Music

Robert Plant reportedly turned down $800 million to reunite Led Zeppelin

by Tyler Munro

Led Zeppelin IV is currently experiencing one hell of a resurgence as dads around the world buy its reissue, helping it sit at #7 on the Billboard 200 tallying its 270th week on the chart. Spoiler alert: That’s a lot. And with their popularity peaking once again, rumours swirled that blonde-locked billionaire dad Richard Branson has offered the band an astronomical £500 million to reunite and tour. That’s roughly $800 million in real money.

The story snowballed from there. Almost immediately, reports surfaced of singer Robert Plant triumphantly tearing up the contract, confirming the authenticity of an aging rocker.

“[Robert Plant] asked for 48 hours to think about it,” a source told the Daily Mirror, noting that he then ripped up the contract in front of a group of promoters. “His mind is made up and that’s that.”

But according to the Guardian, Plant’s publicist has called it all “rubbish.” Unfortunately, what exactly is rubbish is unclear. Is it rubbish that they were offered that contract in the first place? Is it rubbish, in that they were offended by it? Or is it rubbish that he ripped it up? Or maybe it’s rubbish that Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones had reportedly already agreed to the deal, which may or not be rubbish.

Regardless of rubbish, it doesn’t sound like the reunion—which proposed that the band played 35 shows in London, Berlin and… New Jersey—is happening. Which, for fans yearning to get the Led out, is total fucking rubbish.

Earlier this year, Jimmy Page said that a reunion was no longer in the cards but did say he planned on revisiting Led Zeppelin’s music on a 2015 solo tour. So… there’s that.