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Led Zeppelin (clockwise from left: Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones)

Led Zeppelin was a British band noted for their innovative, influential approach to heavy blues-rock and as one of the most popular and influential bands of all time. They both helped define and transcended the then-emerging heavy metal sub-genre. They were ranked # 1 in VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.

History

Early days

File:Led Zeppelin Early Days.jpg

An early photo of Led Zeppelin band members (clockwise from top left) John Bonham, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and Jimmy Page.

The band was originally formed in 1968 by guitarist Jimmy Page under the name The New Yardbirds in order to fulfill some performance commitments booked in Scandinavia before the break up of the original Yardbirds. The original Led Zeppelin lineup consisted of Page, vocalist Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham, and former Yardbirds bassist Chris Dreja, but Dreja left very early in the band's existence to become a photographer. He was replaced by Page's long time friend John Paul Jones. Dreja did play some part in early Led Zeppelin. Dreja took the photograph on the back of the groups debut album. Plant himself brought in his old friend Bonham from Black Country pub and rock club bands; Plant was recommended to Page by Page's first choice singer Terry Reid who declined the opportunity. Reports vary as to where the band first all met- a pub in Walsall, Staffordshire or a rehearsal room in London being cited by some.

After some concerts as the New Yardbirds, the band's name was changed to Led Zeppelin, after Who drummer Keith Moon quipped that the band would go over "like a lead Zeppelin". (The comment is frequently attributed to Who bassist John Entwistle instead, or to a joke shared between the two.) When adopting the name, the word "lead" was misspelled deliberately to avoid confusion, fearing Americans might pronounce it "lead Zeppelin" (as in "lead singer"), as opposed to a zeppelin constructed of the metal lead.

Note: Although the story about Led Zeppelin playing under the name "The New Yardbirds" is so common as to be nearly canonical, there is actually some controversy about this. Fans who attended those early Scandinavian shows have indicated that the band was billed simply as The Yardbirds in 1968. These reports are backed up by ads in Swedish newspapers of the period, in which they are billed as The Yardbirds, and even an autographed photograph of the band with the word Yardbirds signed next to each name (the word New being conspicuously absent).

Shortly after their first tour, the group's first eponymous album was released on January 12, 1969. Its combination of blues and rock influences with distorted amplification made it one of the pivotal records in the evolution of heavy metal music. The immediate success of the first album kick-started the band's career, especially in the United States, where they would frequently tour and where their album sales totals are second only to the Beatles. The second record, simply titled Led Zeppelin II, followed in the same style later that year and included the bludgeoning riff of "Whole Lotta Love", which, driven by the rhythm section of John Bonham on drums and John Paul Jones on bass, defined their sound at the time.

Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were blues fanatics; two of Led Zeppelin's early hits, "Whole Lotta Love" and "You Shook Me", were very similar to earlier songs by Willie Dixon. (The band were subsequently accused of using his lyrics without crediting Dixon, and it was not until Chess Records brought suit 15 years later, that proper credit—and a monetary settlement—was given.)Page and Plant, it was revealed in April 2005, wanted to buy the then available Chess catalogue and master recordings in the 1970s; but this was vetoed by Bonham and Jones, who were more keen on James Brown. The band also loved American rock and roll, and would perform songs originally made famous by Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran. Onstage, Led Zeppelin concerts could last over three hours; expanded, improvised live versions of their song repertoire often incorporated tight workouts of James Brown, Styx, and Motown-influenced soul music and funk (favourites of bassist Jones and drummer Bonham).

For the recording of their third album, Led Zeppelin III, the band retired to Bron-Yr-Aur, a remote house in Wales. This would result in a more acoustic sound (and a song "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp"—misspelled as "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" on the album cover) which was strongly influenced by Celtic and folk music, and it also revealed a different side of guitarist Page's prodigious talent. In November of 1970, Led Zeppelin's record label, Atlantic Records, released "Immigrant Song" against the band's wishes. It included their only b-side, "Hey Hey What Can I Do". The band had nine other singles released all without their consent, as they saw their albums as indivisible. Curiously, "Stairway to Heaven" was never released as a single, in spite of its massive success on radio (part of the band's frustration about singles came from manager Peter Grant's aggressive pro-album stance, and the fact that Atlantic had earlier released an edited version of "Whole Lotta Love" which cut the 5:34 song to 3:10). The group also resisted television appearances, which left any ability to control their presentation and sound quality out of their own hands (with often disappointing or embarrassing results). Lack of Led Zeppelin TV exposure also enforced the band's preference that their fans hear and see them live, in person.

