“He did have a discipline”: JP, quoted in Rosen, “Jeff Beck on Jimmy Page.”

  “When he’s having a shining”: “I’ve always said that he’s a brilliant musician.” JP, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 47.

  “To keep me quiet”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 69.

  “He had a twelve-string”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Rosen, “Jeff Beck on Jimmy Page.”

  “you’ve got to break away”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Douglas Noble, “Jeff Beck: Beck’s Bolero,” Guitar Magazine 3, no. 4 (June 1993).

  “worked out the other beat”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Rosen, “Jeff Beck on Jimmy Page.”

  “the first heavy metal riff”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Martin Power, Hot Wired Guitar: The Life of Jeff Beck (New York: Omnibus, 2012), p. 131.

  Jimmy insists he wrote: “I did the main construction on it—the opening and the riff.” Schulps, “Jimmy Page Gives the Interview of His Life,” Part 2, p. 27.

  “Keith Relf had a melody”: JP, quoted in Schulps, “Jimmy Page Gives the Interview of His Life,” Part 2, p. 27.

  “Beck’s doing the slide bits”: Rosen, “Jimmy Page.”

  “Even though he said”: Rosen, “Jimmy Page.”

  “a momentous recording session”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Black, “Your Time Is Gonna Come,” p. 10.

  “It was at a point”: Pete Townshend, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 92.

  “He got out of the cab”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 71.

  “You could feel the excitement”: Jeff Beck, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 90.

  “We didn’t deliberate”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Black, “Your Time Is Gonna Come,” p. 10.

  “Keith upped the tempo”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Power, Hot Wired Guitar, p. 132.

  “Cream was being formed”: Simon Napier-Bell, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 89.

  “He told me in a club”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 71.

  “It was going to be me and Beck”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 99.

  “The first choice”: JP, quoted in Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 2, p. 27.

  “was well known for threatening”: Glyn Johns, Sound Man (New York: Blue Rider, 2014), p. 66.

  “How would you like”: JP, quoted in Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 2, p. 27.

  “down like a lead zeppelin”: Dave Lewis, From a Whisper to a Scream (London: Omnibus, 2012), 19; David Fricke, “Jimmy Page: The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone, December 6, 2012; Mick Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth (London: Orion, 2008), 15.

  Chapter Four: Front

  “He’d come in on bass”: Chris Dreja, quoted in Gene Santoro, “Of Yardbirds and the Shapes of Things to Come,” July 1986.

  “Jeff was going to be”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 47.

  “Something went wrong”: Jim McCarty, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 46.

  “The power amp had”: Jeff Beck, quoted in David Sinclair, “Jeff Beck: Just Say No,” Q, October 1989.

  “There was a macho contingent”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Sinclair, “Jeff Beck.”

  “It was really nerve-racking”: JP, quoted in Mylett, Jimmy Page, p. 15.

  “It’d take your breath away”: Henry Smith, interview with the author, October 2, 2019.

  “playing harmony lines”: JP, quoted in Tolinsky, Light & Shade, pp. 45–46.

  “couple of Freddie King solos”: “Jeff and I have had quite a few workouts round at my place, and they have been pretty successful.” JP, blind-quoted in Mylett, Jimmy Page, p. 15.

  “We rehearsed hard”: JP, quoted in Pete Frame, “Getting to the Bottom of the Page,” ZigZag, December 1972.

  “There were fucking brainstorms”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Steven Rosen, “Jeff Beck: In Retrospect,” Los Angeles Free Press, December 1973.

  “a couple of gunslingers”: Chris Dreja, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 62.

  “It was fascinating to watch”: McCarty, Nobody Told Me!, p. 158.

  “I personally don’t think”: Chris Dreja, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 46.

  “Jeff was just uncontrollable”: Chris Dreja, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 63.

  “Beck would often go off”: JP, quoted in Frame, “Getting to the Bottom.”

  “If Jimmy played something”: Jim McCarty, interview with the author, September 12, 2019.

  “we were just on opposite sides”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Nick Kent, “Beck Looks Back,” NME, November 4, 1972.

