“This time, I’m going”: JP, quoted in Lisa Robinson, “Jimmy Page,” NME, February 1, 1975.

  “And no boom boxes”: “I was always invited in to smoke a joint.” Danny Marcus, interview with the author, January 16, 2019.

  “Actually, it was a lot”: JP, quoted in Nick Kent, “Session Star: Jimmy Page,” NME, September 1, 1973.

  “On that small plane”: Peter Grant, quoted in Paul Henderson, “If Somebody Had to Get Trod On, They Got Trod On,” Classic Rock, April 5, 2017, www.loudersound.com/features/peter-grant-interview-life-with-led-zeppelin-and-the-death-of-john-bonham.

  “I’ve had it with these”: Peter Grant, quoted in Cole, Stairway to Heaven, p. 246.

  “There was a bedroom”: Danny Goldberg, interview with the author, August 28, 2018.

  “The idea was for Zeppelin”: Phil Carson, interview with the author, July 2, 2019.

  “Our feet never really touched”: JP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 288.

  On off nights: “I wasn’t allowed to fly on the Starship because I was underage. They weren’t going to take me across state lines.” Lori Mattix, interview with the author, January 21, 2019.

  “What’s with that”: RP, quoted in Lynn Van Matre, “Overwhelmed, Hot and Heavy at the Stadium,” Chicago Tribune, July 9, 1973.

  Rush remained one of Jimmy’s: “He’s one of my favorite guitarists.” Arthur Levy, “Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page: A Heavy Blimp That Gives No Quarter,” Zoo World, July 19, 1973.

  “It was strange”: Danny Marcus interview.

  “This isn’t necessary, G”: Benji Le Fevre, interview with the author, May 19, 2019.

  “was sure that cocaine”: “He told me that so many times.” Phil Carson interview.

  “Definitely the Zeppelin crowd”: Danny Goldberg interview.

  a friend described his habit: Vanessa Gilbert, interview with the author, January 31, 2019.

  he simply put his nose: “Sherry Coulson remembers seeing him blithely snorting cocaine from the bag, rather than chopping out a line first.” Blake, Bring It On Home, p. 123.

  “He seemed to have the constitution”: Sherry Coulson, quoted in Blake, Bring It On Home, p. 123.

  “It turned out someone had put”: “I think he had already started to mix heroin and coke.” Gyl Corrigan-Devlin, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 240.

  “Jimmy’s guitar playing got sloppy”: Benji Le Fevre interview. “It seemed that Page was sometimes getting his fingers caught in the strings.” Barry Taylor, “Zeppelin Havoc,” NME, August 11, 1973.

  Nor was Robert always: “Singer Plant . . . was not in exceptional voice. . . . He could not reach the higher registers.” Marshall Fine, “Led Zeppelin Late, ‘Pure and Loud,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, July 12, 1973. “Plant had either lost his voice somewhere along the tour or he was tired.” Taylor, “Zeppelin Havoc.” “Plant started weakly, but soon caught fire.” Fred Kirby, “Led Zeppelin,” Variety, August 1, 1973.

  “we always start off shaky”: JP, quoted in Chris Salewicz, “The Gig Interview: Jimmy Page,” Gig, May 1977.

  “Led Zeppelin doesn’t give concerts”: Dale Anderson, “Led Zeppelin Kneads Crowd to Silly Putty,” Buffalo News, July 16, 1973.

  “The freaks had come out”: Vanessa Gilbert interview.

  The next morning at checkout: “I was standing right behind Peter, a fly on the wall.” Vanessa Gilbert interview.

  “Apparently the Methodists”: Peter Grant, quoted in Blake, Bring It On Home, p. 124.

  “The guy was so frustrated”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lisa Robinson, “Stairway to Excess,” Vanity Fair, November 2003.

  “By 1973, we had moved”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 188.

  “You call your boss”: Peter Clifton, quoted in Welch, Peter Grant, pp. 166–67.

  “a seminal moment”: RP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 294.

  “When I think that I”: “Robert took a picture of me and Roy in bed.” Morgana Welch, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 235.

  He claimed he hadn’t slept: “I didn’t sleep for five days! Everything was so exciting.” JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 171. “It was like the adrenaline tap wouldn’t turn off.” JP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 316.

