If Bonham had not died, would Led Zeppelin still be together?

[Rush Cocky]

I would say loudly NO. The band was already drifting apart musically. The later albums were a transition from guitar rock and more into synth. Consider the track "Carouselambra" (sp?): I have read that during that track, and really during the making of "In Through The Out Door" there were two Led Zeppelins. There were the partying ones (Bonham and Page) and the ones still wanting to make serious music (Plant and Jones). The latter set out to write, and the former two would come in and record whatever parts fit what was already written. They were too busy living like rock stars to care much about another album, and it was starting to show, although I did like what the two of them brought to the aforementioned track.

 

And so as the work was going down the tubes, Bonham gave Zep a great reason to break up. Plant and Page were not wanting to go the same path music wise. The last L.P.’s were not even worth a listen in the view of a lot of fans.

 

In Through the Out Door got a lot of radio play, but don’t be fooled. Page wanted to stick with the proven, safe route, and Plant wanted to explore more. Jones had his own ideas and stepped up to the produce the album, more or less, because Page was so out of it.

 

I doubt the fans would have continued to buy in by the time we got to the early 80s. “Presence” was not a great seller. “In Through the Out Door” did better, but the move away from heavy riff-rock did not go unnoticed by the Led Zeppelin public, and that's what made this band in the first place.

 

More than that, Led Zeppelin was also seeing its success start to take a hit from the rising punk rock movement in Britain. The music press was starting to lean away from big arena rock like Zeppelin, and more to the "grassroots" music of The Clash and The Ramones. Page told the band they needed to completely pull away from the big arena sound because no one was going for it anymore. He once again wanted to return the band to a hard-rocking blues group and start playing smaller venues. The other members had other ideas, all different. It just looked like Zep was coming apart at the seams, but Bonham's death made all of that tension moot.

 

Thoughts?

[IbanezJem]

I think Zep were done - I don`t think they were ever like Rush, anyway, likely to notch 40+ years together as they weren`t all friends at the outset - but I guess they`d have done their own things and then got back together a few times, a few more albums etc. They were going in different directions by the mid 70s. But then Page had already been doomed to failure after Zep by his dabblings in black magick and Crowley :blaze:

 

On a different note, are there any bands that started obsessed with synths but became a great guitar band years later? Why does it always have to be the other way around?

Edited October 8, 2021 by IbanezJem

[Maverick]

I don't know how much longer they would have been together while Jimmy Page was addicted to heroine. He may have died if Bonham hadn't. John Paul Jones had already tried to quite the band once, I could have seen him and/or Plant getting tired of trying to make albums and do tours with an alcoholic Bonham and a dope fiend Page.

 

It's interesting that you ask this question now, as I have been going through a major Led Zeppelin kick recently, the biggest of my life. As of today, I have all eight studio albums and Coda in the deluxe CD editions. In Through The Out Door has not been out of my car's CD player for over a week, and my two current favorite songs are South Bound Suarez and Hot Dog.

 

I've done quite a bit of reading about the later albums, and wondered what an 80's version of LZ would have been like.

 

As for whether or not they'd still be together today if none of them had died, that I can't say. Plant can't really sing anymore, can he? Could Bonham still drum the way he did? How do you tour the hits when you can't perform them anymore? It's bad enough Yes won't call it a career.

[Rush Cocky]

On a different note, are there any bands that started obsessed with synths but became a great guitar band years later? Why does it always have to be the other way around?

 

LOL, Rush recovered from synth to give us "Counterparts"

 

So the disease is curable. :lol:

[Maverick]

I think Zep were done - I don`t think they were ever like Rush, anyway, likely to notch 40+ years together as they weren`t all friends at the outset - but I guess they`d have done their own things and then got back together a few times, a few more albums etc. They were going in different directions by the mid 70s. But then Page had already been doomed to failure after Zep by his dabblings in black magick and Crowley :blaze:

 

On a different note, are there any bands that started obsessed with synths but became a great guitar band years later? Why does it always have to be the other way around?

 

Guitars came well before synths, we have to remember. A guitar heavy band expanding it's synth presence (did you see what I did there?) can be seen as embracing technology.

 

On an interesting side note, I read yesterday that the album Presence was the only LZ album that didn't have any keyboards on it.

[Rush Cocky]

It's interesting that you ask this question now, as I have been going through a major Led Zeppelin kick recently, the biggest of my life. As of today, I have all eight studio albums and Coda in the deluxe CD editions. In Through The Out Door has not been out of my car's CD player for over a week, and my two current favorite songs are South Bound Suarez and Hot Dog.

