For a time during the 1970s, Led Zeppelin was the biggest rock-and-roll band in the
world.
However, a pair of tragic deaths that occurred towards the end of the decade put an end to
the band’s momentum.
Join Facts Verse as we take a look at Led Zeppelin deaths that utterly destroyed the
band.
Led Zeppelin released their self-titled debut LP in 1969 and quickly thereafter became one
of the most notable rock-and-roll bands of the 1970s.
The band consisted of lead singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, drummer John Bonham,
and bassist John Paul Jones.
Though Robert, Jimmy, and John Paul Jones have played with the late John Bonham's son
during a couple of reunion shows in the wake of the original drummer's tragic death, the
band essentially lived and died with its classic lineup.
Unlike other classic rock bands, Led Zeppelin never switched out members.
The member of Led Zeppelin certainly had a strong sense of camaraderie from the outset,
but they also had their differences.
These differences grew stronger in the years leading up to the band’s dissolution.
However, it wasn’t creative differences that ended up doing the band in for good.
Instead, it was the aforementioned tragic death of John Bonham.
Even son, John Bonham’s death wasn’t the first death that had come between the members
of Led Zeppelin.
Years prior to John Bonham’s 1980 death, the death of Robert Plant’s five-year-old
son almost caused him to quit the band.
John Bonham eventually talked him back.
In 1975, Robert Plant and his wife, Maureen, got in a car accident.
Maureen was nearly killed, and Robert Plant had to be confined to a wheelchair for some
time.
This was the year that the band released Physical Graffiti, which many consider to be their
last great album.
As a result of his wheelchair confinement, Robert lost a lot of spirit and didn't bring
all that much soul to the group's 1976 album Presence.
This album was received much less positively than Physical Graffiti had been, and many
believed that Led Zeppelin were on their way out.
This ended up being the truth, though the band's end wouldn't come via burnout.
Two years after Robert survived their 1975 car accident, a much greater tragedy occurred.
During Led Zeppelin’s 1977 tour of the United States, Robert received some terrible news
from back home.
His five-year-old son had passed away as a result of a stomach infection, and Robert
was absolutely devastated.
There hadn’t been a whole lot of positive vibes on the 1977 tour beforehand, and the
news of the death of Robert’s son only made things worse.
During their 1977 tour of the United States, all of the members of Led Zeppelin were knee-deep
in substance-abuse habits.
The worst culprits were Jimmy Page and John Bonham.
Jimmy was a heroin addict, and his abuse of heroin caused him to be decidedly secretive
and withdrawn.
Meanwhile, John Bonham's abuse of alcohol made him obnoxious and belligerent.
Although John was drunk for the entirety of Led Zeppelin's 1977 US tour, he ended up being
the only member of Led Zeppelin to attempt to console Robert Plant after the singer received
his tragic news.
John Bonham also ended up being the only member of the band, besides Robert himself, who attended
the young boy's funeral.
Robert was especially perturbed that his longtime friend Jimmy Page didn't show up to his beloved
son's funeral.
Robert chalked Jimmy's absence from the funeral up to the guitarist's antisocial nature and
worsening substance abuse habit.
Still, Robert held a grudge.
From the 1975 car accident that left him temporarily wheelchair-bound to the 1977 death of his
son, there were numerous things going on in Robert Plant's personal life during the mid-1970s
that took his focus off of his band.
When you add into this the fact that none of the members of Led Zeppelin seemed to have
been getting along all that well at the time, it's not that surprising that Robert decided
to call it quits on the band after returning home from the tour.
Not only did Robert Plant quit Led Zeppelin upon receiving the news of his son’s tragic
death, but he also quit all of his substance abuse.
Sadly, neither Jimmy Page nor John Bonham would follow suit.
In fact, John Bonham’s substance-abuse habits would significantly worsen over the ensuing
years, which inevitably resulted his own tragic death.
However, before John’s death, he managed to talk Robert Plant into returning to Led
Zeppelin and they recorded one final album.
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Although Robert Plant eventually returned to Led Zeppelin, the singer never felt the
same way about his work with the band after the 1977 death of his son.
