February

The Firm’s The Firm

A less risky venture than Robert Plant’s two previous solo outings, The Firm’s The Firm saw Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers head down a more conventional blues-rock path, though it was largely ignored by the critics and only fared a little better in the record-buying public’s eye. In retrospect, it was one of Page’s best efforts of the 1980s, but as its epic closer, ‘Midnight Moonlight’, was based on a Physical Graffiti-era Led Zeppelin offcut, ‘Swan Song’, many believed that Page had run out of ideas. The Firm toured in support of the album, but Page and Rodgers refused to play any of their previous bands’ work.

May

Plant’s Shaken’n’Stirred

For his third solo release Robert Plant continued down the inventive rock path that he had been following since Pictures Of Eleven. More searching and diverse than the work his former band mate had been following with The Firm, Shaken’n’Stirred was this time slightly marred by getting caught up in its own attempts to be inventive, with some listeners finding it a bit too dense to be approached with ease.

July

Live Aid

The live reunion of the remaining Led Zeppelin members apparently came about when Page and Plant called John Paul Jones to tell him they were going to play the US portion of Bob Geldof’s Live Aid benefit concert for famine relief in Ethiopia, and that they were thinking of playing a Led Zeppelin song. Jones is said to have replied, ‘I know a Led Zeppelin bass player,’ and thus the reunion was on. With Phil Collins and Chic drummer Tony Thompson filling in for John Bonham, the remaining three members of Led Zeppelin played ‘Rock’n’Roll’, ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and ‘Stairway To Heaven’ to an ecstatic crowd. Sadly, when the 20th anniversary Live Aid DVD was released, the band members decided that their performance was below par, and refused to let it be included.

Personalities | Introducing Led Zeppelin
Personalities | Led Zeppelin | After The Break Up (1986) | Key Events