Remembering When Somebody (We’re Not Sure Who) Gave Led Zeppelin Their Iconic Name in 1968

They invented a form of hard rock music that combined bluesy structures, thunderous rhythms, and a flair for the exotic. And they boasted a name that seemed to reference their reputation as an existential threat to the staid music scene.

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But who exactly gave Led Zeppelin that name? And when did it happen? We can’t hope to solve the mystery. But we’ll investigate anyway.

Putting Air in the Balloon

Led Zeppelin came to fruition quite quickly. Then again, they’d been forming in Jimmy Page’s mind for a while before any moves were made. As a longtime session player and a guy who had to muscle for space as a member of The Yardbirds, Page longed for the freedom to create the kind of music he wanted. He just needed to find the band members who could pull it off.

Once Page settled on John Paul Jones on bass, John Bonham on drums, and Robert Plant on vocals, he was ready to explore his musical ideas to the fullest. The new band members got together for the very first time in August 1968. Only five months later, their first album hit the shelves in January 1969.

Page and his new recruits were operating under the moniker The New Yardbirds for their first series of shows in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. But a former member of The Yardbirds, Chris Dreja, insisted that Page couldn’t use that name once they started recording. Since the other three members didn’t like being associated with the older band anyway, the search was on for a new name.

Moonie Makes a Comment

This is where things get tricky when it comes to how the Led Zeppelin name originated. In 1966, Page and Jones played on Jeff Beck’s thrilling solo instrumental “Beck’s Bolero” (which Page also wrote). Keyboardist Nicky Hopkins and drummer Keith Moon were also in on the session.

The way that Page remembered it, Moon, who was in the early stages of his time with The Who, joked at the time that, if these five players stuck together, they’d hang over the rock world like a lead balloon.

In this version of the story, Page filed the memory away. He changed the idea of a balloon to a zeppelin, since that conjured a bit more menace (a la the Hindenburg). The band’s manager, Peter Grant, then suggested that they change the spelling of “lead” to “Led” so people wouldn’t be confused about the pronunciation.

The Ox’s Input

Ironically, a second member of The Who emerged as the other most likely source for the Led Zeppelin name. We’re talking about John Entwistle, the group’s bassist. Circa 1968, the year of Led Zep’s formation, both Entwistle and Moon were feeling a bit frustrated by the direction of The Who and were exploring other options.

One of those options was forming a supergroup with Page and Jones. Although this idea never made it past the hypothetical stages, Entwistle later claimed he told Page that such a band should be called Led Zeppelin. He likened it to when bands would struggle on stage and then tell everybody who asked that they’d gone over like a lead balloon.

We have no way of knowing whether Moonie or The Ox deserves actual credit. Whoever was responsible, they picked the ideal name for this iconic band.

Photo by Dick Barnatt/Redferns