Led Zeppelin Essays (1030 words) - Backing Vocalists, Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin The band Led Zeppelin is one of the greatest hard rock groups of all time. The band also has one of the best success stories in the history hard rock music. Led Zeppelins success in hard rock was achieved in the seventies and they even had a few hits in the late sixties. The musicians in Led Zeppelin are Jimmy Page: born on April 9, 1944, Robert Plant, born on August 24, 1948, John Paul Jones, born on January 3, 1946, and John Bonham born on May 31, 1948. Jimmy Page shredded the guitar, Robert Plant was the vocalist, John Paul Jones kept the beat on bass guitar and keyboard, and John Bonham pounded away on the drums. All of the band members were in it from the beginning, and it stayed that way until the end. Their first album was produced in thirty hours and the record completed their opening deal with the Yardbirds. They toured Scandinavia for some time to complete their touring obligations with the Yardbirds. When Led Zeppelin first arrived in the United States they supported Vanilla Fudge. The band stared playing in small venues and clubs until their popularity in American would take off. After the band started receiving more recognition from their fans they got their first chance to tour as a headliners. Led Zeppelin played their fifth tour by March of 1970. Led Zeppelin released their first record with Atlantic Records in 1969. In no time the record had risen to number eight on the billboard top twenty. The album stayed in the top twenty for six weeks after it hit the charts. When the bands second album, Led Zeppelin II, was released, it was praised by Atlantic Records' as the fastest selling record in history. Led Zeppelin II sold upwards of 100,000 copies a week. In 1975 when "Physical Graffiti" was released the album was selling 500 copies an hour breaking there own previously held record. All of the band albums have gone platinum. Led Zeppelin was the first group to heavily tour the United States and the band occasionally toured the rest of the world. This happened because the band did not have the same following in Britain as previous rock bands. Their success was due to their genius manager Peter Grant. Peter kept the group moving all the time and in hand the peoples interest in the band never faded. Peter realized that if he could have Led Zeppelin tour every other year they would stay in demand, and this way the population would not grow board with the band as quickly. Peter tried his notion while the group worked on their first movie. This movie was, simply, the group playing their music, and was titled; "The Song remains playing." A representative from their record company called and told Page that the sales of the bands new album "Houses of the Holy" were spectacular. The record company told Page that Led Zeppelin, was the biggest selling group in the world. On top of that they were making more money than any other band the time. After Page and Plant heard this they had a moment of triumph. They were living their dream, and nothing could or would stop them know. Around this time of popularity the band was featured in the L.A. Times. They were creating music for the teenage group and they were being perceived as role models. In the summer of 1975, Led Zeppelin was the most popular band in the world. They were packing football stadiums across the United States. Abroad the bands talent was also starting to be recognized, and they held sold out shows all across Europe. They filled Earl's Court, which held 20,000 people a show, for a five-day stay in London England. It was an awesome show that had a dazzling lights, dry ice, smoke, and even lasers. The concerts focused on Jimmy Page and Robert Plant because they were the main attraction of the group. When performing on stage they complimented each other even though they had different styles of music: Plant a golden-ringleted Adonis marvelously parodying the sexual superstar while singing in a voice of limitless power. (www.wysiwyg://14/http://www.redrival.com/getled/history.html.) Page was a dark, fragile guitarist of immense versatility and command clothed in black velvet and rippling dragons. (www.http://www.led-zeppelin.com/news.html) The last led Zeppelin albums released while the band was still making music together were "The Presence"(1976) and the "In Though the Out Door"(1979). John Bonham was found dead at the home of Jimmy Page on the 25 of September