How'd you get hooked on Led?

[Sathington Willoughby]

Alright. I guess I'll bump this back to the top. This is my early history with LZ.

Back in the mid-Seventies, I was big into KISS, as were all of my friends. I got a KISS magazine once, and one of the ads mentioned another fan magazine you could buy that featured a band called, "Led Zeppelin." I'd never heard of them before. They seemed to look like hippies with none of the cool costumes that KISS had. The magazine said something like, "Which Band Is Better: KISS or ZEP?" And I thought, who is this band that people are comparing to KISS? I just dismissed it in my mind and continued with my KISS listening.

Through this time, I had never heard FM rock radio. My parents gave me an AM radio in the early Seventies, and that's where I listened to most of my music. (For you kids, that means listening to a lot of "light" Top 40 Seventies music.) Led Zeppelin was never played on the AM stations I listened to, so I was woefully ignorant of their existence except for that one ad I saw in the magazine. To me, they seemed like a niche-band. Something I probably wouldn't like. One day I received an FM radio from my parents, and I finally discovered the Album-Oriented-Rock radio format popular at that time. It was around 1978 or so when I first started listening to hard rock FM radio constantly, and it was the first time I got to hear Led Zeppelin's music. I liked it, but it didn't really sink its hooks into me until I heard one song... Black Dog

It's difficult to explain to people who didn't live in the Seventies, but guitar rock was king. And everyone always argued about which guitar player was the greatest. Around the mid-Seventies, the contenders would have been guitarists like Ace Frehley (of KISS,) Pete Townsend (of The Who,) Steve Howe (of Yes,) Eric Clapton, Keith Richards (of The Rolling Stones,) etc. Every hard rock band seemed to try to one-up each other with riffs and arrangements. But when I heard the first riff of "Black Dog," I was blown away, and Jimmy Page was my new guitar god. It made me giddy with delight, and I thought it was the greatest rock song I had ever heard. (Not realizing that it was about six or so years old at that point.)

So, I went to a record store, found the album "Black Dog" was on, and I begged my Mom to buy it for me. She did, and thus was my baptism into Led Zeppelin.

A few years later, in middle school, Zep was all I could think about. I distinctly remember my local rock station in L.A., KMET 94.7, doing a contest where the grand prize was an all-expenses paid trip to see Led Zeppelin play in Chicago in November of that year during their next world tour. The year was 1980. I was too young to be entering into contests, but I just imagined how great it would be to see Led Zeppelin live.

Then, the radio broke the news that John Bonham was dead. I was numb. The news was surreal. And I remember going to school soon after learning of his death. I sat in a history class, and tears began to stream down my face. That's how Led Zeppelin meant to me then, and my love for the band has only grown since then. To this day, I have seen a ton of bands, a ton of great performances, and had a great time, but my one regret is that I will never see my all-time favorite band live in concert. That's why I am here, in a way. To fill that gap in my heart.

EDIT: Typo.

Nice post Dante! Thanks for sharing! Welcome!

Listening to my moms cd of Zep 2 when I was around 15-16 was when I started getting into them, didn't really get 'hooked' until I purchased this:

[Dante_Cubit]

Nice post Dante! Thanks for sharing! Welcome!

Listening to my moms cd of Zep 2 when I was around 15-16 was when I started getting into them, didn't really get 'hooked' until I purchased this:

Thanks, SW. I have to say that watching the DVD was a kind of religious experience for me. I bought it the day it came out. Unlike many Zep fans, I did not own a ton of bootlegs, so I had never seen the Royal Albert Hall footage until the DVD. When I pushed "play," I tossed the box aside because I wanted to be surprised by the set list, as if I was attending the show. It made me feel very happy, and it is currently my favorite DVD compilation of any music act.

[Sathington Willoughby]

Definitely. This is what took me from a casual fan to a diehard, bootleg-collecting freak.

(BTW there was a thread about this a few months ago if you care to peruse it)

http://forums.ledzeppelin.com/index.php?/topic/21757-led-zepppelin-dvd/

Cheers man!

