What the members of Led Zeppelin say about the famous

[kaiser]

This is gold.

Not too long time ago, I was into a quest for finding proves for Zep's influence on punk (i was fighting someone over internet - lame, I know). And all I have found was Kirk Hammett's quote about how Johnny Ramone loved Zep's first 2 LPs. And about the negative influence on Clash (aka genuine hate) and how the punk acts were calling them "dinosaurs".

The misconception that "punks" hated Led Zeppelin still exists mainly through old timers who can't get over the fact that people of their own age range liked something other than Boston, The Eagles, Deep Purple, ELP, & Ted Nugent. The Ramones loved Led Zeppelin, & they & not The Sex Pistols, were the ultimate punk band. The Ramones loved all the 60's rock bands like the Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks, Cream, Hendrix, Zeppelin, etc as well as the early 60's girl groups & garage bands. Johnny Rotten however didn't like Zeppelin as he barely liked most rock music to begin with. He was into Captain Beefheart, Reggae, & Krautrock. He barely even listened to other punk bands. Everything has to be put into context. Paul Simonon from The Clash, whom every punk hating Zep fan loves to qoute, ONLY listened to reggae, he didn't even listen to punk much less Led Zeppelin. Anyway, Joe Strummer from the Clash was a Zeppelin fan & a Page era Yardbirds fan, & Steve Jones is a Zeppelin fan as he said as much to Page & he plays them on his radio show. Jones's favorite band was The Faces for chrissakes with the ultimate punk target of the time, Rod Stewart, as their singer. Page & Plant loved some punk bands of the time, notably The Damned, & I'll print quotes from them on them & others as time goes on. It's 34 years after punk started, some people have to get over the punk wars already.

[zdr]

When did punks know anything about good music. They've always had a stick up their ass about Zeppelin.

Well, in the eyes of many people, the rock music have 3 big branches: hard rock, metal and punk. So, in that [stupid] debate, the influence on punk was a big deal, since it was apparently the edge The Who had against Zep ("the influence on punk").

And, thank you, Kaiser, for all the new information.

[kaiser]

Well, in the eyes of many people, the rock music have 3 big branches: hard rock, metal and punk. So, in that [stupid] debate, the influence on punk was a big deal, since it was apparently the edge The Who had against Zep ("the influence on punk").

And, thank you, Kaiser, for all the new information.

I agree. What always makes me laugh is that people who go on about "real rock", & how punk sucks because the musicians can't/don't play lengthy guitar solos or use elaborate time signatures, know next to nothing about rock 'n' roll's first pioneers like Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, etc. Where were their long solos? Where were their screaming vocals & 10 minute songs? There weren't any, & yet they are the essence of rock 'n' roll. The Ramones & the Clash, as well as AC/DC, have more in common with the pioneers of rock 'n' roll than any of the so called prodigies of the 70's through the 80's.

No thanks needed zdr I just thought it would be interesting for Zep fans to see, or even better post, where the members stand or feel on their likes & dislikes as far as music, politics, religion, art, etc. I know I've only posted music related quotes thus far but I'll eventually get around to everything I have on all subjects pertaining to others fields.

[kaiser]

I'm impressed that you found the quote. I was just going by my memory of something I read a long time ago. Good job!

Thanks. My source was a great little book that came out in the early 80's called Jimmy Page Tangents Within A Framework. The whole book is based around quotes from Page. Unfortunately I think it's been out of print for sometime. Well since we're on the subject of that book, here's another quote from it:

Jimmy Page on Syd Barrett:

"It was an absolute tragedy that the chap fell apart because the nine month period of the early Pink Floyd all that writing that came out of him was absolutely brilliant and inspirational. There'd been nothing like it before the first album of the Floyd's. There were so many positive statements. You can really feel genuis there. Both he and Hendrix had a futuristic vision in a sense."

Also Gospel Zone, I have to agree that those Noel Redding songs are the pits lol. Any wonder Hendrix kept Mitchell & Billy Cox after the Experience & Band Of Gypsy's ended. He finally got the band he wanted. Hendrix all but pushed Redding off of "Electric Ladyland", even overdubbing Redding's bass parts himself on the album.

[greenman]

Slating Zep was an easy way to get publicity just as it was with Floyd but really I'd guess most of the better acts of the Punk era did have a good deal of respect for both bands.

To me the more genuine hate seems like it always came from the 60's rock establishment which believed it was destinated to rule the world from on high forever. Suddenly you have these upstarts stealing the thunder of the bands that broke though in middle of the decade yet they showed little interest in working themselves into the media/social scene of the time.

