“I’ll admit it”: Phil Carson, quoted in Blake, Bring It On Home, p. 204.

  “My mojo for life”: RP, blind-quoted in Blake, Bring It On Home, p. 198.

  “It was such a shocking”: Benji Le Fevre interview. “At that point, [Robert] had no inclination to ever want to do anything again.” Dennis Sheehan, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 380.

  “the god-head shit”: RP, blind-quoted in Lewis, “1977 US Tour,” p. 53.

  “I tried to pick myself up”: RP, quoted in Nigel Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” Uncut, May 2005, p. 60.

  “I’d already lost my boy”: RP, quoted in Robert Plant By Myself, BBC2, November 6, 2010.

  “I tinkered on the village piano”: RP, quoted in Jerene Jones, “After Tragedy Left Their Hearts Heavier Than Their Metal, Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin Have Risen Again,” People, August 27, 1979.

  “re-focus the whole deal”: “I haven’t taken a drug since that day [Karac died]. . . . I still drink, and I don’t spill much.” RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 61.

  “Addiction to powders”: RP, blind-quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 385.

  “What the fuck”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant Interview,” p. 98.

  G recommended a secluded: “I suggested Clearwell because Bad Company had been.” Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant Interview,” p. 98.

  “My joy of life”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 61.

  “Robert kept saying”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant Interview,” p. 98.

  “When it came to”: Benji Le Fevre interview.

  “encouraged rather than coaxed”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 61.

  “a shotgun and a bottle”: RP, quoted in Robert Plant: By Myself.

  “He said, ‘Come on’”: “Bonzo came over and worked on me a few times with the aid of a bottle of gin.” RP, quoted in Barney Hoskyns, “Robert Plant & John Paul Jones Interview,” Mojo, June 2003.

  “a period of saying hello”: JP to journalist Simon Pallett, blind-quoted in John Aizlewood, “Closing Time,” Q Special Edition: Led Zeppelin, March 2003, p. 94.

  “I didn’t really feel”: “Perhaps nobody was strong enough to stop it—including our manager who wasn’t that well himself.” JPJ, quoted in Lewis, “John Paul Jones Interview,” p. 120.

  “I felt quite remote”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 61.

  “I started to play again”: RP, blind-quoted in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: From a Whisper to a Scream, p. 87.

  This one, however: Origins of the Yamaha Synthesizer, https://europe.yamaha.com/en/products/contents/music_production/synth_0th/history/chapter01/index.html.

  “The sound one could get”: JPJ, quoted in Lewis, “John Paul Jones Interview,” p. 120.

  “John had it at home”: JP, interviewed on radio.com, 2015.

  “He continued sending”: Unity MacLean interview.

  “It was sensational”: RP, blind-quoted in Cross and Flannigan, Led Zeppelin, p. 151.

  “For much of the time”: JPJ, quoted in Lewis, “John Paul Jones Interview,” p. 120.

  “Robert, Jonesy, and I”: Benji Le Fevre interview.

  “We’d sit there”: “By the time they did, we’d written most of the songs.” JPJ, quoted in Mat Snow, “John Paul Jones: The Quiet One,” Mojo, December 2007.

  “never really gravitated”: RP, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 381.

  When Jimmy and Bonzo finally: “The truth of the matter was, we never turned up until the middle of the night until we had scored.” Richard Cole, quoted in Welch, Peter Grant, p. 212.

  “I would have preferred”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 206.

  “I was a little worried”: “I wasn’t really keen on ‘All My Love.’ ” JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, pp. 206–7.

  “When the stuff came back”: Richard Cole, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 383.

  “a hurdy-gurdy type”: JP, blind-quoted in Popoff, Led Zeppelin, p. 208.

  “a little soft”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 206.

  In the middle: “The engineer had warned us the fire alarm sometimes goes off.” Benji Le Fevre interview.

  “people who could turn up”: JPJ, quoted in Hoskyns, Led Zeppelin IV, pp. 159–60.

  “It was the four of us”: “I don’t think it was really a Led Zeppelin record.” RP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 395.

  “It was a summing up”: JP, quoted in Nigel Williamson, “Forget the Myths,” Uncut, May 2005, p. 72.