  “Every night”: McCarty, Nobody Told Me!, p. 156.

  “All the American groups”: Jeff Beck, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 110.

  “You had to sleep”: JP, quoted in Frame, “Getting to the Bottom.”

  “People just shouted out”: Jim McCarty interview.

  “hyper, nervous, insecure”: Jim McCarty, quoted in Kieron Tyler, “Jimmy Page: Educating Jimmy,” Mojo, May 2001.

  “You wake up in the middle”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Charles Shaar Murray, “The Jeff Beck Interview,” Mojo, April 1999.

  “He’d gone fucking crazy!”: JP, blind-quoted in Power, No Quarter, p. 121.

  “Six hours in that thing”: Jeff Beck, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 111.

  “I was on this escalator”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Murray, “Jeff Beck Interview.”

  “The Yardbirds weren’t”: RP, quoted in Steve Peacock, “Robert Plant,” Sounds, June 26, 1971.

  “They were just totally adamant”: JP, quoted in Dave Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 2, p. 25.

  “I’d burned all my bridges”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Murray, “Jeff Beck Interview.”

  “very difficult to deal with”: Simon Napier-Bell, quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 112.

  “an opportunist” who knew nothing: JP, quoted in Schulps, “Jimmy Page: The Trouser Press Interview.”

  “Napier-Bell called up”: JP, quoted in Schulps, “Jimmy Page.”

  “It was really weird”: “We were shocked. Nobody told us this was going to happen.” Jim McCarty interview.

  “I’d known Peter”: JP, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 64.

  “There used to be great battles”: Peter Grant, quoted in Michael Watts, “Peter Grant: The Man Who Led Zeppelin,” MM, June 22, 1974.

  “Ingram Road, as it was called”: “I went to a school for the sons of gentlemen.” Phil Carson, interview with the author, July 2, 2019.

  “I was fascinated”: “It seemed pretty glamorous and better than the steel factory.” Peter Grant, interview with Malcolm McLaren, 1988.

  “besotted with show business”: Chris Most, interview with the author, May 14, 2019.

  “Every new record he heard”: Brian Gregg, quoted in Pete Frame, The Restless Generation (London: Rogan House, 2007), p. 264.

  “the English Everly Brothers”: Mickie Most, quoted in Frame, Restless Generation, p. 265.

  Grant worked as a timekeeper: Peter Grant, interview with Malcolm McLaren.

  His Royal Highness Count Bruno Alessio: “That was one of the names he used, and also Count Massimo.” Ed Bicknell, interview with the author, November 17, 2018.

  “Peter only had one surefire move”: Ed Bicknell interview.

  “Nobody had any money”: Mickie Most, quoted in Chris Welch, Peter Grant (London: Omnibus, 2002), p. 21.

  “Make sure that fucker”: Don Arden with Mick Wall, Mr. Big (London: Robson Books, 2004), p. 70.

  “If you intend to be”: Ed Bicknell, interview with the author, November 27, 2018.

  “introduce Stigwood to the view”: Ed Bicknell, interview with the author, May 11, 2019.

  “We’re in Cal Danger’s band”: Phil Carson interview.

  Peter Grant retired: “Peter left the road and had a room of his own, with a desk and telephone, to work as a booking agent for Arden.” Carole Brown Woods, email to the author, November 12, 2019.

  “at Jimmy’s insistence”: Jim McCarty interview.

  “a bloody nuisance”: Simon Napier-Bell, quoted in Welch, Peter Grant, p. 49.

  “The first thing we did”: JP, quoted in Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 2, p. 26.

  “The future was calling”: Jim McCarty, quoted in Power, No Quarter, p. 128.

  “We were conned”: “I was actually getting at frustration in recording terms which Little Games exemplifies.” JP, quoted in Mick Houghton, “Zeus of Zeppelin: An Interview with Jimmy Page,” Circus, October 12, 1976.

  “It was just so bloody rushed”: JP, quoted in Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 2, p. 26.

  “On half the tracks”: JP, blind-quoted from an article in ZigZag in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 48.

  “The bridge of the guitar”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 82.

  “tone poem”: Jim McCarty interview.