[grasbo]

My parents gave me their old Philips mantle valve radio to me when i was nine or ten years old to listen to the old serials and 'the goons'which I still love to this day.As the valves warmed up (sorry digital guys)the first thing I heard was the mega riff to WLL with that spacey mid section,the solo,and Plants keening roar about 'you need love'.'I have never forgotten that moment,ever.As the announcer said 'here's another by The Led Zeppelin'(everything was by 'The' in those days)and we were into the Immigrant Song.This was 71or 72.I still can remember playing air guitar under the covers.Soon after I got my first guitar and my first portable stereo.Hand me down lps were Elvis,Shadows,Duane Eddy,first lp with my own money,More of the Monkees,Slade Alivee,Purples Made in Japan(still my fave live lp)then Zep3,then 4.I still remember hearing 'Stairway' for the first time,running downstairs saying to dad ,put this on the big stereo!Being a hippie jazzer he was impressed.Not bad son,don't like that noisy Hendrix fella though.Years later my father died on Hendrix's birthday,he hated him with a vengeance,Zep were ok as long as it didn't get 'too loud'

Edited September 9, 2014 by grasbo

[Nemea]

I love reading your stories! My father was a DJ in late 60's and early 70's, and we got hundreds of good lp's at our home. I was kindly brainwashed to good music since I was very young (I was born in 1973). However, what made a fanatic fan was summer 1989 I spent in London. I went into a rockpub somewhere in SoHo and heard WLL. That was it.

[Boleskine]

I was too young for them but I was a punk in the late 70s and you had to say you hated them even if like me you'd never even heard them! Around Live Aid I heard Stairway on the radio and when then Far Corporation brought out their version I bought IV, loved it and then bought everything else.

[Charles J. White]

Well my dad was a Zeppelin fan, and I didn't get it at first because he was all about Led Zep 1 and 2, for me it took Kashmir and a chick's older brother! I knew this chick who never give me the time of day, and I was young and horny and thought, hey I should talk to her brother as a way to maybe get to know her. He was a Robert Plant junkie, and he was talking about Kashmir Robert Plant vocal this, and vocal that to Kashmir, and before I knew it I was hooked on Kashmir and was able to shag the gig over the course of the summer which was a bonus to actually being hooked on Zeppelin from that day going forward.

[Pagefan55]

By watching/listening to TSRTS for the first time.

[The Only Way To Fly]

Uncle George - He saw them first at 13, in 1973 at the Chicago Stadium and then again in 77 at the Jimmy get's ill show. Sadly he passed in 1990. Miss him dearly.

[galvanic87]

The re-issue of The Song Remains The Same did it for me. When I was younger (14-16) I remember listening to the original at my buddy's house and being bored shitless....I heard the reissue and got floored--that's all it took.

[NealR2000]

1970. I was 11 years old and went to an older friend's house. Someone had turned him on to Zeppelin and he had a copy of Vol II which he put on his dad's record player. I'd never heard of them. Whole Lotta Love came out of the speaker and it was like nothing I'd ever heard before. I studied the album, having never seen an album that opens up before. I assumed that all ten people on the cover were the band members. Wow, they sure looked different and quite threatening I thought. These were definitely people outside of mainstream society. The tracks played on and I couldn't stop listening. A few weeks later, I went with my friend to the local record store where he bought the newly-released Vol III, which was at number 1. We went back to his house to play it and he disliked it. He soon changed his listening preferences to Grand Funk Railroad. However, his faith in Zep was restored at Vol IV. I, on the other hand, liked Vol III and never waivered.

[Strider]

Thanks for bumping up the thread Dante_Cubit. It's fun reading the latest round of stories from all of you. Interesting experiences.

[Kiwi_Zep_Fan87]

Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen, for this is going to be a pretty long post!

Basically, 2 people were responsible for bringing Led Zeppelin into my life : my dad and my dentist (yes! You read that right!).

