Led Zeppelin, page 65
“I never had any drum lessons”: JB, quoted in Chris Welch, “John Bonham: Over the Hills and Far Away,” MM, June 21, 1975.
“We would sit in front”: Mick Bonham, John Bonham (Harpenden, UK: Southbank, 2005), p. 21.
“It was from drummers like them”: JB, quoted in Roy Carr, A Talk on the Wild Side (Hamburg, Germany: earBOOKS, 2010).
“a bricklayer vibe”: Glenn Hughes, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 32.
“John used to watch me”: “I was the loudest drummer in the area.” Bev Bevan, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 42.
“We got banned”: Jim Simpson, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 42.
“We used to see”: Tony Iommi, quoted in Martin Popoff, Led Zeppelin (Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 2017), p. 58.
“boisterous” and “utterly outrageous”: Jim Simpson, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 42.
“enjoying a pint or four”: Author interview with Dave Pegg, November 28, 2018.
“Suddenly the drum kit”: Dave Pegg interview.
“We played with the amps”: Paul Lockey, interview with the author, May 18, 2019.
“He’d bang away”: Kevyn Gammond interview.
“Rob insisted on putting his name”: Kevyn Gammond interview.
“I was shocked”: Dave Pegg interview.
Rose was so impressed: “I eventually found John and offered him the job, paying about £40 a week.” Tim Rose, quoted in Bonham, John Bonham, p. 61.
Chapter Six: Don’t Tread on Me
“Ultimately, I wanted”: JP, quoted in Dave Lewis, Led Zeppelin: From a Whisper to a Scream (London: Omnibus, 2012), p. 20.
he sent “at least thirty”: Peter Grant, quoted in Dave Lewis, “Peter Grant: The TBL Interview,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 90.
“Pat was not happy”: “I went with Robert over to John’s flat in Eve Hill.” Bill Bonham, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 92.
“Don’t you even think”: “I worked on him and worked on him.” RP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 34.
“I was doing okay.”: JB, quoted in “Me and My Music,” Disc and Music Echo, June 27, 1970.
Word drifted around: “Bevan said the fledgling Move originally considered offering the drumming job to Bonham.” Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 132.
“basically spelled out”: JP, interview by Mick Wall, Mojo, October 2005.
“Even if we didn’t”: JB, quoted in “John Paul Jones: Interview,” Disc and Music Echo, June 27, 1970.
In typical John Bonham fashion: “It was bad enough John doing a runner.” Tim Rose, quoted in Bonham, John Bonham, p. 66.
“You name it, I’ve done it”: JPJ, quoted in Gail Worley, “Getting the Led Out: A John Paul Jones Interview,” KNAC-FM, Long Beach, CA, April 1, 2002.
“My dad bought a record player”: JPJ, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 11.
“My father had a little”: JPJ, quoted in Steven Rosen, “John Paul Jones,” Guitar Player, July 1977.
“neck like a tree trunk”: JPJ, quoted in Rosen, “John Paul Jones.”
“bass player’s paradise”: JPJ, quoted in Ritchie Yorke, “Ask-In with a Led Zeppelin a Week: Bassist John Paul Jones--Motown Bass Deserves a Lot of Credit,” NME, April 4, 1970.
“John Paul heard about it”: Tony Meehan, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 13.
“I wanted to make”: JPJ, quoted in Andrew Loog Oldham, 2Stoned (London: Secker & Warburg, 2002), p. 134.
“It was quite a session”: JPJ, quoted in Peter Jones, “John Paul Jones: Bass with Everything,” Record Mirror, April 25, 1964.
“I just knew that John looked”: Oldham, 2Stoned, p. 134.
“I was always in demand”: JPJ, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 100.
“Somebody came up to me”: JPJ, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 22.
“I discovered that musical arranging”: JPJ, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 15.
“I was immediately hired”: JPJ, quoted in Rosen, “John Paul Jones.”
“You walk through that door”: JPJ, quoted in Worley, “Getting the Led Out.”
“twenty-four-hour job”: JPJ, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 100.
“So many sessions”: JPJ, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 22.
“Will you stop moping”: JPJ, quoted in Rosen, “John Paul Jones.”
