Why didn't they invite John Paul Jones for the Page - Plant "Reunion"

[sixpense]

What I had heard at the time was that Robert told Jimmy he only wanted to do the Unplugged show with him only and not JPJ and not to tell Jones anything. Sort of goes in line with Jones' comments at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But Jimmy didn't learn; During an interview about the Clarksdale CD, Jimmy had said that the Page/Plant team-up was not temporary but permanent, and we all know what happened during 1998.

[Hugh Hoyland]

I'll be the first one to call out Plant for being disingenuous, but from everything I've read about the Page/Plant project was that it was intended as paring of the two men ONLY, right from the start. One of the main reasons for doing so was so people WOULDNT think it was a Zepp reunion, and Page bought into that as well (money might have been another factor, I dunno). So really JPJ just wasnt included in this projects equation, I dont think it was ment as a slap at the guy. Page/Plant was also supposed to be a bit of a chance for both men to evolve musically outside of the confines of the brand name "Led Zeppelin". Only the individual fan can make up their own minds as to how succesful they were at it.

[Jahfin]

I didn't predict my topic to go to this extent!

But to add my 2 cents, I dont think the talent of musicians changed, I think it was the technology, the 80's turned out to be a really cheesy synthesizer pop electric keyboard era, if you see what I mean, that was the craze and yes I think that did destroy all the glory that the bands in the 20 years before the 80's..

Please elaborate, particularly on the highlighted comment.

[Electrophile]

I'll be the first one to call out Plant for being disingenuous, but from everything I've read about the Page/Plant project was that it was intended as paring of the two men ONLY, right from the start. One of the main reasons for doing so was so people WOULDNT think it was a Zepp reunion, and Page bought into that as well (money might have been another factor, I dunno). So really JPJ just wasnt included in this projects equation, I dont think it was ment as a slap at the guy. Page/Plant was also supposed to be a bit of a chance for both men to evolve musically outside of the confines of the brand name "Led Zeppelin". Only the individual fan can make up their own minds as to how succesful they were at it.

So wait, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page together can "evolve musically outside of the confines of the brand name Led Zeppelin", but Robert Plant by himself cannot?

You wanna run that by me one more time?

[Hugh Hoyland]

So wait, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page together can "evolve musically outside of the confines of the brand name Led Zeppelin", but Robert Plant by himself cannot?

You wanna run that by me one more time?

Im just stating what I remember being said in the interviews at the time. As mentioned its up to the fans to decide for themselves if they actually did or not. While IMO some of Page/Plant was interesting, I personally would rather listen to Presense or Led Zeppelin ll than either unleded or WIC anytime, but thats just me (Hard to evolve much more than what was done on Zeppelins work). :]

[SteveAJones]

What I had heard at the time was that Robert told Jimmy he only wanted to do the Unplugged show with him only and not JPJ and not to tell Jones anything. Sort of goes in line with Jones' comments at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But Jimmy didn't learn; During an interview about the Clarksdale CD, Jimmy had said that the Page/Plant team-up was not temporary but permanent, and we all know what happened during 1998.

JPJ said it was "discourteous" of them not to at least let him know they were working together again. He claims he first heard of it while touring with Diamanda Galas in October 1994. I don't think P/P were intentionally malicious in not telling him - and certainly he was going to find out eventually - I just think they were caught up in the excitement at the time and hoping for the best. They didn't start until April 1994 and wanted it to be a well-kept secret at the time. The filming was done in August and the premier was in October. Should JPJ have been told about their collaboration up front? They didn't seem to think so.

[SteveAJones]

But to add my 2 cents, I dont think the talent of musicians changed, I think it was the technology, the 80's turned out to be a really cheesy synthesizer pop electric keyboard era, if you see what I mean, that was the craze and yes I think that did destroy all the glory that the bands in the 20 years before the 80's..

It certainly killed Van Halen, IMHO.

[Jahfin]

I didn't predict my topic to go to this extent!

But to add my 2 cents, I dont think the talent of musicians changed, I think it was the technology, the 80's turned out to be a really cheesy synthesizer pop electric keyboard era, if you see what I mean, that was the craze and yes I think that did destroy all the glory that the bands in the 20 years before the 80's..

