During a recent interview, Robert Plant spoke about how one rehearsal session with Led Zeppelin in 1968, assured him of his and the band’s future greatness.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Plant revealed that he made a pact with his wife before he found fame. The pact was that he would walk away from the business if his music career failed to take off, by the time he turned 20.

“It was just like, bang!”

However, one meeting with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and the late John Bonham, made Plant realise that his wife had no reason to fear.

“I was 19, soon to be 20″, Plant explained.

“Once John’s wife finally gave him permission to come to a rehearsal — because Pat always said, ‘Keep away from Plant, because you’re just going to end up broke and in trouble’ … in that room, on that afternoon, when we kicked in with a bunch of songs that nobody really knew … I knew that I was in a room full of giants, really – and that was it”. 

“By 1973, what happened in that one room had exploded into some of the most adventurous non-rock rock that you could ever wish to find, and it was just the sum of the parts”, Plant continued.

“Those guys were just insanely good” Plant stated. “And it was as if everybody had just been waiting for each other with whatever happened prior to that. It was just like, bang!”.

Elsewhere, Robert Plant also addressed the band’s connection with “debauchery and sexism”. 

“It was loaded with innuendo, everything”, Plant said.

“It was almost like showtime, and it didn’t just stop there. With rock ’n’ roll singers it was almost pantomime, and it’s a thing of the past now. It was another time, and there was nothing sort of malevolent or base. It was just part of the time”.

Robert Plant was also quizzed on whether or not the lingering connections bothered him.

“I just look back and go, ‘How did all that happen like that?’ The criteria of the time was such. It’s not a copout; it’s just these days are different. … Obviously, I was developing all the time with what I felt and what I was surrounded by”, he responded.

Former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant recently celebrated his 74th birthday. His family marked this occasion in a very special way, as they wheeled a cake out onto a stage during a live Plant performance from his tour. Check that out here.