80s Led Zeppelin?

LovemyWay

Banned
This has always interested me.

What if either John Bonham clean up just drinking habit for they continued on without him. How would Led Zeppelin's career in the 80s be like?

Something new or maybe something like Plant's solor career?
 
If Zeppelin goes on without Bonham, I think they would go the route that Plant's solo career IOTL went more or less. Both Plant and Page seemed to have mellowed a bit in the 80s.
If Bonham lives, then they probably turn out at least a couple of hard rocking albums but after that I don't know.
 

LovemyWay

Banned
If Zeppelin goes on without Bonham, I think they would go the route that Plant's solo career IOTL went more or less. Both Plant and Page seemed to have mellowed a bit in the 80s.
If Bonham lives, then they probably turn out at least a couple of hard rocking albums but after that I don't know.
Could you see them in a new wave phase?
 

Heavy

Banned
Could you see them in a new wave phase?

It depends on how drunk and / or cokey Page ends up. If he's not capable in the studio, Jones is taking the lead, and I don't know why but I think I could see Jones being more receptive to it than Page (or maybe I've completely misapprehended them both).
 

Tovarich

Banned
Hmm, I'm not sure but I could see them doing some Rockabilly.
Well there was 'Hot Dog' on 'In Through The Out Door' which fits.

That was the only track not co-written with John Paul Jones though, so maybe not his thing, and as Heavy says in regarding whether the band might go New Wave.......

It depends on how drunk and / or cokey Page ends up. If he's not capable in the studio, Jones is taking the lead, and I don't know why but I think I could see Jones being more receptive to it than Page (or maybe I've completely misapprehended them both).

I'm thinking if they tried, then maybe what you'd get would be a sound more like '80s Goth.......think later Cure crossed with Sisters Of Mercy (only with a vocalist at the opposite end of the octaves to Andrew Eldritch, obviously!)
 
I fear for Zep with the potential for overt synth sound. However, I think they could do well in the 1980s. It will certainly take on an 80s sound, but Hard Rock and Metal thrived in that era. Going by other 80s Metal, it has the potential to take on a tinge of Glam Metal if not outright, with the 90s as the more mellow acoustic and no-feedback guitar sound. Think Ozzie on "Mama, I'm Coming Home" or "No More Tears".
 
Jones may not have been opposed to Rockabilly. Post Zepplin his gigs became increasingly eclectic & included 'traditional' in the North American genre. Circa 2004 - 2007 he worked with the traditional music band Uncle Earl, producing their early album 'Waterloo, Tennesse', and appearing as the pianist in Uncle Earls first video.
I worked very briefly with the band members Gellert & Washburn back then & they were a class pair. Jones is suposed to have taken claw hammer banjo lessons from either Gellert or her father.

Note on the video. Washburn majored in Chinese studies & became fluent in Chinese dialects after several visits. The vocals in the video are Chinese Washburn improvised for the video.
 
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Maybe Zeppelin would've experiment with several different musical styles, maybe even gone a bit pop-ish.
I could see them do an album along the same lines of the Beatles White Album.
 
By 1980, Zeppelin would have been together as an act 12 years. Bonham and Plant, the youngest in the group, would turn 32 that year. In general terms of productivity, I think looking at the other GOAT rock bands at similar points in their careers probably points the way to guessing the success level they might have experienced continuing forward.

My opinion is that they would turn out to be a spent creative force; at least by comparison to the heights of their earlier works. Its just human nature. They are older. Have other interests. Will have started families. Have money. Have addictions. Will move on to second marriages. Finding time and energy for the creativity that originally made Zeppelin great will be harder and harder to come by. They might break up of their own accord or kick a member out. And there are few musicians or groups who produce equal or better material in their 30s than they do in their 20s.

This isn't to say they won't have successes. But I think looking at Page-Plant-Jones post Zeppelin work shows there wasn't all that much left in the tank. Of course Bonham's death and the end of whatever made their 4 person dynamic so awesome helped shape that to a large degree; however, the dearth of product, let alone much quantity of successful work afterward by any of them seems a pretty big indicator.


The Who: 64 to 82. Moon dies in 79. They do 2 post Moon albums: Face Dances (81) and Its Hard (82). Both are pretty good, but few would put them as first tier Who albums. Now Pete Townshend in the end of the Who timeframe did put out 3 pretty damn good solo albums: Empty Glass (80), All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (82), and White City (85). The Who are a bit different than Zeppelin, in that from a writing standpoint Pete was THE guy. So the WHO to a point prove that a band, despite tragedy, can continue productively; still, the move to solo work while the band continues to exist seems informative.

The Eagles: 71 to 80. A bit shorter career than Zeppelin. Fewer albums too. Boy did they have turnover in the group composition. Eventually reached the point where they all fucking hated each other. The end.

