Led Zeppelin talk sex, Vikings and Elvis with David Letterman

By Meredith Blake

Dec. 4, 2012 12 AM PT

Fresh off receiving the Kennedy Center honors this weekend from President Obama, the surviving members of legendary British rock group Led Zeppelin -- Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones -- stopped by the Ed Sullivan Theater for a visit with their fellow honoree, David Letterman.

First, the bad news: The group did not perform, they did not announce a reunion tour, and they did not perform any devious acts involving sharks. Nor did they open up much about their music career, their feelings about other high-profile British acts of their era, or their famously debauched past. If anything, they came off as a little aloof -- or maybe just tired.

But hey, they were there, which for most fans will be excitement enough. Letterman asked the band about the introductory remarks made by comedian Jack Black during the awards ceremony Sunday. “He said your music was about sex, it was about Vikings, it was about Vikings having sex. Is that a good evaluation?”

Jones, clearly the comedian in the group, corrected Letterman. “You missed the bit about the Vikings having sex with the Hobbits.” Then, when asked to describe the group’s sound in a single sentence, Jones replied not with words but with a very “Immigrant Song”-esque riff and some emphatic air guitar.

Other subjects included the death of drummer John Bonham, the time they met Elvis -- who “had a lot of chicks,” according to Plant, who certainly knows a thing or two about the ladies -- and of course their habit of flying shirtless on their custom Led Zepppelin jet.

It may not have been the most effortless interview of Letterman’s career, but clearly the host didn’t allow the akwardness to get in the way of his rock star fantasies. “After that weekend, it feels like I ought to be in the band, doesn’t it?” he asked.

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