Led Zeppelin watched a couple have sex on their gold record awards
In March 1973, Led Zeppelin arrived in Stockholm for the first show of their European tour. By that time, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and John Paul Jones had already released four immensely successful studio albums and were just about to unveil their latest effort, Houses of The Holy.
In an effort to promote the new album and supporting tour, Zeppelin’s manager, the notorious Peter Grant, organised for Led Zeppelin to make an appearance at Stockholm’s most glamorous sex club, the Chat Noir, where Plant and the gang would later watch a couple engaging in penetrative sex on top of a table displaying the band’s gold records.
Obviously, the whole thing was Grant’s idea. The manager had suggested to Metronome Records, the Swedish representative of Atlantic Records, that a small stage be set up in the Chat Noir, where Led Zeppelin would be presented with their gold album sales awards. It’s unclear whether Grant told the members of Led Zeppelin that the ceremony would take place alongside a live sex show or if it was meant as a surprise.
At that time, the Chat Noir was regarded as the classiest sex club in Stockholm, offering clients a luxury sex experience with some of the most coveted female stars from around the world. The club was rumoured to have been very popular with travelling Japanese businessmen and was frequently used by the Swedish porn industry to film erotic movies like Anita: Swedish Nymphet, which was released the same year Led Zeppelin visited.
According to Metronome CEO Börje Ekberg, only one photographer was invited to document Led Zeppelin’s sex show experience: Bengt H. Malmqvist, who captured photos of Led Zeppelin posing in the club and watching the sex show on black and white film. Malmqvist’s photos appeared in a popular Swedish men’s magazine but remained otherwise unseen for years. They were eventually published in the book ‘De legendariska åren – Metronome Records‘. The black and white negatives, corresponding prints and two contact sheets were later put up for auction by Bonhams and have since been sold. You can check out some of the photos from the shoot here.
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