In this issue:

Emerging from Underground,Into the Light

Hi there, and welcome to the April Edition of our Enzepplozine!

Sometimes my sister and I are asked questions about the work we’ve done on Led Zeppelin. In giving the answers, we suddenly realize that the exchange can be pretty darned interesting!

This week, Lou Anne referred to Led Zeppelin as an underground band and her correspondent said, “Oh yeah? Since when?”

She’s not used to being challenged by anyone but me! His words took her aback. She realized he was right. Led Zeppelin is not really considered an underground band these days. As he pointed out, The Beatles were underground when they started in Hamburg, too, but no more.

In fact, when classical-music-and-opera-loving friends and relatives in their 80s start sending you press clippings about reunion rumours, you know that Zeppelin must be mainstream news!

She began to wonder why she’d said that so matter-of-factly. And then she realized that, before getting involved with editing and publishing my book, she didn’t really know that much about the band.

Lou’s response is based on what she learned from our book interviewees. When she posted it, people wrote to tell her how cool the info was. So we thought you might enjoy it, too.

She has enhanced her original post with ads from back in the day and a few additions to the text. She’d also like to credit Led Zeppelin authors Robert Godwin and Howard Mylett, media historian Donna Halper, ethnomusicologist Rob Bowman and eyewitness Phil Daum for having taught her so much through their contributions.

Question: Since when has Led Zeppelin been considered an underground band?

Source: Sunday Denver Post/ Denver Public Library. December 22, 1968. Used with permission. Enzepplopedia Publishing, Inc.

Answer:

Led Zeppelin didn't stay that way for long, but the band was considered “underground” at the very beginning for several reasons.

In the earliest days (i.e., late 1968), they promoted their concerts through word of mouth, handbills and posters on phone poles. There was no advertising or mainstream media promotion like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones had.

Check out this ad for Spirit on December 26, 1968. Led Zeppelin isn’t even mentioned as appearing!

Robert Godwin is credited with having discovered that Led Zeppelin’s first concert on U.S. soil was opening for Spirit that night. Frank confirmed it by finding a concert review by Thomas MacCluskey in the next day’s edition of The Rocky Mountain News AND by interviewing Ed Cassidy, Spirit’s percussionist.

Note that there IS a mention (in brackets, no less!) that Vanilla Fudge would be appearing.

Poster courtesy of Phil Daum, used with permission. Enzepplopedia Publishing, Inc.

Led Zeppelin would open for Vanilla Fudge on the next stops of that First U.S. and Canadian Tour of 1968/’69. Yet would the band be advertised?

Let’s take a look.

On December 28, Vanilla Fudge performed at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, British Columbia. It would be Led Zeppelin’s first time playing in Canada, but the band didn’t make the poster!

According to Phil Daum, who attended that concert, there was an emcee for the show but he didn’t recall if Led Zeppelin was even introduced as the warm-up band that night.

Source: The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon. Courtesy of Enzepplopedia Archives

On December 29, Vanilla Fudge played at the Portland Civic Auditorium in Portland, Oregon. This time, Zeppelin DID make the newspaper ad – but misspelled as “Led Zeppilen”!

And in the ad for the next gig, on December 30 at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, another wrong name: Len Zefflin!

It wasn't until the Fillmore West gigs in San Francisco (January 9-12, 1969) that "Led Zeppelin" was correctly mentioned, if at all!

By that time, Atlantic Records had released the band’s self-titled debut album, Led Zeppelin, (January 12, 1969 in North America) and had sent promo copies to radio stations for air play in advance so there was good reason to get the name right.

Source: The Spokesman Review, Spokane, Washington. December 30, 1968. Courtesy of Enzepplopedia Archives

Led Zeppelin would be headlining (spelled correctly!) by the time the band played The Boston Tea Party, January 23-26, 1969. Underground in that sense, no more.

Other Background Info On Led Zeppelin’s Underground Status

In the UK, groups like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Genesis were album format bands. The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) would only give needle time to singles. So the only places that would play their material were pirate radio stations broadcasting outside England's territorial waters and Radio Luxemburg.

In the US, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) had legislated that station owners offer separate programming on FM (ie, different from the commercial AM format) or risk losing their licence. Many switched to classical music programming but it was too narrow a niche to be profitable. So they went to the largest demographic (Baby Boomers) and asked what kind of music they liked. It was rock'n'roll!

FM had been technically superior to AM for classical music and so it would be for rock. But FM was still considered "underground" and many people didn't even own FM receivers. AM radio was like the BBC in that only singles of a specific length were played although there was never, in the US, the cultural stigma attached to singles and their marketing that existed in the UK.

Frank's research turned up this ad from The Oregonian, announcing the launch of KINK-FM. Notice that the station billed itself as "KINK - The Underground Link"! Even the radio stations considered themselves underground and dark horses in those days.

Source: The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon. Courtesy of Enzepplopedia Archives

Another thing that differentiated FM from AM was that it did become an "album format" medium, at the best possible time in popular music history. And it could broadcast in stereo even though many albums in the late sixties were still recorded in mono.

This is another thing that Zeppelin helped change.

Jimmy Page’s session work and John Paul Jones’ interest in Motown had provided them with cutting-edge studio production expertise at the time the band’s self-titled debut album was recorded.

They used stereophonic imaging and microphone placement in smart ways that were highly advanced at the time. And they had the foresight to know that stereo was the way of the future, especially in the US market.

As you can see, the IMPACT of Led Zeppelin goes well beyond the band’s music. And that’s a big reason why the group still rocks us hard, forty years later!

I guess it’s back to me, now, to “bring it on home”.

If you haven’t looked at our website ( www.learn-about-led.com ) lately, please do. We’ve added quite a few pages of brand-new content, mostly in the section called “Official Releases”.

You’ll also find a new feature where you’re invited to share with other visitors what your favourite Zep album (official or boot) is and why.

We hope to get some interesting online dialogue going!

Other things to watch for include Dave Lewis’ review of our book. We haven’t seen it yet, but it will be in the next edition of his excellent all-Zep magazine, Tight But Loose. Dave recently mentioned in his online diary that I was going to interview him. We had an amazing conversation and you can look forward to the final result in the not-too-distant future.

That’s it for now from Enzepplopedia Publishing! We’ll get the Led out again next month. Stay tuned and keep rockin’!

Yours in Zep,