“I’m going up to the Midlands”: JPJ, interview with Anthony Mason and Charles Osgood, CBS Sunday Morning, December 16, 2012.
Peter Grant had answered: “Rehearsal Rooms, 39 Gerrard Street, W1, Available day and night.” MM, August 10, 1968.
“There was a space”: “There was just wall-to-wall amplifiers, Marshalls . . .” JPJ, quoted in “Led Zeppelin Profiled,” radio promo CD, 1990. “The room was really quite small; just about got our gear in.” JP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 46.
“I was absolutely convinced”: JP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 45.
“Well, we’re all here”: JPJ, quoted in Rosen, “John Paul Jones.”
“The room just exploded”: JPJ, interview with Mason and Osgood, CBS Sunday Morning.
“Far too loud”: JP, quoted in Nick Kent, “Bring It On Home,” Q Special Edition: Led Zeppelin, March 2003, p. 136.
“It just locked together”: JP, interview with Mason and Osgood, CBS Sunday Morning.
“unleashing of energy”: “It wasn’t supposed to be a pretty thing.” RP, quoted in Joe Smith, Off the Record (New York: Warner Books, 1988), p. 339.
“The sound was so great”: RP, quoted in Richard Williams, “Robert Plant: Down to the Roots,” MM, Sept. 12 1970.
“Very, very, very exciting”: RP, quoted in “Led Zeppelin Profiled.”
“Right, we’re on”: JPJ, quoted in Rosen, “John Paul Jones.”
“It was there immediately”: JP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 46.
“I’ve got some terrible news”: Chris Most, interview with the author, May 14, 2019.
“He didn’t seem to me”: Glyn Johns, interview with the author, May 18, 2018.
“Mr. Grant, I’ve got a problem”: Confidential source, interview with the author, November 27, 2018.
“I loved it immediately”: Jim McCarty, interview with the author, September 12, 2019.
“we were pretty green”: RP, quoted in Mat Snow, “Led Zeppelin,” Q, December 1990.
“We were really scared”: JP, blind-quoted in Power, No Quarter, p. 182.
“you could still hear”: JP, blind-quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 50; Barney Hoskyns, Led Zeppelin IV (New York: Rodale, 2006), p. 23.
“began to stretch out”: JP, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 57.
“this incredible chemistry”: Peter Grant, quoted in Mark Blake, Bring It On Home (New York: Da Capo, 2018), p. 68.
“I can’t say that all”: Peter Grant, quoted in Mylett, Jimmy Page, p. 20.
“They were so loud”: Ludvig Rasmusson, “Yardbirds Hurt,” Stockholm Daily News, September 14, 1968.
“I wanted to play hard”: JP, quoted in Mylett, Jimmy Page, p. 19.
“Whisper to thunder”: JP, quoted in Davis Guggenheim, It Might Get Loud (documentary), 2008.
“My contributions were”: JPJ, quoted in Dave Lewis, “Anchor Man: The Ultimate John Paul Jones Interview,” The Tight but Loose Files, December 2003.
John Paul discovered: “We did a couple of things using that. One was ‘Tribute to Burt Berns,’ and I recall we also rehearsed ‘Chest Fever’ by the Band from Big Pink [sic].” JPJ, quoted in Dave Lewis, “The John Paul Jones Interview,” Tight but Loose, November 12, 1997.
“We were all into the idea”: RP, quoted in Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin (London: Reel Art, 2018), p. 46.
“We’d drive home”: RP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 84.
“the most versatile room”: Glyn Johns interview.
“The first album was done”: JP, quoted in David Fricke, “Jimmy Page: The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone, December 6, 2012.
“I knew exactly what”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 79.
They’d already been deemed: “Johnny Haines told him, ‘I can’t control you. There’s too much input coming into the machine.’ ” Dave Pegg, interview with the author, November 28, 2018.
“one of the biggest”: Brad Tolinski, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 101.
“It was a lot of fun”: JPJ, quoted in Mat Snow, “John Paul Jones: The Quiet One,” Mojo, December 2007.
“Lots of people can”: JPJ, blind-quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 102.
“I was a little bit intimidated”: RP, quoted in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: From a Whisper to a Scream, p. 20.
