Led Zeppelin

Formed from the ashes of British blues-rockers the Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin shot to the stratosphere in the early 1970s. With Dionysian frenzy and a blast of blues-drenched riffs, they became one of the biggest bands of the era. Their intense musical excursions helped define the sound of hard rock, while their penchant for folk balladry added to their mystique as rock gods. The group called it quits after the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980, and remaining members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones pursued--mostly--separate musical ventures. But in late-2007 the three surviving members stunned the rock world by announcing they would re-unite as Led Zeppelin to play a one-off concert in memory of Ahmet Ertegun, their former boss at Atlantic Records. The announcement provoked a frenzy of ticket applications for the gig at London's O2 Arena, with tickets changing hands for hundreds of times their face value.

• rock