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Led Zeppelin built their reputation partly because of their live shows that proved to singer Robert Plant the band might be something special. Self-promotion wasn’t a major focus. But that didn’t prevent Led Zeppelin from accepting the BBC’s offer to perform on its Top Gear radio show on March 3, 1969.

Led Zeppelin members John Bonham (from left), Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones pose for a portrait in January 1969.
(l-r) Led Zeppelin members John Bonham, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Led Zeppelin appeared on the BBC Radio program ‘Top Gear’ on March 3, 1969

Top Gear — the music show, not the car-focused TV reboot — was one of England’s premier radio shows. As such, it attracted the cream of the crop when it came to talent. The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, the Moody Blues, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and Pink Floyd were just a few of the bands who appeared on the show.

Led Zeppelin made the first of two Top Gear appearances on March 3, 1969, according to the band’s website. They signed their contract in January of that year. Zep’s brief set saw them play “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” “Communication Breakdown,” and “Dazed and Confused.”

Those three songs and “You Shook Me,” each recorded during the March 3, 1969, Top Gear performance, appeared on Led Zeppelin’s Complete BBC Sessions album in 2016.

Led Zeppelin’s ‘Top Gear’ performance interrupted their extensive touring schedule

Guitarist Jimmy Page formed Led Zeppelin in the summer of 1968 after his previous band, the Yardbirds, disbanded. They started touring by early September of that year with a string of shows in Scandinavia. 

The band hardly left the road over the following year.

Led Zeppelin hit the United States for the first time by the end of 1968 and crisscrossed North America in January and February 1969. The Top Gear performance happened after the U.S. shows and before the band embarked on a European tour.

Led Zeppelin kept racking up frequent flier miles that year. They bounced between the U.S. and Europe for the rest of 1969. One stop at the Lyceum Theatre in October 1969 made Queen guitarist Brian May insanely jealous because Led Zeppelin’s playing was so powerful. May was an early convert, but some English fans needed time to warm up to Led Zeppelin’s music.

Zep’s Bath Festival performance in 1970 won over English music fans

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The Top Gear appearance on March 3, 1969, was one of the first times Led Zeppelin played for English audiences. They had played only 16 live shows in England at that point. Their second record, released in November 1969, reached No. 1 in England, but the band needed another seven months to score big with English music fans.

Led Zeppelin turned down a $250,000 payday for a pair of U.S. shows to play England’s Bath Festival in 1970. It was worth it. Their extended set in front of hundreds of thousands of fans catapulted them to the forefront of the English music scene. Drummer John Bonham always believed Led Zeppelin was popular with fans because they gave them an experience that was all about the music. Their Bath set backed up that claim. Fans voted Led Zeppelin England’s most popular band in the 1970 New Musical Express readers poll.

Performing on Top Gear on March 3, 1969, wasn’t necessarily the domino that started the chain reaction, but Led Zeppelin cemented their status as the biggest band in England soon enough.

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