A moment in history: The legendary first meeting of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page
The monumental contributions of Led Zeppelin are so extraordinary that rarely does anyone discuss their genesis or how the members first met. While the origins of many bands are usually somewhat unremarkable, the first meeting between Robert Plant and Jimmy Page is one we should all remember. While many of the details surrounding their first encounter are everything you might expect, some of the details seem to be plucked straight out of a novel.
July 20th, 1968, would be the date that all of the stars would align—the day that saw a young Plant performing in Walsall as part of a group called Obs-Tweedle. Despite the audience only being a handful of boozed-up kids, Page was observing but had a rather scathing review of the band as a whole: “The band overplayed, and there was a lot of hubbub and flash,” he told Bob Spitz.
However, as luck would have it, one member caught his attention, and Plant couldn’t take his eyes away. “He had a distinctive sexual quality,” Page recalled, describing the moment he admired Plant’s performance. In his eyes, his voice adopted something of a “primaeval wail”, and he seemed too good to be true, so much that Page thought he must have been a nightmare to work with.
Page endeavoured to catch Plant after the set to introduce himself, and in doing so, he gained a demo that Plant had made in one of his bands, Band of Joy. The songs, ‘Hey Joe’, ‘For What It’s Worth’, and ‘Adriatic Seaview’, had been recorded the year prior in just an hour. Musical adeptness wasn’t something Page happened to be concerned with at the time, however, as it was Plant’s voice he was after.
That said, the tracks were roaring, as much as you would expect from Plant and drummer John Bonham, whose fierce rhythms made Plant’s voice truly come alive. In this moment, it’s safe to say that Plant saw everything Led Zeppelin could and should be, and in his excitement to see his vision come to life, he invited Plant to get together to make sure the chemistry worked.
“It was obvious he could sing and had a lot of enthusiasm,” Plant said, “but I wasn’t sure about his potential as a frontman.” Evidently, he would be proven wrong, but the first moment they bonded was over a set of records the frontman had been urged to bring with him to the hang-out. According to Page, Plant’s selections sealed the deal.
“[He brought] Joan Baez’s ‘Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You’ and ‘Farewell, Angelina,’ Howlin’ Wolf’s rocking chair album, 5000 Spirits by the Incredible String Band, and my gatefold Robert Johnson album on Philips, which I bought while I was working at Woolworth’s,” he said.
Adding: “That was the jewel in the crown.”
Although both musicians were slightly different ages and came from distinctive backgrounds, they eventually overcame their challenges and started working together the only way they knew how. Despite Plant’s more dishevelled upbringing, he found Page’s gracefulness endearing, inspiring, even. “The way he carried himself was far more cerebral than anything I’d come across before,” he said.
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