[Ady]

Johnny Rotten however didn't like Zeppelin as he barely liked most rock music to begin with. He was into Captain Beefheart, Reggae, & Krautrock.

John Lydon was a big fan of Hawkwind too. I also heard the other day that Jethro Tull's Aqualung album was a big influence on him

[kaiser]

Jimmy Page on The Damned, The Sex Pistols, & Eddie Cochran in Mojo magazine February 2010:

"We've had some really sensitive pieces of music, haven't we? So I'm going to throw in New Rose by The Damned! I went to The Damned at the The Roxy and it was absolutely phenomenal. They came out in these little outfits. Captain Sensible may have been dressed up as a nurse and I was thinking, Oh what's this going to be like! It was a case of, 'One-Two-Three-Four!' and it was fantastic! The energy coming out of them just nailed you to the wall. It was really exciting, serious adrenalin music, you know. And New Rose, I just thought it was a great song. I don't know whether it's punk, whether it's rock, but whatever it is, it's just really good.

Rat Scabies is a fabulous drummer to listen to. He's got the right sort of dynamics. He might speed up, he might slow down, but he keeps you right on the edge as a guitarist would. I played with him and really enjoyed playing with him around the time we were going to do The Firm with Paul Rodgers. Just before that. It was great. He was so good to play with. He had such good energy. I hope he says the same about me!

Unfortunately I didn't get to see the Sex Pistols. Back then you couldn't catch the Sex Pistols because all the gigs were being cancelled. It was a weird time, too. An interesting time to go in there because it was fashionable. Did it bother me when we were labelled dinosaurs? No. It really didn't. I was more interested to hear what they were doing. I knew what I did, and what I'd done, and I had no problem with that. But I wanted to see what these guys were up to. And in fact they were really laying it down.

Actually I was just thinking about songs like Something Else by Eddie Cochran. In fact they did it, didn't they? The Pistols? It's a driving drums, bass and guitar thing. Eddie Cocran did it. All those guys had to say that they'd heard that. It's like the template. And they'd have to say, 'That's just fucking magic!' because that's exactly what it is. You can't improve on it."

Jimmy Page on The Sex Pistols & The Tubes in an 1980 interview with Brazilian magazine Somtres which I got from Jimmy Page Tangents Within A Framework:

"They shocked the audiences, they were so strong, so powerful, so good, so crazy that no one would accept them. There was no one like them at the time. When the rock scene was becoming mellow and boring, they just came right back bringing that fury and urge of primitive rock again. They shook England completely. I liked the Sex Pistols and the Tubes very much, but they couldn't live with their success without changing their music negatively."

[kaiser]

Robert Plant on the 90's Seattle bands, Deep Purple/Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi & 80's hair bands in Spin magazine September 2002:

Spin: But why is it, despite Led Zeppelin being so musically diverse, that most of the bands Zeppelin influenced only picked up one thing that the band did, which was to play loud and heavy? I mean did you like any of the bands that did that?

Robert Plant: Well, I think some of the Seattle bands gloried in a kind of music John Bonham always called "Deep Sabbath", which was a conglomerate of English, sketchy, blues-based thud. It was inane and had no mystery to it at all. I know from my escapades with guys from Seattle, and from working with Steve Albini, that this Sabbath style of music - that clumsy, plodding, slog metal -just never really sprang out of the speakers or moved into any acoustic area. It was just aping the Led Zep thing.

Spin: Well then, you must find it ironic that most people who love your band today also tend to love Black Sabbath.

Robert Plant: No, no. I don't agree. I've been playing festivals in Europe for the last year, and I find those audiences want the sensitivity, too. (Plant goes on to talk at great length about the varied audiences at these festivals & gets off the topic of Sabbath until the last sentence telling the interviewer that he is wrong for making a Sabbath/Zeppelin connection)

Spin: Maybe so. But it seems that whenever people talk about the dawn of heavy metal, the logic usually goes like this: Black Sabbath created a certain kind of sound that was replicated by British acts and later nu metal bands, and Led Zeppelin sort of invented the sound and image for groups like Guns 'N' Roses and Aerosmith. Do you disagree with that?

Robert Plant: Well, I think the guitarist in Aerosmith makes no attempt to hide his admiration for Jimmy Page, and that's inherent in a lot of their tracks. Aerosmith is basically a pop group. They write pop songs, and they're aiming for the charts and Top 40 television. And when you think of the treachery of hard rock-when you think of bands like Bon Jovi, and when you think of... um... what were some of the other hair bands from that era?