  “We’re all terribly worn out”: JP, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 132.

  “We announced the dates”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 51.

  “I would ask if”: JPJ, quoted in Dave Lewis, “Anchor Man: The Ultimate John Paul Jones Interview,” Tight but Loose, December 2003.

  “They started filming”: Peter Clifton, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 238.

  Richard Cole claimed: “We had a teenage girl from Brooklyn in our dressing room.” Cole, Stairway to Heaven, p. 252.

  “I went to the locker room”: “I stood on the urinal to look over the top, and this cop—a short, heavyset guy—had his eyes closed with a big smile on his face, and this chick had his dick in her mouth.” Henry Smith, interview with the author, October 2, 2019.

  “in case we wanted”: Richard Cole, quoted in Davis, Hammer of the Gods, p. 207.

  in some retellings: “Jimmy phoned me in the middle of the night because he wanted $600 for a guitar.” Richard Cole, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 236.

  even $8,000: Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 286.

  To safeguard the band’s privacy: “They hid out there for a few hours until the cops left.” Shelley Kaye, interview with the author, July 15, 2019.

  “Hey, I’ve got some stuff”: “Well, I want the great stuff.” Vanessa Gilbert interview.

  “was watched by the FBI”: Phil Carson interview.

  “Peter told me”: Michael Des Barres, interview with the author, February 20, 2019.

  “Jimmy and I just laughed”: RP, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 132.

  “a new private practice”: Jeff Hoffman, interview with the author, July 30, 2019.

  “I was just totally”: JP, quoted in William S. Burroughs, “Rock Magic: Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin and a Search for the Elusive Stairway to Heaven,” Crawdaddy, June 1975.

  “enormous amount of adrenaline”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 169.

  “Nothing’s preconceived right now”: RP, quoted in Lewis and Tremaglio, Evenings with Led Zeppelin, p. 415.

  Chapter Fourteen: Led Zeppelin Was Otherwise Engaged

  “Jimmy would hop on a train”: Unity MacLean, interview with the author, October 16, 2019.

  “the most beautiful residence”: “It’s just a superb piece of architecture.” Aubrey Powell, interview with the author, November 28, 2018.

  “It was a very spooky place”: Carole Brown Woods, email to the author, November 30, 2019.

  “The catering team were dressed”: “Richard spoilt it in a way.” Carole Brown Woods, email to the author, June 29, 2020.

  “Peter particularly liked it”: Ed Bicknell, interview with the author, May 11, 2019.

  “The perfect office”: Peter Grant, quoted by Alan Callan in Welch, Peter Grant, p. 153.

  “He’d been pursuing Peter”: “You should have seen his cheeky grin when we arrived into work the next day.” Carole Brown Woods, email to the author, November 16, 2019.

  “If you’re going to charge me”: Peter Grant, quoted in Unity MacLean interview.

  “The band was thirty percent”: Phil Carson, interview with the author, July 2, 2019.

  “From time to time”: Jeff Hoffman, interview with the author, July 30, 2019.

  “I had great ambitions”: RP, quoted in Nigel Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” Uncut, May 2005, p. 57.

  “The deal was a great one”: Phil Carson interview.

  “ ‘Are you nuts?’ ”: “Ahmet talked me out of it.” Phil Carson interview.

  “an honest sort of mediocre night”: JP, quoted in Chris Salewicz, “The Gig Interview: Jimmy Page,” Gig, May 1977.

  There was no complete take: “They filmed three nights at the Garden and never got one complete ‘Whole Lotta Love.’ ” Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant: The TBL Interview,” in Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 95.

  “really out of it”: JP, blind-quoted in Power, No Quarter, p. 320.

  “It was weird”: Joe Massot, quoted in Peter Doggett, “Dazed and Confused,” Q Special Edition: Led Zeppelin, March 2003, p. 85.

  “I’m suddenly told”: JPJ, quoted in Doggett, “Dazed and Confused,” p. 85.

  “one man and a bunch”: Joe Massot, quoted in Doggett, “Dazed and Confused,” p. 86.

  “Jimmy felt he had something”: Joe Massot, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 162.

  “They created several”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 198.

  “the most expensive”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 95.

  “Most of the album”: JP, blind-quoted (referring to an interview he gave to Circus) in Barney Hoskyns, “Let’s Get Physical: The Story of Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti,” Classic Rock, September 2010.

