I'm not getting into this...

Shite.

"Push, ooo-yeah!
Oooh-yeah!
Push! Push! Push! Yeah!"

-Robert Plant, 1973
(vocal outro to "Song Remains The Same", resplendent with 'hair kinetics')

Exhibit B:

Fillmore West, April 29, 1969.
The entire show.

Exhibit C:

The confidence (sometimes sloppy, sometimes not, yet always aspiring to heights-ness) that is...

"Dazed And Confused"
(live and studio)

...the one I really, really can't stand - that i just cannot conceive of why a human being would want to create such 'music' never mind listen to it - is "Dazed & Confused."

Exhibit H:

Because "Dazed And Confused" is a sonic gnostic journey -- especially the version on "Song Remains The Same"

Exhibit I:

John Henry Bonham

Exhibit J:

"Tangerine" offa "Zep III"--
for its elegant combination of light and shade

Exhibit L:

For the amazingly positioned double-tracked guitars utilised throughout on "Led Zeppelin II"; especially 'Ramble On"

Exhibit M:

For my father's response when he walked into the room midway through the violin bow solo in "Dazed And Confused" offa "Supershow" was playing

("You're going to fry your brains listening to that!")

Exhibit N:

For signing The Pretty Things to their Swan Song label

Exhibit O:

(Never mind Lothar & The Hand People)

Pagey's theramin use on 'Whole Lotta Love"

Exhibit Q:

Performing "Train Kept-A-Rollin'" as their first number together and discovering their outrageous musical chemistry

And for performing a version just as kick ass 11 years later in Zurich, 1980

Exhibit R:

The crushingly heavy, "THE WANTON SONG"

Exhibit S:

For pissing off "Rolling Stone" magazine

Exhibit T:

For the vicious, compactness that is "Communication Breakdown"

AND for the backing vocals at the end, which I always do "air-hands-on-headphones-
while-laying-down-the-backing-tracks" to

Exhibit W:

Elvis Presley giving Percy his watch

Exhibit X:

For the confidence they displayed so effortless live
-Throwing in snippets of Buffalo Springfield, Elvis Presley, Spirit or whoever the hell they wanted because they could (and did) pull it off

Exhibit Y:

"Out On The Tiles" and it's never-ending groove coda

Exhibit Z:

Their groove structures on the stop-start tracks on 'Presence" ("Candy Store Rock", "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and especially "Royal Orleans")

Exhibit A.1:

The waking dread qualities of the studio version of "No Quarter"

Exhibit B.1:

Leaving in the squeaky bass drum pedal on the introduction of "Since I've Been Loving You"

Exhibit C.1:

The growling, zig-zagging bass of John Baldwin on "Heartbreaker"

Exhibit D.1:

The guitar in the background track right after the solo break on "Heartbreaker"...the way it squeals as though JUST hitting the feedback ceiling

Exhibit E.1:

The way they consistently blew bands they were opening for live right off the fucking stage

Exhibit F.1:

The Sun Records-influenced slapback echo on the right channel guitar on "Ramble On" (and it's subsequent volume controlled-solo, right channel)

Exhibit G1:

For the Sonny Boy Williamson rip-off sandwich of "Bring It On Home" set on either side of a huge raging slab of Rock

Exhibit H.1:

Percy's watery, whisper vocals on "What Is And What Should Never Be", along with its unspoken reverie

Exhibit I.1:

"The Lemon Song", for its restrained yet quaking horniess

Exhibit J.1:

The expert time-keeping of John Henry Bonham, espeically on 'The Lemon Song" when he hits that teeny-tiny cymbal just ONCE, like the way his mate Bill Ward subseqnetly did on Sabbaf's "The Wizard"

Exhibit L.1:

The absolute funk that lodged itself into the grooves of about 1/4 of 'Phys Graf" (Namely, 'Trampled Underfoot", "The Rover", "THE WANTON SONG" and "Custard Pie")

Exhibit M.1:

(Just off the M.666)