File:LedZeppelin-Symbols.jpg

The 4 symbols each standing for a Led Zeppelin member. Top; Left to Right: Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones. Bottom; Left to Right: John Bonham, Robert Plant

"The Biggest Band in the World"

The band's varying musical tendencies were fused on their untitled fourth album, which is usually called either "Zoso," "Runes," "Four Symbols," or just "Led Zeppelin IV." (Not only is the album itself without a name: on the original packaging, there is no indication of the name of the band.) Released November 8, 1971, this record included hard rock such as "Black Dog", Tolkienesque folksy mysticism on "The Battle of Evermore", and a combination of both genres in the lengthy song "Stairway to Heaven", a massive FM radio hit that has been acknowledged by many as the all-time greatest classic rock song, and confirming Robert Plant's status as the bands main songwriter. The album winds up with one of their best blues songs, a Memphis Minnie cover titled "When the Levee Breaks".

Their next studio record, 1973's Houses of the Holy, featured further experimentation: longer songs and expanded use of synthesisers and Mellotron parts. With songs like "The Song Remains the Same", "No Quarter" and "D'yer Mak'er" (pronounced "Jer-maker," derived from Jamaica, which was fitting, given the song's reggae feel. This is also a play on words, based on the joke where a man mistakes his friend saying the word Jamaica, for "Did You Make Her?"). Led Zeppelin was again pushing the limits defining rock music. Their 1973 tour of the U.S. again broke records for attendance: at Tampa Stadium, Florida they played to 56,800 fans (more than the Beatles' 1965 concert at Shea Stadium). Three sold out New York shows at Madison Square Garden were filmed for a concert motion picture, but this project would be delayed for several years.

In 1974, Led Zeppelin launched their own record label called Swan Song, named after one of only five songs that the band never recorded for commercial release (the track was re-tooled as "Midnight Moonlight" by Page's post-Zeppelin band The Firm on their first album). Besides using it as a vehicle to promote their own albums, the band expanded the label's roster, signing artists such as Bad Company, Pretty Things, Maggie Bell, Detective, Dave Edmunds, Midnight Flyer, Sad Café and Wildlife.

1975 saw the release of Physical Graffiti, their first double album set, on the Swan Song label. The album included songs recorded in studio sessions from the last three albums plus new songs. Again the band showed impressive range with songs like the melodic "Ten Years Gone", the acoustic "Black Country Woman", the driving "Trampled Underfoot" and the thundering, Middle Eastern tinged "Kashmir".

Shortly after the release of Physical Graffiti, the entire Led Zeppelin catalogue of six albums was simultaneously on the top 200 album chart, a feat never before accomplished. The band embarked on another U.S. tour, again playing to record-breaking crowds. To top off the year, they played five sold out nights at the UK's Earl's Court (these shows were recorded, portions of which would be released on DVD some 28 years later). At this peak of their career, Led Zeppelin was the biggest rock band in the world.

If the band's popularity on stage and record was impressive, so too was their reputation for excess and off-stage wildness. Zeppelin travelled in a private jet (nicknamed "The Starship"), rented out entire sections of hotels, and became the subjects of many of rock's most famous stories of debauchery: trashed hotel rooms (TVs out the window, motorcycling in the halls), sexual escapades, and heavy use of drugs and alcohol. Several people associated with the band - perhaps embellishing more often than they should - would write books about the wild escapades of the group, while band members themselves have disavowed many of the tales.