Spin: Motley Crue? Ratt?

Robert Plant: Yeah, yeah. Those bands were hanging onto real big pop melodies and dressing them up as something aggressive and boyish and testosterone-ridden, but it was still "Livin' On A Prayer," you know? And that's not a great place to be coming from.

[Anjin-san]

Hi kaiser,all,

Great info!

Well,I like punk,lots of energy and Joey Ramone,love ya Bro!

Let's go back even further,when Muddy Waters,plugged in, got loud and proud back in Chicago that was a beginning for Rock and Roll.That was and is as -raw- as anything punk(which in IMHO is just R&R)Go see Buddy Guy,I did in 1974,holy s#!!!,talk about rockin! Blues musicians had had the same thing hung on them.

Sorry,off topic,....

I agree. What always makes me laugh is that people who go on about "real rock", & how punk sucks because the musicians can't/don't play lengthy guitar solos or use elaborate time signatures, know next to nothing about rock 'n' roll's first pioneers like Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, etc. Where were their long solos? Where were their screaming vocals & 10 minute songs? There weren't any, & yet they are the essence of rock 'n' roll. The Ramones & the Clash, as well as AC/DC, have more in common with the pioneers of rock 'n' roll than any of the so called prodigies of the 70's through the 80's.

No thanks needed zdr I just thought it would be interesting for Zep fans to see, or even better post, where the members stand or feel on their likes & dislikes as far as music, politics, religion, art, etc. I know I've only posted music related quotes thus far but I'll eventually get around to everything I have on all subjects pertaining to others fields.

Again,had to burp that out.

KB

[BonzoLikeDrumer]

Regardless of how hip the audience at Monterey was to The Who, prior to their performance there their stage act was already well established across the world. The US was the last major country for The Who to break. I have seen more than one interview with Pete Townshend were he accused Jimi of stealing The Who's stage act at Monterey and I agree with him. I would rather just see Jimi play, anyway, than see any of his stage antics.

Maybe this goes back to how much someone knows about The Who's history prior to breaking America, but to me there's just something about the guitar smashing thing that just doesn't work when done by anyone other than The Who. The only thing worse would be if Townshend had played with his teeth.

I think Jimi got by with this more because of his winning personality.

I've always thought Noel Redding's songs "Little Miss Strange" and "She's So Fine" sound like something The Monkees would have done.

Oh, well, "The Who" hit the USA in Jan, 1966 in a TV show called "Shindig", they played "I Can't Explain" (still one of my favorite Who song's from that time). Not a concert but, it was a performance that left them hungry for the state's I'm sure.

[zeppphead]

Hi Kaiser. Thanks for starting such an awesome thread.

- Plant about Heavy Metal: "Heavy metal is a sham. There's nothing threatening about (it) except the artists. It's mindless, it's not a reflection of something sociological. I don't think Zeppelin was their inspiration - Tiny Tim was. It was glam-rock, With rockabilly or rock'n'roll years ago, it was built around sex and just plain revolt. But this some kind of demented dwarf giving strange hand signals as he walks out of a volcano on stage. It's tacky. And

it's just rank and file, like checking into a factory..." New York Post , 17/5/88.

- Plant about Alice Cooper:

Alice Cooper's weirdnesses must really make the kids feel violent. These kids are like my sister, young people of 14 or so who've come to enjoy themselves. So you put things like that in front of them, and I don't think it's right." NME 32/6/73

-Plant about ex-The Cure guitarist Porl Thompson:

"Porl prefers to play things that aren't very tied down." Guitar Player September 1992

- Plant about Jason Donovan:

"I met Jason Donovan at RAK studios. He had jodphurs on and small riding boots as he jumped out of the cab. He looked just like me!" MOJO, December 1994.

- Plant about Oasis:

"It's like the Emperor's new clothes. Suede, and people like that." VOX- 1994.

[kaiser]

Robert Plant on Emerson, Lake and Palmer, interviewed by Lisa Robinson in Creem magazine September 1973:

We talk about the new music and the press reaction. This is perhaps touching on dangerous ground, for one always hears how sensitive Zeppelin is to their press... but Robert laughs when he talks about "D'Yer Maker" in particular, a song I say I think should be a single. "Do you know how much the song is hated in the English press? They really kept writing things like WILL DESMOND DEKKER JOIN LED ZEPPELIN. That's the trouble in England, y'see... you've got Emerson, Lake and Palmer who, aside from being a bunch of old queens - people think okay, Emerson, Lake and Palmer must be great because they're good musicians, they've got capability. But where is the magic? Where is the transmission of something apart from what everybody expects?

