I am a big music guy and really into Zep, but I hadn’t come across this until recently. Why is his nickname Percy? I Googled on it and found a number of references to the fact that it is his nickname, but no explanations…
What say you, Dopers?
Is it commonly used outside the U.S.? Again, I haven’t heard of it’s use…
I heard it was because they though he looked effeminate on stage. I guess ‘Percy’ is an effeminate name.
Which “they” - the rest of the band? Critics? I know that Page and Jones - who each had extensive studio and band experience previously - looked at Plant and Bonham as green yokels when they first joined the band. Were they teasing him?
Sorry, should have been more clear. I meant the other members of the band.
I might have read this in the material that came with one the Led Zep boxed sets.
In Stephen Davis’ Zep biography Hammer of the Gods, he says that “Percy” was a nickname given to Plant by other band members and roadies because of his “effeminate” stage persona. “Percy” or “Percy boy” was apparently some sort of Brit slang for effeminate or homosexual men at the time.
I thought came from Percy Thrower (back then a well known TV gardener) Y’know *plants * ‘n’ that. And just because Percy is a silly name.
Plants and Percy Thrower.
Got it - thanks!
I had never heard this legend, but anyone who’s watched “The Song Remains the Same” probably wondered how a singer with such a macho image could act like such a poofter on stage. All those effeminate hand gestures, and that constant twirling of his hair! I mean, Liberace would have wanted to beat him up!!!
“Does anybody here remember laughter?”
Ahh, I think i read that, so that’s likely where I heard it, and not the boxed set liner notes.
I agree that Percy has long been used as an effeminate name in Britain, much like Bruce was for a while in the U.S.
But there may have been a hint of a double meaning as well.
Eric Idle’s “Penis Song”