Latter days

In 1976 the band took a break from the road and began filming "fantasy" segments for the as-yet-unreleased concert film entitled "The Song Remains The Same". During this break, Robert Plant and his wife were in a car crash while vacationing in Greece which broke Plant's ankle. Unable to tour, the band returned to the studio and, with Plant sitting on a stool during the sessions, they recorded their seventh studio album Presence. The album was a platinum seller, but marked a change in the Zeppelin sound as straightforward, guitar-based jams such as "Nobody's Fault But Mine" had replaced the intricate arrangements of previous albums. A highlight of the album was the epic-length "Achilles Last Stand" featuring a driving bassline and thundering drums, melodic Page riffs and a magnificent guitar solo. Overall the album received mixed responses from critics and fans, with some appreciating the looser style and others dismissing it as sloppy and lazy; some critics speculated that the band's legendary excesses may have caught up with them at last. Interestingly enough, 1976 was the year guitarist Page started using heroin, a habit which would often interfere with their live shows and studio recordings in their later years.

Late 1976 finally saw the release of the concert film The Song Remains the Same and its soundtrack. Though the concert footage was from 1973, this would be the only filmed document of the group available for the next 20 years. The soundtrack of the film had some songs missing and some added compared to the film, and also some songs are different cuts from the 3 nights the band performed at Madison Square Garden. The album is generally not considered a great live album, but would remain the only official live document of the band until the eventual release of the BBC Sessions in 1997.

In 1977, Led Zeppelin embarked on another massive U.S. tour, again selling out up to 5 nights in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. (Seattle and Cleveland shows from this tour were the basis for highly regarded bootleg albums.) Following a show at the "Day on the Green" festival in Oakland, the news came that Robert Plant's son Karac had died from a stomach infection. The rest of the tour was cancelled, and superstitious critics whispered of a "curse" said to be related to Page's interest in the occult.

The band did little recording or live work during 1978; the somber mood was extended with the death of their friend, Who drummer Keith Moon. The summer of 1978 saw the group recording again, this time at Swedish Polar Studio, owned by the pop group ABBA ; this album would be titled In Through the Out Door and would highlight the talent of drummer John Bonham on the epic "Carouselambra" and the tropical "Fool In The Rain". The album also featured rockers like "In The Evening", and the balladic tribute to Plant's son, "All My Love". John Paul Jones had a lot of influence over the album and it consequently features many synthesisers. After a decade of recording and touring, the band was now considered a dinosaur in some quarters, as mainstream musical tastes had moved in favour of disco and critical focus had turned to punk rock. Nevertheless, the band still commanded legions of loyal fans, and the album reached #1 in the US and UK.

In the summer of 1979, after two warm-up shows in Copenhagen, Led Zeppelin was booked as headliner at England's Knebworth Festival in August. Close to 400,000 fans witnessed the return of Led Zeppelin and, with the release of In Through the Out Door in November, they were ready to tour again, planning a short European tour followed by another American tour.

The 1980 American tour was not to be, however. On 25 September 1980, shortly before embarking on the U.S. leg of the tour, drummer John Bonham died of an accidental asphyxiation after an alcohol binge. Because of Bonham's death, the remaining band members determined they could not continue as Led Zeppelin. For many years after, there had been ongoing rumours of a reunion and plans for various collaborative projects.

Two years after Bonham's death, the band released Coda, a collection of out-takes from previous recording sessions. In the years to follow, a steady stream of boxed sets and greatest-hits collections would keep the band on the charts, as Led Zeppelin continued to garner heavy airplay on rock radio.

Reunions and ongoing success

After embarking on a successful solo career in 1982, Plant teamed with Page in 1984 for the commercially successful Honeydrippers Volume I EP, which also featured Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. On 13 July, 1985 Led Zeppelin reunited at the Live Aid concert for a short set featuring Page, Plant and Jones, with drummers Tony Thompson and Phil Collins standing in for the late John Bonham. The performance included three songs ("Rock and Roll", "Whole Lotta Love" and "Stairway to Heaven") and a myriad of difficulties. A year later in 1986, Page, Plant and Jones gathered at Bath, England for rehearsals with Thompson with a view to play again as a group, but a serious car accident involving Thompson put an end to that plan. However, Zeppelin did reunite again in 1988, with Jason Bonham (standing in for his father, John) joining the remaining three for Atlantic Records' 40th Anniversary concert. In addition, they played with Jason at Carmen Plant's (Robert's daughter) 21st birthday party, and Jason's wedding. In 1990, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page played a brief set together at the Knebworth music festival, which included the rarity off of Coda, "Wearing and Tearing". Page and Plant, without Jones, reunited in 1994 for an MTV Unplugged performance (dubbed Unledded) which eventually led to a world tour with a Middle Eastern orchestra, and an album entitled No Quarter.