The beginning of 'Stairway" in the concert fim, "Song Remains The Same":

when Plant gives the peace sign then turns it around (giving the 'V's) and then remembers he's in New York City and nobody knows the significance of that gesture so just quickly brushes it off

Exhibit O.1:

The frayed violin bow solo on "Dazed And Confused" from "Song Remains The Same" in all it's ritual sexiness

Exhibit P.1:

The "Cough" at the end of "In My Time of Dying"

Exhibit Q.1:

The over phased/delayed and frayed intro guitar to "Nobody's Fault But Mine" AND Percy's on-his-tippytoes final vocal stutter of: "Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah--body's fault"

Kick ass

Exhibit R.1:

The auto (hahahahahahaha) eroticism of "Trampled Underfoot"

Exhibit T.1:

Royal Albert Hall, 1970

Exhibit U.1:

Pagey's too-tight "ZOSO" sweater vest AND the "Electric Magic" gigs in 1971

Robert Plant's dedication on the first page of Ritchie Yorke's "The Led Zeppelin Biography":

"This book is earnestly dedicated to the notion that this music of ours can still be just like it used to be if we try to forget the horseshit and the hype and the hysteria and simply dig it for what it was.

And to sensitvity and serenity,
wherever they may be found..."

Copyright 1976, so even HE knew what was going down

Exhibit Y.1 & Z.1:

"Over The Hills" and "Far Away"

Exhibit A.2:

"The History of the Hairstyles of John Paul Jones: A Study In Terror" (by The Seth Man, Faber & Faber, 2003)

Exhibit A.1:

The refusnik cry of: "If we could just/we could just/we could just/we could just/we could just/we could just join hands" on 'The Rover"

Exhibit B.2:

The other-worldly, near "2000 Light Years From Home" qualities to the string machine arrangement on 'Kashmir" AND the crunching phase-echo applied to the drum pattern

Exhibit B.2:

The other-worldly, near "2000 Light Years From Home" qualities to the string machine arrangement on 'Kashmir" AND the crunching phase-echo applied to the drum pattern

Exhibit C.3:

(So echoed, I hadda post it twice)
AND to the cymbals as well

Exhibit D.3:

The passing reference to "Mr Farmer" in "Night Flight" over blustery Hammond organ and JPJ's bass throb frills

Amen brothers & sisters. And anyone that says they don't is patently & wilfully suffering from rock n roll anaemia.

Exhibit F.3:

The over-Leslie amplfied guitar solo on "THE WANTON SONG" AND the way it rises in volume right at the end and hits you inbetween the eyes

Kick ass

Exhibit G.3:

The LP-only live verison of 'Celebration Day" and it's mental, manical mega-ultra strum guitar introduction that continually rears upwards throughout

Kick ass

Exhibit I.3 (I-Roy's cousin)

The "ZOSO" logo on Pagey's amp, ensuring only that only the most Rock signals will be emitted

Exhibit J.3:

For the way "Sick Again" ends "Phys Graf" much the same way "Sole Survivor" ends "Exile": tired, strung out, bloody but unbowed and giving it's all right before it all collapses AND the needling, spindly guitar solo, too

Kick ass

Exhibit K.3:

For the 1975 "Crawdaddy" cover interview between William S. Burroughs and Pagey that roughly goes something like this:

WB: "You can start a riot with two tape machines."
JP: "Ummm....yes."
WB: "In Peru, there was a disasterous earthquake that killed thousands of people..."
JP: "Umm...yes."
(etc)

Kick ass

Exhibit N.3:

Never releasing an album as 'Led Zeppelin' after John Henry Bonham's death

Majorly kick ass!

Exhibit P.3:

"The Crunge"-- Like The J.B.'s playing "Walk This Way", "The Crunge" is a stone-gasser

Kick ass

Oh, where's that confounded guy from BMI to dock the Zeps boo-co gelt fer swiping the words "Mr. Pitiful"? Oh, have mercy...

