Today is Led Zeppelin's 50th anniversary, let's celebrate with 50 facts about them

On September 7th, 1968 at a club in Denmark, a young group of English musicians called The New Yardbirds Played their first show. Within two months, the band had recorded their first album and changed their name to the now legendary Led Zeppelin.

Yes, it’s hard to believe that with millions of record sales to their name, and decades of being one of the most iconic rock bands of all time, Led Zeppelin is now 50 years old.

Well, with Whole Lotta Love – one of the biggest and most talented Led Zeppelin tributes in Australia – hitting the road this weekend, we’ve decided to take a look back at the group’s history and present 50 facts about the iconic band to mark their 50th anniversary.

50 Led Zeppelin Facts

1. Guitarist Jimmy Page was originally a member of iconic blues-rock band The Yardbirds.

2. After The Yardbirds disbanded in 1968, Jimmy Page attempted to create a supergroup with guitarist Jeff Beck, and Keith Moon and John Entwistle from The Who.

3. Contracted to play shows in Scandinavia, Jimmy Page and bassist Chris Dreja looked to form a new band. While looking for members, they suggested Terry Reid, who turned them down, but not before suggesting Robert Plant as a singer. Reid would later go on to work with the likes of Don Henley, Jackson Browne, and Bonnie Raitt.

4. When Chris Deja left the band to focus on photography, session musician John Paul Jones asked if he could join the group as a bassist.

5. The new group performed their very first show together in Denmark on September 7th as The New Yardbirds.

6. The band’s first album was recorded the very next month in just nine days, with Jimmy Page covering the costs.

7. While preparing the record for release, The Yardbirds’ Chris Deja filed a cease and desist letter, claiming that they could only use the name The New Yardbirds for their previous tour dates in Scandinavia.

8. Looking for a new name, they recalled how The Who’s Keith Moon and John Entwistle claimed a supergroup would go down like a ‘lead balloon’. Soon, the phrase was altered, and Led Zeppelin were born.

9. While the band began their first tour UK tour on October 4th, 1968, they performed their first show as Led Zeppelin three weeks later, on October 25th.

10. In November of 1968, the band managed to secure an advance contract from Atlantic Records. Receiving $143,000, the deal would be the largest of its kind at the time for a new band. While Atlantic Records weren’t really in the market for loud rock bands, they were looking to expand their roster, and executives reportedly signed the band without having ever seen them.

11. Led Zeppelin’s self-titled debut record was released in January of 1969. The album cover featured an image of the Hindenburg disaster in 1937. Early copies had the band’s name written in turquoise lettering, and if happen to have a copy of that one in your collection, you’re sitting on an absolute goldmine.

12. The album spawned one single, with ‘Good Times Bad Times’ being released in only a handful of countries. In the UK, the band and their management retained control of the release of singles and refused to release any during the band’s lifetime. In fact, the first single released by Led Zeppelin in the UK would be ‘Whole Lotta Love’ almost 30 years later in 1997.

13. The album also contained a cover of Joan Baez’s ‘Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You’. As the story goes, when Jimmy Page and Robert Plant first met in 1968, they shared a mutual love over folk singer Joan Baez, in particular her version of the song. In fact, they enjoyed Joan Baez so much that the band decided to cover her song for their album, leading to their cover often being mistaken for an original.

14. Less than four months later the band had entered the studio to work on their follow-up album, which was recorded during the band’s four tours across the UK, Scandinavia, and North America.

15. In June of 1969, the band made their one and only appearance on TV. Showing up on the French program Tous En Scene, the band decided against any future television spots after they realised how poor the quality of TV audio is.

16. In October of 1969, the band released Led Zeppelin II, which went on to top the charts in the US and UK. A heavier album than its bluesy predecessor, critics have referred to this album as one of the starting points for heavy metal.

17. Just weeks after the release of the record, opening track ‘Whole Lotta Love’ was released as the group’s second single. It would become Led Zeppelin’s first chart-topping single, reaching #1 in Australia and Germany.

18. One month after the release of their second album, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant retreated to the iconic Welsh cottage Bron-Yr-Aur, where they would begin work on their next album.