1997 saw the release of the first Led Zeppelin album in over 15 years— BBC Sessions. This two-disc set included almost all of the band's recordings for the BBC, though fans noticed the absence of one session from 1969 that included the unreleased "Sugar Mama". At this time Atlantic also released a single edit of "Whole Lotta Love" making it the only Led Zeppelin CD single. In 1998, Page and Plant continued their collaboration after the Unledded project with Walking into Clarksdale, the pair's first album-length collaboration on all-new material since Led Zeppelin.

The British press reported in 2002 that Plant and Jones had reconciled after a 20-year feud that had kept Led Zeppelin apart, and rumours surfaced of a reunion tour in 2003. Drummer Dave Grohl of Nirvana, and singer/guitarist of the Foo Fighters was named as a potential replacement for Bonham, a claim later denied by Page.

2003 saw yet another resurgence of the band's popularity with the release of a live album featuring material from the band's heyday (see How the West Was Won album and Led Zeppelin DVD). At year's end, the DVD had sold more than 520,000 copies, easily making the list of the most popular DVDs of the year.

In 2005 Led Zeppelin received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which was the first (and to date only) Grammy the band had received.

Samples and covers

Beginning in the 1980s, the iconic nature of many Zeppelin riffs made them a popular target for sampling, initially unauthorised but later sanctioned by the surviving band members, to mixed reactions from fans. Hip-hop group the Beastie Boys sampled Bonham's crushing beat from "When the Levee Breaks", and also borrowed parts of "The Ocean" for "She's Crafty". For the movie Godzilla (1998), guitarist Jimmy Page collaborated with P. Diddy, reworking the famous riff from "Kashmir" in the hit song "Come With Me"—Page also has a brief vocal part in this song. Tool has covered "No Quarter" and a riff from the song can be found in Sublime's "Smoke Two Joints". Another band featuring Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan, A Perfect Circle, covered When the Levee Breaks on their eMOTIVe album in 2004. The rock/comedy duo Tenacious D strategically used pieces of "Stairway to Heaven" in the original version of their song "Tribute".

Led Zeppelin songs have been the subject of cover versions on occasion; American band Dread Zeppelin have made a career out of covering and parodying Zeppelin tunes. A cover version of "Whole Lotta Love", by Alexis Korner, was, for many years, used as the theme music for the BBC's chart show Top of the Pops. Tina Turner covered Led Zeppelin II 's "Whole Lotta Love" and the London Philharmonic Orchestra released an orchestral tribute to Led Zeppelin that includes versions of "Stairway to Heaven", "When The Levee Breaks" and "Kashmir". In 1995 a tribute album entitled Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin was released featuring covers performed by modern rock acts, notably a hit version of "Dancing Days" performed by Stone Temple Pilots.

The Davis, California band Little Roger and the Goosebumps made news in 1978 by putting the words to the theme of the 1960s US television show Gilligan's Island to an adapted and condensed "Stairway to Heaven." Legal action by representatives of Led Zeppelin soon followed, and the single was withdrawn from the sale.

Unlike many of their contemporaries, the band has been very protective of its catalog of songs and seldom allowed them to be licensed for other uses. In recent years this position has softened somewhat and Led Zeppelin songs can be heard in movies such as Almost Famous and School of Rock. Furthermore, the Led Zeppelin song "Rock and Roll" can be heard in Cadillac television and radio ads.