Pink Floyd: 67 to 87. They continued after that, but productivity was essentially nil for exceedingly long numbers of years. Let's see, inner group turmoil: Waters forced Wright out in 79. The rest of the band forced Waters out in 84 or 85. Their last album, Momentary Lapse of Reason in 87 was ok. They had based on their point of view either their 1st or 2nd greatest album in 79 with The Wall - when they are all in their mid 30s. 4 years later is their next album, The Final Cut, which could be readily argued is really a Roger Waters solo album (definitely from the writing standpoint); it should be noted that it is a great album. And then 4 years later is their last album, the so-so Momentary Lapse of Reason. This is classic combo of band members age, have other things to do with their lives, and maybe don't necessarily get along the greatest any more.

The Rolling Stones: Dawn of Time to End of Time. Mick and Keith keep going and going and going. As they've aged and aged and aged, the frequency with which they release original studio albums lengthened. I would argue that the last great Stones album was Tattoo You in 1981 (where interestingly many of the songs of which were written in the 70s and prior to the material in 1980's Emotional Rescue). After Tattoo You the Richards-Jagger feud heated up for the rest of the decade. 83's Undercover album, while not particularly popular, was at least an attempt to take the Stones into a bit of a new direction or you could at least say its gritty and a bit political at times. To me, everything after is just mediocre in comparison to the greatness of 65 to 80.
 
By 1980, Zeppelin would have been together as an act 12 years. Bonham and Plant, the youngest in the group, would turn 32 that year. In general terms of productivity, I think looking at the other GOAT rock bands at similar points in their careers probably points the way to guessing the success level they might have experienced continuing forward.

My opinion is that they would turn out to be a spent creative force; at least by comparison to the heights of their earlier works. Its just human nature. They are older. Have other interests. Will have started families. Have money. Have addictions. Will move on to second marriages. Finding time and energy for the creativity that originally made Zeppelin great will be harder and harder to come by. They might break up of their own accord or kick a member out. And there are few musicians or groups who produce equal or better material in their 30s than they do in their 20s.

This isn't to say they won't have successes. But I think looking at Page-Plant-Jones post Zeppelin work shows there wasn't all that much left in the tank. Of course Bonham's death and the end of whatever made their 4 person dynamic so awesome helped shape that to a large degree; however, the dearth of product, let alone much quantity of successful work afterward by any of them seems a pretty big indicator.


The Who: 64 to 82. Moon dies in 79. They do 2 post Moon albums: Face Dances (81) and Its Hard (82). Both are pretty good, but few would put them as first tier Who albums. Now Pete Townshend in the end of the Who timeframe did put out 3 pretty damn good solo albums: Empty Glass (80), All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (82), and White City (85). The Who are a bit different than Zeppelin, in that from a writing standpoint Pete was THE guy. So the WHO to a point prove that a band, despite tragedy, can continue productively; still, the move to solo work while the band continues to exist seems informative.

The Eagles: 71 to 80. A bit shorter career than Zeppelin. Fewer albums too. Boy did they have turnover in the group composition. Eventually reached the point where they all fucking hated each other. The end.

Pink Floyd: 67 to 87. They continued after that, but productivity was essentially nil for exceedingly long numbers of years. Let's see, inner group turmoil: Waters forced Wright out in 79. The rest of the band forced Waters out in 84 or 85. Their last album, Momentary Lapse of Reason in 87 was ok. They had based on their point of view either their 1st or 2nd greatest album in 79 with The Wall - when they are all in their mid 30s. 4 years later is their next album, The Final Cut, which could be readily argued is really a Roger Waters solo album (definitely from the writing standpoint); it should be noted that it is a great album. And then 4 years later is their last album, the so-so Momentary Lapse of Reason. This is classic combo of band members age, have other things to do with their lives, and maybe don't necessarily get along the greatest any more.

The Rolling Stones: Dawn of Time to End of Time. Mick and Keith keep going and going and going. As they've aged and aged and aged, the frequency with which they release original studio albums lengthened. I would argue that the last great Stones album was Tattoo You in 1981 (where interestingly many of the songs of which were written in the 70s and prior to the material in 1980's Emotional Rescue). After Tattoo You the Richards-Jagger feud heated up for the rest of the decade. 83's Undercover album, while not particularly popular, was at least an attempt to take the Stones into a bit of a new direction or you could at least say its gritty and a bit political at times. To me, everything after is just mediocre in comparison to the greatness of 65 to 80.
I pretty much agree with you, Zeppelin's last album isn't as good as their earlier work and they probably were ready to call it quits but if Bonham hadn't died when he did, maybe they would've made one or two more album but probably would've broken up after that.
 
I wonder if they would go for a more commercial AOR sound, and if so, would it be successful? Say what you will about the direction that Heart, Bad Company (who were on Zeppelin's own label!), ZZ Top, Genesis, and even Yes took in the 80s, but they were commercially successful with that direction.
 
I wonder if they would go for a more commercial AOR sound, and if so, would it be successful? Say what you will about the direction that Heart, Bad Company (who were on Zeppelin's own label!), ZZ Top, Genesis, and even Yes took in the 80s, but they were commercially successful with that direction.
By a more comercial AOR sound, do you really mean pop?

