On this day (March 31) in 1995, a former Led Zeppelin fan rushed the stage at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Armed with a pocket knife, the man planned to murder Jimmy Page because he claimed that Page, Robert Plant, and Led Zeppelin created “Satanic” music.
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The 1980s saw the rise of the Satanic Panic across the United States. Parent groups, news broadcasts, and other sources warned that the country was crawling with devil-worshiping cult members bent on human sacrifice, raising the Antichrist, and corrupting the nation’s youth. Ouija board, Dungeons & Dragons, horror movies, certain multinational corporations, and musicians were called “Satanic” or “demonic” during this period of intense fear mongering.
Led Zeppelin–and by extension Page and Plant–were among the countless rock and metal musicians who found themselves at the center of the Satanic Panic. While the trend largely faded after the dawn of the 1990s, plenty of individuals still clung to the misinformation they learned. Twenty-three-year-old Lance Alworth Cunningham was among those who still believed firmly that the band and its members were spreading the Satanic messages. As a result, he attended the Page and Plant gig in Auburn Hills with the goal of killing Plant onstage.
Jimmy Page Had No Idea a Former Led Zeppelin Fan Was Out to Kill Him
According to reports, Lance Alwood Cunningham was a former Led Zeppelin fan. However, he had stopped listening to the band because he, like many others, began to believe that they were using their music to further the Satanic agenda in America.
Driven by that delusion, Cunningham dropped from his seat behind the stage, produced his knife, and charged forward. Luckily, venue staff, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page’s crew, and a group of fans stopped Cunningham before he could reach the rock icon. They subdued him. However, they didn’t walk away unscathed. The Tampa Bay Times reported that four people, including two concertgoers, sustained injuries when the assailant slashed at them with his knife.
Auburn Hills Police Chief John Dalton was quoted as saying, “He said he was going to, ‘Off Jimmy Page,’” in several news reports. However, Page had no idea what had transpired just 50 feet away from him. The Detroit News reported, “Page, oblivious to the action around him, played ‘Kashmir’ onstage, undaunted,” according to Ultimate Classic Rock.
Featured Image by Frederic REGLAIN/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
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