“in a very inspired way”: “What he did was really fitting in, in terms of where we were going.” JP, quoted in “Jimmy Page: Forget the Myths,” Uncut, May 2005.
“Those guys fed off each other”: Glyn Johns interview.
“I could overhear the response”: Ed Bicknell, interview with the author, November 27, 2018.
“I was doodling in the office”: Peter Grant, quoted in Hoskyns, Led Zeppelin IV, p. 27.
“the figure was £17,500”: “They laughed me out of the office.” Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant,” p. 90.
“I really liked what I heard”: “It was a handshake deal, but I was dealing with Peter Grant, and so it wasn’t a deal until it was really a deal.” Chris Blackwell, quoted in Robert Greenfield, The Last Sultan (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), pp. 217–18.
“I reached out to the manager”: Mo Ostin, interview with Peter Ames Carlin for Sonic Boom, provided to the author by email, April 24, 2020.
“Twice a week”: Jerry Greenberg, interview with the author, January 10, 2019. “It was a tip from the British singer Dusty Springfield that really encouraged me to go after the group.” Jerry Wexler, quoted in Wexler and Ritz, Rhythm and the Blues, p. 221.
“We arrived on the scene”: JP, quoted in Keith Altham, “Jimmy Page, Superstar,” Record Mirror, February 21, 1970.
“The blinking warning light”: Phil Carson, interview with the author, July 2, 2019.
“at least one virtuoso”: “It was a lecture Jerry gave me about signing bands.” Phil Carson interview.
“without knowing anything”: Jerry Wexler, quoted in Max Jones, “The Age of Atlantic: Jerry Wexler,” MM, February 15, 1975.
“We signed on the strength”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant,” p. 90.
“a $75,000 advance”: Wexler and Ritz, Rhythm and the Blues, p. 222.
“And no soundtracks”: Peter Grant, quoted in Paul Henderson, “If Somebody Had to Be Trod On, They Got Trod On,” Classic Rock, April 5, 2017.
“Our contracts specified”: Dick Asher, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 59.
“the Epic sound team”: JP, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 124.
“I was surprised”: Clive Davis, interview with the author, March 10, 2020.
“If I’m out at a concert”: Peter Grant, quoted in Michael Watts, “Peter Grant: The Man Who Led Zeppelin,” MM, June 22, 1974.
“He didn’t take shit”: Phil Carlo, interview with the author, May 12, 2019.
“He was a lovely guy”: Michael Des Barres, interview with the author, February 20, 2019.
“an underlying tension”: Phil Carson interview.
“Phil was a mob guy”: Carmine Appice, interview with the author, April 9, 2019.
“During a tour in 1967”: Henry Smith, interview with the author, October 2, 2019.
“And to get them”: “I was furious when I heard we’d signed The Who.” Frank Barsalona, quoted in Bob Spitz, The Making of Superstars (New York: Doubleday, 1978), p. 133.
“They just wouldn’t accept”: JP, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 64.
“FM radio was just beginning”: JPJ, quoted in Lewis, “John Paul Jones Interview.”
“Fuck me, what’s this queue?”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant,” p. 91.
“We used to call him Mort”: Carmine Appice interview.
“He was a man’s man”: Jim McCarty interview.
“he knew every groupie”: Stephen Davis, Hammer of the Gods (New York: Ballantine, 1986), p. 37.
“Richard was an act”: Terry Reid, interview with the author, February 14, 2018.
“don’t let them get”: Peter Grant, quoted in Richard Cole with Richard Trubo, Stairway to Heaven (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), p. 46.
Chapter Seven: Breaking Through the Sound Barrier
“There was all this stuff”: RP, quoted in Nigel Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” Uncut, May 2005, p. 54.
Barry Fey, the promoter: “Our managers were friends and we shared the same lawyer. I didn’t find out until 2006 that we’d picked up half of Led Zeppelin’s fee.” Carmine Appice, interview with the author, April 8, 2019.
“We knew Jimmy from gigs”: Carmine Appice interview.
He took a Fender Bassman: “We took out the American tubes and put in British ones.” Phil Wells (Marshall Inc.), interview with the author, May 8, 2019.
