The singers Jimmy Page considered for Led Zeppelin before Robert Plant

Certain pillars of cultural history seem so inextricably linked to one another that the thought of an alternative is largely impossible. Imagine Gordon Ramsay without the word “fuck” or David Beckham with a receding hairline. You can’t, can you? The same goes for Led Zeppelin, in all honesty – I mean, how could their greatness ever exist without the soaring tones of Robert Plant?

While it may be hard to believe, it nearly happened. Before Plant stuck his flag in the ground as the band’s fearless and charismatic leader, Jimmy Page deliberated on the inclusion of other musicians. As the band’s de facto leader, Jimmy Page, had confidence in his ability as one of the most talented guitarists of a generation, while trusting John Paul Jones on the keys and knowing on drums they had the juggernaut, John Bonham, it was a simple matter of finding the voice to elevate the machine.

And before Page, it looked as though that man would be Terry Reid. He was certainly a fitting candidate given the fact Aretha Franklin once said, “There are only three things happening in England: The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Terry Reid.”

Reid has a gravelly blues style, which consequently thrust him forward as the face of a burgeoning blues scene in England. As the genre took all of every dingy club in London, Reid became the golden goose of every band establishing their sound and he subsequently swatted away a number of invitations, most notably from Deep Purple. But when Jimmy Page came knocking, so did the speculation, and ever since he declined it, it has only continued to swirl.

“It’s a waste of time to talk about it,” Reid told the Observer. “They did really well. End of story.”

He was pressed to elaborate on his declining of the offer, but he simply said, “I was asked to join a lot of bands”. It’s hard to tell whether his rather gruff rebuttal of the salacious question is due to its relative pointlessness given the fact it didn’t happen, or whether it’s laced with regret for soon after, Page was introduced and the rest, as they say, is history.

It wasn’t just Plant’s position that was up for grabs, however. While it may seem that the four rock gods were simply fulfilling their preassigned destiny to play with one another, the entire lineup could have looked wildly different.

Ultimately, Page knew his own guitar-playing genius and was meticulous in picking the players who would accompany it. So, in the mid-1960s, when Jeff Beck entered IBC Studios to record some solo music and worked alongside Page, Keith Moon, John Paul Jones, and Nicky Hopkins to create it, Page’s imagination began to fire up.

When Page proposed the idea to Beck, he was already engaged in post-Yardbirds projects that he thought were worth more time. Naturally, Page turned back to that recording session and picked the brains of Keith Moon, who he touted as an original option for the band’s drummer. He simply turned it down due to unavailability, which I’m sure only brought Page relief in later years when John Bonham was completely innovating how rock and roll drumming could be played, and ‘Moon the Loon’ was busy garnering a reputation for unfiltered off-stage madness.

It seems almost underwhelming to imagine that the four-piece line-up of one of the most influential bands in history was somewhat cobbled together. But if you’re going to question the validity of higher powers, at least do it to the soundtrack of Led Zeppelin.