Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and his family were vacationing in Rhodes, Greece, back in 1975. The rental car the rocker was driving spun off the road and crashed after Robert lost control of the wheel. His kids had minor injuries, but he and his wife were severely injured.
The accident left Plant with a broken ankle and an elbow, which didn’t fully heal for the next two years. He even spent time in a wheelchair. The incident also caused Led Zeppelin’s plans of completing their tour dates in support of their then latest album, ‘Physical Graffiti.’
After two years of recovery, Plant was able to get back on stage with Led Zeppelin. In an 1977 interview with Interview Magazine the singer shared his decision after his fatal accident. He said:
“I made a vow after two years of not working, because of the accident, that I should take care of my health 100 percent. With two years of living not quite sure whether you’re going to rock-n-roll again, the build-up to this tour was tremendous.”
He recalled that after getting the green light that he could perform again, he decided to give his performances his best and not hold back. Robert expressed:
“The inspiration was flowing, because when I knew that I could go back onstage again with my foot, I just said, ‘Right. Now, if I am going to do that, if I’m going to dance again, perform again, then I’m going to sing better than I’ve ever sung before. There’s nothing that’s going to stop me.’”
The only good thing that came out of the accident, besides Robert eventually healing, was Led Zeppelin getting out of a lawsuit. A copyright infringement suit was filed against the band in 2014 of ripping off a song called ‘Taurus’ by Spirit to make the Led Zeppelin hit track ‘Stairway to Heaven.’
Although there were undeniable similarities between the tracks, in the end, with the help of Plant’s testifying, the court ruled in favor of Led Zeppelin that ‘Stairway To Heaven’ did not infringe the copyright of the Spirit song. Here’s what Plant said in the courtroom:
“I can’t recall Spirit or anybody else playing there with the passing of time. I don’t have a recollection of mostly anyone I’ve met. I did have a bad car accident, I don’t remember seeing Spirit.”
You can read Robert Plant’s 1977 interview with Interview Magazine here and listen to ‘Stairway to Heaven’ as well as ‘Taurus’ below.