  “a transition period”: JPJ, quoted in Lewis, “John Paul Jones Interview,” p. 120.

  “to cut the waffle out”: JPJ, quoted in Lewis, “John Paul Jones Interview,” p. 121.

  “We are what we are”: RP, interviewed on Rock On, Radio One, June 9, 1979.

  Chapter Twenty-one: Swan Song

  There was no way: “That was a very twitchy time. I was racked with nerves.” RP, quoted in Nigel Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” Uncut, May 2005, p. 61.

  “ ‘Fuck doing a tour’ ”: Peter Grant, quoted in Dave Lewis, “The Peter Grant Interview,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 98.

  “We could have gone”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 61.

  “I’d like to go back”: JP, quoted in Aubrey Powell, interview with the author, May 15, 2019.

  “I found the bar”: Aubrey Powell interview.

  “like you were looking”: Storm Thorgerson, quoted in Lois Wilson, “Sleevenotes,” Q Special Edition: Led Zeppelin, March 2003, p. 97.

  “album cover was so fucking”: Peter Grant, quoted in Wilson, “Sleevenotes.”

  “The lineup we had hoped”: JP, blind-quoted from a MM interview in Dave Lewis, “Led Zeppelin at Knebworth 1979,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 56.

  “The manner in which”: NME, blind-quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 398.

  “Jimmy was moaning”: “The traumas we went through to get one picture correct.” Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant Interview,” p. 98.

  Ed Bicknell, who managed: “I told them they weren’t ready for it, and I turned it down.” Ed Bicknell, interview with the author, May 11, 2019.

  “No one”: Freddy Bannister, There Must Be a Better Way (Cambridge: Bath Books, 2003), p. 146.

  “middle-weights”: Nick Kent, “Led Zeppelin/New Barbarians/Todd Rundgren: Knebworth,” NME, August 18, 1979.

  “Robert didn’t want”: JPJ, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 384.

  “I was worried”: JP, quoted in MM interview with Chris Salewicz, July 20, 1979.

  “money for drugs”: Richard Cole, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 384.

  “Don’t be so fucking stupid”: JB, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 384.

  “For those of us who’d seen”: Lisa Robinson, “Stairway to Excess,” Vanity Fair, November 2003.

  “They appeared sloppy”: Eric Kornfeldt, “Dazed ’n Abused,” NME, August 4, 1979.

  Just in case: “They proved they can still cut it. . . . For Knebworth, it can only be better yet.” Jon Carlsson, “Warming Up in Denmark: Duck-Walks and Lasers,” MM, August 4, 1979.

  “Perhaps by Knebworth”: Erik von Lustbaden, “Something Heavy in the State of Denmark,” Sounds, August 4, 1979.

  “the biggest fucking band”: Peter Grant, quoted in Blake, Bring It On Home, p. 211.

  “We had a huge problem”: Nick Maria, interview with the author, October 14, 2019.

  “Peter kept himself going”: Bannister, There Must Be a Better Way, p. 153.

  “We’d sit there and talk”: Jack Calmes, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 384.

  “She’d called Jimmy”: Unity MacLean, interview with the author, October 16, 2019.

  “My parents had split up”: JP, quoted in Barney Hoskyns, “An Interview with Jimmy Page,” Rock’s Backpages, March 2003.

  “almost a museum piece”: “Impressive but something from the past . . .” Kent, “Led Zeppelin/New Barbarians/Todd Rundgren.”

  “People may think”: RP, blind-quoted from an interview with journalist Jim Taylor in Dave Lewis, “Led Zeppelin at Knebworth 1979,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 56.

  “We had to come in”: JP, quoted in Hoskyns, “Interview with Jimmy Page.”

  “People pushed the stone pillars”: RP, quoted in Tom Hibbert, “Robert Plant: Guilty!” Q, March 1988.

  “I was wracked with nerves”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 61.

  “the sound was initially ropey”: JPJ, quoted in Lewis, “The John Paul Jones Interview,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 121.

  “Some of it was breathtaking”: Lewis, “Led Zeppelin at Knebworth, 1979,” p. 60.

  “At times, they were playing”: Paul Hurley, “Ghosts of Progressive Rock Past: Led Zeppelin et al. at Knebworth,” NME, August 11, 1979.