Exhibit Q.3:

For Pagey's lurching and magnificently slipshod guitar riff on "Dancing Days"

Kick ass

...and especially for being about 13-14 in my Gran's living room in Liverpool with the then new-fangled Sony Walkman - my Dad having just brought a tape of Led Zep I for me at Christmas, having a cup of tea and cake at the dinner table as was the way at me grans house, and then this godalmightyawesomemagnisficent sound started in my ears. "Durh Duh! chh chh chh Durh Durh chh chhc Durh durh chh diduumpidduddychhhu,..!!!!"
"How's your tape thing luv?" mouthed my gran , pouring the tea
"......!"
Thus the journey began.

Exhibit R.3:

For setting my teenage dreams on fire forever

Exhibit S.3:

For the first time I heard ever "Whole Lotta Love" on WXLO-FM, circa 1973 and it scared the living daylights out of me-- even more so than the first time I heard "I Am The Walrus" and it gave nightmares all weekend

Kick ass

Exhibit T.3:

For the moment right after Percy sings the line "The devil mocks their every step" and there's that feedback in "Song Remains The Same"? He steps back a step and wipes his snotty nose wif his hand defiantly

Kick ass

Exhibit U.3:

For every "Hoo-yeah, hoo-yeah!" Percy ever sang...all googleplex of them

Kick ass

Exhibit V.3:

For the braying, bucking and altogether headfucking,late 20th Century rockabilly speedball rush that is the coda to "Celebration Day" (live) offa "The Song Remains The Same' soundtrack

Kick ass

Exhibit W.3:

For the line "Everything's that small/hasta grow..Push, push, push" on the live version of 'The Song Remains The Same" (as sung by "Little" Percy Flyagaric Redhat)

Kick ass

Exhibit X.3:

For kicking The Jeff Beck Group, Iron Butterfly and Vanilla Fudge's collective priapti into the dirt

(Not bad for one US tour)

Kick ass

Exhibit Y.3:

For sustaining and maintaining for as long as they did--and with nary an Xmas song, either

Kick ass

Exhibit Z.3:

For contributing musicially to parts of Roy Harper's better albums, like 'H.Q.", "Stormcock", "Flashes From The Archives of Oblivion" and "Lifemask"

Kick ass

Exhibit A.4:

For contibuting funds towards the making of "Monty Python And The Holy Grail"

Kick ass

Exhibit C.4:

For the Moog solo in "Four Sticks"

Kick ass

Exhibit D.4:

For the ultimate mega-diddlyin' epic wail from beyond that is "Dazed And Confused" live at Madison Square Garden, 1973

Kick ass

Led Zep are poo.

Efforts much appreciated though, Seth. ;-)

(But you can't polish a turd)

For raising the bar SO far every other band just went: "fleh..."

Exhibit 4.H:

For not turning tail but finishing their gig in Milan, Italy depsite the riot caused by the police and huge clouds of pepper spray.

Kick ass!

Exhibit I.4:

For "Hats Off To Roy Harper" being Robert Johnson on a bottle of Jack Daniels in a gravity-free echo chamber and an an overall stone gasser for the Quaalude/Mandrax set

Kick ass

for having what sounds like the coolest mother in rock history:

"John Gibb describes Page’s house: "In most homes, the front room is usually a family room, but Pagey’s parents had turned it over to Jimmy. There were records everywhere, a tape recorder, a couple of amps and guitars and other instruments. Plus a really good hi-fi system. Jimmy’s mum usually stayed in the kitchen brewing tea for everybody."

Jimmy’s mum on the music: "...the jam sessions forced Jim’s father and myself to develop an opinion about so-called heavy rock music. I found that I have a thing for it myself. I adore it. You had to shut your mind to everything else and just get into it. So you either loved it or loathed it. I really took to it."

http://ledzeppelin.alexreisner.com/page.html

Exhibit J.4:

For not covering Robert Johnson's "Come On In My Kitchen" OR "32/20 Blues" even though they coulda played it live in 1969 and therby causing undue drenching to alla undies of every lady in the room...and here I'm thinking FIllmore West, April 29, 1969 with extensive Echoplex on Pagey's psychedelic painted Telecaster that Jeff "Tufnel" Beck gave him back in the Yardbirds daze...

