18 h. ago ‘None of this should have worked’: David Adjmi on how Led Zeppelin sparked Broadway smash Stereophonic

The playwright was about to quit theatre but hearing Babe I’m Gonna Leave You led to a sensational, Tony-winning collaboration with Arcade Fire’s Will ButlerIn 2013, I was desperately looking for a way to quit writing plays. I’d had a terrible, scarring artistic collaboration a couple of years prior, and it broke me. And on top of that, I was actually broke, financially. So I decided to give up playwriting, move to Los Angeles and make some money writing for film and television. But just as I’d made that decision, I received a three-year grant from the Mellon Foundation. It came with a significant chunk of money, so I was thrilled. Only it also came with conditions: one of which was that I needed to write a new play. “Fine,” I thought. “I’ll write a very short one-act to fulfil the requirements of the grant and then be done with theatre for ever.”Months later, I was on an aeroplane listening to in-flight radio when Led Zeppelin’s cover of Babe I’m Gonna Leave You came on. I knew the...

Politics

5 d. ago Hairy Biker Si King’s Honest Playlist: ‘Led Zeppelin is perfect for when you’re speeding along’

The chef, author and presenter wants to be John Bonham and might be found busting out Baker Street at karaoke, but which song reminds him of lost love?The first single I bought I Don’t Like Mondays by the Boomtown Rats from Sounds Nice on Birtley High Street, when I was in my teens. I know it was about a school shooting, but at the time, I thought: I have a visceral reaction to Mondays as well.The first song I fell in love with Still in Love With You from Thin Lizzy’s Live and Dangerous album. I was learning to play drums and Brian Downey, Thin Lizzy’s drummer, used to do this wonderful shuffle beat because it’s a relatively slow track, and his playing is beautiful. I still play the drums. I’ve never stopped being a musician. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Drug runs for the Stones, a love triangle with Joni Mitchell: has Chris O’Dell had the music industry’s wildest career?

She managed tours for Queen and Led Zeppelin and was at George Harrison’s house when the Beatles split – but O’Dell is most proud of her legacy as a woman in a macho industry‘When you start with the Beatles, your résumé looks pretty good,” Chris O’Dell says. A new documentary charts the extent of that CV, as a music manager with bands including Fleetwood Mac, Genesis and Santana, but it all began with a chance encounter in Los Angeles in 1968.Derek Taylor was heading publicity at the Beatles’ company, Apple Corps, and O’Dell was a low-level assistant in radio promotion. When Taylor suggested she come work at the Apple office in London, she dropped everything and moved halfway across the world. “Paul [McCartney] was there every day organising everything,” she says, on the phone from her home in Arizona. “One day he came into my office and said, ‘Chris, should we use paper towels or cloth towels in the bathroom?’ That’s how detailed he was.” Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Led Zeppelin fans surprised to discover origins behind band name

You may not realise the real meaning behind the band's iconic name- which they had to change in their early days due to a legal dispute.

Politics

3 w. ago Led Zeppelin fans only just realising where iconic band name came from

Before they were Led Zeppelin, they were The New Yardbirds - but things took a disastrous turn when a former bandmate threatened to sue, forcing the four musicians to think of a new name

Politics

4 w. ago Home Lotta Love! Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant's hideaway country mansion up for sale for £2.6million

Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant lived in the Grade II-listed manor house in Penallt, Monmouthshire, during the 1980s before moving out.

Economics

4 w. ago Home Lotta Love! Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant's hideaway country mansion up for sale for £2.5million

Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant lived in the Grade II-listed manor house in Penallt, Monmouthshire, during the 1980s before moving out.

Economics