Led Zeppelin, who are to reform for a one-off concert at London's O2 arena, were one of the most influential bands of the 20th Century. Many say Led Zeppelin invented heavy metal, and their sound wafted out of thousands of guitar shops worldwide during the 1970s. Budding guitarists world try out their skills on Stairway to Heaven - but that is only the tip of the Led Zeppelin story. Many critics loathed them, but for a generation of fans, their complex sounds and love of mythology gave them an aura which remains undimmed today. Led Zeppelin split in 1980 and reunions have been rare.With fans worldwide poised to scramble for tickets for their London concert, just what lies behind the Led Zeppelin legend?
Led Zeppelin formed from the ashes of 1960s band The Yardbirds, the one-time home of Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Guitarist Jimmy Page joined the group for their final album and stayed with the band as it disintegrated in 1968. Singer Robert Plant was recruited from a band called Hobbstweedle, and Plant put Page in touch with an old friend, drummer John Bonham. With bassist John Paul Jones, the band formed as The New Yardbirds, fulfilling the old group's commitments. The New Yardbirds became Led Zeppelin in October 1968.
The name was reportedly inspired by The Who's drummer Keith Moon, who said the band would "go down like a lead Zeppelin". Debut album Led Zeppelin I was recorded in 30 hours - and released in January 1969. It contained the track Dazed and Confused, which became the centrepiece of their live shows, when it could go on for as long as 45 minutes.
Folk influences began to surface on Led Zeppelin III, released in 1970, while 1971's Led Zeppelin IV sealed the band's reputation. Released in late 1971, Led Zeppelin IV did not carry that title on the cover - it was known by four symbols, said to represent Page, Jones, Bonham and Plant. Jimmy Page was famously fascinated by the occult. He owned the occult bookshop The Equinox in London in the 1970s and is said to be a collector of the works of self-styled magician Aleister Crowley, who called himself the Great Beast 666. A fifth album, Houses of the Holy, added funk and reggae influences to the band's sound. Its cover featured images of nude children climbing the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. A 1975 double album, Physical Graffiti, saw the band launch their own Swan Song label. But a tour to support it was halted when Robert Plant and his wife Maureen were injured in a car crash in Greece. He moved to Jersey to recuperate.
Their 1976 album Presence was followed by concert film The Song Remains the Same. But changing tastes and the emerging punk scene meant it was not a success. "Zeppelin is not a nostalgia band," Page insisted at the start of 1977. Their seventh album In Through the Out Door was recorded at Abba's Polar Studios in Stockholm. In 1979, crowds of up to 120,000 saw the band play at the Knebworth music festival in Hertfordshire. John Bonham collapsed on stage and was rushed to hospital during a concert in Nuremberg, Germany, in June 1980.
Three months later, Bonham died after vomiting in his sleep following a drinking binge. He was 32. The band broke up after Bonham's death. "It was impossible to continue," Page said later. (BBC News)
