Imogen Clark, The TVD First Date

“Growing up, my parents’ old record player was dusty, beige and weathered by constant use, a beautiful artefact of the ’70s. It sat downstairs on top of a shelf which was studded with the best of ’70s and early ’80s rock and pop—Joe Jackson, Led Zeppelin, John Farnham, Elton John, U2, Talking Heads—alongside a smattering of operetta and musical theatre cast albums.”

“The first record I remember spinning on repeat was Led Zeppelin IV. The packaging was falling apart and it skipped in places. I remember staring at the cover image of the man bending under the weight of all the sticks on his back and thinking it was incredible that they’d put out a record with neither band name or album title on the cover. My Dad owned every Led Zep album and t-shirt you could buy. He raised me to appreciate their mind-bending playing, and to understand there had never been a band quite like them before, and probably never would be again.

Listening to a record like that, and then spending Saturday nights watching the live DVDs, all I could think about was how much I wanted it to be me making music like that. The euphoria on the faces of the crowd, watching in awe as Zeppelin powered through a relentless three-hour show, perfect strangers connected to each other through this music. I wished it was me up there, fusing with my best friends into one four-headed monster and touching touching people’s souls all over the world in a way they’d never be able to forget.

Once I branched out into Physical Graffiti, Houses of the Holy and Led Zeppelin I, II and III, I began to realise this wasn’t just a meat and potatoes rock band. Mandolins and acoustic guitars with open tuning borrowed from Joni Mitchell and the folk world, swampy foot-stompers rooted in their infatuation with classic blues, and expanding into funk and prog territory as the years wore on. They were fusing elements together to create a new template for what a rock band was, that would echo down the generations since.

Some songs were built around short and simple riffs and others were expansive, sophisticated multi-part epics. But no matter how many different musical spaces they crossed into, there was one constant; when you heard Led Zeppelin, you immediately knew it was Led Zeppelin.

What I loved most about Led Zep then, and still do to this day, is that they made music with supreme confidence. They were forging their own rules, and people could either come on board or piss off. That potent self-belief was infectious, even years after the band’s split for a small, musically obsessed girl living in a tiny town in rural Australia.”
—Imogen Clark