August 3 - Good Times Bad Times

January 12, 1969, was when Atlantic Records unleashed a juggernaut on the unsuspecting public. After The Yardbirds started dissolving in 1966, their latest added member, guitarist Jimmy Page, who had worked as a highly sought after session musician, wanted to keep the band going under the name The New Yardbirds. Fellow session musician John Paul Jones joined him on bass (and keyboards) - they had done work together on the Mickie Most produced Beck's Bolero (my dad had an album with Mickie Most produced songs that included this track and a few other great songs of the mid to late sixties) - and they found Robert Plant singing with the Band of Joy, who in turn recommended the thunderous John Bonham - or Bonzo - as a drummer.

They were initially granted permission to use the name The New Yardbirds to fulfill some Yardbirds obligations in Scandinavia, but had to change their name once that tour was over. Keith Moon of The Who eventually provided inspiration for the name, stating that it would "go over like a lead balloon" leading to the name Led Zeppelin. Surviving recordings from the Scandinavia tour clearly shows the force of this new band - but the best evidence is the tour-de-force of an opening album that starts out with Good Times Bad Times.