Members

Jimmy Page — guitar
Robert Plant — lead vocals, harmonica
John Bonham — drums
John Paul Jones — bass guitar, keyboards, mandolin

The band has often cited influential manager Peter Grant as a "fifth member"

Discography

Before recording Led Zeppelin, all four members participated in the sessions for P.J. Proby's 1969 album Three Week Hero. The only song on which all four members appear is "Jim's Blues".

Studio Albums

File:LedZeppelinLedZeppelinalbumcover.jpg	Led Zeppelin (1969) - #6 UK, #10 US, US Sales: 11 million - Good Times Bad Times, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, You Shook Me, Dazed and Confused, Your Time Is Gonna Come, Black Mountain Side, Communication Breakdown, I Can't Quit You Baby, How Many More Times
File:LedZeppelinLedZeppelinIIalbumcover.jpg	Led Zeppelin II (1969) - #1 UK, #1 US, US Sales: 12 million - Whole Lotta Love, What Is and What Should Never Be, The Lemon Song, Thank You, Heartbreaker, Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman), Ramble On, Moby Dick, Bring It On Home
File:Ledzeppeliniii.jpg	Led Zeppelin III (1970) - #1 UK, #1 US, US Sales: 6 million - Immigrant Song, Friends, Celebration Day, Since I've Been Loving You, Out On the Tiles, Gallows Pole, Tangerine, That's the Way, Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp, Hats Off to (Roy) Harper
	Led Zeppelin IV (1971) - #1 UK, #2 US, US Sales: 22 million - Black Dog, Rock and Roll, The Battle of Evermore, Stairway to Heaven, Misty Mountain Hop, Four Sticks, Going to California, When the Levee Breaks
	Houses of the Holy (1973) - #1 UK, #1 US, US Sales: 11 million - The Song Remains the Same, The Rain Song, Over the Hills and Far Away, The Crunge, Dancing Days, D'yer Mak'er, No Quarter, The Ocean
File:LedZeppelinPhysicalGraffitialbumcover.jpg	Physical Graffiti (1975) - #1 UK, #1 US, US Sales: 15 million - Disc one: Custard Pie, The Rover, In My Time of Dying, Houses of the Holy, Trampled Under Foot, Kashmir - Disc two: In the Light, Bron-Yr-Aur, Down by the Seaside, Ten Years Gone, Night Flight, The Wanton Song, Boogie with Stu, Black Country Woman, Sick Again,
File:LedZeppelinPresencecover.jpg	Presence (1976) - #1 UK, #1 US, US Sales: 3 million - Achilles Last Stand, For Your Life, Royal Orleans, Nobody's Fault But Mine, Candy Store Rock, Hots On For Nowhere, Tea For One
File:LedZeppelinInThroughTheOutDoorcover.jpg	In Through the Out Door (1979) - #1 UK, #1 US, US Sales: 7 million - In the Evening, South Bound Saurez, Fool In the Rain, Hot Dog, Carouselambra, All My Love, I'm Gonna Crawl
	Coda (1982) - #4 UK, #6 US, US Sales: 1 million -We're Gonna Groove, Poor Tom, I Can't Quit You Baby, Walter's Walk, Ozone Baby, Darlene, Bonzo's Montreux, Wearing and Tearing *