Kick ass!

Exhibit L.4:

For being the icebreakers at too many teen beer parties and being too tongue tied to think opf anything to ask girls except, "You like Zeppelin?"

15 year Old Girl: "Sure?"
Your response: "You wanna go outside and get high? I got some killer herb..."

Definately Kick Ass

Exhibit M.4:

For being in fields of light and shade simultaneously. And kicking ass.

Kick ass!

Exhibit N.4:

For Percy "flying the flag" in Newcastle, 1971 (A Union Jack patch sewn on his jeans, placed to utilise his fly as a mast)

Kick ass

Exhibit O.4:

For "The Immigrant Song" and it's Wodenist frenzy, undoubtedly induced by consumption of pre-battle bread stained with ergot, Hoo Yeah!

("Valhalla....I am coming")

Kick ass

Percy, for being a local hero. As 21 yr old me, in process of being introduced to him by two of his friends (my best friend's ma and pa) in Stourbridge pub, I ran, ran, ran as his head was turning in my direction. Never lived it down. So in AWE of the Zeppelin it was a gut reaction. What a gurl.

Exhibit P.4:

For Percy's persistent cries live in concert of:
"Yi, yi, yi, yi, yi!" just like the way dogs do when their tails are on fire

Kick ass

For being the gateway to copping off with Sarah Land in the 2nd year at her party.

Exhibit Q.4:

For recording "All Of My Love" and hearing it for the first time on a Long Island beach when I was sixteen...Once it was over, my first girlfriend and I had both lost our virginity

Now THAT kicked ass

Exhibit R.4:

For recording "All Of My Love" AND it still moves me deeply and makes me think HOW would I ever love it half as much if I didn't so much siginificance to it? (Oh, I'd find a way, I'm sure)

Kick ass

Exhibit Q.4:

For the opening descending bass line of 'Dazed And Confused" from the quartet of illuminated in the darkness strings of John Paul "Baldwin" Jones....
(Spook-eh!)

Kick ass

Exhibit R.4:

For the kinship being so heavilly Zep-obsessed instantly creates.

Kick ass

Exhibit S.4:

For the way "Battle of Evermore" informed Heart's "Sylvan Song" -- Although "Evermore" was far more accurate a picture of heroism in rainy Albion, making "Sylvan Song" a rain-date even at a Seattle Renaissance Fayre supporting "Ritchie Blackmore's Ye Olde Finger Puppets Showe" [sic].

Kick ass

"We've done four al-ready & now we're st-eady & then they said..." Dern ner ner ner nouwn!

Exhibit U.4:

For throwing in "Cat's Squirrel" (The Sabbath song that never was) during a live improvisation of "As Long As I Need You" at the Fillmore West, April 24, 1969

Kick Ass

Exhibit V.4:

For giving two generations of so-called "hip" tastemakers a good poke in the trendy eye just by EXISTING. Namely:

1) "Rolling Stone" championing genteel singer/songwriters that spent too much time singing about country roads and hiding the roaches

2) Punk revisionists who couldn't hear the VERY sound they were apparently championing and consequently dismissed Led Zeppelin long and loud as (get this) 'dinosaurs'

Kick Ass

"N n n n n n nuh noooooooooooouwh ......bady's faul' but mii -iiihinnne!"

Exhibit Y.4:

For Pagey displaying a most wanton attitude when he donned jackboots and an SS officer's hat for a particuarly ill-advised fashion moment live onstage in Chicago, 1977

But better "Night Porter" than Cole Porter, methinks

Kick ass

Exhibit Z.4:

For the way Percy and Pagey always got so ragged on the call and response segment of 'How Many More Times"...Like on the version on the BBC disc, when Percy is RIGHT in tune with Pagey's lyrical and quiet plucking, Pagey goes off kilter as if on cue, so wrong but never felt so right-- Two artists on a highwire daring each other, Ooooh, yeah

Kick ass

Exhibit A.5:

For NEVER playing the same song the same way twice live.