 

I've done quite a bit of reading about the later albums, and wondered what an 80's version of LZ would have been like.

 

As for whether or not they'd still be together today if none of them had died, that I can't say. Plant can't really sing anymore, can he? Could Bonham still drum the way he did? How do you tour the hits when you can't perform them anymore?

 

I figured I wasn't the only one thinking about this...the reunion in 2007 with Jason Bonham on drums at London's O2 Arena was nothing short of incredible. Everyone still had it, and Jason MAY have been a better drummer than his dad. Plant's voice was still very solid, especially notable on "Kashmir"

[Maverick]

It's interesting that you ask this question now, as I have been going through a major Led Zeppelin kick recently, the biggest of my life. As of today, I have all eight studio albums and Coda in the deluxe CD editions. In Through The Out Door has not been out of my car's CD player for over a week, and my two current favorite songs are South Bound Suarez and Hot Dog.

 

I've done quite a bit of reading about the later albums, and wondered what an 80's version of LZ would have been like.

 

As for whether or not they'd still be together today if none of them had died, that I can't say. Plant can't really sing anymore, can he? Could Bonham still drum the way he did? How do you tour the hits when you can't perform them anymore?

 

I figured I wasn't the only one thinking about this...the reunion in 2007 with Jason Bonham on drums at London's O2 Arena was nothing short of incredible. Everyone still had it, and Jason MAY have been a better drummer than his dad. Plant's voice was still very solid, especially notable on "Kashmir"

 

I like Jason's work in Black Country Communion so much.

[grep]

They would have tossed out Robert Plant and replaced him with David Coverdale. That would have went on for about a decade. Then they'd toss Coverdale for Brad Delp for one forgettable record and a tour. Then back to Plant, and Coverdale again. Edited October 8, 2021 by grep

[bluefox4000]

They would have tossed out Robert Plant and replaced him with David Coverdale. That would have went on for about a decade. Then they'd toss Coverdale for Brad Delp for one forgettable record and a tour. Then back to Plant, and Coverdale again.

 

you forgot the justin beiber fronted era......AKA the shitty pop era.

 

Mick

[goose]

They would have tossed out Robert Plant and replaced him with David Coverdale. That would have went on for about a decade. Then they'd toss Coverdale for Brad Delp for one forgettable record and a tour. Then back to Plant, and Coverdale again.

Nice! The Van Halen approach.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

They would have tossed out Robert Plant and replaced him with David Coverdale. That would have went on for about a decade. Then they'd toss Coverdale for Brad Delp for one forgettable record and a tour. Then back to Plant, and Coverdale again.

 

you forgot the justin beiber fronted era......AKA the shitty pop era.

 

Mick

 

That would be the greatest affront to music in the history of the art form.

[bluefox4000]

They would have tossed out Robert Plant and replaced him with David Coverdale. That would have went on for about a decade. Then they'd toss Coverdale for Brad Delp for one forgettable record and a tour. Then back to Plant, and Coverdale again.

 

you forgot the justin beiber fronted era......AKA the shitty pop era.

 

Mick

 

That would be the greatest affront to music in the history of the art form.

They would have tossed out Robert Plant and replaced him with David Coverdale. That would have went on for about a decade. Then they'd toss Coverdale for Brad Delp for one forgettable record and a tour. Then back to Plant, and Coverdale again.

 

you forgot the justin beiber fronted era......AKA the shitty pop era.

 

Mick

 

That would be the greatest affront to music in the history of the art form.

 

and these days i wouldn't bat an eye if it happened, lol

 

Mick

[Timbale]

I thought I had read somewhere one of the members (Page or Plant, I think) saying that they considered ending Zep and renaming the group, staying with the 4 members. I think that could have been quite interesting. Hard to imagine, but it would have been cool to see them free themselves from the weight of the Led, as it were...

[grep]

Tungsten Airship.

[grep]

They would have tossed out Robert Plant and replaced him with David Coverdale. That would have went on for about a decade. Then they'd toss Coverdale for Brad Delp for one forgettable record and a tour. Then back to Plant, and Coverdale again.

 

you forgot the justin beiber fronted era......AKA the shitty pop era.

 

Mick

 

If it went on long enough they would have had their American Idol / Babymetal moment.

[bluefox4000]

They would have tossed out Robert Plant and replaced him with David Coverdale. That would have went on for about a decade. Then they'd toss Coverdale for Brad Delp for one forgettable record and a tour. Then back to Plant, and Coverdale again.

 

you forgot the justin beiber fronted era......AKA the shitty pop era.

