They may have been sitting down in their tuxes rather than tearing across the stage in their flares, but in the words of Barack Obama: “Guys who are not completely youthful can still rock.”The President aged 51 hailed the remaining members of Led Zeppelin average age 66 for “making us all feel young” as they received a lifetime achievement award in the Kennedy Center Honours.“When Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham burst on to the musical scene in the late 1960s, the world never saw it coming,” Mr Obama said at the awards ceremony on Sunday, at which actors Dustin Hoffman and comedian David Letterman were also honoured.“It’s been said that a generation of young people survived teenage angst with a pair of headphones and a Zeppelin album,” the President added.
via Led Zeppelin get a whole lotta love from President Barack Obama – News – Music – The Independent.
After changing their name, they signed a favourable deal with Atlantic Records that allowed them considerable artistic freedom. Led Zeppelin disliked releasing their songs as singles; they viewed their albums as indivisible and complete listening experiences. Due to the heavy, guitar-driven blues rock sound of their first two albums, Led Zeppelin are frequently recognised as the progenitors of heavy metal and hard rock. However, the band’s individualistic style drew from a wide variety of influences, including folk music, which they incorporated into their next two albums. Their untitled fourth album, which features the track “Stairway to Heaven”, is among the most popular and influential works in rock music, and it cemented the status of the group as “superstars.” Subsequent albums saw greater experimentation and were accompanied by record-breaking tours, which earned them a reputation for excess. Although they remained commercially and critically successful, in the later 1970s, the band’s output and touring schedule were limited by the personal difficulties and circumstances of the members. Led Zeppelin disbanded following Bonham’s unexpected death in 1980.
Led Zeppelin is one of the greatest rock bands of all time. There is speculation though that they were heavily involved with the occult. Jimmy Page himself has at one time or another owned houses that belonged to satanist Alister Crowley.