From in-depth interviews with band members to hair raising stories from celebrity fans and friends, to complete guides to their albums, this is the ultimate guide to Led Zep!
Classic Rock Special: Led Zeppelin
Editor Letter
#12 Led Zeppelin’s ‘secret’ UK debut • When people turned up to a Newcastle ballroom, they expected to see The Yardbirds. Instead they saw the future of rock.
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE GREATEST ALBUMS EVER MADE • Discover 146 pages of classic albums reappraised by rock’s greatest writers and ranked according to votes cast by Classic Rock magazine’s readers. Did your favourite make the cut?
YOUR TIME IS GONNA COME • As the 60s ended, session supremo Jimmy Page put together a band and a plan that would change rock forever – even if it did owe a whole lot to music’s past…
TWO BY FOUR • On the 35th anniversary of the album’s release, Classic Rock tells the tale of ‘Led Zeppelin II’, a record that would dislodge The Beatles’ ‘Abbey Road’ from the top of the US chart, and go on to shape the craggy face of modern rock music. Not that Jimmy Page realised it at the time – by the time the album was finished he’d lost confidence in it! Squeezing the lemon: Dave Lewis
UNDER THE COVERS • THE ALBUM ARTWORK EXPLAINED
LED ZEPPELIN’S ONLY SINGLE. EVER
ZEPPELIN GOES POP! • ‘WHOLE LOTTA LOVE’ ON TELLY
LED ZEPPELIN II • BACKTRACKING
A Bustle In Your Hedgerow • When the reigning kings of rock holed up in the Welsh countryside to write a new album, no one expected the folky pastoral results. Critics hated it, fans didn’t get it, but Led Zeppelin III is arguably the band’s most important record.
WHEN ALL IS ONE AND ONE IS ALL • It had no title, no band name on the sleeve, no singles released to radio. But the album that the record company said would bomb made Zeppelin the biggest band on the planet. Forty years after its release, the inside story of a rock classic.
FOUR SYMBOLISM • The origins of the album’s four symbols explained.
THE BACK TO THE CLUBS TOUR • 1971 was the last time you could see Zeppelin for 70p…
EXPLORE THE LIFE AND STORY OF A TRUE MUSICAL LEGEND • Forty years after he was cut down in his prime, discover the incredible story of Bob Marley’s rise from the Kingston ghetto to become a global superstar and delve into his best loved albums, with breakdowns of the likes of the mighty Exodus
THE HOUSE THAT ZEPPELIN BUILT • Forty years ago this month, Led Zeppelin released their fifth album, Houses Of The Holy. Over the next nine pages, we celebrate Zep’s unsung masterpiece.
BRING IT ON HOME • Recorded at Mick Jagger’s country pile, Houses Of The Holy was the sound of a band at the top of their game. Producer Eddie Kramer was there with them, and these are his memories of the eight songs that make up their great unsung album.
HOW THE WEST WAS WON • In May ’73, Zeppelin kicked off their US tour. Label boss Phil Carson saw three months that changed everything.
BOMBAY NIGHTS • In October 1972, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page made an impromptu visit to Bombay, where they jammed with local musicians. What happened remained undocumented. Until now.
INTRODUCING THE LEGENDARY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND • Across six decades, 20 studio albums and thousands of live performances, Bruce Springsteen has cemented his position in music history time and time again. Delve into his life and career to discover exactly why Bruce is The Boss!
THIRTY-FIVE YEARS GONE • The band is getting death threats. John Paul Jones wants to leave. A backlash against the rock aristocracy is rumbling. So how did Zep manage to pull Physical Graffiti out of the bag?
ROCK ON WITH OUR MUSIC BOOKAZINES • Discover the origins of legendary songs, relive...