Earlier this week we published a rumor about Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant tearing up an $800 million contract in front of Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson's face. The story went that Branson is a huge fan of the band and offered the group the money in exchange for a 35-date reunion tour in England, Germany and for some reason New Jersey. That should have been the tip-off right there- who the hell wants to actually come to New Jersey? Also, the original stories floating around the Internet kept labeling New Jersey as a city. We are not.
Branson took to his personal blog to address the false reports, saying nothing originators of the story The Mirror reported was true.
"There were even claims that Virgin Atlantic was about to rename one of our planes and include a stairway to heaven in honour of the band. However nice an idea, this is also completely untrue. After a week of seeing worryingly inaccurate reports in various publications regarding Virgin, it was sad but not particularly surprising to see yet another fabricated story.
I spoke to Robert Plant about the story, which he also confirmed is complete rubbish from his side too. Robert told me he is very proud of his history and the band’s past, and has always had great respect and love for his work throughout his career. However, he really believes he must move on with his life and career today.
Making up this story is very disrespectful to how wonderful his solo career with the Sensational Space Shifters is going. He is setting out on a sold out tour today and they released a brilliant album last year.
Fellow band members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones also have many exciting projects in the works and should be respected in their own right. I’m proud of how so many artists from my generation, whether it is Led Zeppelin, Mike Oldfield or Peter Gabriel, are still being so creative and inventive. They have all moved on into exciting new phases, while still celebrating their incredible pasts."
I really can't say I'm shocked the story isn't true. Come on, $800 million for a reunion? Branson has more money than he knows what to do with, but then why pay all that money for a tour? Why not pay the group to play one of his private islands as a fun one off thing or something? It just seemed fishy right from the start. That and Plant always seemed like a pretty quiet dude. I can't imagine him immediately flipping his shit and tearing up a contract right in the face of a fan like that.
Factor all that in with the fact that New Jersey was cited and you've got yourself a steaming pile of bull. Anyway, to help cope, here's Heart doing an amazing rendition of "Stairway to Heaven" during the Kennedy honors of Zep a few years back.
