Drummer Jim McCarty and vocalist Keith Relf aimed to embark in a more acoustic direction, forming a folk rock duo called Together,[6] whereas Page wanted to continue the heavier blues-based sound of the Yardbirds.

Page, with the support of the Yardbirds' new manager Peter Grant, planned to form a supergroup with Beck and himself on guitars, and the Who's Keith Moon and John Entwistle on drums and bass, respectively.

[19] After the album's completion, the band were forced to change their name after Dreja issued a cease and desist letter, stating that Page was allowed to use the New Yardbirds moniker for the Scandinavian dates only.

[20] One account of how the new band's name was chosen held that Moon and Entwistle had suggested that a supergroup with Page and Beck would go down like a "lead balloon", an idiom for being very unsuccessful or unpopular.

[30] According to Steve Erlewine, the album's memorable guitar riffs, lumbering rhythms, psychedelic blues, groovy, bluesy shuffles and hints of English folk music made it "a significant turning point in the evolution of hard rock and heavy metal".

[32] The album further developed the mostly blues-rock musical style established on their debut release, creating a sound that was "heavy and hard, brutal and direct", and which would be highly influential and frequently imitated.

According to music journalist Chris Welch, "[Led Zeppelin's] travels spawned many stories, but it was a myth that [they] were constantly engaged in acts of wanton destruction and lewd behaviour".

[59] Houses of the Holy topped charts worldwide,[60] and the band's subsequent concert tour of North America in 1973 broke records for attendance, as they consistently filled large auditoriums and stadiums.

In addition to using Swan Song as a vehicle to promote their own albums, the band expanded the label's roster, signing artists such as Bad Company, the Pretty Things and Maggie Bell.

[76] Presence, released in March 1976, marked a change in the Led Zeppelin sound towards more straightforward, guitar-based jams, departing from the acoustic ballads and intricate arrangements featured on their previous albums.

Two days later, as they checked in at a French Quarter hotel for their 30 July performance at the Louisiana Superdome, Plant received news that his five-year-old son, Karac, had died from a stomach virus.

Although he had recently begun to take Motival (a cocktail of the antipsychotic fluphenazine and the tricyclic antidepressant nortriptyline) to combat his anxiety, it is unclear if these substances interacted with the alcohol in his system.

The planned North American tour was cancelled, and despite rumours that Cozy Powell, Carmine Appice, Barriemore Barlow, Simon Kirke, Ric Lee or Bev Bevan would join the group as his replacement, the remaining members decided to disband.

A 4 December 1980 press statement stated that, "We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend, and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were.

The group, featuring Page on lead guitar, along with studio musicians and friends of the pair, including Jeff Beck, Paul Shaffer, and Nile Rodgers, released its only album in 1984.

[98] On 13 July 1985, Page, Plant, and Jones reunited for the Live Aid concert at JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, playing a short set featuring drummers Tony Thompson and Phil Collins, and bassist Paul Martinez.

The result was again disjointed: Plant and Page had argued immediately prior to taking the stage about whether to play "Stairway to Heaven", and Jones' keyboards were absent from the live television feed.

[102] The first Led Zeppelin box set, featuring tracks remastered under Page's supervision, was released in 1990 and bolstered the band's reputation, leading to abortive discussions among members about a reunion.

They later released an album called No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded, which featured some reworked Led Zeppelin songs, and embarked on a world tour the following year.

[108] At the induction ceremony, the band's inner rift became apparent when Jones joked upon accepting his award, "Thank you, my friends, for finally remembering my phone number", causing consternation and awkward looks from Page and Plant.

[113] In July 2007, Atlantic/Rhino and Warner Home Video announced three Zeppelin titles to be released that November: Mothership, a 24-track best-of spanning the band's career; a reissue of the soundtrack The Song Remains the Same, including previously unreleased material; and a new DVD.

[27] The band also drew on a wide variety of genres, including world music,[12] and elements of early rock and roll, jazz, country, funk, soul, and reggae, particularly on Houses of the Holy and the albums that followed.

[147][148] This method led to the mixing of musical and lyrical elements of different songs and versions, as well as improvised passages, to create new material, but would lead to later accusations of plagiarism and legal disputes over copyright.

[170] According to popular music scholar Reebee Garofalo, "because hip critics could not find a constructive way of positioning themselves in relation to Led Zeppelin's ultra-macho presentation, they were excluded from the art rock category despite their broad range of influences.

Unlike their contemporaries in Jethro Tull and Yes, who use "the physical compulsion of beat and volume to involve the mind", Led Zeppelin "make body music of an oddly cerebral cast, arousing aggression rather than sexuality."

As such, along with other second-generation English hard rock bands like Black Sabbath and Mott the Hoople, they can attract both intellectuals and working-class youths in "a strange potential double audience.

[191] Jeff Mezydlo of Yardbarker wrote, "While Black Sabbath and Deep Purple also influenced a hard, guitar-driven sound that opened the door for the heavy metal movement, Zeppelin did it better than anybody.

[196] They were also an important influence on the development of alternative rock, as bands adapted elements from the "Zeppelin sound" of the mid-1970s,[197][198] including the Smashing Pumpkins,[199][200] Nirvana,[201] Pearl Jam,[202] and Soundgarden.

[221] The band's fashion-sense has been seminal; Simeon Lipman, head of pop culture at Christie's auction house, has commented that "Led Zeppelin have had a big influence on fashion because the whole aura surrounding them is so cool, and people want a piece of that".

[247] In 2010, Led Zeppelin IV was one of ten classic album covers from British artists commemorated on a UK postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail; they were unveiled by Jimmy Page.