19. In February of 1970, the band toured Denmark, where they were threatened with legal action from Frau Eva von Zeppelin, who was a descendent of the creator of the Zeppelin aircraft. In response to this, the band decided to change their name for one night, taking on the name The Nobs, in honour of their touring manager Claude Nobs.

20. Recorded over the space of almost an entire year, Led Zeppelin III was released in October of 1970 and featured a stylistic shift for the group, featuring acoustic instruments, and less of the rock sound they were becoming known for.

21. Despite the record’s more introspective sound, the band’s reputation for wild behaviour began to grow, with their stage show becoming more of a spectacle, and Robert Plant beginning to take on the role of an extremely flamboyant frontman. This period would also see drummer John Bonham engage in destructive behaviour, including on instance where he rode a motorcycle through a floor of the Continental Hyatt House in Los Angeles.

22. After beginning to record their next album in December of 1970, their fourth album was eventually released in November of 1971, and would go on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time.

23. While technically untitled, fans have referred to this record as Led Zeppelin IV due to the fact that the band completely avoided using their name on the front cover.

24. This same period also saw the band beginning to use symbols to refer to each of the band’s members. While each of the members chose or designed their own symbols, a fifth symbol was created for Sandy Denny as a way to represent her vocal contributions on ‘The Battle Of Evermore’. When performed live (albeit rarely), John Paul Jones would take on Denny’s vocal duties.

25. The album’s central piece was undoubted ‘Stairway To Heaven’, often considered one of the greatest songs of all time. Oddly, despite its title, many fans have theorised that the record contains backmasked messages that promote Satanism.

When played backwards, the song supposedly contains messages such as “Here’s to my sweet Satan.” Robert Plant once addressed the controversy, noting “You’ve got to have a lot of time on your hands to even consider that people would do that.”

26. To promote the record, the band would spend the majority of the next year on the road, where they played their sole Australian concert. Taking place in February of 1972, the band hit up Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, flying out for a trip to Auckland halfway through the tour.

27. Famously, a concert in Singapore was scheduled to take place on February 14th, but was cancelled after Singaporean officials refused to allow the band entry due to the country’s laws on men with long hair.

28. In March of 1973, the band released their fifth album, Houses Of The Holy. Featuring some rather experimental recording techniques, the album also generated controversy for its album cover, which featured a number of nude children. Created by Aubrey Powell of design group Hipgnosis, Powell would go on to create record covers for the likes of Genesis, Black Sabbath, Paul McCartney, and Pink Floyd.

29. While flying to Los Angeles from San Francisco in June of 1973, the band encountered a period of bad turbulence. As a result, manager Peter Grant hired The Starship, a private jet that would later become synonymous with the band and their excessive lifestyle. John Bonham famously once flew the plane from New York City to Los Angeles, despite not having a license to do so.

30. To close out their 1973 US tour, the band played three sold-out shows at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. These performances were filmed and later released as a concert film and soundtrack album titled The Song Remains The Same in 1976.

31. On the night before the last performance, $180,000 was stolen from a safe deposit box at the band’s New York Hotel.

32. In 1974, the band briefly took a hiatus from touring, choosing instead to launch their own record label. Named after an unreleased song, Swan Song records would soon become synonymous with the band, appearing on all of the albums released after that date, and also putting out albums by the likes of Bad Company and The Pretty Things.

33. In early 1975, the band reconvened to tour the US, and release their first double album, Physical Graffiti. After discovering that they had enough material to cover three sides of a vinyl record, Led Zeppelin complemented the tracks with previously recorded material to pad it out. As a result, the album was a partial compilation, but managed to become a huge success for the band.

34. In August of 1975, Robert Plant and his wife Maureen were involved in a car accident in Greece. Following medical attention, Led Zeppelin were forced to cancel a number of tour dates, and chose to record material for their next album instead. Titled Presence, the album saw a definite change in the band’s sound, and was seen by some to be the end of the group’s most successful period.

35. In 1977, Led Zeppelin embarked upon their final US tour, which aimed to see the group reestablish their title as the biggest band in the world. Kicking off in April of 1977, the tour was filled with problems, including riots, illnesses, and issues with security.

