Page and Plant

Lore & Background

The initial plans for a reunion were made in 1993, with discussions emerging from casual small talk and an invitation to perform on MTV Unplugged. Music producer Bill Curbishley, who had been managing Plant since the 1980s and assumed management of Page in 1994, was integral in reuniting the pair, persuading the previously reluctant Plant to work with Page again. Page recounted that Plant called him to say, 'I've been approached by MTV to do an Unplugged and I'd really like to do it with you.' Plant recalled that after Page turned up at a gig in Boston, 'those difficult last days of Led Zep had vanished' and they decided to see where they could take the MTV project.

Led Zeppelin's main songwriters reformed on 17 April 1994 at the Alexis Korner Memorial Concert in Buxton, England. On 25 and 26 August they taped performances in London, Wales, and Morocco with Egyptian and Moroccan orchestration, airing on 12 October. The Unplugged performance was released as No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded in November 1994. Their touring line-up included Charlie Jones, Michael Lee, Porl Thompson, Najma Akhtar, Jim Sutherland, Nigel Eaton, and Ed Shearmur. Page noted it was 'heroic to take something like that around the world, because it was using two orchestras: one Western, one Arab orchestra, with a hurdy-gurdy.'

In 1998, Page and Plant entered the studio to record Walking into Clarksdale, recorded and mixed by engineer Steve Albini. The album featured the single 'Most High', which won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance, and was certified gold. Despite critical acclaim for the single, the album received mixed reviews and was not as commercially successful as No Quarter. After a 97-date world tour, Plant left to focus on other projects, citing dissatisfaction with the album's production and a desire 'to get back to playing clubs.' Page later revealed he had written about a dozen songs for a third album, but Plant wanted to go in another direction.

Reader's Guide

Page and Plant's significance lies in their role as the first formal reunion of the core songwriting duo of Led Zeppelin, a band that had dissolved in 1980 after the death of drummer John Bonham. Their 1994 MTV Unplugged performance and subsequent album No Quarter reintroduced Led Zeppelin's catalog to a new generation while incorporating Middle Eastern orchestration, demonstrating the enduring appeal of the material. The project also yielded new music, most notably the Grammy-winning single 'Most High' from Walking into Clarksdale, which proved that Page and Plant could still create commercially viable work together. However, the reunion was short-lived, lasting only four years, and highlighted the creative tensions that had existed since Led Zeppelin's heyday. Plant's desire to move away from large arenas and the 'protective shield' of their legacy ultimately led to the dissolution, but the project paved the way for later one-off Led Zeppelin reunions and cemented the duo's place in rock history as a bridge between the classic rock era and the 1990s.

Did You Know?

• Page and Plant's 1994 MTV Unplugged performance was taped in London, Wales, and Morocco with Egyptian and Moroccan orchestration.
• The band's 1998 album Walking into Clarksdale was recorded and mixed by engineer Steve Albini.
• Page and Plant's final performance together was in 2001 at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
• Music producer Bill Curbishley, who managed Plant since the 1980s, was integral in persuading Plant to reunite with Page.