Little-known facts about Led Zeppelin: concerts, touring, peak fame - part two

Led Zeppelin - A classic rock band that needs no introduction. These guys rewrote the rules of the game and gave rock a rougher and more powerful sound. They have several smash hits to their credit, and they themselves immortalised at the height of their fame, becoming idols to thousands of followers...

In today's article, we continue to tell you little-known and, alas, grim facts about the beloved Zeppelins - because fame always has a colourful as well as a dark side....

Robert Plant survived a horrific car crash.

During a break in touring in 1975. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and their families went on summer holidays to a Greek island Rhodes. But on the 4th of August, tragedy struck. Robert's wife, Morin, was driving a hire car along one of the island's mountain roads when she lost control of it, sending everyone - Robert, their young children, and Paige's daughter Scarlet - over a cliff... The car slammed into a tree.

Their children suffered fractures, Robert breaking his right leg and elbow. Maureen herself was injured most: she was diagnosed with skull and pelvis fractures and later required blood transfusions. In fact, her injuries were so serious that Robert first thought she was dead... To make matters worse, the accident occurred in a remote area, so the only help available was to local farmerwho drove them to the hospital in his fruit truck.

Fortunately, everyone survived, although it was not without a long rehabilitation. Robert's leg was put in a cast from hip to toe. He then spent six months wheelchair-boundafter which he used a cane for another year. The traumatic experience changed him:

"The element of nonchalance that I had was instantly gone when I was involved in an accident...".

The thing the band hated most was the American tours

Led Zeppelin's greatest success. in the United Statesand as a result toured there a shocking 11 times in their 12-year career! But each tour came with new challenges. Firstly, the married members of the band - all except the guitarist Jimmy Page, - were forced to spend months away from their families, which affected their mental wellbeing.

Well, secondly - there was all the American mayhem they'd endured: trouble with the police, civil unrest from the Vietnam War, violent audiences, stolen guitars, aggressive confrontations with armed Southerners and, of course, the ubiquitous rock 'n' roll lifestyle... Although the group was initially fascinated by the "the land of the free."the country quickly lost its charm for the Zeppelins. John Paul Jones he told me:

"America certainly upsets you. It doesn't seem so good to us anymore, unfortunately. One would hope that someday the situation there would improve..."

By the end of Led Zeppelin's career, touring the U.S. had become the routinely. As Plante said:

"It seemed like there was a cloud hanging over all of us."

The group lived in constant fear

Along with their immense popularity has come some negative aspects of fame: Led Zeppelin soon had its share of both crazed fans and outright haters. This hatred, largely fuelled by the guitarist's self-proclaimed passion for Jimmy Page British author and magician Aleister Crowley and the occult., led to a lot of death threats... And yes: the threats started during the band's American tour in 1973 and became commonplace after that.

Soon death threats began to rain down on the Zeppelins with such a alarm frequencythat John Paul Jones once considered leaving the band because of them. And he can be understood: once the police arrested an insane man who insisted that Page's death was inevitable! And this, unfortunately, was not an isolated case....

Things got so bad that Led Zeppelin started travelling. with an entourage of bodyguardsincluding two former FBI agents who accompanied them everywhere they went. The group's manager Peter Grant also hired security guards for the lifts on the band's hotel floor, and because of Page's over-cautiousness, who began suffering from insomnia, even kept private security guards outside his hotel rooms day and night.

Unbridled and destructive rock 'n' roll lifestyle

None of the members of Led Zeppelin did not refuse from the rock star lifestyle, but some people were having fun strongerthan others. Guitarist Jimmy Page began using hard substances regularly around 1975, and over the years the habit turned into a crippling addiction that made him weak, literally gaunt and sickly.

He was also becoming more and more unreliable and unsustainable. After interviewing him in 1977, a journalist described Page as . "remarkably thin and pale."by stating:

"Page spoke in a half muttered and whispered voice that matched his appearance..."

That same year, one show had to be cut short due to Page's inability to perform. And while the band claimed it was due to food poisoning, others speculated that he was actually so unhingedthat he couldn't play the guitar...

Drummer John Bonham also delved deeper into his addictions. In addition to his regular use of hard substances, he also drank heavily and behaved increasingly aggressively and erratically. A rift formed in the band between vocalist Robert Plant and bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, who both restricted their use of substances and alcohol, and Page and Bonham, who began to lose abilities due to their addiction. In fact, the 1976 album. "Presence." was recorded by two teams almost completely isolated from each other, and the 1979 album "In Through the Out Door" was largely created by Plant and Jones alone.

Their manager Peter Grant sacrificed everything for the band

A tall and strongly built former wrestler, Peter Grantwas certainly an imposing figure. Often regarded as the fifth member of Led Zeppelin, he ruthlessly defended the band throughout their career as their manager, but ended up getting involved in substance use and the general chaos of the music industry. And it cost him too much.....

Peter's wife, Gloriawho was often left alone in England with her children while Led Zeppelin toured abroad, became increasingly disillusioned with a relationship in which she seemed to always come second to the band. In 1975, after ten years of marriage, she left Grant. Subsequently, his close friend he told me:

"Breaking up with Gloria was like the final nail in his coffin. He was mentally broken. He wasn't the Peter Grant we all knew and loved. He became secretive and you felt uncomfortable around him..."

Total five years laterIn 1980, Peter lost his close friend, the drummer. John Bonham. Plagued by guilt and sadness, he quit his job and became a recluse who rarely left his home. He was also diagnosed with heart problems and diabetes. By 1990, Peter had managed to kick his addiction, lose a significant amount of weight, and briefly returned to public life. But unfortunately, health problems eventually caught up with him. On 21 November 1995, he died of a heart attack at the age of 60.

Part 1