 

Mick

 

If it went on long enough they would have had their American Idol / Babymetal moment.

 

who are we kidding they'd ben coaches on Idol. Brian May and Roger Taylor made it there.

 

Mick

[grep]

They would have tossed out Robert Plant and replaced him with David Coverdale. That would have went on for about a decade. Then they'd toss Coverdale for Brad Delp for one forgettable record and a tour. Then back to Plant, and Coverdale again.

 

you forgot the justin beiber fronted era......AKA the shitty pop era.

 

Mick

 

If it went on long enough they would have had their American Idol / Babymetal moment.

 

who are we kidding they'd ben coaches on Idol. Brian May and Roger Taylor made it there.

 

Mick

 

:laughing guy:

[zepphead]

Page wanted Zeppelin to go on forever, Plant was so keen to let it go.

[78jazz]

I think that if you also factor in where things were going in music in 1980, I suspect this would have also affected their morale. I have a hard time seeing them still being an active band come 1985.

 

Ironically, I think Zeppelin packing it in in late 1980 gave space for The Police to become the biggest band in the word (even if just for a moment).

[Entre_Perpetuo]

They would have tossed out Robert Plant and replaced him with David Coverdale. That would have went on for about a decade. Then they'd toss Coverdale for Brad Delp for one forgettable record and a tour. Then back to Plant, and Coverdale again.

 

you forgot the justin beiber fronted era......AKA the shitty pop era.

 

Mick

 

If it went on long enough they would have had their American Idol / Babymetal moment.

 

who are we kidding they'd ben coaches on Idol. Brian May and Roger Taylor made it there.

 

Mick

 

Okay but you have to understand. With all the American Idol my family watched when I was a kid, it was a breath of fresh air to have Queen week the couple times they did it.

[Maverick]

I think that if you also factor in where things were going in music in 1980, I suspect this would have also affected their morale. I have a hard time seeing them still being an active band come 1985.

 

Ironically, I think Zeppelin packing it in in late 1980 gave space for The Police to become the biggest band in the word (even if just for a moment).

 

I know what you're saying, but given where music was going then, The Police may have done that on their own, even with Led Zeppelin still around. I don't think The Police were terribly influenced by LZ at all, and they would have released Zenyatta Mondatta, Ghost In The Machine, and Synchronicity just as they had. As great as Zeppelin was, they did not have an 8 weeks at #1 hit like Every Breath You Take in them. I actually think Zeppelin could have eventually been labeled as hard rock dinosaurs if they had stayed true to who they were. And if they had pivoted to embrace the times, they would have risked being labeled as sell outs by their base.

[78jazz]

Make no mistake: I was not suggesting influence, but rather just leaving space. I agree that it is simply conjecture.

 

Your last statement is right on the money IMO.

[Lurkst]

On a different note, are there any bands that started obsessed with synths but became a great guitar band years later? Why does it always have to be the other way around?

 

Depeche Mode maybe? In so far as they became a stadium band once they embraced guitar in their sound.

 

On Bonzo, firstly hard to believe he was only 32 when he died, he crammed a lot into that time.

 

Were Zep finished? I think they may have had a renaissance but it would've been quite a few years later. Musical nostalgia wasn't really a thing in the 80s, once you were old you were out.

I heard an interview with Giles Martin recently saying his dad was really struggling financially at the time because few people wanted to work with The Beatles' producer as he was yesterday's man (pardon the pun).

 

[IbanezJem]

On a different note, are there any bands that started obsessed with synths but became a great guitar band years later? Why does it always have to be the other way around?

 

Depeche Mode maybe? In so far as they became a stadium band once they embraced guitar in their sound.

 

On Bonzo, firstly hard to believe he was only 32 when he died, he crammed a lot into that time.

 

Were Zep finished? I think they may have had a renaissance but it would've been quite a few years later. Musical nostalgia wasn't really a thing in the 80s, once you were old you were out.

I heard an interview with Giles Martin recently saying his dad was really struggling financially at the time because few people wanted to work with The Beatles' producer as he was yesterday's man (pardon the pun).

I think I mentioned it before sometime, but my Dad was in the Police around the area Bonzo lived (and died). He was let-off quite often for driving very drunk and very fast in his Jensen Interceptor :o Maybe someone should have tried to stop him!

 

And I think you are absolutely right about the 80s, especially the end of the decade. The bands I found later were not talked about at all. Sabbath and Purple and Zep, hell even Rush - it was all about the hair :facepalm:

Edited October 11, 2021 by IbanezJem

[Tinwoodsman]

No

 

The gig was up

 

Bless their souls

 

Some survived