Times Led Zeppelin Went Too Far On Tour

British rock band Led Zeppelin set the template for rock music in the 1970s in more ways than one. The group was made up of former members of the Yardbirds (guitarist Jimmy Page) and Band of Joy (vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John "Bonzo" Bonham), along with former session bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones. They formed in 1968 to take up possibly the most lucrative and liberal record contract in rock history for a new band to that point. Signed with Atlantic Records for more than $200,000 (around $1.8 million today), Zeppelin were given complete creative control over their albums, including artwork. The arrangement may have looked like a gamble at the time, but the band rewarded their label with some of the definitive music of the era, with an imperial run of six classic albums in a row.

But it wasn't just the songs that underpinned the Led Zeppelin legend. A hugely popular live act, the band's frequent world tours also gained notoriety for their outrageous hedonism when they weren't on stage. Here are some of the most disreputable moments from Led Zeppelin's years on the road.

It is said that Led Zeppelin was one of the main inspirations for "Spinal Tap," the satirical 1984 mockumentary that sent up rock music's self-indulgence and excesses. Indeed, many of the rock cliches that persist today can be traced back to the behavior of Led Zeppelin back in the 1970s. Perhaps the most cliched act in the history of rock music originated in 1977, when the band was on tour in Seattle and threw five televisions from the window of the Edgewater hotel into the waters of Puget Sound below. 

The group had allegedly pulled the same stunt years earlier at a hotel in Los Angeles, and it seems that Zeppelin's tour manager, Richard Cole, was used to such behavior. He reportedly covered the cost of the destruction without haste when settling the hotel bill. Legend has it that Cole even tipped the manager $500 to cover an additional television if the employee wanted to try it for himself.

All four members of Led Zeppelin quickly gained reputations for being outrageous hedonists, but few could compete with drummer John Bonham's appetite for destruction and chaos. Considered one of the greatest drummers of his era, he was also one of the most ferocious. According to legend, in the early days of Led Zeppelin, his drumming was so loud that the equipment of the year was unable to properly record it. And Bonham's wildness on the kit spilled over into the band's life on the road, manifesting in bizarre antics at the expense of the hotels in which the Zeppelin stayed. The drummer was a big fan of motorbikes and was notorious for driving his Harley-Davidson down hotel hallways.

Bonham tragically died on September 25, 1980 of a pulmonary edema brought on by alcohol consumption. He was 32. His death brought about the end of Led Zeppelin, who would only reconvene for the occasional reunion thereafter, and drew a line under the era of rock 'n' roll decadence.

Led Zeppelin were also infamous for their sexual liaisons with their adoring female fans. Indeed, pictures of the band onstage show the members generally bare-chested, clad in the tightest pants possible, and brimming with virility. Arguably, the greatest share of attention the band got went to Robert Plant, the long-paired and primal vocalist who seemingly made it his mission to wear the tightest pants of all.

But guitarist Jimmy Page seemingly wasn't content to let his bandmate get all the action. Speaking to Uncut, former groupie and GTO member Pamela Des Barres said he was also partial to taking cans of whipped cream with him on tour to use in his sexual encounters. There was even a rumor that on one occasion, the band was at a hotel and about to meet up with a roomful of female fans when Page decided to surprise them by stripping naked, covering himself entirely in cream, and arriving in the room on a hotel room service trolley. The details of how his alleged stunt was received is not recorded.

One of their most famous escapades took place in 1969, the year the band first broke into rock fans' collective consciousness with their first pair of self-titled albums. From their debut on, Led Zeppelin supported their album releases with near non-stop touring, arriving in Seattle for the first time and staying in the same hotel, the Edgewater where eight years later they would trash every TV they came across.

Though many critics couldn't stand Led Zeppelin at first and wrote them off as a hype band, they had already developed a devoted following of groupies. Back in the 1960s, the Edgewater was famous for encouraging its residents to fish from their hotel windows, a pastime the Beatles had enjoyed wholesomely in 1964. Zeppelin, however, however, was a different beast. And according to rock 'n' roll legend, the group decided to catch a mudshark in Puget Sound to use it to penetrate a female fan. In his book, "Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored," the band's road manager, Richard Cole said the incident happened with her consent, despite rumors suggesting otherwise.

The exact details of the incident have been debated for half a century, with some sources claiming the young woman was hit with the shark rather than penetrated with it, and others claiming that the band weren't involved at all, but it was the tour manager or roadies who were responsible. Whatever the case, the story formed the basis of the song "The Mudshark," released on Frank Zappa's live album "Fillmore East" in 1971.

1970s rock bands like Led Zeppelin seemingly took pride in overturning conventions and breaking the rules, onstage and off. For Jimmy Page, who is revered as one of rock music's most visionary and ambitious guitarists, offstage depravity was underpinned by what many would consider to be a deeply disturbing world view. As he made no point of hiding, for the majority of his time with Led Zeppelin, he was fascinated by the occult, dabbled in magic, and was commonly described as a Satanist. Page wasn't strictly a Satanist though — he was actually a follower of English occultist Aleister Crowley, who founded a religion named Thelema and told his followers: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," a suitable mantra for rock 'n' roll hedonists. Page even bought Crowley's former home in Loch Ness, Scotland, in 1971.

While much of Led Zeppelin's offstage behavior raised eyebrows at the time, today their actions would see them face public scorn and possibly legal action. One such incident in Zeppelin history involved Page becoming infatuated with a fan named Lori Maddox, who had been brought to the band's LA hotel. Shockingly, Maddox was just 14 years old at the time, and it is said that the band's management frequently kept Maddox locked away and protected by security to prevent the public finding out about her liaisons with Page. According to "The Rough Guide to Led Zeppelin," the period lasted 18 months.