  “were ill-conceived wanderings”: “Time and again, his fingers wouldn’t obey him the way they used to.” Phil Sutcliffe, “Led Zeppelin: Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire,” Sounds, August 18, 1979.

  “In the era of the Jam”: David Hepworth, Uncommon People (New York: Henry Holt, 2017), p. 181.

  “the group sounded woefully”: Mick Brown, “The Songs Remain the Same: Led Zeppelin at Knebworth Park,” Rolling Stone, October 4, 1979.

  “I quite like them”: Sutcliffe, “Led Zeppelin: Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire.”

  “absolutely outstanding”: Steve Gett, “Zeppelin: No Quarter,” MM, August 11, 1979.

  “Jimmy Page, Robert Plant”: Hurley, “Ghosts of Progressive Rock Past.”

  “It was fantastic”: JP, quoted in Hoskyns, “Interview with Jimmy Page.”

  “a shit gig”: RP, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 389.

  “I wasn’t as relaxed”: RP, blind-quoted in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: From a Whisper to a Scream, p. 90.

  “had been on its knees”: RP, blind-quoted in Hoskyns, Led Zeppelin IV, pp. 162–63.

  “jumped up, and began waving”: Peter Grant, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 405.

  In the fracas: “Peter helped get him out of the country. G knew a guy in Ireland who looked after Bindon.” Phil Carlo, interview with the author, May 12, 2019.

  In fact, The New York Times: Martin Arnold, “Herb Itkin, Informer Extraordinaire,” New York Times, December 15, 1969, p. 1.

  “If they want the tickets”: Freddy Bannister, quoted by Tom Fry in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 390.

  Peter Grant advised them: “I remember sitting in their trailer, counting it out for Ronnie.” Richard Cole, quoted in Blake, Bring It On Home, p. 219.

  “Peter and Zeppelin had two”: Richard Cole, quoted in Blake, Bring It On Home, p. 219.

  “He was in pretty bad shape”: Maggie Bell, interview with the author, May 8, 2019.

  “It wasn’t horrendous”: JP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 406.

  “caught up in a world”: Cole, Stairway to Heaven, p. 367.

  “grand reunion”: “Led Zeppelin: In Through the Out Door” (review), Record Mirror, September 1, 1979.

  “With Page’s creativity”: Charles M. Young, “In Through the Out Door” (review), Rolling Stone, October 18, 1979.

  “I’m sad, disillusioned”: Geoff Barton, “Close the Door, Put the Light Out . . . Led Zeppelin: In Through the Out Door,” Sounds, September 1, 1979.

  “The performances are”: Chris Bohn, “Led Zeppelin: In Through the Out Door” (review), MM, August 1, 1979.

  “It was the usual thing”: Unity MacLean interview.

  “clean up”: “All I could do was confine their investigation.” Don Murfet, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 393.

  “a way of getting back”: JPJ, quoted in Lewis, “John Paul Jones Interview,” p. 121.

  “difficult frame of mind”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant Interview,” p. 98.

  “We desperately needed”: RP, quoted in Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” p. 62.

  “I was really keen”: RP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 410.

  They dubbed it: Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, pp. 408–9.

  “Robert kept insisting”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant Interview,” p. 98.

  “I found it very difficult”: RP, blind-quoted in Power, No Quarter, p. 455.

  “From the beginning”: Cole, Stairway to Heaven, p. 47.

  “being the center of attention”: Cole, Stairway to Heaven, pp. 345 and 343.

  “I’ll teach you”: Cole, Stairway to Heaven, p. 342.

  “He became progressively unreliable”: RP, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 397.

  “Him and Jonesy were getting”: Richard Cole, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 397.

  G, who was now dabbling: “What happened was, Peter started dabbling in heroin.” Richard Cole, quoted in Welch, Peter Grant, p. 211.

  “G had me to the house”: Phil Carlo interview.

  “I reckoned that once Robert”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant Interview,” pp. 98–99.

  “There were too many fights”: Alan Callan, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 392.

  “I would send him tapes”: Unity MacLean interview.

  “It was absolute chaos”: Phil Carson, interview with the author, July 2, 2019.

