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Led Zeppelin

Photo: Atlantic Records promotional image, 1971 (Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US)

British

Led Zeppelin

• United Kingdom• Active: 1968–1980

British Blues BoomHard RockBlues Rock

The band Jimmy Page built from the wreckage of the Yardbirds in 1968, who rebuilt Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson, Memphis Minnie and Howlin' Wolf songs at stadium scale — and were sued, and settled, over nearly every one of them. The 2025 documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin, telling that early story in the band's own words, won the 2026 National Film Award for Best Documentary.

Every band in this collection owes something to the American blues. Led Zeppelin owed so much, so directly, that the debt eventually landed in court four separate times — and the band paid every time, then kept touring stadiums on songs built from exactly the material they'd been sued over (Kilde: Wikipedia). The band grew directly out of the wreckage of the Yardbirds. When singer Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty quit in June 1968, guitarist Jimmy Page — the Yardbirds' last lead guitarist, and before that one of London's busiest session players — was left holding contracted Scandinavian tour dates and no band. He recruited session bassist and arranger John Paul Jones, an unknown Birmingham singer named Robert Plant, and Plant's friend John Bonham on drums. They toured briefly that September as "the New Yardbirds" before adopting a new name that October: Led Zeppelin, reportedly after the Who's Keith Moon and John Entwistle joked, during an earlier Page session, that a supergroup pairing him with Jeff Beck would go over "like a lead balloon" (Kilde: Wikipedia). From their earliest rehearsals, the band worked by pulling apart blues records and rebuilding them at a different scale entirely — heavier, slower in places, distorted, extended into passages the originals never had. "Led Zeppelin" (1969) and "Led Zeppelin II" (1969, the latter reaching No. 1 in both the UK and US) were built substantially out of this method, and it produced the band's greatest music alongside its most persistent controversy (Kilde: Wikipedia). **The blues songs Led Zeppelin adapted — and what happened afterward:** "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You Baby," both on the 1969 debut, were Willie Dixon compositions Dixon had written for Muddy Waters and Otis Rush respectively; Dixon received songwriting credit from the start on these two. "Whole Lotta Love," the opening track of "Led Zeppelin II," was a different story: its lyrics closely followed Dixon's "You Need Love," written for Muddy Waters in 1962, filtered partly through a 1966 cover by the Small Faces that Page and Plant had reportedly watched live — singer Steve Marriott later said Plant's phrasing was identical to his own, "even the stops at the end." Dixon sued; the case was settled out of court in 1985, and Dixon's name has appeared in the song's writing credits on every release since (Kilde: Wikipedia). "The Lemon Song," also from "Led Zeppelin II," directly reworked Howlin' Wolf's 1964 "Killing Floor" — the band had performed it live under Wolf's title in 1968–69, and an early UK pressing of the album even credited Wolf's real name, Chester Burnett. Its famous "squeeze my lemon" verse traces back further still, to Robert Johnson's 1937 "Traveling Riverside Blues." Arc Music, which held Wolf's publishing, sued in December 1972; the case settled out of court, Wolf was paid roughly $45,000, and later pressings added his co-writing credit. The same album's closing track, "Bring It On Home," bookends an otherwise original song with a direct, deliberate homage to Sonny Boy Williamson II's 1963 recording of a Dixon composition — Dixon received credit here too, from 1972 onward, and Page later called the borrowed section "a tribute" (Kilde: Wikipedia). Robert Johnson's own songbook appears again on "Traveling Riverside Blues" itself, recorded by the band for a 1969 BBC radio session and left unreleased until the 1990 box set, where it reached No. 7 on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart — twenty-one years after it was recorded. And "When the Levee Breaks," the thunderous closing track of the untitled fourth album (1971), completely rebuilt Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy's 1929 original about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927; Led Zeppelin's version credits Memphis Minnie alongside the four band members, but — in one of the odder asymmetries in the band's paper trail — not McCoy. John Bonham's drum sound on the track, recorded through microphones set far down an open stairwell at Headley Grange, became one of the most sampled drum recordings in music history, a direct descendant of the "distance miking" technique Page had developed years earlier as a session engineer (Kilde: Wikipedia). Commercially, none of this controversy slowed the band down. "Led Zeppelin IV" (1971) has sold an estimated 37 million copies; "Houses of the Holy" (1973), "Physical Graffiti" (1975), "Presence" (1976) and "In Through the Out Door" (1979) kept the band at the top of album charts worldwide through the decade, with total sales estimated at 200–300 million records. On 24–25 September 1980, John Bonham died at Jimmy Page's home in Windsor after a day of heavy drinking, choking in his sleep; the coroner ruled it accidental death, and on 4 December 1980 the surviving members announced the band could not continue without him (Kilde: Wikipedia). Led Zeppelin has reunited only a handful of times since — a rough Live Aid set in 1985, the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary show in 1988, their 1995 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and a full concert at London's O2 Arena on 10 December 2007 with John's son Jason Bonham on drums, for which roughly 20 million ticket requests set a Guinness World Record. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has called the band as influential in the 1970s as the Beatles were in the 1960s (Kilde: Wikipedia).

Musical Influence

Led Zeppelin's transformation of Delta and Chicago blues into stadium rock — Dixon, Wolf, Johnson and Memphis Minnie rebuilt at overwhelming volume and scale — created the commercial and sonic template for hard rock and heavy metal, while the string of copyright settlements it triggered permanently changed how the music industry credits blues source material (Kilde: Wikipedia).

