Most people think the name of this band came about because of the phrase “that’ll go over about as well as a lead balloon”, except using a zeppelin instead in order to increase the magnitude of just how ludicrous the situation was.
But that’s wrong.
As you can plainly see, it’s “led” (past tense of the verb “lead”, which rhymes with “read”, the present tense of the act you are performing right now), not “lead” (the metal, which rhymes with “read”, the past tense of what you will have done with this increasingly lengthy sentence when you finish reading it (Parenthetically, I think it’s important to point out that “reading” does NOT rhyme with the city in California named “Redding”, just in case you were getting confused. Come to think of it, I could have just used the word “red” above to make things clearer, but hey, it’s already written and I have more to say, so I’ll leave it that way)).
That’s an important difference. One of the big problems with zeppelins is that they are subject to the whims of the wind and breeze, like when the Hindenburg was blown into that mooring rig and came down like a real lead (the metal) zeppelin, not to mention all that fire complicating the whole process. I imagine it was probably hot enough to melt lead (the metal, that is), but I’m pretty sure the Hindenburg was NOT made of lead, because that would be, frankly, a stupid thing to use in something that is supposed to be lighter than air, which lead (the metal) is most definitely NOT.
Anyway, what this is all leading (rhymes with “reading” not “Redding”, see above) to:
If you actually lead a zeppelin (that’s “lead”, the present tense of “led”), magic things can happen. For one, they won’t crash into mooring rigs and catch fire. People can get to their destinations safely and comfortably.
That’s an allegory for the stratospheric success of this band – similar to a led zeppelin, they were able to deliver results – some really awesome tunes over the years, a pretty cool documentary about them, and a legendary stage presence (although their album “Presence” went over a bit like a lead balloon).
Or maybe they just had poor spelling skills?