  “When I heard ‘Goodnight Sweet Josephine’”: Jeff Beck, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 122.

  “Someone tapped me”: Terry Reid, interview with the author, February 14, 2018.

  “It was kind of hard”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Rosen, “Jeff Beck.”

  “He hit me like an earthquake”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Johnny Black, “Jimi Hendrix and the Birth of Heavy—by the People Who Were There,” Classic Rock, May 11, 2018.

  “just didn’t have their hearts”: JP, quoted in Frame, “Getting to the Bottom.”

  “I went to see Jefferson Airplane”: JP, radio interview with Alan Freeman, Capital Radio/DIR, April 1976.

  “just didn’t seem interested”: McCarty, Nobody Told Me!, p. 198.

  “I used to say”: JP, quoted in Chris Welch, “The Yardbirds: Only Jimmy Left to Form the New Yardbirds,” MM, October 12, 1968.

  “That was a lot of money”: Peter Grant, quoted in Dave Lewis, “Peter Grant: The TBL Interview,” in Dave Lewis, Led Zeppelin: The “Tight but Loose” Files—Celebration II (London: Omnibus, 2003), p. 89.

  “I didn’t want the Yardbirds”: JP, quoted in Welch, “The Yardbirds.”

  there was an outside chance: “Maybe Keith and Jim would change their minds and come back.” Frame, “Getting to the Bottom.”

  “What are you going to do”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant: The TBL Interview,” p. 89.

  “When the band folded”: JP, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 128.

  “I certainly had a good idea”: “It goes back to the band I was going to form with Jeff Beck.” JP, quoted in Nigel Williamson, “Forget the Myths,” Uncut, May 2005, p. 71.

  “I knew exactly the style”: JP, quoted in James Johnson, “Jimmy Page, the Mild Barbarian,” NME, April 21, 1973.

  “with the fourth member”: JP, quoted in Williamson, “Forget the Myths,” p. 71.

  Chapter Five: The Black Country

  “a really fiery singer”: “I knew what I wanted.” JP, quoted in Mat Snow, “Led Zeppelin,” Q, December 1990.

  “I was mainly going after”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 101.

  “There are only three”: Aretha Franklin, quoted in Keith Duncan, “Terry Reid: Biography,” (2007), https://www.terryreid.com/external/biography2.html.

  “I was doing bread-and-butter”: Terry Reid, interview with the author, February 14, 2018.

  “Terry was controlled”: Carole Brown Woods, interview with the author, November 4, 2019.

  “taking the mick”: RP, quoted in Nigel Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” Uncut, May 2005, p. 53.

  “The group was doing”: JP, quoted in Pete Frame, “Getting to the Bottom of the Page,” ZigZag, December 1972.

  “The band overplayed”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 53.

  “distinctive sexual quality”: JP, quoted in Mylett, Jimmy Page, p. 17.

  “primeval wail”: Mylett, Jimmy Page, p. 17.

  “too great to be undiscovered”: JP, quoted in Cameron Crowe, “The Durable Led Zeppelin,” Rolling Stone, March 13, 1973.

  “I immediately thought”: JP, quoted in Dave Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 2, p. 27.

  “We did the whole thing”: Kevyn Gammond, interview with the author, May 7, 2019.

  “You know, I think”: JP, radio interview with Alan Freeman, Capital Radio/DIR, 1976.

  “It was obvious”: JP, blind-quoted in Mick Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth (London: Orion, 2008), p. 50.

  “jewel in the crown”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 53.

  “It’s very big”: “I own a launch, but I can’t drive it very fast.” JP, quoted in Jim Delehant, “Jimmy Page’s New Yardbirds,” Hit Parader, December 1968.

  “quite sassy American girlfriend”: “He must have thought, ‘This is all right.’ ” JP, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 92.

  “The way he carried himself”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 53.

  “I looked through his records”: RP, quoted in Richard Williams, “Robert Plant: Down to the Roots,” MM, September 12, 1970.

  Jimmy laid on a full banquet: Mat Snow, “Robert Plant’s Record Collection,” Q, May 1990.