It all started when I was 12 years old. I was just your average pop loving, middle school kid. FYI, middle school is the equivalent of junior high. Anyway, the only bands I used to listen to, were "Queen", "No Doubt", "The Jimi Hendrix Experience", "The Bangles" and a few Garage Rock bands on and off, thanks to my mom's music collection.

At the time, musically, my focus was on artists such as Britney Spears (peer pressure can be such a bitch! ), a pop group called "The Steps" (yikes!), "The Spice Girls" (don't judge me!) and some other groups, whose names I cannot remember!

It was a Saturday morning and I had to go to my local dentist to get my first filling. Needless to say, I was terrified. My family had known the guy for a couple of years and he was (in some ways), a family friend. So anyway, after a tense wait of about an hour, I went in and I could have sworn that I was shaking with fright! As I sat down on the dentist chair, the guy asked me if I liked to listen to some music and I nodded my head, gratefully. I was willing to do just about anything to forget about 'the procedure'!

It turned out that the guy had a mixed tape full of random songs. Yep! He used to play music for his younger patients just to calm them down, at times of extreme anxiety! As soon as he put the mixed tape into his stereo and pressed the play button, the first thing I hear is a really cool piano, keyboard and sax based instrumental. It was none other than "Glad" by "Traffic". It was foot tapping, to say the least and it certainly relaxed me! The next song was another superb sax and piano based tune, also by Traffic called "Freedom Rider".

Then, the songs gradually started to become darker, edgier and louder! The next song on the list was "Paint It Black" by the Stones. I really enjoyed the song, especially the lyrics! Also, to my delight, I got to listen to Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now"! And then, IT CAME ON. "Hey, Hey, Mama, said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove". My 12 year old ears could not believe WHAT they were listening to...the soaring and deadly guitar riffs, the sexy and sinful lyrics, the thundering drumming! Hot damn! For a 12 year old kid, this was all a bit too much to take in!! I WAS FLOORED!!! The next song was yet another Led Zeppelin song. The beautiful and blissful "Black Mountain Side". I enjoyed that too, but the song that I was most curious about, was "Black Dog". While my dentist continued with the procedure, with each passing minute, I was getting more and more desperate to find out which band composed, what I used to refer to (before I knew who Led Zeppelin were) as "The Hey Hey Mama Song"! I had to wait for almost 20 minutes (after "Black Dog" ended), before I could start talking again. And when I did, I just had to ask him (however painful it was for me!) for some details, at least! On hearing the name that I had given "Black Dog", the guy couldn't help but chuckle a bit and he then, revealed the name of the song and proceeded to tell me a bit about the band - where they were from, the genre, etc. He also told me another fact, which made my heart skip a beat. My dad too, was a fan! So, that meant only one thing! I could check out this amazing band's catalogue, to my heart's content, from the comfort of my own home!! I did check out some of the albums at the time (my dad had all of them in cassette form till around the end of 2000, when he switched to CD's), sometimes on CD and sometimes on cassette.

Then sadly, I am not at all sure what the hell happened, but there was a Zeppelin lull period for 3 years of my life (from the age 13 to age 16). I just got so caught up in other bands (predominantly from the late 70's and 80's and some weird 'mainstream' bands) including Bon Jovi (UGH!), INXS and Metallica (Oh God! They scare the fuck out of me, now!), Linkin' Park, Creed and Red Hot Chili Peppers (every frickin' kid at my school, was raving about their new album at the time, "By The Way"). Queen was still among my favourites (I was (at the time) practically addicted to their live album "Live Killers" and I just couldn't get enough!)! I am also a big fan of INXS even today!

Now, fast forward to November, 2003. I was in Year 11 at the time (equivalent to 11th grade). I came home absolutely exhausted from my Economics exam. The next exam wasn't for a couple of days, so I could at least relax for a couple of hours, before hitting the books again! So, anyway, I was in my dad's study, desperately looking for something to listen to (I was getting a bit tired of my own music collection, frankly!), when the following album covers caught my attention:

Needless to say, I got back in touch with the mighty Led Zeppelin! From the thundering guitar riffs of "Good Times, Bad Times", all the way to the haunting and rockin' melody of "In the Evening", that was the best fuckin' 2 and a half hours of my life, musically! Oh boy! Was I mighty glad that these Best of Led Zeppelin compilations had been released! It certainly gave me a chance to revisit and be blown away by one of the greatest bands on earth! After that incident involving 2 and a half hours of mind blowing music, never again did I forget who Led Zeppelin were! Ever!