  During their last visit: “Bonzo did hundreds of pounds’ worth of damage driving his Range Rover across the lawn and through the garden.” Carole Brown Woods, interview with the author, November 8, 2019.

  “He turned up at my house”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant,” p. 89.

  “I’d had enough of touring”: JPJ, quoted in Dave Lewis, “The John Paul Jones Interview,” Tight but Loose, May 1997.

  “I thought the band”: JPJ, quoted in Mat Snow, “John Paul Jones: The Quiet One,” Mojo, December 2007.

  “Have you told anyone else?”: Peter Grant, quoted in Henderson, “If Somebody Had to Be Trod On, They Got Trod On,” Classic Rock, April 5, 2017.

  “the band spent a week”: “We were just hanging around and messing around.” Ron Nevison, quoted in Popoff, Led Zeppelin, p. 160.

  “We began as always”: RP, quoted in Chris Charlesworth, “Robert Plant: Recording’s No Race for Us,” MM, February 8, 1975.

  “I’d made a commitment to Pete Townshend”: Ron Nevison, quoted in Popoff, Led Zeppelin, p. 160.

  “We’d been rehearsing like mad”: Paul Rodgers, blind-quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, pp. 316–17.

  “We did eleven tracks”: Boz Burrell, quoted in Steven Rosen, “Bad Company: Four of a Kind,” Circus, August 1974.

  “I think he just decided”: Peter Grant, quoted in Henderson, “If Somebody Had to Be Trod On.”

  “Unbeknownst to the others”: “Fifteen years ago, I had an operation on my throat and couldn’t speak for three weeks.” RP, blind-quoted (referring to an interview he gave to the Scotsman in 1988) in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: From a Whisper to a Scream, p. 65.

  “He started the drums”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 106.

  He’d arrived with Robert: “He had a bag full of fifteen hundred Mandrax.” Benji Le Fevre, interview with the author, May 19, 2019.

  “A little later, he said to me”: Benji Le Fevre, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 248.

  “Mandrax?” he posited: RP, quoted in Earls Court, May 24, 1975.

  “I wrote the first verse”: RP, quoted in Stephen Demorest, “The Circus Magazine Interview: Robert Plant: ‘I’ve Always Flown the Jolly Roger, but with a Twisted Smile,’ ” Circus, June 1975.

  “I had a long piece of music”: JP, blind-quoted (attributed to a 2015 BBC interview with Gavin Esla) in Power, No Quarter, p. 355.

  “I wondered whether”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 216.

  “even more to life”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 106.

  “I knew what ‘Kashmir’ was”: “ ‘Kashmir’ was really groundbreaking.” JP, blind-quoted in Power, No Quarter, p. 357.

  “the definitive Led Zeppelin song”: RP, blind-quoted (referring to a 1988 interview) in Charles R. Cross and Erik Flannigan, Led Zeppelin (New York: Harmony Books, 1991), p. 137.

  “This is the best thing”: JP, quoted in Phil Carlo, interview with the author, June 23, 2020.

  “ ‘Kashmir’—Come down!”: JB, quoted by Peter Grant in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 248.

  “When I got there”: Ron Nevison, quoted in Hoskyns, “Let’s Get Physical.”

  “a lot of camaraderie”: Benji Le Fevre interview.

  “Some artists like”: RP, quoted in Hoskyns, “Let’s Get Physical.”

  “You’d just work and break”: Ron Nevison, quoted in Popoff, Led Zeppelin, p. 160.

  “a pompous ass”: Author interview with Benji LeFevre.

  “ ‘Ten Years Gone’ was originally”: “Robert is very much in sympathy with the vibe of my music.” JP, quoted in Mick Houghton, “Led Zeppelin: Interview with Jimmy Page,” Sounds, July 10, 1976.

  “I demoed it at home”: JP, blind-quoted in Power, No Quarter, p. 349.

  “With ‘In the Light,’ we knew”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 106.

  “attempting to get a sort”: JPJ, quoted in Dave Lewis, “Anchor Man: The Ultimate John Paul Jones Interview, Part 1,” Tight but Loose, December 2003.

  An initial version began: “Plant sings an entirely different set of lyrics, opening with . . .” Led Zeppelin rehearsal tape for “In the Light.” Lewis, Led Zeppelin: A Celebration, p. 21.

