A rare seven-inch copy of Led Zeppelin's iconic song Whole Lotta Love, which the band ordered to be destroyed, has been brought to the BBC's Antiques Roadshow. The single, pressed in 1969, was never officially released in the UK, and only around 500 copies were made before they were recalled.
Band's opposition to singles
The rock group, whose members included Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones, never wanted to release singles in the UK. They felt that bringing out tracks which were already on their LPs was conning the public, so they preferred to only issue albums.
Despite this, in 1969 some 500 copies of Whole Lotta Love, which comes from their Led Zeppelin II album, were made as vinyl singles for British buyers. The song had already been a hit in other countries including the USA, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Spain and Japan, so the band's record company, Atlantic Records, decided to test the waters here, and copies went out to shops.
Recall and survival
When the band's manager Peter Grant found out, he ordered the records to be returned immediately and destroyed. But a few slipped through the net and never made it back. Today the single is regarded by fans as one of the rarest and most valuable Led Zeppelin collectables, and a specimen in excellent condition could fetch £2,000.
On Sunday, a fan brings a copy along to Antiques Roadshow when presenter Fiona Bruce and her team of experts visit Caerphilly Castle in South Wales. Specialist Marc Allum cannot believe his eyes when a former disco DJ arrives clutching the single by the legendary rockers.
Expert's assessment
He says: "One of the things I love about the Roadshow is that it enables us to explore all avenues of popular culture. Now, what we have in front of us here, is a Led Zeppelin single from 1969, Whole Lotta Love. The thing is, this single was never officially released in the UK. It should not really exist.
"There's a lot of myths that build up around these kind of things and stories. I kind of heard that 500 were pressed and they went out and this came about apparently because there was a kind of disparity between the relationship of the management and the record company and Led Zeppelin. The band hadn't agreed to have any singles released. They wanted all their music on albums.
"Then they were immediately recalled. And of course, human nature being what it is…. some people didn't return them all."
Owner's story
The record's owner explains he used to run discos in the early 1970s and was given a copy by a record company rep to blast out - but it didn't go down too well. He explains: "It was given to me by a rep in a record shop in early 1970 and I was looking for records to start the disco and out of his bag came a couple of records. He said 'You can have those.' One of them was that. I played it about 8 to 10 times at discos and people weren't interested!"
Marc inspects the single and sees that it has had some wear and tear. He says: "I'll see what condition it's in because that has a kind of bearing on it (the value). There is a finger mark there and there is some light scratching on it. So it has been played. They're really difficult things to put a value on at auction."
The man says he has no plans to sell it at present. "It's been with me for 55 years and I'll probably give it to my daughters to do what they want to do with it. I don't think I'll play it again, basically because it will devalue it!"
Viewers can find out what it's worth when BBC1's Antiques Roadshow airs on Sunday at 8pm.