***Edited (at the very last minute) to correct some silly spelling mistakes and to reduce the number of emoticons in my post (in keeping with forum regulations)!

Edited September 11, 2014 by Kiwi_Zep_Fan87

[rhythm]

I am enjoying reading these stories! I've read a lot of threads on this forum and have enjoyed learning a lot of cool things about LZ's history. I actually thought I knew quite a bit about the band until I found this forum! Anyway, I figured this would be a good thread to make my first post. It's a bit wordy, but I really had fun remembering some of this:

I was listening to AM radio until around 1976 I think. I can remember hearing Stairway (probably edited) and D'yer Mak'er on AM radio. I liked the songs but didn't really pay much attention as to who did them (probably didn't even realize it was the same group). At some point I finally knew that Stairway was done by Led Zeppelin, and also assumed that it was the name of a person, not a group. I also remember one time in the mid-70s being at a friend's house and hearing part of a record his older brother was playing that just seemed ass-kicking. This wasn't the 1970s top 40 I was used to hearing; this made you take notice! (Turns out the songs I heard were Black Dog and Rock and Roll). Again though, I really didn't follow up and pursue more about the band, but these songs were forever imprinted in my head after that day. When I made the switch to FM, it was to a couple of stations that really weren't much different than AM top 40, so I still wasn't getting exposed to much LZ.

Anyway, by 1977-78, I was in high school and had been turned on to the 'better' FM stations. Around this time, a good friend of mine started talking about Led Zeppelin a lot. He was buying their albums and talking about them and I started hearing them when I was over at his house. I liked what I heard. I also remember a really cool poster in his room of LZ on stage. Didn't know yet who any of them were individually, but I looked at that poster a lot. Somehow it was just kind of mesmerizing. Since I was liking what I was hearing, I thought of those two ass-kicking songs I had heard at someone's house a few years before, found the album they were on, and bought it (IV). Not too long after that, in 1979, the same friend who really got me going on LZ bought me Physical Graffiti for a birthday gift. I remember opening it at home during a surprise party my parents had thrown for my 16th. I put it on right after opening it. That was pretty much it. Later that night the guests had to start insisting that I play something different for a while. They liked the album too, but I guess they didn't want to hear the same record all night! In the next several months I bought all the rest of the released albums. Just ate it up. They had really 'clicked' for me at this point!

I was heavily into LZ for only a couple of years before the really bad news hit. I remember clearly, getting all excited knowing that they had a US tour coming up. My big chance was coming. My friends and I were going to go see them no matter what the price. I was really going to see this band! Just after my senior year in high school began (Sept 1980), and the anticipation of seeing LZ was reaching fever pitch, we got the news. I don't have to describe it to any of you.

Well, that was a long time ago, and these days I have a lot of music in my collection, but everytime I return to a LZ disc that I haven't played in a little while, I'm almost surprised again at just how much I like it. I think I discover something really cool every time that I hadn't before.

OK...you've heard me ramble on enough. (Pun intended)....

-Greg

[Emily008]

I got hooked on Led, all thanks to my two older brothers, who are big fans of the band!