  “His ideas were fresh”: “We came together and we had the same likes and dislikes.” RP, quoted in Steve Peacock, “Robert Plant,” Sounds, June 26, 1971.

  They had bumped into each other: According to JPJ, JP assumed it was on a session for Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” but JP was not on that session. Dave Thompson, “Led Zeppelin: Pre-Flyte,” Goldmine, July 2007.

  “During a break”: JP, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 54.

  “I was making a fortune”: JPJ, quoted in Dave Lewis, “Anchor Man: The Ultimate John Paul Jones Interview,” The Tight but Loose Files, December 2003.

  “Jimmy told me”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 53.

  “We definitely approached”: “But he went off to Zappa’s band.” Peter Grant, quoted in Dave Lewis, “Peter Grant: The TBL Interview,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 90.

  “old news . . . a step backwards”: Aynsley Dunbar, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 13.

  “When I saw what a thrasher”: JP, quoted in Pete Frame, “Getting to the Bottom of the Page,” ZigZag, December 1972.

  “I hitched back from Oxford”: RP, quoted in Williams, “Robert Plant.”

  “I’d never seen anyone”: JP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 37.

  “He might as easily”: Dave Pegg, interview with the author, November 28, 2018.

  “coming from the Midlands”: Robert Shore, “Why the Midlands Is the Best Place in Britain,” Guardian, March 26, 2014.

  “You’d need an interpreter”: Kevyn Gammond interview.

  “You could actually survive”: Dave Pegg interview.

  “There were so many bands”: Glenn Hughes, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 34.

  “uncommonly devoid of visual pleasure”: Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Worcestershire (London: Penguin, 1968), p. 203.

  “Furnaces everywhere, all open”: Mac Poole, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 32.

  “I used to do Elvis”: RP, quoted in Snow, “Robert Plant’s Record Collection.”

  “They cut the plug”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 52.

  “beyond parental control”: “[My mother] said I was beyond parental control.” RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 52.

  “I got in with this crew”: RP, quoted in Chris Welch, “Robert Plant,” MM, September 12, 1970.

  “I was sweating with excitement”: RP, quoted in Snow, “Robert Plant’s Record Collection.”

  “I always got a shiver”: RP, quoted in Welch, “Robert Plant.”

  unlistenable “insipid dross”: “Everything we were being peddled at the time was insipid dross.” RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 52.

  “All of a sudden”: Dave Pegg, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 36.

  “With the blues, you could”: RP, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 36.

  “When I was fifteen”: RP, quoted in Welch, “Robert Plant.”

  “Robert was on another level”: Bill Bonham, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 45.

  “the Rubber Man”: John Crutchley, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 45.

  “secondhand gangster suits”: Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 45.

  “We all started to get”: Kevyn Gammond interview.

  “absurdly talented thirteen-year-old”: Bev Bevan, quoted in “The Plaza’s—Handsworth and Old Hill/The Ritz Ballroom—Kings Heath,” Birmingham Music Archive, n.d., www.birminghammusicarchive.com/the-ritz/.

  “He’d sleep in the back”: Kevyn Gammond interview.

  “I never really knew where”: RP, quoted in Williams, “Robert Plant.”

  “All that music”: RP, quoted in Williams, “Robert Plant.”

  “what an audience wants”: RP, quoted in Welch, “Robert Plant.”

  “There was a romance”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 53.

  Robert already had his ideal: “We just had one meeting to see if it was going to work.” Dave Pegg interview.

  “Yer all roit”: JP, quoted by RP in Barney Hoskyns, “Mountain Man: Robert Plant Goes Back to His Welsh Roots,” Tracks, Fall 2003, p. 40.

  “blue-eyed soul circuit”: RP, quoted in Hoskyns, “Mountain Man,” p. 41

  “wanted to fight the world”: Mick Bonham, quoted in Hoskyns, “Mountain Man,” p. 41.

  “He could have walked”: Jim Simpson, quoted in Hoskyns, “Mountain Man,” p. 42.

  “as if someone had stuck”: Bill Ford, quoted in Hoskyns, “Mountain Man,” p. 41.

  “I used to play”: JB, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 9.