Out of the ashes of the band The The Yardbirds arose one of the greatest bands in the history of hard rock: Led Zeppelin. Generally regarded as one of the first bands to start the development and influence of heavy metal music, Led Zeppelin remains as popular today as it did during its heyday during the early and mid 70’s. Zeppelin formed in 1968 when The Yardbirds finally called it quits, however, the band still had a number of concert obligations to fulfill. Jimmy Page and then bassist Chris Dreja were authorized by the other members to use the name to finish playing the rest of the dates. They secured singer Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham whom had played together previously in Plant's old band, the Band of Joy. When Dreja dropped out, it was suggested that they get bassist John Paul Jones whom had previously had a collaboration with Page. After completing the rest of the tour dates as The New Yardbirds, the band changed their name in late 1968 to Led Zeppelin, and a legend was born.
Almost immediately following the completion of The New Yardbirds tour, Led Zeppelin embarked on their own tour and released their first album in January of 1969, the tracks for which had been recorded while the group was on the road. Throughout the early and mid 70’s, Led Zeppelin’s popularity skyrocketed and the band was consistently setting new records with their sales, concerts, and albums. Through the years, up until a series of events that started in 1975, Led Zeppelin was almost constantly touring and recording. Beginning with the release of their first album, simply titled Led Zeppelin, in January of 1969, the band released 6 albums in a 6 year period consisting of Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin III, the still unofficially titled Led Zeppelin IV or “The Fourth Album”, Houses of the Holy, and Physical Graffiti. Their reputation for off stage raucousness and excess also became nearly legendary in the public consciousness as well.
Throughout the years the bands popularity grew, even to the point where by 1976 they had outsold most of the other bands of the time, including the Rolling Stones. Led Zeppelin, through to this period, was constantly increasing the scope of their concerts with increasingly larger stage areas and featuring even more complex light shows. By this time the group was selling large venues and playing to record breaking crowds.
In August of 1975, the band was forced to take an unscheduled break from touring when Robert Plant and his wife Maureen were involved in a serious car crash, although it did not completely sideline Zeppelin. It was during this time that they wrote the material for their next album, Presence, which was released in 1976. It was also during this time that, instead of touring, the group finished putting together their concert film The Song Remains the Same as well as the soundtrack album for the film.
The band resumed touring in 1977, but the rest of the tour was cancelled in July when Robert Plant learned of the death of his 5 year old son Karac. The death was a result of a stomach virus. The July 24th show at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in California was the last live show the band would perform in the U.S. It would not be until late 1978 when the group would re-enter the studio to begin work on In Through the Out Door and did not resume touring until mid 1979 with 2 shows in Copenhagen however, Plant did not want to resume full time touring and actually considered leaving Led Zeppelin. He was convinced to stay and a small European tour began in June of 1980 which ended in early July, despite some health problems that saw John Bonham collapse on stage and have to be rushed to the hospital.
The end of Led Zeppelin came with the death of John Bonham on September 25th, 1980. The rest of the band officially disbanded with a press statement released on December 4th, 1980 stating that “We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend…have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were.”
John Bonham was 32.