[Strider]

I am enjoying reading these stories! I've read a lot of threads on this forum and have enjoyed learning a lot of cool things about LZ's history. I actually thought I knew quite a bit about the band until I found this forum! Anyway, I figured this would be a good thread to make my first post. It's a bit wordy, but I really had fun remembering some of this:

I was listening to AM radio until around 1976 I think. I can remember hearing Stairway (probably edited) and D'yer Mak'er on AM radio. I liked the songs but didn't really pay much attention as to who did them (probably didn't even realize it was the same group). At some point I finally knew that Stairway was done by Led Zeppelin, and also assumed that it was the name of a person, not a group. I also remember one time in the mid-70s being at a friend's house and hearing part of a record his older brother was playing that just seemed ass-kicking. This wasn't the 1970s top 40 I was used to hearing; this made you take notice! (Turns out the songs I heard were Black Dog and Rock and Roll). Again though, I really didn't follow up and pursue more about the band, but these songs were forever imprinted in my head after that day. When I made the switch to FM, it was to a couple of stations that really weren't much different than AM top 40, so I still wasn't getting exposed to much LZ.

Anyway, by 1977-78, I was in high school and had been turned on to the 'better' FM stations. Around this time, a good friend of mine started talking about Led Zeppelin a lot. He was buying their albums and talking about them and I started hearing them when I was over at his house. I liked what I heard. I also remember a really cool poster in his room of LZ on stage. Didn't know yet who any of them were individually, but I looked at that poster a lot. Somehow it was just kind of mesmerizing. Since I was liking what I was hearing, I thought of those two ass-kicking songs I had heard at someone's house a few years before, found the album they were on, and bought it (IV). Not too long after that, in 1979, the same friend who really got me going on LZ bought me Physical Graffiti for a birthday gift. I remember opening it at home during a surprise party my parents had thrown for my 16th. I put it on right after opening it. That was pretty much it. Later that night the guests had to start insisting that I play something different for a while. They liked the album too, but I guess they didn't want to hear the same record all night! In the next several months I bought all the rest of the released albums. Just ate it up. They had really 'clicked' for me at this point!

I was heavily into LZ for only a couple of years before the really bad news hit. I remember clearly, getting all excited knowing that they had a US tour coming up. My big chance was coming. My friends and I were going to go see them no matter what the price. I was really going to see this band! Just after my senior year in high school began (Sept 1980), and the anticipation of seeing LZ was reaching fever pitch, we got the news. I don't have to describe it to any of you.

Well, that was a long time ago, and these days I have a lot of music in my collection, but everytime I return to a LZ disc that I haven't played in a little while, I'm almost surprised again at just how much I like it. I think I discover something really cool every time that I hadn't before.

OK...you've heard me ramble on enough. (Pun intended)....

-Greg

That was very well-said, Greg. Great post to start your time on the Forum. Even though the particulars of our experiences are different, the feelings remain the same.

[gcczep]

Los Angeles circa 1978... This cat [who looked like a cross between Boston’s Tom Scholz and Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford] was playing on his one channel tape recorder "Custard Pie" and "Kashmir" in succession in school. Intriguing I thought...serious, heavy mantra stuff. At that time, I was into music but not as heavy. I liked The Beatles unaware of any other bands. Listened to an 8-track of KISS at a friend’s house. Cool. Besides those, it was typical pop fare on the AM radio.

Then this lovely vision of a girl Leticia Sloan befriended me. Wow. She invited me to hang about at her folks’ house. Hormones at Mach V speed! Got there, she and I decided to rifle through her older brother’s LP collection. There it was… Physical Graffiti in all its sublime presence. Die cut windows with the peep-hole pics. We decided to give it a spin. That was all she wrote. I was hooked. Totally forgot about her at that moment awash in the band’s mind altering sonics. Good thing, older bro was a friend but we did handle the goods with utmost care.

Went out to get their catalog starting with "The Song Remains The Same" soundtrack making the trip with my buddy Jaime to a local Licorice Pizza record store [anyone remember those?]. He was big into the band as well. My first mag of them was Circus with the front cover asking "Led-Zeppelin: Are They Still Rock’s Prime Quartet?" which I nabbed at a Safeway. Another pivotal figure in my life was this Australian transfer student Andrew who showed me this three page catalog that sold bootlegs out of North Carolina. At the time, the band just finished their four 1979 gigs in Copenhagen and Knebworth. Hey now…what are these things?