  “I understand you do quite”: Peter Grant, quoted in Phil Carson interview.

  “Punk kind of woke us”: JPJ, quoted in Blake, Bring It On Home, p. 221.

  “It’s just like 1968!”: RP, quoted in Dave Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Feather in the Wind—Over Europe 1980 (Bedford, UK: Tight but Loose, 2011), p. 211.

  “The first night”: Phil Carlo interview.

  “Everybody was happy”: Shelley Kaye, interview with the author, July 30, 2019.

  “The main group”: RP, quoted in Lewis and Tremaglio, Evenings with Led Zeppelin, p. 551.

  “Nice echo in here”: RP, quoted in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Feather in the Wind, p. 56.

  “We haven’t been sitting around”: JP, quoted in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Feather in the Wind, p. 59.

  “You see, the only reason”: RP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 409.

  “I saw John a few times”: Tony Iommi, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 401.

  “thirty-two vodkas”: “Mick Hinton told me he’d counted—thirty-two vodkas.” Phil Carlo interview.

  “Bonzo was drunk almost all”: Benji Le Fevre, interview with the author, May 19, 2019.

  “As he’d eaten something”: Peter Grant, quoted in Lewis, “Peter Grant Interview,” pp. 98–99.

  “had to eat fifty bananas”: RP, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 409.

  “John was right out of it”: Phil Carson, quoted in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Feather in the Wind, p. 158.

  “Bonzo sometimes got”: Dennis Sheehan, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 399.

  “She was one of those”: Phil Carlo interview.

  “tired and obsolete”: Lewis, “Led Zeppelin Over Europe 1980,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 82.

  “Munich was the nearest feeling”: JP, quoted in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Feather in the Wind, p. 80.

  Chapter Twenty-two: Coda

  “I was developing my own”: RP, quoted in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Feather in the Wind, p. 223.

  “We were battling on”: JPJ, quoted in Lewis, “The John Paul Jones Interview,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 121.

  “How come Grant hasn’t”: RP, quoted by Peter Grant in Lewis, “The Peter Grant Interview,” in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Celebration II, p. 98.

  “I’ve gotten the go-ahead”: Peter Grant, quoted in Phil Carlo, interview with the author, May 12, 2019.

  “After Cole was convicted”: Jeff Hoffman, interview with the author, July 30, 2019.

  “Everything was getting organized”: Shelley Kaye, interview with the author, July 30, 2019.

  “not an easy album”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 195.

  “a little soft”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 206.

  “I wanted to get back”: JP, quoted in Nigel Williamson, “Forget the Myths,” Uncut, May 2005, p. 72.

  “The guy was miserable”: Glenn Hughes, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 402.

  “It’s so much easier”: JB, quoted in Tom Doyle, “When the Levee Breaks,” Q Special Edition: Led Zeppelin, March 2003, p. 111.

  “I don’t want to”: “Bonzo was in one of those periods where he thought he was no good.” RP, quoted in Nigel Williamson, “Good Times, Bad Times,” Uncut, March 2005, p. 62.

  “a basic design”: Rusty Brutsche, quoted in Lewis, Led Zeppelin: Feather in the Wind, p. 189.

  “Well, [Jimmy and Bonzo] aren’t here”: Benji Le Fevre, interview with the author, May 19, 2019.

  “Breakfast”: JB, quoted in Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth, p. 411.

  “He got on the drum stool”: Mick Hinton, quoted in “Mick Hinton Interview,” Tight but Loose, May 1992.

  “I think we should stop”: Benji Le Fevre interview.

  “I had to go in”: JPJ, quoted in Lewis, “John Paul Jones Interview,” p. 121.

  “Ray came up to me”: Peter Grant, quoted in Paul Henderson, “If Somebody Had to Be Trod On, They Got Trod On,” Classic Rock, September 15, 1990.

  “contain the situation”: Don Murfet, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 403.

  “The three of us discussed”: Don Murfet, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 403.

  “Jimmy was sitting there”: Don Murfet, blind-quoted in Power, No Quarter, p. 460.

  “Peter wants everybody out”: Unity MacLean, interview with the author, October 16, 2019; Unity MacLean, email to the author, September 24, 2020.