I still can't make complete sense of your sentence but if this is the case, where do artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan (who led a HUGE blues revival in the 80s) and Los Lobos come in? Disco was dominant in the 70s just as synths were in the 80s but they weren't the only things going on. You don't have to dig very deep beneath the surface to see that the 70s also included Punk and the 80s also included the aforementioned Blues revival as well as roots-oriented artists such as Los Lobos enjoying huge successes. When people look back at the 80s they seem to want to choose the MTV-inspired vision that would include hair metal, Flock of Seagulls, etc. but there was so much more to that decade musically such as the birth of alternative (at least in the breaking through to mainstream radio sense), the revival of Blues and American roots music traditions spearheaded by the likes of everyone from Los Lobos to Dwight Yoakum. On top of that, add the upsurge in the popularity of reggae thanks to Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, UB40, The Police and the return of Ska due to the popularity of bands like the Specials, Madness, the English Beat and you have a decade that's bursting with all kinds of music styles, not just the dominance of drum machines, Phil Collins, bad hairstyles and synths. It's definitely one of my favorite decades for music. You'd be hard pressed to find a more vibrant decade musically outside of the 1960s.

[JimmyPageZoSo56]

I definitely spend too much time on Facebook - I keep looking for the "like" button for posts

I would definitely concur with you!

[SuperDave]

Now would the Charlie Jones factor play into not inviting JPJ as he was Plant's bassist as well as son in law? Not inviting him to be a part of the Page/Plant project probably wouldn't have gone over too well with with his daughter if Robert had decided to do so.

[Jahfin]

Plant and Page had been working towards doing a full on project together long before Unledded. John Paul Jones wasn't a part of any of those collaborations and no one has ever questioned why, so why would he be expected to be a part of Unledded or Walking Into Clarksdale? Sure, he was a part of Led Zeppelin but Page, Plant and Jason Bonham were all on Outrider and no one (at least to my knowledge) has ever questioned why John Paul Jones wasn't asked to be a part of that project. Besides, why would it even matter now? They all got together for their induction into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame and the 02 concert, which is the most important thing.

[sixpense]

JPJ said it was "discourteous" of them not to at least let him know they were working together again. He claims he first heard of it while touring with Diamanda Galas in October 1994. I don't think P/P were intentionally malicious in not telling him - and certainly he was going to find out eventually - I just think they were caught up in the excitement at the time and hoping for the best. They didn't start until April 1994 and wanted it to be a well-kept secret at the time. The filming was done in August and the premier was in October. Should JPJ have been told about their collaboration up front? They didn't seem to think so.

My perspective at that time was that Jimmy joined up with Coverdale because after repeated attemptsof Robert saying "no" to Jimmy,Jimmy's team-up with Coverdale was like dropping the atomic bomb. It seemed to work time-wise because Coverdale/Page only toured Japan in late 1993 and Jimmy teamed up with Robert in early 1994. So I'm guessing Jimmy's plan worked temporarily.

I remember watching the footage of the R&R Hall show (including backstage) and Jimmy and Robert definitely treated Jones like an outsider and they would snicker between each other especially backstage. (I'm guessing that they were waiting for Jones to blow)

Way too much drama.

[SteveAJones]

My perspective at that time was that Jimmy joined up with Coverdale because after repeated attempts of Robert saying "no" to Jimmy, Jimmy's team-up with Coverdale was like dropping the atomic bomb. It seemed to work time-wise because Coverdale/Page only toured Japan in late 1993 and Jimmy teamed up with Robert in early 1994. So I'm guessing Jimmy's plan worked temporarily.

There were repeated attempts thru the years, culminating with a January 1991 band meeting in London during which Robert tentatively agreed to a reformation then changed his mind in the same meeting. Apparently this pushed Jimmy over the edge, a meeting between he and David Coverdale in Manhattan was arranged for early March 1991. Their album was released on March 16, 1993.

Jimmy spent two days with Robert in Boston while he (Robert) was touring in Sept 1993. They discussed the Unplugged

opportunity MTV had recently offered to Robert, and eventually convened in March 1994 for studio rehearsals. Meanwhile, the seven date Coverdale/Page Japanese tour occured in December 1993. It was not publicly known at the time of that tour that Jimmy & Robert were discussing a collaboration.