[kaiser]

John Bonham on Karen Carpenter, interviewed by Lisa Robinson in Creem magazine May 1975:

"I'd like to have it publicized that I came in after Karen Carpenter in the Playboy drummer poll," roars Bonzo as I entered the dressing room at the Chicago Stadium. "She couldn't last ten minutes with a Zeppelin number," he sneers.

[kaiser]

Jimmy Page on Elvis Presley, interviewed by Angie Errigo in Creem magazine February 1978:

"Well, I felt overawed when I met Presley, I've gotta own up - and whenever I've met any sort of people I felt were heroes."

[kaiser]

Robert Plant on Prince Charles in Q magazine January 2010:

Q: Prince Charles awarded you your CBE in July. What did he say?

Plant: Two things. He said, "I hope you don't mind, we're making a film about the rebuilding of the temple in Armistar and we've used that song of yours." I said, "Not the long one in A Minor?" He said, "I don't know what it is." I said, "Neither do I." The other thing he said was, "You've got a remarkable voice, quite distinct; tell me, do you gargle with port?" He's a bit of a laugh.

[kaiser]

Jimmy Page on Pope Pius XII, the Vatican, & an unknown Vatican official, interviewed by Chris Salewicz for Creem magazine November 1979:

We talk about the Rasta belief that it was the Pope's insistence that Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in order to prevent Haile Selassie organizing the Christian church in such a way that would have reduced the Catholic church to the second largest Christian church in the world.

"I know the Pope definately blessed the bombers going to Ethiopia," says Page, "that's a fact. My lady went to the Vatican. She said it's like Fort Knox, a completely seperate state. A highly guarded treasury. And they have all these links with suspect organizations...

"The whole image of the Pope being borne around St. Peter's on a throne doesn't even bear thinking about. They had some program on TV about the Vatican and they got through to one of the heads of the business division. And he was asked if it wouldn't be an act of faith to give all his wealth away - if your faith was sufficiently high and strong then obviously this wouldn't affect the church. But he was dumbstruck. So obviously," he laughs, "he didn't have the faith."

[kaiser]

Jimmy Page on Bill Graham, interviewed by Angie Errigo in Creem magazine February 1978:

"I've had brushes with Bill Graham in the past. I'll give you an example. It was the Fillmore where we really broke, and the whole name and news of the group spread like wildfire through the states from there. Obviously on the return we were excited to be back and really wanted to do our best. Now, when we got there it was in the afternoon and I went with the road manager 'cause we wanted to cart the gear in then, and Graham was playing basketball. I remember going up to him - he didn't seem to be doing anything at the time, he seemed like the referee - and I said 'Hi Bill, it's really good to see you. Can we bring the gear in now?!' He said 'Don't you fucking get in here, you mother-fuckers,' and all this real abuse. It was just like he exploded. I was really brought down because we really built ourselves to going back. Then later he apologized. I mean, he's a pendulum."

(Creem)There is still a story going the rounds that one of the bouncers involved died later, I told him.

"That's nonsense! Listen, if we'd killed anybody, we'd be in bloody prison. It's ridiculous. It was just a civil case; if somebody hits you and you hit them back, it's self defense, innit?"

I just finished reading Sam Cutler's new book "You Can't Always Get What You Want". He was the the Grateful Dead's tour manager & more famously he was on the road with the Stones during their 1969 tour. Sam Cutler is seen through out the Stones film "Gimme Shelter", especially during the Altamont scenes, & he's the voice announcing the Stones as "The World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll band" on "Get Yer Ya Ya's Out". Anyway, he couldn't stand Bill Graham & writes about his experiences with him in his book. Cutler was particularly incensed when he saw Graham himself repeatedly beating on a young woman in the front row of the Stones Oakland show, so Cutler himself started to beat on Graham. After they were broken apart by both of their security, Graham refused to let the Stones play if Cutler remained in the building. Graham went to talk to Mick Jagger about it & Jagger said to Graham "Who are you?" & a deflated Graham explained who he was & Jagger said to him "Oh, you're that rude gentleman who called me in England & started to curse me out over the San Francisco show (Altamont, which hadn't been played yet). Well I won't tolerate any of that. Now Sam is a naughty boy but he will be dealt with by us & not you. The show will go on." A speechless Graham stood there & Jagger stared at him & repeated again "The show will go on." Then Graham skulked out of the room & Jagger just winked at Cutler smiling. Lol, it's a great part of the book. I just thought it was relevant because Graham doesn't seem to have a problem with violence if he's the one dishing it out, to a woman no less, but if one of his security guards get's the shit kicked out of him by people who can handle themselves after the guard pushed a little boy around then it's a criminal offense. Bill Graham... a douchebag to the extreme.

