What was “The whole story”: The song that signalled the end of Led Zeppelin

As a music critic, I often find myself conflicted over the balance of evolutionary innovation and the mastery of one single craft. Take David Bowie, for example; his entire DNA is rooted in his mercuriality that shifted with every new album. By the time the campaign rollout for his third album came, we were used to that method of approach, so it was innately expected. But on the other hand, a band like Led Zeppelin didn’t need to do that, for their brilliance was firmly placed in their ability to master the art of bona fide rock.

From the moment their debut album was released, they mastered their own brand of stadium rock. They were a relentless machine of sonic force, driven by John Bonham and John Paul Jones, and steered by the charisma of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page’s melodies. And their live shows didn’t hang off anything elaborate because it rarely needed anything more than the simple sight of these four rock gods playing together to blow people’s hair back.

But as a return to my conflict, I can’t help but feel like a hypocrite when singing the praises of Zeppelin, for they never changed. Whenever I’ve pledged my allegiance to bands I hold dearly, my argument is always rooted in their pursuit of creative difference, a fearlessness that keeps me on my toes, and frankly, Led Zeppelin isn’t that band. But therein lies the conflict because their mere performance of their signature style is so great that it arguably supersedes the middle-of-the-road genre shifts some of my favourite bands have celebrated.

But the point is, these shifts are necessary for the longevity of artists. Led Zeppelin were indeed enthralling throughout the entirety of the 1970s, but so much of their appeal was rooted in a sense of energy, sexuality and charisma that we all know isn’t sustainable. So when the gloss of that product begins to etch away, all that’s left is the excitement of the musicality which I argue has to be interesting at all times.

The band themselves knew this and have in fact identified a 1979 song that soundtracks the beginning of this chapter. “I thought parts of ‘Carouselambra’ were good, especially the darker dirges that Pagey developed,” Plant reflected in a 2003 conversation with Mojo. “And I rue it so much now because the lyrics on ‘Carouselambra’ were actually about that environment and that situation. The whole story of Led Zeppelin in its latter years is in that song… and I can’t hear the words!”

It was a misfire that signalled the beginning of the end for the iconic band, where their attempts at a sonic diversion were delivered to muddled effect. The song was part of the album In Through the Out Door, which was their last before they disbanded in 1980, bringing to a close a stunning decade of rock royalty. Suitably, the lyrical content of the song, when heard, references disillusionment, introspection and the transient nature of life, proving to be a poetically foreboding track for the soon disbanded group of rock merrymen.