36. On July 24th, 1977, the band played their final US tour. With a number of dates still scheduled, Robert Plant was informed that his five-year-old son had passed away from a stomach virus. The group subsequently cancelled all remaining dates, and fans began to speculate if the group were going to break up. As Plant later confirmed, he did indeed consider disbanding the group at the time.

37. In November of 1978, the band hit the studio to record what would become their final album released as a band. Titled In Through The Out Door, the album was named in response to the struggles the band had faced over the previous years. Often considered one of the weakest in the band’s back catalogue, recording was mainly handled by Robert Plant and John Paul Jones, resulting in a far different sound than fans were used to.

38. The recording of In Through The Out Door took place at ABBA’s Polar Studios in Stockholm. Legend has it that ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson celebrated this fact by taking Robert Plant out on the town for a night at a nearby sex club.

39. In August of 1977, the band performed two concerts at Knebworth House in England for the Knebworth Festival. These performances were the first for Led Zeppelin since their US tour in 1977, and their first performances in England since 1979. Demand for the initial show on August 4th was so great that another show was added on August 11th, and would result in the band receiving the highest performance fee for a single act up to that time.

40. In 1980, the band embarked on a tour of Europe which was again, met with a number of problems. The most serious of these occurred on June 27th in Germany, when drummer John Bonham collapsed on stage and was taken to hospital.

41. Following this performance, the group were set to head out on their first American tour in three years. Sadly, just weeks before they were scheduled to commence, John Bonham passed away after a day of heavy drinking. The official cause of death was asphyxiation from vomit, and a report from coroner revealed that he had consumed the equivalent of 40 shots of vodka prior to his passing.

42. In the wake of Bonham’s death, rumours circulated that other musicians would take over his role in the band. However, these rumours were shot down for good when, in December of 1980, the band released a statement that they were disbanding for good.

43. In 1981, Robert Plant formed The Honeydrippers. The group existed for four years, and their sole release, The Honeydrippers: Volume One, featured Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck of The Yardbirds on guitar.

44. In 1982, Led Zeppelin released their final album, suitably titled Coda. Consisting of tracks recorded during their career, the album was one of the most poorly-received by the band. It did, however, feature the track ‘Bonzo’s Montreux’, which consisted of a drum solo recorded by John Bonham in 1976, and is considered to be one of his finest moments.

45. In July of 1985, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin reunited for the first time, performing at Live Aid in Philadelphia. Accompanied by The Power Station’s Tony Thompson and Genesis’ Phil Collins on drums, the performance was poorly-received, and heavily criticised by the press.

46. Likewise, the band reconvened three years later for the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary in May of 1988. This time featuring John Bonham’s son Jason on drums, the performance was again criticised , with Jimmy page calling it “one big disappointment”.

47. In 1994, Robert Page and Jimmy Plant reunited under the name Page And Plant for MTV’s Unplugged concert. Dubbed ‘Unledded’, the project resulted in a studio album recorded by the pair titled No Quarter. ‘Gallow’s Pole’ – a rerecording of the track which appeared on Led Zeppelin III – even featured in the 1994 Hottest 100, reaching #94.

48. In 1995, the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by members of Aerosmith. While Jason and Zoë Bonham stood in for their late father, John Paul Jones had been rather bitter in regards to not being informed of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant’s reunion the year prior. During his speech, he famously joked “Thank you, my friends, for finally remembering my phone number.” The induction also saw a brief reunion performance which featured Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Neil Young, and Jason Bonham and Michael Lee on drums.

49. In 2007, Led Zeppelin reunited for what would be, to date, the final time. Performing for the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert, 20 million people requested tickets to the event, setting a world record in the process. Featuring Jason Bonham on drums again, this performance was a major success, and resulted in widespread rumours about a potential full reunion tour from the group.

50. In 2011, an Aussie Led Zeppelin fan made history by throwing down $10,000 for a vintage t-shirt from the band’s performance s at Knebworth House. If you’re wondering why it was so expensive, it’s because of the fact that the shirt actually doubled as a backstage pass for the two concerts, and was therefore pretty limited.