For most aspiring rock stars, seeing Led Zeppelin for the first time would be a transcendental experience—for future rockers Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, it was “scandalizing.” But of course, the Wilsons weren’t into rock ‘n’ roll yet. The Washington teens were pursuing music of the far folkier variety, performing in a vocal harmony and acoustic group called the Viewpoints.
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Needless to say, the raucous noise and suggestive stage presence of the British rock band was quite the culture shock for the relatively sheltered girls from the ‘burbs. It was so shocking, in fact, that they walked out.
Heart Sisters Felt “Scandalized” By First Led Zeppelin Experience
Led Zeppelin flew into U.S. airspace in the winter of 1968, opening for Vanilla Fudge on December 26 in Denver. The British rock band continued cutting their teeth in the States in the following months, promoting their eponymous debut, which they released in January 1969. By May 11, 1969, Led Zeppelin was taking the stage at the Green Lake Aqua Theatre in Seattle, Washington, where an unassuming pair of musical sisters named Nancy and Ann Wilson were eagerly watching (and waiting) for the closing act, the Fifth Dimension.
On a January 2025 episode of Premier Guitar, Heart guitarist and co-vocalist Nancy Wilson described the sights she and her older sister bore witness to that day. “Jimmy [Page] had his violin bow going, and he was doing his Echoplex magic, you know—pretending that he’s summoning the music out of the air with his Echoplex repeat. We were like, ‘Oh my God, the singer, he’s, like, so suggestive.’ He’s got his shirt wide open, he’s got his bare chest, and his jeans were really low riders. He was moving in this way that was so super suggestive, and we were kind of shocked.”
“We were in a little folk band at the time,” she continued. “We were from the suburbs, right? So, we were kind of square little hippie chicks. They’re just being so suggestive and lewd, and then, he sang about ‘squeeze my lemon,’ and we’re like, ‘Oh! We must leave the premises! We were just shocked [and] actually walked on Led Zeppelin at the Green Lake Aqua Theatre.” Wilson said she and her sister walked away from the stage to grab a bite to eat before heading back to the amphitheater to catch the closing act.
Jimmy Page Helped Plant A Seed For Rock Guitar Just The Same
By the time Ann and Nancy Wilson saw Led Zeppelin perform in Seattle, they—and most other teen music lovers of the day—already knew about the British rock band. Music magazines pitched Led Zeppelin as the next big thing in rock ‘n’ roll music, and of course, they were right. As the band’s popularity began to grow, so, too, did their music grow on the Wilson sisters. Although their initial experience with the band might have been more shocking than they anticipated, they soon grew into superfans in their own right, pouring over Led Zeppelin albums’ photos, lyrics, and music.
For Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson, Led Zeppelin helped bridge the gap between her acoustic guitar upbringing and her future in rock ‘n’ roll. [Jimmy Page’s] guitar parts were so amazing because, at the time, I mainly played acoustic,” Nancy told Premier Guitar. “His acoustic playing just really caught my ear. They would play songs like “Bron-Yr-Aur” or “D’yer Mak’er,” those cool acoustic bits, either instrumental acoustic bits or beginnings or parts of songs where it was like, ‘Wow, this is not the kind of American folk music. This was very English folk, like Celtic, Irish…earlier than American folk. Really draws from the old country sounds and stuff like hurdy-gurdies and all kinds of crazy modalities and all these really tasty things.”
Six years after Ann and Nancy Wilson saw Led Zeppelin in Seattle, they released their debut as the rock band Heart, Dreamboat Annie, in September 1975. With cuts like “Crazy on You” and “Magic Man,” Heart had officially joined the rock ‘n’ roll ranks of that “scandalizing” band that had left them blushing as teens that fateful spring day.
Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images
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