What was the original name of Led Zeppelin?
On Sept. 14, 1968 “Led Zeppelin” embarked upon their first tour billed as “The New Yardbirds”. They recorded “Led Zeppelin I” in October and played their first gig as “Led Zeppelin” at Surry University on October 17, 1968. There is some controversy as to who actually named the group “Led Zeppelin”. Keith Moon credits Jimmy Page with the name. In the beginning it was going to be called Lead Zeppelin, because the group thought they would “go over like a lead balloon”. They dropped the “a” from lead, so Americans would not misprounounce the name. My understanding it was a deliberate omission to avoid being called “lead” like in follow the lead(er).
