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Credit: Far Out \/ Led Zeppelin \/ Alamy<\/p>\n
Sun 24 May 2026 17:15, UK <\/p>\n
Keith Richards<\/a> calling you the lead in Led Zeppelin isn\u2019t exactly the compliment that it might seem at first. <\/p>\n You could be mistaken for thinking he was referring to this as the essential ingredient that kept the band together, but instead, he meant it in the most literal sense of a physical heavy metal,<\/a> becoming a burden and dragging them down. It was a pretty harsh comment at the best of times, but especially when it applied to John Bonham.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the eyes of most, Bonham was one of the greatest drummers to ever grace the Earth and perhaps the greatest asset to Led Zeppelin as a whole, especially given the fact that following his tragic passing, the band could simply be no more. But for Richards, despite calling him \u201ca hell of a powerhouse\u201d, he also felt he was \u201cheavy-handed \u2013 that\u2019s where the lead comes in\u201d.<\/p>\n It was a bizarre criticism<\/a> if ever you\u2019ve heard one, particularly since the furthest foray Richards has ever taken towards the drum kit is limited to the studio. To this end, it was also clear that he tends to only respect men of his own craft \u2013 Jimmy Page, for example, is \u201cone of the best guitar players I\u2019ve ever known\u201d, saying that the success of the band was essentially down to him alone. <\/p>\n Yet if you were expecting Richards to throw around compliments like confetti, it seemed he was in short supply on that particular day<\/a>, because he didn\u2019t stop there when it came to firing even more pelters towards the British heavy metal battalion. You can\u2019t disagree with his assertion that Robert Plant is probably the most colourful character of the lot, but it\u2019s just the way he goes about it. <\/p>\n \u201cI played their album quite a few times when I first got it. But then the guy\u2019s voice started to get on my nerves. I don\u2019t know why; maybe he\u2019s a little too acrobatic,\u201d Richards once recalled, throwing in that Plant was \u201cexuberant\u201d for good measure. OK, it maybe wasn\u2019t the worst thing he could have said, but still \u2013 the intent raised its head nonetheless. <\/p>\n Saying one was an acrobat and the other was too heavy certainly gave the impression that Richards thought Led Zeppelin existed at polarising ends of the spectrum. Whether other people agreed with his take on the band was another matter entirely, but if there is anything that history has proved, it\u2019s that he\u2019ll not be getting down from his soapbox. <\/p>\n Further reading: From The Vault<\/p>\n Indeed, if Richards chose not to like Led Zeppelin, then that was his prerogative. You can\u2019t win \u2018em all, as they say. But you would still think, being from a top-flight band of the 1960s, that he would be able to recognise the rising talent of the next generation. Well, put it this way \u2013 if he did, he definitely didn\u2019t find it within the scores of Led Zeppelin. <\/p>\n
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