Remasters, Compilations and Lives

File:LedZeppelinTheSongRemainsTheSamealbumcover.jpg	The Song Remains the Same (1976) - #1 UK, #2 US, US Sales: 4 million - Disc 1: Rock and Roll, Celebration Day, The Song Remains The Same, Rain Song, Dazed and Confused - Disc 2: No Quarter, Stairway to Heaven, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love
File:No Image Available	Remasters (1990) - #10 UK, #47 US, US Sales: 2 million - Disc 1: Communication Breakdown, Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You, Good Times Bad Times, Dazed and Confused, Whole Lotta Love, Heartbreaker, Ramble On, Immigrant Song, Celebration Day, Since I've Been Loving You, Black Dog, Rock and Roll, Battle of Evermore, Misty Mountain Hop, Stairway to Heaven - Disc 2: The Song Remains the Same, The Rain Song, D'yer M'aker, No Quarter, Houses of the Holy, Kashmir, Trampled Underfoot, Nobody's Fault But Mine, Achille's Last Stand, All My Love, In The Evening - Disc 3: 1) Led Zeppelin Profile, 2-8) Jimmy Page Station Liners, 9-16) Jimmy page interview, 21-32) Robert Plant interview, 33-43) John Paul Jones interview
File:LedZeppelinProfiledcover.jpg	Profiled (1990) - interviews - 1. Led Zeppelin Profile, 2-8. Station Liners, 9-20. Interview: Jimmy Page, 21-32. Interview: Robert Plant, 33-43. Interview: John Paul Jones
File:No Image Available	Boxed Set (1990) - #18 US, US Sales: 7 million - Disc 1: Whole Lotta Love, Heartbreaker, Communication Breakdown, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, What Is and What Should Never Be, Thank You, I Can't Quit You Baby, Dazed and Confused, Your Time Is Gonna Come, Ramble On, Travelling Riverside Blues (previously unreleased), Friends, Celebration Day, Hey Hey What Can I Do (previously unavailable on album), White Summer/Black Mountain Side (previously unreleased) - Disc 2: Black Dog, Over the Hills and Far Away, Immigrant Song, The Battle of Evermore, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, Tangerine, Going To California, Since I've Been Loving You, D'yer Mak'er, Gallows Pole, Custard Pie, Misty Mountain Hop, Rock and Roll, The Rain Song, Stairway To Heaven - Disc 3: Kashmir, Trampled Under Foot, For Your Life, No Quarter, Dancing Days, When the Levee Breaks, Achilles Last Stand, The Song Remains the Same, Ten Years Gone, In My Time of Dying - Disc 4: In the Evening, Candy Store Rock, The Ocean, Ozone Baby, Houses of the Holy, Wearing and Tearing, Poor Tom, Nobody's Fault But Mine, Fool in the Rain, In the Light, The Wanton Song, Moby Dick/Bonzo's Montreux (previously unreleased in this form), I'm Gonna Crawl, All My Love
File:LedZeppelinBoxSetIIcover.jpg	Boxed Set 2 (1993) - #87 US, US Sales: 500 thousand - Disc 1: Good Times Bad Times, We're Gonna Groove, Night Flight, That's The Way, Baby Come On Home (Previously unreleased), The Lemon Song, You Shook Me, Boogie With Stu, Bron-Yr-Aur, Down By The Seaside, Out On The Tiles, Black Mountain Side, Moby Dick, Sick Again, Hot Dog, Carouselambra - Disc 2: South Bound Saurez, Walter's Walk, Darlene, Black Country Woman, How Many More Times, The Rover, Four Sticks, Hats Off To (Roy) Harper, I Can't Quit You Baby, Hots On For Nowhere, Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman), Royal Orleans, Bonzo's Montreux, The Crunge, Bring It On Home, Tea For One
	The Complete Studio Recordings (1993) - US Sales: 2 million - ten CD box set containing all original albums with the inclusion of four tracks at the end of Coda - Baby Come on Home, Traveling Riverside Blues (Live on the BBC), White Summer/Black Mountainside (Live on the BBC), and Hey Hey What Can I Do. It does not include Jimmy Page's interpolation of Moby Dick and Bonzo's Montreaux on the first box set.
File:No Image Available	BBC Sessions (1997) - Disc 1: You Shook Me, I Can't Quit You Baby, Communication Breakdown, Dazed and Confused, The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair, What Is and What Should Never Be, Communication Breakdown, Traveling Riverside Blues, Whole Lotta Love, Somethin' Else, Communication Breakdown, I Can't Quit You Baby, You Shook Me, How Many More Times - Disc 2: Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Since I've Been Loving You, Black Dog, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Going to California, That's the Way, Whole Lotta Love, Thank You
File:LedZeppelinEarlyDayscover.jpg	Early Days: The Best of Led Zeppelin Volume One (1999) - #71 US, US Sales: 1 million - Good Times Bad Times, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Dazed and Confused, Communication Breakdown, Whole Lotta Love, What Is and What Should Never Be, Immigrant Song, Since I've Been Loving You, Black Dog, Rock & Roll, Battle of Evermore, When the Levee Breaks, Stairway to Heaven
File:LedZeppelinLatterDayscover.jpg	Latter Days: The Best of Led Zeppelin Volume Two (2000) - #40 UK, #81 US - Song Remains the Same, No Quarter, Houses of the Holy, Trampled Under Foot, Kashmir, Ten Years Gone, Achilles Last Stand, Nobody's Fault But Mine, All My Love, In the Evening
	How the West Was Won (2003) - #5 UK, #1 US, US Sales: 1 million - Disc 1: LA Drone, Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Black Dog, Over The Hills And Far Away, Since I've Been Loving You, Stairway To Heaven, Going To California, That's The Way, Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp - Disc 2: Dazed And Confused, What Is And What Should Never Be, Dancing Days, Moby Dick - Disc 3: Whole Lotta Love, Rock And Roll, The Ocean, Bring It On Home

