Every generation of rock stars has its wild cards, but Led Zeppelin set the bar for everyone. Even by 1970s standards, they often took things way too far.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Every generation of rock stars has its wild cards, but Led Zeppelin set the bar for everyone.
00:05Even by 1970s standards, they often took things way too far.
00:09Many of the most talked-about rock cliches can be traced back to Led Zeppelin,
00:13like trashing hotel rooms. According to Bo Phillips' book I Killed Pink Floyd's Pig,
00:18Inside Stories of Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll, the band once threw five televisions
00:22from the window of Seattle's Edgewater Hotel into the waters of Puget Sound below.
00:26It seems that Zeppelin's tour manager at the time, Richard Cole, was used to such behavior,
00:31like the time drummer John Bonham drove his motorcycle through the halls of the Los Angeles
00:35Hyatt. Funnily enough, the band was also rumored to have destroyed some TVs at that hotel, too.
00:40You just have to keep an eye on everything to make sure it runs smoothly from city to city."
00:45Cole reportedly covered the cost of the destruction without a second thought.
00:48Legend has it, he even tipped a young Edgewater employee an additional $500
00:52to cover the damages if he wanted to throw a TV himself.
00:56Was this TVs out the window and into the pool, that kind of thing?
00:59No, that was Rod Stewart.
01:00Led Zeppelin broke out with a pair of self-titled albums in 1969, and that era also saw one of their
01:06most infamous escapades from the road. In fact, it even happened while they were staying at the
01:10Edgewater. It's honestly a miracle that that hotel is still standing. Back in the 1960s,
01:15the hotel was famous for encouraging its residents to fish from their room windows,
01:18a pastime the Beatles had enjoyed wholesomely in 1964. Zeppelin, however, was a different beast.
01:24And according to rock and roll legend, the group decided to catch a mud shark in Puget Sound and,
01:29we'll say, bring it into bed with a female fan.
01:33A girl and a fish, a very famous story. Is there any way to tell that on television?
01:36Not really.
01:37In his book Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin Uncensored, Richard Cole said the incident
01:42happened with her consent, despite rumors suggesting otherwise. The exact details of
01:46the incident have been debated for half a century. Some sources claim the young woman
01:50was hit with the shark rather than penetrated with it. Others believe that the band weren't
01:54involved at all and that it was a tour manager or roadies who were responsible. Whatever the case,
01:58the story formed the basis of the song,
02:00The Mud Shark, released on Frank Zappa's live album Fillmore East in 1971.
02:05Led Zeppelin were infamous for their sexual liaisons with adoring fans. And while the
02:09greatest share of attention likely went to vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page
02:13wasn't exactly sitting out on the debauchery. According to one rumor, Page once supported