I fiddled about enough coin to pick up an LP called "Flying High" which was a 2 LP set recorded at The Fillmore West on 4/27/69. Soundboard of the band at their embryonic primal best. A few months later, it was "Montreal ‘75" a desultory recording but perfectly captured the delirious manic vibe of the audience. Loved those hilarious in between song patter from the recording party. From my collecting fervor took off and hasn’t waned since. Now, it is a nice, healthy little horde that I have assembled. Heck, I even still have several long boxes full of cassettes that covered my collecting period between the LPs and the eventual proliferation of that digital medium...the CD.

To this day, I still have all of the items I mentioned and then some… It has been a serious love affair that still burns bright. Obsession? Nah...not in a sense that I try to collect everything but maybe it is because my wallet won’t let me. Things like relationships, a place to live and needing to eat gets in the way. Maybe if I ever hit the lottery.

To this day...my hat’s off to Tish, Jamie and Andrew wherever they all are who ushered me to this very satisfying and endearing musical journey with my number one favorite band.

Edited September 18, 2014 by gcczep

[Stairway is NOT stolen]

I was at school once about 2 years ago. I was really into Queen at that time. I friend of mine came in and recommended 'Stairway to heaven' to me.. I gave it a listen when I came home. I listened to it and I was absoutely mesmerized by the song. I then thought 'I have to listen to what other stuff these guys have done'.

My first 5 Led Zeppelin songs were, in order:

1. Stairway To Heaven

2. Black Dog

3. Rock and Roll

4. Ten Years Gone

5. Kashmir

They are the golden five. The ones that got me into Led Zeppelin.

Within a Week, I bought the 1990 remasters CD. For some reason, I didn't even touch Disc 2.

[Pagefan55]

I was at school once about 2 years ago. I was really into Queen at that time. I friend of mine came in and recommended 'Stairway to heaven' to me.. I gave it a listen when I came home. I listened to it and I was absoutely mesmerized by the song. I then thought 'I have to listen to what other stuff these guys have done'.

My first 5 Led Zeppelin songs were, in order:

1. Stairway To Heaven

2. Black Dog

3. Rock and Roll

4. Ten Years Gone

5. Kashmir

They are the golden five. The ones that got me into Led Zeppelin.

Within a Week, I bought the 1990 remasters CD. For some reason, I didn't even touch Disc 2.

That's awesome. What got me hooked was TSRTS.

[greengrass]

An American Indian school mate turned me on to Led Zeppelin back in 69-70 . After hearing the 1st album , i had to have more and that leaves us all here in the present..eh

Its a shame there isn't more isolated Plant tracks out there.

[Buford T Justice]

Over the Hills and Far Away on MTV back in 1993.

Bought Houses of the Holy, then best of, then the complete boxed set.

[Buford T Justice]

Over the Hills and Far Away on MTV back in 1993.

Bought Houses of the Holy, then best of, then the complete boxed set.

[babysquid]

Late 78 or early 79, I was about 4 and my brother would've been 2. I distinctly remember my Mum doing the ironing to Rock n Roll. She had really long straight hair back then and she was laughing as my brother and I tried to dance. I just remember us all shouting "this is rock n roll". I never realised it was Led Zeppelin till much later.

I got hooked when I was 14 through school friends and I still remember listening to Led Zeppelin 1 on my Walkman whilst I nursed my first broken heart. I got II for my 15th birthday and we played it in the car on the way to school, all these years later my birthday doesn't begin till I've had my fix of Whole Lotta Love cranked out of my stereo first thing in the morning.

Back in the late 90's when I was teaching guitar to 11 and 12 year olds it always made me smile when they asked me if I knew who Led Zeppelin were and could I teach them Moby Dick.

[LurksReturnington]

Mid-western blind people and their kids turned me on. The adult cats smoked dope and seemed to like the Yardbirds even more than Zep.. So close to when Bonham died that it could have been before or after. I was yung enuf to think Led Zeppelin was a guy.

[Timt]

My older brother was a zep fan. One day I rode in his truck up to our grandmothers house about 100 miles away. All the way up and back we listened to zep IV and nothing else. I was annoyed, but by the time we got back I was hooked.