Influences

Willie DixonHowlin' WolfRobert JohnsonMemphis MinnieMuddy Waters

Formative experiences

•June 1968: Keith Relf and Jim McCarty leave the Yardbirds, leaving Jimmy Page with contracted tour dates and no band. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•October 1968: The New Yardbirds rename themselves Led Zeppelin. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•1969: "Led Zeppelin" and "Led Zeppelin II" released; "Whole Lotta Love" and "The Lemon Song" both draw on Willie Dixon and Howlin' Wolf material. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•December 1972: Arc Music sues over "The Lemon Song"; settled out of court with payment and credit to Howlin' Wolf. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•1971: "Led Zeppelin IV" released, including "When the Levee Breaks," rebuilding Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy's 1929 original. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•1985: Willie Dixon's lawsuit over "Whole Lotta Love" settled out of court. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•24–25 September 1980: John Bonham dies; the band announces its end on 4 December 1980. (Kilde: Wikipedia)

Instruments & Equipment

Guitar

Jimmy Page's guitars

1959 Fender Telecaster ("the Dragon"), 1959 Gibson Les Paul "Number One," played through Marshall amplification and, on record, distance-miked for room ambience.

Other

John Bonham's drum recording

"When the Levee Breaks" was recorded with microphones placed far down an open stairwell at Headley Grange, producing one of the most sampled drum sounds in recorded music.

Stories & Anecdotes

"An early UK pressing of "Led Zeppelin II" credited "The Lemon Song" directly to Chester Burnett — Howlin' Wolf's real name — before the album's official credits were changed following Arc Music's lawsuit. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"

"Howlin' Wolf was paid roughly $45,000 in the settlement over "The Lemon Song" and received a posthumous co-writing credit on later pressings. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"

""When the Levee Breaks" credits Memphis Minnie alongside the four band members, but not her writing and recording partner Kansas Joe McCoy, despite the 1929 original being credited to both of them. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"

""Traveling Riverside Blues," a direct Robert Johnson cover recorded for BBC radio in 1969, sat unreleased for 21 years before appearing on the band's 1990 box set — and still reached No. 7 on Billboard's rock tracks chart. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"

"The band's name reportedly originated from a joke by the Who's Keith Moon and John Entwistle that a Page/Beck supergroup would go over "like a lead balloon." (Kilde: Wikipedia)"

"In February 2025, "Becoming Led Zeppelin" was released as the band's first officially sanctioned documentary, directed by Bernard MacMahon, featuring never-before-seen footage and commentary from Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. (Source: Variety; Wikipedia)"

Collaborators

Guitarist, producer, and architect of the band, formed from the wreckage of the Yardbirds.

Lead vocalist, recruited from obscurity in Birmingham.

John Paul Jones

Bassist, keyboardist and arranger; a former session musician like Page.

Drummer; his death in 1980 ended the band.

Sued over "Whole Lotta Love" and "Bring It On Home"; credited on both after settlement.

Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett)

Credited and compensated after Arc Music's lawsuit over "The Lemon Song."

Credited on "When the Levee Breaks," adapted from her 1929 original.

Watch & Listen

Featured

Led Zeppelin — Kashmir (Live at Knebworth 1979) [Official Video]

Full concert-quality official footage.

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin — Whole Lotta Love (Official Music Video)

Led Zeppelin — Whole Lotta Love (Official Music Video)

Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven (Live at Earl's Court 1975) [Official Video]

Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven (Live at Earl's Court 1975) [Official Video]

Becoming Led Zeppelin - Official Trailer

Becoming Led Zeppelin - Official Trailer

Watch & Listen

Henter videoer fra YouTube…

Discography

Year	Title	Producer	Studio	Label	Chart	Sales	Musicians	YouTube	Notes
1969	Led Zeppelin	Jimmy Page	—	Atlantic	—	—	Robert Plant (Vocals), John Paul Jones (Bass, keyboards), John Bonham (Drums)		Debut album; includes Willie Dixon's "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You Baby," both credited to Dixon from release.
1969	Led Zeppelin II	Jimmy Page	—	Atlantic	—	—	—		No. 1 UK and US. Includes "Whole Lotta Love" (Willie Dixon lawsuit, settled 1985), "The Lemon Song" (Arc Music/Howlin' Wolf lawsuit, settled 1972–73), and "Bring It On Home" (Dixon credit added 1972).
1970	Led Zeppelin III	Jimmy Page	—	Atlantic	—	—	—		No. 1 UK and US; more acoustic, folk-influenced direction.
1971	Led Zeppelin IV (untitled)	Jimmy Page	—	Atlantic	—	—	—		Estimated 37 million copies sold. Includes "When the Levee Breaks," rebuilding Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy's 1929 original, credited to Memphis Minnie.
1973	Houses of the Holy	Jimmy Page	—	Atlantic	—	—	—		Topped charts worldwide.
1975	Physical Graffiti	Jimmy Page	—	Swan Song	—	—	—		Double album, includes "Kashmir."
1976	Presence	Jimmy Page	—	Swan Song	—	—	—		Platinum seller, more mixed critical reception.
1979	In Through the Out Door	Jimmy Page	—	Swan Song	—	—	—		No. 1 UK and US; final studio album before Bonham's death.
1990	Led Zeppelin (box set) — "Traveling Riverside Blues"	—	—	Atlantic	—	—	—		Direct Robert Johnson cover, recorded for BBC radio in 1969 and unreleased until this box set; reached No. 7 on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart.

Famous songs

01Whole Lotta Love

02Stairway to Heaven

03Kashmir

04When the Levee Breaks

External links

YouTube Music Wikipedia

Booking / Contact

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Sources

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