Robert Plant Suggests Led Zeppelin’s Tales of Rock Debauchery Might Be Exaggerated

Led Zeppelin are remembered for their music alongside the wild tales of sex, drugs and debauchery that seemed to follow the influential rock band in the 1970s. Mud shark, anyone?

But former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant recently suggested that those stories may have been exaggerated.

That's what the English singer-songwriter indicated during the March 13 installment of Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4's program where entertainers select eight recordings they'd hypothetically bring with them as a castaway on some remote island.

While choosing, Plant said of the circumstances surrounding Led Zeppelin's fame, "The whole deal was sometimes very tough to be a part of. I think the intensity of what we were experiencing and the lack of structure was very difficult. We were flexing one way or the other and I found a lot of it quite tough." (via NME)

He continued, "I can't get my head around it now, I'm so far away from [it]. You can read bits and pieces media-wise but it was so far removed from what it was."

Yet Plant added, "The best thing to do was imagine that a lot of it was an incredible exaggeration and most importantly we were able to go home and get new perspective and grow up."

Last year, Plant released his second collaborative album with country artist Alison Krauss, Raise the Roof. It follows the pair's 2007 effort, Raising Sand. Plant's most recent album on his own is 2017's Carry Fire. But he recently considered how he once might have left music and revealed his most difficult song to sing. He's also organizing his archives.

Plant fronted Led Zeppelin from their 1968 start to their 1980 split with the death of drummer John Bonham. They've briefly reunited several times with Bonham's son, Jason Bonham, on drums.

Want to know what recordings Plant picked for his desert island discs? Listen to the episode to find out.