scientific delirium madness

Jimmy Page, 1975.

I’m going to sound like a big-head, but this is a good picture. It’s so indicative of that time. You’d never see an audience – even at a piano recital – that close to the artist. This guy is holding up a bottle of bourbon, and I didn’t see him until I looked back through the negatives. It’s accidental that I caught this moment, but it looks like a film still.

Robert Plant, 1975.

A friend of mine wrote a very favourable piece on Peter Grant, comparing him to the genius of Brian Epstein. Grant was so pleased he invited us to Detroit with the band. All my pictures were taken on that trip. I had so much access it was unbelievable, but they didn’t like us. They had a reputation of disliking journalists and photographers.

Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page on The Starship, 1975.

This is the stage room in The Starship [which Zeppelin used as their private jet]. The fireplace did work, but I’m very pleased to say I never saw it working while we were in the air. It was the pinnacle of ostentatious, but if it wasn’t for guys like that, guys like me wouldn’t have been in business.

Jimmy used to bite the strings of his guitar a lot. It must have been quite painful! This was a phenomenal show; there was such energy. I can see why someone would want to throw a TV out of the window after a gig like that. I didn’t really take much notice of the stories of trashing hotel rooms, but I can see why they’d need to go potty and release their energy after the show.

John Bonham, 1975.

I like this picture. It shows the dreariness of some of these stadiums. Everyone talks about the rock and roll lifestyle but that picture is closer to the reality – seedy back rooms and cloakrooms. John’s just killing time, having a cigarette. He was the one I had least contact with; he wasn’t very communicative, but he wasn’t hostile. In fact, I found Jimmy harder to get on with.

I remember the strength of this performance. It’s only now that I realise the extent of [the band's] following. After I took these pictures, I sent the negatives to my agent and he put them away; we forgot about them. When I saw Led Zeppelin being presented with a Kennedy Award by Barack Obama in 2012, I remembered these pictures. Now they’re being printed for the first time.

Carl Wilson onstage at the University of Virginia, April 8, 1975; photo possibly by David M. Skinner.

Charley Harper (USA, 1922-2007)

Serengheti Spaghetti, 1979