnibus Press, 1997)
Jimmy Page : It was done wherever we could get into a studio, in bits and pieces, so I couldn't even tell you how long it actually took. I remember we did vocal overdubs in an eight-track studio in Vancouver where they didn't even have proper headphones. Can you imagine that? It was just recorded while we were on the road.
Thank You, The Lemon Song, and Moby Dick were overdubbed on tour and the mixing of Whole Lotta Love and Heartbreaker was done on tour. In other words, some of the material came out of rehearsing for the next tour and getting new material together. The most important thing about Zeppelin II is that up to that point I'd contributed lyrics. Robert wrote Thank You on his own. That was the first one and it's important because it's when he began to come through as a lyricist. I'd always hoped that he would.
24. Public Hall, Cleveland, Ohio.
25. Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts.
30. Led Zeppelin and The James Gang, with Joe Walsh on guitar, play at Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, New York State.
31. Municipal Auditorium, Springfield, Massachusetts.
November 69
1. Onondaga War Memorial, Syracuse, New York State.
2. O’Keefe Centre, Toronto, Canada.
4. Memorial Centre, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
5. Memorial Hall, Kansas City, Kansas.
6. First of three nights at Winterland, San Francisco, supported by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
8. Led Zeppelin’s second album, Led Zeppelin II, enters the UK albums chart where it will peak at No1.
10. Led Zeppelin is awarded a US gold disc by the R.I.A.A. for the album Led Zeppelin II.
15. Led Zeppelin enter the US albums chart with their second album, Led Zeppelin II, which will peak at No1.
22. Led Zeppelin release a new single, Whole Lotta Love, in the USA.
December 69
6. Chatenay Malabry, Paris, France.
27. Led Zeppelin II becomes the No1 album in the US, making it America’s last No1 album of the 60s.
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Timeline researched and compiled by Johnny Black
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Roger Glover (bass, Episode Six/Deep Purple) : I had visions of my doing a one man-one guitar thing. Then I heard Led Zeppelin I and that changed all my ideas musically. I suddenly realised that I wanted to be in a heavy band. so, when the Deep Purple thing came up, it was an opportunity to play what I wanted to play.
(Source : Sounds May 21, 1977)
Keith Richard (guitarist, Rolling Stones) : I played their album quite a few times when I first got it, but then the guy's voice started to get on my nerves. I don't know why. Maybe he's a little too acrobatic. But Jimmy Page is a great guitar player.
(Source : NME interview by Ritchie Yorke, Dec 6, 1969)