Who is the best in their profession is one of the most frequent queries posed by rock music enthusiasts. Stated differently, who is the all-time greatest drummer? Who is the greatest vocalist or guitarist? And in 99 percent of these conversations among rock enthusiasts, the subject of Led Zeppelin members comes up. Which begs the question: who among the group was the best?
There is no right or wrong response because every band member contributed something special and very necessary. Each member of the band understood the significance of the other members and how the whole thing collapsed if one was taken out. Because of this, when drummer John Bonham went away, they decided to call it a day.
“When we lost John, we agreed unanimously that that was that,” said Robert Plant, “I had to go and find out if I really want to do it. Did I want to do it, or did I just want to sit back there like a croupier at a gambling thing, and just kind of rake [the money] in. Or, did I want to actually continue this kind of gig of finding out where I’m going. I wanted to take all the trappings away, because I’d lost my best mate.”
While the band decided Led Zeppelin couldn’t continue without Bonham, they did continue to make music individually. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant even teamed up to record their own studio album, Walking into Clarksdale. While it was nice to see them both working together, the record wasn’t as well-received or commercially successful as their work with Led Zeppelin.
Going back to the conversation about who the best member of Led Zeppelin was, it remains that each person was a huge contributing factor, as they all equally relied on one another to bring as much out of their performance as possible. The four combined to give something that was both eccentric and grounded, something that people had never heard before and yet could easily get on board with. With two members of the band missing, the album Walking into Clarksdale struggled to find its feet.
John Paul Jones also noticed this criticism. Although he didn’t dislike the record, he thought Jimmy Page was holding back because he hadn’t recorded with the entire group, which was why he felt so at ease.
Regarding the record, Jones remarked, “I listened to Page and Plant’s Walking Into Clarksdale and was dissatisfied that there wasn’t more of Page on it. I enjoy hearing a lot of Page. But they’re carrying out their plan. I’m not bothered by them.
After Led Zeppelin broke up, there was a transitional period where each member had to determine how they would go about continuing to make music and if they wanted to do it at all. This resulted in a few albums where the absence of a clear direction is evident.
