President Obama Pays Tribute To Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin have been honored for their contribution to American culture and the arts, with tributes to the band being led by none other than President Barack Obama. The group, along with actor Dustin Hoffman and TV personality David Letterman were recipients of this year’s Kennedy Centre Honors.
Obama gave the following tribute:
“When Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham burst onto the musical scene in the late 1960s, the world never saw it coming,”
“There was this singer with a mane like a lion and a voice like a banshee, a guitar prodigy who left people’s jaws on the floor, a versatile bassist who was equally at home on the keyboards, a drummer who played like his life depended on it,”
“It’s been said that a generation of young people survived teenage angst with a pair of headphones and a Zeppelin album … but even now, 32 years after John Bonham’s passing – and we all I think appreciate the fact – the Zeppelin legacy lives on.”
The president thanked band for not trashing the White House, given their history of “hotel rooms being trashed and mayhem all around” before concluding: “we honor Led Zeppelin for making us all feel young, and for showing us that some guys who are not completely youthful can still rock!”
Watch President Obama’s tribute below