  “When we first ran through it”: JB, blind-quoted (referring to a 1975 interview) in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: A Celebration, p. 21.

  “this glorious stomp”: JPJ, blind-quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 250.

  “I immediately thought”: “Chuck Berry really was the master of that sort of thing.” RP, quoted in Demorest, “The Circus magazine Interview.”

  “I’d never seen another”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 53.

  “a real thrifty player”: RP, blind-quoted in Hoskyns, “Let’s Get Physical.”

  “ourselves and what we see”: “That’s exactly what L.A. stands for.” RP, quoted in Charlesworth, “Robert Plant.”

  “The words show I feel”: RP, quoted in Cameron Crowe, “The Durable Led Zeppelin,” Rolling Stone, March 13, 1975.

  “it was being put together”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 204.

  “He just played”: Ron Nevison, quoted in Popoff, Led Zeppelin, pp. 158–59.

  “It’s jammed at the end”: “But I just thought it was so good.” JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 204.

  “John Paul wants to see you”: BP Fallon, quoted in Vanessa Gilbert interview with the author, January 31, 2019.

  “I thanked him”: Mark London, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 257. “I said I didn’t think it was going to work out.” Mark London, quoted in Blake, Bring It On Home, p. 156.

  “I’d like you to be”: Peter Grant, quoted in Danny Goldberg interview with the author, August 28, 2018.

  In addition to Led Zeppelin: Shelley Kaye, interview with the author, July 15, 2019.

  “low-life drug dealers”: Unity MacLean interview.

  “Most of what I was doing”: Carole Brown Woods interview.

  “Mick Ralphs had written”: Phil Carlo interview.

  “We did a number”: Maggie Bell, interview with the author, May 8, 2019.

  “It was lousy”: Janine Safer Whitney, email to the author, August 30, 2020.

  Chapter Fifteen: Flying Too Close to the Sun

  “the band was mad”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 210.

  A few invitees at the screening: Peter Doggett, “Dazed and Confused,” Q Special Edition: Led Zeppelin, March 2003, p. 86.

  “They finally came”: Joe Massot, blind-quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 238.

  “We found a lot of the things”: JB, quoted in Doggett, “Dazed & Confused,” p. 86.

  “that he didn’t get all”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 210.

  “None of the material”: Peter Clifton, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 312.

  “nothing that holds together”: Peter Clifton, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 239.

  “Jimmy loves your editing”: Peter Grant, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 239.

  “If you think about it”: JP, quoted in “Jimmy Page Interview,” Mojo, October 2015.

  “The name Led Zeppelin means”: RP, quoted in Lorraine Alterman, “Led Zeppelin: Swan Song Is a Beginning,” Rolling Stone, June 20, 1974.

  “I immediately came up”: Aubrey Powell, interview with the author, May 15, 2019.

  “I didn’t want to end up”: RP, quoted in Steve Turner, “New Pretty Things Get a Led Zep Uplift,” Rolling Stone, April 10, 1975.

  “going to be an ego thing”: JP, blind-quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 313.

  “We didn’t really want”: JP, quoted in Dave Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 3, p. 20.

  “knew they had a smash”: Phil Carson, interview with the author, July 2, 2019.

  “I told him how great”: RP, quoted in Turner, “New Pretty Things.”

  He had played on: Bob Brunning, Blues (London: Helter Skelter, 2002), p. 65.

  “fucking weird”: Ed Bicknell, interview with the author, May 11, 2019.

  “Peter could never make”: Richard Cole, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 264.

  “packed an overnight bag”: Phil Carson interview.

  “a lovely old house”: Aubrey Powell interview.

  “very laid-back atmosphere”: Phil Carlo, interview with the author, May 12, 2019.

  “When you saw”: Helen Grant, quoted in Blake, Bring It On Home, p. 130.

  “over-produced within an inch”: Janine Safer Whitney, email to the author, August 30, 2020.

  “giving the whole thing”: Michael Gray, “Maggie Bell: Queen of the Night,” Let It Rock, April 1974.

  “The album lacks balls”: Peter Grant, quoted in Michael Watts, “Peter Grant: The Man Who Led Zeppelin,” MM, June 22, 1974.