In contrast to the band's popular song title, the song didn't remain the same.
Robert had come to view much of his previous time with Led Zeppelin in a negative light.
In fact, it seems that Robert began to believe that the debaucherous rock-and-roll lifestyles
that he and the other members of the band had been leading karmically resulted in his
son's death.
Robert Plant returned to Led Zeppelin towards the end of the 1970s at the behest of John
Bonham.
Perhaps the fact that John had showed up to his son's funeral made Robert feel some increased
sense of loyalty towards the drummer.
When Robert came back, the band was reborn, though its second life wouldn't last for long.
As already established, John's substance-abuse habit was still worsening around this time,
and it would only continue to worsen in the time leading up to his 1980 death.
In the year 1980, Led Zeppelin was preparing for another tour of the United States.
They were rehearsing in England when tragedy struck yet again for the seemingly cursed
band.
This time, the tragedy wasn’t the death of a loved one.
Instead, it was the death of one of the band’s members.
Despite having successfully talked Robert Plant to come back to the band towards the
end of the 1970s, John Bonham seems to have become a bit disenchanted with Led Zeppelin
himself by 1980.
It was likely just the alcohol talking, but it seems that John had grown quite jealous
of his fellow bandmates, who he felt were all more talented than him.
John Bonham’s jealousy and substance abuse were making rehearsals nearly impossible to
accomplish, and Led Zeppelin were wondering if they were going to be able to perform their
upcoming tour dates after all.
The band members were certainly right that Led Zeppelin was about to come to an end for
good, though it wasn’t because of John Bonham’s lack of loyalty.
Instead, the drummer’s worsening substance abuse habit ended up killing him.
A few months prior of John Bonham's death, the drummer had passed out during a show that
Led Zeppelin had played in Nuremberg.
The other band members ended up convincing the tabloids that the medical episode was
unrelated to John's alcohol consumption.
However, they knew deep down in their hearts that John's problem was only getting worse
and that it would eventually do him in.
Sadly, they weren't able to stop him before they were too late.
Legend has it that John Bonham was passed out drunk, and simply never woke up.
Though an assistant for Led Zeppelin remained adamant that they had left John sleeping on
his side, the drummer ended up choking on his own vomit and passing away.
The remaining members of Led Zeppelin became suspicious when John didn’t show up for
rehearsal the next day.
John Paul Jones went to check on him, only to find John Bonham deceased.
It was then John Paul Jones who had to break the news to his remaining bandmates.
John Bonham was only 32 years old at the time of his death, and he likely wouldn’t have
a few more decades of rocking out in him if it hadn’t been for his nasty substance-abuse
habit.
The remaining members of Led Zeppelin weren’t keen on finding a full-time replacement for
John, so the band came to an end.
The band’s last album ended up being 1979’s In Through the Out Door, though they sadly
never got the chance to tour the United States in support of it.
Though Led Zeppelin is officially broken up, all of the former band members, with the obvious
exception of John Bonham, are still alive.
Every once in a while, the three remaining members of Led Zeppelin will get together
with John Bonham's son to perform reunion shows.
However, all three surviving members of Led Zeppelin have moved onto other interest outside
of classic heavy metal.
Though Led Zeppelin ended up coming to an end predominantly as a result of tragedy,
fans have come to view the band’s surviving members as having a lot of integrity for never
trying to fully replace John Bonham.
Though the band’s last two studio albums were nowhere near the critical hits that their
most acclaimed previous works had been, the band still ended its run on a high note and
is considered to be one of the most consistently revered bands of all time.
Given that Robert Plant views much of the work that he did with Led Zeppelin as being
karmically unbalanced, it’s no surprise that the singer has been focusing on mellower
work more recently.
Robert Plant is still active in the music industry, though he makes country music instead
of rock.
Led Zeppelin was a band that had one of the greatest runs in rock-and-roll history, and
it all came crashing down as a result of a tragic pair of deaths.
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Robert Plant believes that he and
the other members of Led Zeppelin had bad karma as a result of their time with the band
and that three out of four founding members of the band are still alive today?
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