*The albums Coda and the following were issued after the band ceased recording.

Hit singles

1970 "Whole Lotta Love" #4 US
1971 "Immigrant Song" #16 US
1972 "Black Dog" #15 US
1973 "D'yer Mak'er" #20 US
1975 "Trampled Under Foot" #38 US
1980 "Fool in the Rain" #21 US
1997 "Whole Lotta Love" #21 UK

Films, DVDs

File:TheSongRemainstheSameDVDcover.jpg	The Song Remains the Same (1976)
File:LedZeppelinDVDcover.jpg	Led Zeppelin DVD (2003)

External links

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 The band was originally formed in [[1968]] by [[guitarist]] [[Jimmy Page]] under the name '''The New Yardbirds''' in order to fulfill some performance commitments booked in Scandinavia before the break up of the original [[Yardbirds]]. The original Led Zeppelin lineup consisted of Page, vocalist [[Robert Plant]], drummer [[John Bonham]], and former [[Yardbirds]] bassist [[Chris Dreja]], but Dreja left very early in the band's existence to become a photographer. He was replaced by [[Jimmy Page|Page's]] long time friend [[John Paul Jones (musician)|John Paul Jones]]. Dreja did play some part in early Led Zeppelin. Dreja took the photograph on the back of the groups debut album. [[Plant]] himself brought in his old friend [[Bonham]] from [[Black Country]] pub and [[rock club]] bands; [[Plant]] was recommended to [[Page]] by [[Page]]'s first choice singer [[Terry Reid]] who declined the opportunity. Reports vary as to where the band first all met- a pub in [[Walsall]], [[Staffordshire]] or a rehearsal room in [[London ]] being cited by some.
-After some concerts as the New Yardbirds, the band's name was changed to Led Zeppelin, after [[The Who|Who]] drummer [[Keith Moon]] quipped that the band would go over "like a lead [[Zeppelin]]". (The comment is frequently attributed to Who bassist [[John Entwistle]] instead, or to a joke shared between the two.) When adopting the name, the word "lead" was misspelled deliberately to avoid confusion, fearing Americans might pronounce it "lead Zeppelin" (as in "lead singer"),as opposed to a zeppelin constructed of the metal [[lead]].
+After some concerts as the New Yardbirds, the band's name was changed to Led Zeppelin, after [[The Who|Who]] drummer [[Keith Moon]] quipped that the band would go over "like a lead [[Zeppelin]]". (The comment is frequently attributed to Who bassist [[John Entwistle]] instead, or to a joke shared between the two.) When adopting the name, the word "lead" was misspelled deliberately to avoid confusion, fearing Americans might pronounce it "lead Zeppelin" (as in "lead singer"), as opposed to a zeppelin constructed of the metal [[lead]].
 Note: Although the story about Led Zeppelin playing under the name "The New Yardbirds" is so common as to be nearly canonical, there is actually some controversy about this. Fans who attended those early Scandinavian shows have indicated that the band was billed simply as The Yardbirds in 1968. These reports are backed up by ads in Swedish newspapers of the period, in which they are billed as The Yardbirds, and even an autographed photograph of the band with the word Yardbirds signed next to each name (the word New being conspicuously absent).