“Transitional stage”: Jimmy Page on the Led Zeppelin album that could have been
No artist’s ambitions are safe from getting a dose of reality. Anyone can try to plot out what’s going to happen to them years down the line, but when the life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll starts catching up with everyone, it’s bound to throw a wrench into everything. Although Led Zeppelin knew there was no point in any of them continuing with the group after John Bonham passed away, Jimmy Page did have certain plans for what a version of the band would have looked like going into the 1980s.
Because, really, Zeppelin wasn’t a band known for slowing down all that often. They had been used to upping the ant on every single record they made, and by the late 1970s, they were practically musical gods who could turn in epics like ‘Kashmir’ and ‘Achilles Last Stand’ without so much as breaking a sweat.
Even if they did copy a few ideas from their peers starting out, they could make them their own and find some untapped magic in someone else’s material. Everyone on the blues scene had known how ‘When the Levee Breaks’ was supposed to sound, but by hearing Bonzo’s thunderous drums and Page shredding away on slide guitar, people got one of the first shots of heavy metal.
In a post-Physical Graffiti world, though, Zeppelin’s future was uncertain. Although Presence saw Robert Plant getting a bit sidelined because of a bad car accident, that still left plenty of room for Page’s guitar to take over, especially when laying down the solos on ‘Nobody’s Fault But Mine’. If that was his moment to shine, In Through the Out Door saw the pendulum swing in the opposite direction with John Paul Jones.
While Zeppelin’s unintended final album is far from a bad record, it’s clear that they were trying something new with ‘All My Love’ and ‘Fool in the Rain’. The focus was still on rock and having a heavy beat, but it did start leaning more towards accessible music that might even have the potential to become hit singles.
Despite Bonzo’s death, Page thought that the Zeppelin album that never was could have been a completely different sonic avenue, saying, “I think that at that point in time In Through The Out Door could have been a very interesting transitional stage to what would have been happening after that. I think it really would have been interesting to see what came after that. But I don’t know, maybe we would have split up.”
Looking at where each of them was heading, the 1980s could have been a time for them to release their most eclectic material yet. Plant had started to mess around with electronic sounds in his solo career, and with Page still holding onto his rock roots in The Firm, this could have been an opportunity for them to bring their vast epics to the MTV generation, complete with videos depicting some of their tunes.
While most of us can only speculate what that version of Zeppelin could have looked like, it’s better to appreciate the music that we got while they were still together and what they might create in the future on their own. Because no matter how much people clamour for a Zeppelin reunion, nothing will equal the kind of chemistry the four of them had together in those early days.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Led Zeppelin Newsletter
All the latest stories about Led Zeppelin from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.