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HOME AT FIRST

MAY, 2005

        Although England’s Led Zeppelin went down like the airship Hindenburg when drummer John Bonham died in 1980, the band’s stature is now, 25 years later, if anything, greater than at any point during its 13 years of existence. The band is listed near the top of any list of all-time best selling artists (measured by albums sold, not by singles).
        Like the Beatles—who continue to top the all-time albums sold list—Led Zeppelin were controversial, flamboyant, prolific, dynamic, varied, and captivating. Their strongest appeal was to the teenagers (most especially boy teenagers) of the 1970’s, and the appeal hasn’t waned. Somehow the music of Page, Plant, Jones, and Bonham continues to connect to today’s teens who may otherwise only listen to hip-hop, metal and endless subcategories of Euro-pop.
        You may have been a fan. Very possibly your children and your grandchildren may be fans. Who were these guys? Where did they come from? Where did they create their music? Is there anything there today to see? The People of Home At First takes a look back.

• JOHN HENRY ("BONZO") BONHAM. Drums. Born May 31, 1948, Redditch, Worcestershire, England. Grew up in the English Midlands fewer than 20 miles northwest of

William Shakespeare’s Stratford-on-Avon, south of Birmingham, and northeast of Worcester.

        "Bonzo" was to percussion what Alfred Nobel was to concussion: an explosive revolutionary who propelled his art form at least one quantum leap forward. Bonham’s self-taught drumming techniques still dominate the manual of rock drumming in the same way Wilt Chamberlain’s achievements continue to dominate basketball’s record book.
        Bonham died September 25, 1980, Windsor, England, home to the monarchs of Britain. His death—a now clichéd rock star death of excess (alcohol in his case)—brought down the band, brought down the Seventies, brought down Stadium Rock, and installed punkers, posers, and preeners as the musical icons of the Eighties.

 John Bonham
(click on photo to
see larger image)

Quote: "I’m the best Keith Moon-type drummer in the world." —John Bonham

• JOHN PAUL JONES. Bass & Keyboards. Born John Baldwin into a musical family, January 3, 1946, in Sidcup, Kent, England, about 6 miles SE of Greenwich, in southeastern Greater London.

          A successful studio musician before being asked by Jimmy Page to join Zeppelin, JPJ brought great experience performing, writing, arranging, and recording to the band.

Although his keyboard contributions (Hammond organ, Rhodes piano, klavinet, synthesizer, and—very memorably—on mellotron) painted the elaborate moods of many Led Zeppelin songs, it was his bass playing—at once richly melodic and dynamically rhythmic—that became his signature work, forming a rock/blues bottom with drummer Bonham that anchored the band to the core of the earth.
          Following Led Zeppelin, John Paul Jones has continued his varied musical career as a player (with his ex-Zeppelin mates for the Concert for Live Aid, for his own solo projects, and with various established acts including Lenny Kravitz and Heart) and as a producer/arranger for such disparate bands as Ben E. King, Peter Gabriel, and Cinderella.

 John Paul Jones
(click on photo to
see larger image)

Quote: "All these bands that are trying to sound like Zeppelin never really get it right, it’s all         
        this boom and bash sort of thing. But if you listen to Bonzo he's got all this little stuff going on."      
                                                                                                      —John Paul Jones, on MTV’s "Rockumentary"

• ROBERT ANTHONY PLANT. Vocals & Harmonica. Born August 20, 1948, in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, a satellite community 5 miles northwest of Birmingham. He grew up in Kidderminster, about 15 miles SW of

drummer, John Bonham.
          Plant, who joined when barely 20, was the youngest member of Led Zeppelin, but quickly joined Jimmy Page as its co-leaders. His stage persona became the prototype for legions of frontmen to follow. His soaring glissandos, exaggerated poses, lion’s mane, sexual adventures (real and apocryphal—documented in pen and plaster of Paris), and charismatically soft-spoken song intros earned him comparisons with his idol, Elvis Presley. His voice was the band’s fourth instrument, contributing as much to the sound as Page’s guitar, JPJ’s bass, and Bonzo’s drums. Plant could get more out of a "Baby" or a "Yeah" than anybody since Sam Cooke. His sense of scat was as eloquent as Ella Fitzgerald’s. Plant was stalked by trouble—a crippling automobile wreck in Greece in August, 1975, and loss of a child to sudden illness in 1977—enough to give him license as an authentic blues singer.

 Robert Plant
(click on photo to
see larger image)

Quote — "Of all the hair that ever was, (mine) was some of the best, but it  had had its day. The screaming, ga-ga, standing there chest bared   —  those were clichés. They were MY clichés, but it was time to put them in the drawer and close it."
                                                                                                 —Robert Plant, in "People" magazine.

• JAMES PATRICK (JIMMY) PAGE. Guitars. Born January 9, 1944, Heston, Middlesex, England. Near Hounslow, Heston is approximately mid-way between suburban Ealing and Heathrow Airport in western

Greater London.
          Jimmy was (is) one of the British rock guitar pantheon of three—along with Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck—all of whom played with the Yardbirds. When the Yardbirds found life with their rather headstrong lead guitarist Beck untenable, they chose to disband, leaving the pieces for bassist Jimmy Page to pick up with manager Peter Grant. Jimmy already had had years of experience playing sessions with English bands, and had struck recording gold with Herman’s Hermits and Donovan. Despite his successes he had some difficulty finding replacements for the Yardbirds. First he convinced fellow studio player John Paul Jones to come on board. Next he tried to find a singer, but when his first choices were not available, he took one of their recommendations to give an unknown 20-year-old blues singer from the Midlands a try-out. Robert Plant impressed Page

 Jimmy Page
(click on photo to
see larger image)

enough to get an offer to join the band, and he, in turn, suggested his 20-year-old ex-drummer, John Bonham for the fourth and final slot in the New Yardbirds.
          When Bonham died 12 years later, Jimmy Page, seeming to struggle with the loss, put his guitar aside for several months. In the 25 years since, Page has worked on numerous projects, especially producing and engineering a host of Led Zeppelin recordings and DVD’s from archive material and re-mixes. Jimmy has also continued to play live and on recordings with many different people, most notably with Paul Rodgers in The Firm, with David Coverdale, with Aerosmith, and with the Black Crowes. Most often he has appeared with Robert Plant, sometimes supporting a Plant project, sometimes with Plant supporting him, and, as in the case of Live Aid and the acoustic "Unledded" MTV show and follow-up tour, with the old songwriting team pursuing a mutual goal. Perhaps their most nostalgic performance occurred in January of 1995 when Jimmy and Robert were joined by John Paul Jones and John Bonham’s son Jason on drums to perform live at Led Zeppelin’s induction
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Quote —  "There will be a Led Zeppelin as long as there's a Jimmy Page, John Bonham,
John Paul Jones, and Robert Plant. This isn’t a nostalgia band playing the hits forever.     
If anything ever happened and somebody left—which I really can’t see happening—        
I don’t think we’d bother to carry on. The magic for me is as it is now."                                 
                                                                                          —Jimmy Page, to Cameron Crowe, 1974.

Quote — "I’m pretty optimistic about the future of rock. The young musicians will emerge again, but through the level of really good writing, with depth and intellect. It will be back to composition as in classical music or jazz."          
                                                                                     —Jimmy Page, in "Sounds", October, 1976.

STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

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