Kick ass

Exhibit B.5:

For sticking an electric age 3-prong dildo inot the ass of the Delta Blues and diddlyin' it for all it's worth and being paid back with a multiple orgasm that's still twitching to this very day.

Now that's what I call...Kick ass

Exhibit C.5:

For yanking off the end of "Heartbreaker" at its abrupt conclusion and rarely (if ever) proceeding directly into "Living Love Maid (She's Just A Woman)"

Kick ass

Exhibit D.5:

The "Destroyer" boot from 1977, even though Pagey had dropped "Dazed And Confused" from his solo repertoire. The "Presence" material on it is totally...

Kick ass

Exhibit E.5:

The Percy's harp on "Nobody's Fault". Testifyin' and on satyrisin'. Oooh-yeah!

Kick ass

....for being the main inspiration to growing my barnet into the rocktastic pre-raphaelite glory that it so often is.

Exhibit F.5:

For the theramin solo on "Whole Lotta Love" offa "The Song Remains The Same", when you get to hear the very AIR itself raging silently (OK, and helped along by the analogue delay unit) through those belaboured amps right as Pagey is in process of switching from theramin to Les Paul guitar.

Kick ass

Exhibit G.5:

The abslutely STINKY tone Pagey employs about 17:10 into "Dazed And Confused" off the BBC.

Kick ass

Exhibit H.5:

For Pagey's traversing of 12-string down to the 6-string neck during "Stairway To Heaven"-- Sometimes sloppy, sometimes neatly but always a moment of impressive anticipation to get the sap risin', Hoo-yeah

Kick ass

Exhibit I.5:

For Percy (in leather jacket) not beating the crap out of "Whispering" Bob Harris during that interview extra on the Zep DVD.

Kick ass

Exhibit J.5:

Pagey and Percy flank Kim Fowley. Look out...!

http://www.kimfowley.net/images/photospaintingsillusions/pixwithpageandplant.jpg

Kick ASS!

Exhibit K.5:

Pagey's exemplary vamping of Scotty Moore on all the live Presley covers; 'specially "That's All Right, Mama" at the end of "Whole Lotta Love" from the BBC CD...gettin' real, REAL GONE, baybuh!

Kick ass

Exhibit L.5:

For not naming "Houses of the Holy" "Led Zeppelin V"

Kick ass

Exhibit M.5:

For providing all-too rare glimpses of Power, Mystery...The Hammer of the Gods!

Kick Ass!

Exhibit N.5:

For the proto-glam combustive clatter intro to the live "Thank You" on the BBC CD

Kick ass

Exhibit O.5:

For the tiny backwards echo ("I Hear it calling me...") JUST before Percy sings the line full on in "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You."

Kick ass

For playing the Boston tea Party for 4 and a quarter hours with only 45 minute's worth of songs.

improvisualauralising kick ass.

Exhibit Q.5:

For causing Hipgnosis to create that "2001"-monolith-meets-the-Chestefield-spire object.

Kick ass

Exhibit R.5:

For putting an entire audience of Scandinavian yoof into complete shock in 1969 (as witness in the black and white footage on disc one of the Zep DVD)

Kick ass

Exhibit R.5:

For never covering "Louie, Louie"

Kick ass

Exhibit S.5:

For writing two songs with the Welsh words for "the golden breast" in them.

Now THAT'S Kick ass!

Exhibit T.5:

For never adding a brass section, trio of backing female singers or having Morris Pert play tam-tam with them live.

Kick ass

Exhibit V.5:

For being heavy. They had to: Blacks Flag and Sabbath hadn't been invented yet.

Kick ass

Exhibit W.5:

For growing those beards around the time of "III"...'specially Percy's handlebar moustaches.

Kick ass

Exhibit X.5:

For pushing the dynamics of Rock to their very limit (At least up until "Presence", that is.)