[PhxHorn]

[Page:]Listen, if we'd killed anybody, we'd be in bloody prison. It's ridiculous. It was just a civil case; if somebody hits you and you hit them back, it's self defense, innit?"

-----------------

kaiser: Graham doesn't seem to have a problem with violence if he's the one dishing it out, to a woman no less, but if one of his security guards get's the shit kicked out of him by people who can handle themselves after the guard pushed a little boy around then it's a criminal offense.

Of course it's criminal, as it should be. Did anyone actually hit the kid? No? I remember a Musician interview with Peter Grant and some other managers in which they asked Grant if he wanted to set the record straight. He said, "Why would I want to talk about that?" and dismissively implied that it was no big deal. Somebody who knew the beating victim wrote into the magazine the following month to explain that the beating resulted in the guard having his jaw wired shut because it was broken. If this is true, then the perps should definitely have gone to jail.

On a lighter note, I remember an interview in the 90s in which Robert was talking about how you can't tour without an original member, and compared it to the Count Basie Orchestra without the Count. Having seen the Basie band a couple of years ago, I can say that Robert is dead wrong here. It's not like rock and roll, which is about individuals. The Basie band had dozens, if not hundreds of musicians pass through it during Basie's lifetime. The Count was not the focal point of the band; the style that the Count originated was the point. Nobody swings the blues like that band. And his style is alive and well 26 years after his death. That band is one of the greatest musical organizations on the planet, and has been for over 70 years now, and should be heard forever.

[kaiser]

[Page:]Listen, if we'd killed anybody, we'd be in bloody prison. It's ridiculous. It was just a civil case; if somebody hits you and you hit them back, it's self defense, innit?"

-----------------

kaiser: Graham doesn't seem to have a problem with violence if he's the one dishing it out, to a woman no less, but if one of his security guards get's the shit kicked out of him by people who can handle themselves after the guard pushed a little boy around then it's a criminal offense.

Of course it's criminal, as it should be. Did anyone actually hit the kid? No? I remember a Musician interview with Peter Grant and some other managers in which they asked Grant if he wanted to set the record straight. He said, "Why would I want to talk about that?" and dismissively implied that it was no big deal. Somebody who knew the beating victim wrote into the magazine the following month to explain that the beating resulted in the guard having his jaw wired shut because it was broken. If this is true, then the perps should definitely have gone to jail.

My point is that Bill Graham was not above violence, and what he did according to Sam Cutler's book is a criminal offence as well. I'm a bartender. Many times I've had to be the bouncer on my own shift. I've been punched, kicked, choked, & even one time I was smashed over the head with a bar stool. Despite all of that I can't hit anyone even if I was outright attacked. Now the one thing I can do is restrain a person, to actually punch or hit a person, I can be arrested & the bar owner himself can be held accountable for me doing that. At the Fillmore on the night Sam Cutler described, Bill Graham was acting as his own security for the venue he owned & slapping a female patron in the face repeatedly over a period of time. That's criminal and, in Bill Graham's description of Led Zeppelin that suits himself in this particular situation "thuggish behaviour". As far as Peter Grant's kid being hit, I never said he was. He was apparently shoved and/or pushed around according to several different accounts by the security guard who later took a beating. Shoving is still an aggressive act that shouldn't be done to a child by an adult & karmically I guess this guy got more than he bargained for. I'm sure the guards beating was excessive & I'm not excusing anyone's behaviour involved, I'm just pointing out Graham's hypocrisy. As far as Musician magazine I think it's the Jimmy Page interview with Charles M Young from 1988 you're referring to where Page was asked about Oakland & pretty much avoided the question, like he did with most other questions in that interview. A few issues later Keith Richards was on the cover & a response letter from the Page issue was written by one of Grahams former security guards describing what you already said, & if I remember correctly the writer of the letter then proceeded to threaten Page. I have both issues around & I'll see if I can post both Page's quote & the security guards letter together.

