During the December of 2012, the Led Zeppelin had the honour of meeting President Barack Obama and Mrs Michelle Obama, President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington DC
Led Zeppelin were honoured by the then president Obama for our contribution to America culture and the arts, alongside David Letterman and Dustin Hoffman who also received the who received the Kennedy Centre Honours award.
“The Kennedy Center Honours recognises exceptional artists who have made enduring and indelible marks on our culture,” stated Kennedy Center chairman David M. Rubenstein.
‘The Zeppelin legacy lives on’ – Barack Obama
“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,” Obama said in his tribute.
“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,” he continued.
He added: “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 then thanked band for behaving themselves at the White House given their history of “hotel rooms being trashed and mayhem all around”.
He finished his speech, saying: “We honour Led Zeppelin for making us all feel young, and for showing us that some guys who are not completely youthful can still rock!”
© AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, 2012
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