Did you know that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, two of the most iconic members of Led Zeppelin, formed one of the most legendary duos in rock history? Plant’s powerful, wide-ranging vocals perfectly complemented Page’s virtuosic guitar work, creating a sound that revolutionized rock music. With songs like “Stairway to Heaven,” “Whole Lotta Love,” and “Immigrant Song,” they created timeless anthems that still resonate with fans today. Their chemistry both on and off stage made Led Zeppelin a force that changed the music industry forever. Their legacy continues to inspire musicians worldwide.

Led Zeppelin dominated the music landscape like few other bands, finding international success and helping to codify rock as a genre. Yet in 1975 the band faced numerous challenges, with a serious car accident on the Greek island of Rhodes leaving singer Robert Plant with severe injuries.

The mercurial frontman was already having doubts about the pressures of life on the road, with the band’s enormous tours taking him away from his young family for prolonged periods of time. Yet Jimmy Page – together with Led Zeppelin’s legendary manager Peter Grant – were eager for the band to move forwards, and started to plan a new album.

Eventually released early in 1976, ‘Presence’ is a dichotomous experience – a return to their hard rock roots, it utilises Jimmy Page’s electric guitar as its primary instrument. Shorn of keyboard flourishes and acoustic intricacy, it rocks harder than any Zeppelin record since their debut.

Yet lyrically, it’s an unhappy experience. ‘Tea For One’ is Robert Plant’s cry of loneliness on the road, but it gets even darker on the searing ‘Hots On For Nowhere’.

The lyrics take aim at his comrades, with the singer revealing his frustrations at being pushed into the studio. The vocals on ‘Presence’ was sometimes recorded from a wheel chair, and this agonised quality comes through when he sings “I was burned in the heat of the moment”, but “The timing is right growin’ older / I’ve got friends who will give me fuck all”.

Speaking to the Guardian, Robert Plant said the song “is absolutely wracked with pain,” adding, “The fraternity of the band at the time was stretched to breaking point.”

Long after the band eventually broke up, Robert Plant took a new girlfriend to stay at a house on the Welsh border. Discussing the ‘Presence’ era, he simply played ‘Hots On For Nowhere’ to illustrate the darkness at the time: “The two of us sitting in a little room on the Welsh borders, and me telling her: ‘If you want to know what I was like at the end of Zeppelin, really, this was it.’ After it, she said: ‘I don’t want to be left alone in a room with that. It’s too much.’ That’s what it was in the end: too much”.