The following story is courtesy of Sundaymercury.net:

When rock bands break up there is usually only one winner.

JOHN LENNON was the moptop who mopped up the plaudits, while PAUL MCCARTNEY was left with pipedreams of glory. And sappy Pipes Of Peace.

LED ZEPPELIN authority Mick Wall says this maxim is also true of the ground-breaking heavy metal outfit.
Mick has interviewed all the living members of Zeppelin on numerous occasions, knows their colleagues and friends, and has now written a meticulously researched biography, When Giants Walked The Earth. The man who knows Zepp best claims Black Country blues belter Robert Plant has a future as long and splendiferous as his hair.

But lead guitarist Jimmy Page isn’t so fortunate, and is a shadow of his former self, who finds it impossible to leave the pomp of the past behind.

“Robert is exactly where he wants to be,” says Mick. “He no longer needs to have anything to do with Led Zeppelin and is in charge of his own destiny.

“More so than Paul McCartney, more so than Mick Jagger, more so than Roger Daltrey. Plant has really pulled it off.”
The West Bromwich singer’s current position in the music industry is largely due to Raising Sand, the hit album he released last year with country singer Alison Krauss, which was followed by a world tour.

But Plant, 60, also made the news in late 2007, thanks to a one-off reunion gig in London with Led Zeppelin.
Since then, rumours have abounded that he would team up with his other band mates for a full-blown tour of America.
Mick says that is highly unlikely.

“Anybody who has seen those wonderful shows Robert’s done with Alison Krauss knows he is so happy, so enjoying what he’s doing on the stage,” he argues.

“The music he’s playing at the moment has so much meaning for him, far more than singing old Led Zeppelin songs that he first sung when he was in his 20s.”

Mick says there is another important reason while Plant won’t be zooming off with the Zepp – the old gang are grumps.
“It’s far more fun working with Alison than working with people like Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones,” he says.

“They can be fairly joyless people at this point. Really hard work, very uphill.

“Everybody has got their own manager. Everybody has their own agenda.”

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