[PhxHorn]

As far as Peter Grant's kid being hit, I never said he was. He was apparently shoved and/or pushed around according to several different accounts by the security guard who later took a beating.

Actually, I was referring to a quote from Page a couple posts before yours, in which he said you should be able to hit back after someone hits you. But it seems Zeppelin's people threw the first punch.

I have the infamous Page interview with Charles Young from '88, but I could swear the fight reference and follow-up letter that I'm thinking of were in the issue with the 'super-managers', including Peter Grant. Another manager was the Dire Straits' manager, who mentioned that Zeppelin had wanted them to be an opening act at Knebworth. I also remember that one topic that came up in contractual negotiations was the ability to audit at the record pressing plant, so that the record company couldn't print (and sell) more copies than they reported. This issue would have been around 92 - 94, I think. I don't know that I have it anymore, though. If you have the letter to the editor, I'd be interested to see it again!

[kaiser]

As far as Peter Grant's kid being hit, I never said he was. He was apparently shoved and/or pushed around according to several different accounts by the security guard who later took a beating.

Actually, I was referring to a quote from Page a couple posts before yours, in which he said you should be able to hit back after someone hits you. But it seems Zeppelin's people threw the first punch.

I have the infamous Page interview with Charles Young from '88, but I could swear the fight reference and follow-up letter that I'm thinking of were in the issue with the 'super-managers', including Peter Grant. Another manager was the Dire Straits' manager, who mentioned that Zeppelin had wanted them to be an opening act at Knebworth. I also remember that one topic that came up in contractual negotiations was the ability to audit at the record pressing plant, so that the record company couldn't print (and sell) more copies than they reported. This issue would have been around 92 - 94, I think. I don't know that I have it anymore, though. If you have the letter to the editor, I'd be interested to see it again!

Grant did an interview with Musician in April of '91, which I unfortunately don't have but I've read excerpts. It was a joint managers sort of interview as you said. There could have been another letter printed by someone after the Grant interview in regards to Oakland, but the one that sticks in my head is the one after the Page interview. I know it has to be in the Keith Richards issue of Musician shortly after because I still have that & read it again within the last 3 months. I'll try to post it tomorrow.

[ringoffire]

I'm bumping this thread because I would love to hear more details about what really happened with the Bill Graham story.

[Oracle]

Not only does Robert mention a couple of other big bands, but he also comments on his own band at the time,

"To a large degree, the punks were right. Groups like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath had lost the point, if they ever had it, and I thought Led Zeppelin had lost the point too, around the time of In Through The Out Door." - Robert Plant.

Any ideas as to what he's alluding to? ITTOD being Led Zep's "dinosaur" album?

[kaiser]

I'm bumping this thread because I would love to hear more details about what really happened with the Bill Graham story.

Sorry, I haven't been keeping up much here. I finally had 2 days off back to back in 2 months I needed to catch up on my actual life lol. I still have to dig back in my archives for the Musician magazine for the Graham stuff. Back to work tomorrow so hopefully by next Monday/Tuesday I'll have found the Keith Richards issue as I always have the Page issue handy. Anyway for Bill Graham's take on the incident I posted a snippet from his autobiography on the incident in the "What The Famous Say About Led Zeppelin" thread some time back. He devotes a whole chapter about the incident in his book & he is not kind.

[Mrgman]

It's amazing how great Zep thought they were! My music growing up when I was a little kid was funk, when everyone was listening to (early '70's) Osmands and all those like, my friend in grade school was turning me onto the J5, P-Funk, Sly, & Mr Brown...when we started getting Rock, we listened to Floyd, Aerosmith, Clapton, Bruce, Genesis w/Peter, Beatles, etc...We thought Zep was a silly band with a good drummer! After reading this I thought..WTF!? My best friend in grade school was black with very light skin so he went to school with "us" you know. I didn't find out until I met his bed ridden mother and thought, so. But we used to make fun of Zep's lyrics, my friend called them "Dream-catcher" lyrics! I can't believe the ego's! I'm sorry to the Zep fans but being a Full time working musician and Emmy winner, I know how much work it takes and the struggle, so when you get it all at 21...humilty might be a good idea. Used to think "Spinal Tap" was more AC/DC & the Toxic Steven & Joe, but now I know it was all Zep. Sorry, guys & gals...but the lyrics to "Stairway" we're just too late for Woodstock...man. Page..a little humilty and, no..sorry, not God. Damn! I'm against burning burning books, but not albums. Rude dudes.