Kick ass

Exhibit Y.5:

For providing extremely interesting gatefolds to clean weed on. Or so I've been told (etc)

Kick ass

Exhibit Z.5:

For leaving behind a relatively small recorded legacy that will outlive all of its imitators (Yes, even Uriah Heep.)

Kick ass

Exhibit A.6:

For their clarity of vision -- Which even at this late hour is still as obvious as ever

Kick ass

Exhibit B.6:

For the polite onstage banter Percy gets into on the Fillmore West, April 27, 1969
("Let's hope everybody has a ball tonight...")
Hoo-yeah!

Kick ass

Exhibit C.6:

For backing P.J. Proby on his "Three Week Hero" LP.

Kick ass

Exhibit D.6:

For covering an absolootely blistering instrumental version of Spirit's creeped-out classic, "Fresh Garbage" live onstage in 1969.

Kick ass

Exhibit E.6:

For all the years I thought the lyrics went "It's just a sprinkling for the bake-queen". As if!

Kick ass

Exhibit F.6:

For every slopped-up, missed note and bum chord Zep put out live in the heat of the moment, they are more truly alive moments (and they still head and shoulders taller than the best of all the pop piffle that gets flung out every week with just a little less care than breadcrumbs to park geese.)

Kick ass

because they 'pulverised' , as this sixteen year old fan wrote, after seeing them in 1975 San Diego:

"The next day at school, I was unable to even say a word about the show except that, “words can’t describe it…” In fact, I was at a loss for words for weeks. But gradually and with greater detail, I began to recollect moments of the show to my high school buddies. Funny thing is, 26 years later I am still in awe and still unable to really communicate my remembrances the way I would like to"

And yes, Dazed and Confused was still 30 mins of WARGHYEEeoeoeWchakaZhang!

http://www.geocities.com/ledcollector.geo/March101975.html

Exhibit G.6:

For the echoplex abuse on the singeing guitar on "You Shook Me" from the now-legendary April 27, 1969 show at the Fillmore West that is probably STILL ringing in the darker corners of that once great auditorium of vibe.

Kick ass

Because Led Zep II changed the way I heard music forever. I was about 14-15 and got incendi-aerated. The next LP I got my hands on was Sabotage by Black Sabbath. Needless to say all the Iron Maiden fans at school looked shit to me.

ROCK!

Exhibit H.6:

For all the times snatches of their music pass through my head and instill in me the confidence that tomorrow will be a far better day.

Oh, and for the "Really oughta know..owww..oww"s on "Misty Mountain Hop"

Kick ass!

Exhibit I.6:

For the first time I heard "Gallows Pole": When everything just clicked for me and I knew they were without boundaries in their musical explorations. Plus, it struck me as being odd that a song about impending death could sound so....sexy, somehow. (sHIVER)

Kick ass

Exhibit J.6:

For the opening wonky tape playback intro to "Black Dog": which I could swear I never heard until I copped the LP.

Kick ass

Exhibit The Last:

They always did....and always will.

(So mote be it.)

Kick ass

I can't believe I missed this thread. I'm only halfway through it. Might as well add my two cents:

If John Bonham hadn't died (#1 tragedy in rock and roll) they would, IMO, still be going strong today, having continued to evolve and refusing to grow stagnant; "In Through The Out Door" would not be seen as an underwhelming farewell (my $0.02 and that one: I love Carouselambra, In The Evening, and All My Love; the rest is inessential) but a transitional album that would have led to their most excitingly experimental album since Houses Of The Holy (personal 2nd fave after Physical Graffiti.)

And I might as well put in another plug for Robert Plant's 2002 Dreamland album: unsung; Darkness, Darkness and Hey Joe rock. Buy it or rent it.

Thanks for this thread, Seth.

xxoo
'patra

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Exhibit a v 2.0:

For finding the bridge James Brown couldn't. Givvitomeh!

Exhibit b v 2.0:

For never listening to critics of their music.

Koons is Koons but he is actually not at all bad in the role of tv host.
Lots of good solid chat from Page over the course of an hour plus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEzSDK747yc

apologies if this was posted before.