Wasnt Stairway to Heaven year in, year out always popularly voted most popular/greatest rock song of all time? Hard to get more commercial than that, don't you think? And their albums in total didn't sell badly either.

The rise of videos and their impact on the Middle Earth, Viking loving Zeppelin could be interesting.
 
By 1980, Zeppelin would have been together as an act 12 years. Bonham and Plant, the youngest in the group, would turn 32 that year. In general terms of productivity, I think looking at the other GOAT rock bands at similar points in their careers probably points the way to guessing the success level they might have experienced continuing forward.

My opinion is that they would turn out to be a spent creative force; at least by comparison to the heights of their earlier works. Its just human nature. They are older. Have other interests. Will have started families. Have money. Have addictions. Will move on to second marriages. Finding time and energy for the creativity that originally made Zeppelin great will be harder and harder to come by. They might break up of their own accord or kick a member out. And there are few musicians or groups who produce equal or better material in their 30s than they do in their 20s.

This isn't to say they won't have successes. But I think looking at Page-Plant-Jones post Zeppelin work shows there wasn't all that much left in the tank. Of course Bonham's death and the end of whatever made their 4 person dynamic so awesome helped shape that to a large degree; however, the dearth of product, let alone much quantity of successful work afterward by any of them seems a pretty big indicator.

According to Page, after In Through the Out Door was wrapped, he and Bonham were particularly intent on shifting back to a harder sound on the next album. They weren't entirely happy with the softer, more reflective, synth-heavy direction the album had taken.

Guitar World: I thought maybe you were losing your enthusiasm for the band.

Page
: Never. Never. In fact, Bonzo [i.e. drummer John Bonham] and I had already started discussing plans for a hard-driving rock album after that. We both felt that In Through the Out Door was a little soft. I was not really very keen on "All My Love". I was a little worried about the chorus. I could just imagine people doing the wave and all of that. And I thought, 'That is not us. That is not us.' In its place it was fine, but I would not have wanted to pursue that direction in the future. (Guitar World interview, January 1998)

How successful they would have been in pulling the band in that direction would have depended on their respective health - Page drifted in and out of heroin habits in those days, and obviously Bonham had become (barely) functioning alcoholic. The In Through the Out Door sessions were a real change for the band, because Jones became more or less the guiding force at that point - Page was less of a creative contributor than he had been to that point, thanks mainly to the heroin. But since we're assuming Bonham survives - he, at least, would presumably be easing off on the booze. It's also possible that Plant, with more distance from Karac's death, might be more willing to return to a more aggressive direction.

I tend to agree that Zeppelin's creative peak was behind them - 1969-1975, roughly - but that doesn't mean they didn't still have some creative juice left, especially within the synergy of the band. What happens next is that Zeppelin finishes out the European warmup tour, and then does the North American stadiums in 1980-81. The band goes back into the studio - probably both amused and irritated by the explosion in Zeppelin-inspired bands (like Def Leppard and even Van Halen) - and releases a new album (whose exact nature or critical success is hard to make out, but which certainly would "shifted units") in 1982. Another giant tour ensues - they would not have had a problem filling stadiums at that point - and then, given age and the grind of two big tours, the band takes a break, and you don't see another album until 1985 or so. Perhaps they put out another live album to fill the gap - none of them were very happy with The Song Remains the Same, and they probably would have used the 1981 or 1982-83 tours to obtain better live performances.

Beyond that, it's hard to project. I would say that Plant would have been increasingly keen to do a solo album, as his interests were already diverging even before Bonzo's death. That probably happens in that 1983-84 holiday, and it's not unreasonable to think that Plant's first two albums in OTL provide a rough guide of what it might have been.

If Plant's solo album is successful, it might make him keen to do another, and that might reduce the band's output in the late 80's. It's hard to say.

I would be more hesitant to use the experience of The Who and other big English hard rock bands of the time in trying to determine a direction for Zeppelin. Zeppelin were always operating on a different wavelength, and they had a different internal dynamic.
 
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Wild card here is a new member juices things up. That does not often return a band to its past glory, but can with the right people carry it upwards in a new direction. There are several possibilities here which might work, but one is a colaboration that returns the group in a fresh way to its early work - specifically reworking older blues material & recent material into a high energy raw heavy metal sound. Adapting other roots music forms into a high energy raw arrignments could do the trick.
 
In the book "Led Zeppelin - The Concert File", it mentions they had some rehearsals in Jan 1986 with Tony Thompson - who drummed at the Live Aid set the previous year - that were abandoned after Tony was injured in a car accident.

It also says they tried carrying on with a roadie drumming in Tony's absence, then with a drum machine, then it all fell apart.

The book quotes Robert Plant as saying "Two or three things sounded quite promising. (Ideas for new songs presumably) A sort of cross between David Byrne and Hüsker Dü."

So, maybe funky polyrhythms-meets-80s hardcore punk, with pop hooks?
 
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