My question is about Led Zeppelin’s song “Whole Lotta Love.” In the long trippy-sounding instrumental section (I’m sorry, I don’t know the technical name for this), Robert Plant makes a series of gaspy orgasmic-sounding screams. I once heard a DJ say that Plant actually recorded himself during sex, and that the cescendo of cries we hear on the radio is, in fact, the sound of Plant reaching orgasm.
On the one hand, this sounds like a legend. On the other, it also does sound like something that Zeppelin might have done. Snopes has nothing to say on the subject. Is it true?
IIRC that “trippy sounding instrumental” is a theramin (think Beach Boys “Good Vibrations”)
And if I may be permitted a slight “Whole Lotta Love” hijack, I notice my CD version of LZ II does not have the “cough” at the beginning. What’s up with that?
There must be a big book of preposterous stories like this that’s issued to every classic rock DJ in the country, since they all seem to know them. My particular oddball favorite is the Pink Floyd “antique spoon” legend: it’s died away nowadays (as has Pink Floyd itself), but there was this persistent story that Pink Floyd included in its touring equipage an antique teaspoon with which they would, through some bizarre, never-explained process, determine the exact center of each concert venue and thus calibrate their PA for maximum effect. This story was related to me by two separate sources and I believe I even heard someone ask the band about it on a radio call-in show.
“Absurd rock legends” … that’d make for a pretty good thread.
I bet someone used to performing on stage might be able to. I’m not saying he did, but all it takes is a woman and a tape recorder. I’ve heard rumors Plant had both…
I recently read an interview with Mike Clink, the guy who produced and engineered Appetite for Destruction, who says that Axl did indeed do the nasty with some chick in the studio for “Rocket Queen.” Said that was entirely too weird for him, so he bailed and let some assistant do that particular recording.
Also, Robert Plant was not a participant in the infamous shark incident. That was Bonham and some of the crew.
I can tell you that half of Stairway, is ripped off from a group called ‘Spirit’ that they performed with in the 60’s. The song, I forget the title, is off the group’s eponymous album, Spirit. The song, I believe, is Taurus, but it starts slightly farther in than Amazon’s sampler, which ends just at that point. Link to Amazon http://www.warr.org/zep.html