“It was so friggin’ powerful”: Terry Reid, interview with the author, February 14, 2018.
“It’s not just noise”: JP, quoted in Page, Plant, and Jones, Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin, p. 87.
“Led Zeppelin was frightening”: JP, blind-quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, pp. 111–12.
“I was very uncomfortable”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 52.
His arms, especially: “I didn’t even know what to do with my arms.” RP, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 121.
“Right from the very first”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 100.
“Len Zefflin”: Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), December 23, 1968.
“Jimmy Page’s new group”: Jerry Greenberg, email to the author, March 16, 2020.
Jimmy had come down: “Jimmy and I were both chronically ill.” RP, quoted in Eliot Sekuler, “Lion Among Zebras: The Robert Plant Interview,” http://evenspotspeaks.blogspot.com/2013/12/1976-aug-24th-circus-cover-content-tour.html. Circus, August 24, 1976. “We only did two nights because everyone got the flu.” JP, quoted in Boston After Dark, February 5, 1969.
had been playing Led Zeppelin’s: “Tim [sic] Donohue had been playing the album (two cuts per hour) for days before the group hit town.” Dave Lewis and Mike Tremaglio, Evenings with Led Zeppelin (London: Omnibus, 2018), p. 56.
“if we didn’t crack”: RP, quoted in Lewis and Tremaglio, Evenings with Led Zeppelin, p. 55. “Peter had said, ‘If you do well in San Francisco, you’re made.’ ” JPJ, quoted in Mat Snow, “Led Zeppelin,” Q, December 1990.
“The audiences were getting”: RP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 111.
“When we started the show”: JPJ, quoted in Snow, “Led Zeppelin.”
Jimmy had switched: “There was something the matter with the pickups.” Peter Grant, quoted in Paul Henderson, “If Somebody Had to Be Trod On, They Got Trod On,” Classic Rock, April 5, 2017.
“Bonzo and I looked”: RP, blind-quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 122.
“awfully loud”: Philip Elwood, “Impressive New Rock Group,” San Francisco Examiner, January 11, 1969.
“absolutely refused to let”: “They were halfway up the backstage stairs when the cheers brought them back.” Robb Baker, “Vanilla Fudge + Led Zeppelin = Musicianship,” Chicago Tribune, February 16, 1969.
“It was just a joke”: JP, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 64.
“was one of the best sounding records”: Glyn Johns, interview with the author, May 18, 2018.
“I put this band together”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 86.
“Jimmy decided you didn’t”: Glyn Johns interview.
“an artistic breakthrough”: Glyn Johns interview.
John Paul plunked himself down: “I remember there was a Hammond organ in the studio, which I used and I wrote the riff to ‘Good Times, Bad Times.’ ” JPJ, quoted in Welch, Peter Grant, p. 63.
“The most stunning thing”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 80.
“I think everyone was laying bets”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 102.
“He did in fact bring”: JPJ, quoted in Popoff, Led Zeppelin, p. 26.
“His right foot repeated”: Carmine Appice, interview with the author, April 25, 2019.
“a big live room”: “It was old-style recording.” JPJ, quoted in Welch, Peter Grant, p. 63.
“Robert’s voice was extremely powerful”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 79.
Jimmy was loath: “Once you start cleaning everything up, you lose [the ambience].” JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 78.
a Gibson J-200 he had borrowed: “It was a beautiful guitar. I’ve never found a guitar of that quality anywhere since.” JP, quoted in Page, Guitar Player, July 1977.
“I wasn’t used to this style”: JPJ, quoted in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: From a Whisper to a Scream, p. 24.
“Jimmy, it can’t be done”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 81.
“the way the lyrics hung”: McCarty, Nobody Told Me!, p. 201.
“It was played live”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 82. “I’d be sort of roaring away on the solo and just hit some staccato chords and lo and behold, everybody’s there with you.” JP, blind-quoted in Mylett, Jimmy Page, p. 22.
“everything but the kitchen sink”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 102.
“an orchestra of otherworldly textures”: Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 71.
“The problem was singing them”: JPJ, quoted in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: From a Whisper to a Scream, p. 25.
