Smash hit

Instead, one of the group threw a birthday party which began with the ritual throwing of fruit and the showing of the pornographic film Deep Throat. At the cake-cutting, George Harrison, who had arrived with his then wife Patti, picked up the top tier of the cake and hurled it at Bonham. “Bonzo” retaliated, catching the fleeing Beatle squarely between the shoulders before Harrison and his wife were thrown into the pool.

Happy days, but can we stand the thought of more wrinkly rockers being exhumed to howl lines such as “Hey hey mama, said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove”?

Promoters have never previously doubted the Zed’s pulling power, repeatedly trying to lure them back into the astrodomes. In 1991 they turned down a reported $100m to tour America. After the 1980 break-up the surviving trio lay low, reconvening only for family occasions, for Live Aid, for the 40th anniversary of Atlantic Records and for the marriage of Bonham’s son, Jason.

Plant, however, quietly began to release a succession of solo albums, only one of which sold less than 1m copies. In 1993 he shared European stages with other rockers of similar vintage, including Neil Young, the Kinks, Sting and Bob Dylan. The following year he sent fans into a frenzy by teaming up with Page for a show on MTV, followed by a tour.

The two had met for a drink, Plant recalled. “We knew very quickly that we wanted to do something together again. Until then, we hadn’t fancied going out and trying to be like the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Nor did we want to do just our old Led Zeppelin stuff.”

Their rift with Jones was revealed when the trio were reunited in New York in 1996 to be inducted into the Rock’N’Roll Hall of Fame. “Thank you to my friends for finally remembering my phone number,” Jones declared.

Shortly before, Plant had answered an inquiry about Jones’s whereabouts with the barbed reply: “He’s parking the car.”

Plant, still affected by Bonham’s death, had always refused to use the Led Zeppelin brand. According to Page, Plant told him: “When John died, that was the death of Led Zeppelin for me.” Only now, after the reconciliation between all three survivors and the willingness of Jason Bonham to plays drums in his father’s place, is the prospect of a real Led Zeppelin return possible.

The group’s name was derived from a favourite backstage line among British bands in the 1960s — “How did it go, mate?” “We went down like a lead zeppelin.” In fact, the group were first billed as the New Yardbirds. Their architect was Page, an admired guitarist, who was born at Heston, Middlesex, in 1944.

Page, who had recorded with Eric Clapton, joined his first important group, the Yardbirds, in 1966, but the band were going through a difficult patch. When they gave their final flutter in 1968, he began picking his own group.

His first choice was Jones, whom he knew from session work with the singer Donovan. Jones, born in Sidcup, Kent, in 1946, had once played bass with Jet Harris of the Shadows and had arranged a couple of songs for the Rolling Stones.

Plant, described as one of the most powerful vocalists in rock, came recommended by a friend. Born in West Bromwich in 1948, he had formed his own group but was sacked for telling the drummer not to slow down. He then formed another version of the group, called Band of Joy, with Bonham on drums.

So Bonham came on board, too. Born in Redditch, Worcestershire, in May 1948, he worked with local bands and developed the heavy drum sound which underpinned Led Zeppelin’s eventual success.

“We tried to get billed as Led Zeppelin,” Plant recalled, “but they always put the New Yardbirds on the posters.” Months later they became “the Yardbirds, now known as Led Zeppelin”. Despite the confusion, their first album was received ecstatically by Melody Maker: “Jimmy Page triumphs! Led Zeppelin is a gas.” Their conquest of two continents was under way.

If the band are to repeat their act — and much hinges on the sums offered by American promoters — it is to be hoped that they do not rest solely on their musical laurels. The nostalgic spectacle of hotel rooms being trashed can only complete the expectations of their fans.

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