When it comes to Led Zeppelin, it’s hard not to think of them as the untouchable titans of hard rock — the four horsemen of sonic destruction who redefined the limits of volume, emotion, and musical ambition. With Jimmy Page summoning thunder from his guitar, Robert Plant wailing with operatic force, and the unshakeable rhythm section of John Paul Jones and John Bonham, Zeppelin carved out a legacy that often felt larger than life.
But by the time they approached what would become their final studio album, In Through the Out Door in 1979, the band had been through the wringer. The mythical “golden gods” were, in truth, bruised and broken.
Behind the scenes, each member was battling his own darkness. Page was locked in a struggle with heroin addiction. Bonham was sliding further into alcoholism. And Plant—who had already endured a devastating car crash just a few years earlier—was reeling from the most unimaginable grief: the death of his five-year-old son, Karac.
These heartbreaks shaped the album’s tone. While Zeppelin had once been a firestorm of energy and excess, In Through the Out Door offered something more reflective, more vulnerable. Nowhere is that more evident than on “All My Love,” a gentle, aching tribute from Plant to his late son. It remains one of the most emotionally raw songs in the band’s catalogue.
But for Jimmy Page, it didn’t feel quite right.
“I was a little worried about the [‘All My Love’] chorus,” Page admitted years later. “I could just imagine people doing the wave and all of that. And I thought, ‘That is not us. That is not us.’” He worried that the ballad leaned too far into softness, straying from the band’s thunderous identity. “Bonzo and I had already started discussing plans for a hard-driving rock album after that,” he recalled. “I would not have wanted to pursue that direction in the future.”
There may have been another factor at play. Page’s struggles with addiction meant he had less control over the studio sessions than ever before. John Paul Jones stepped into a more prominent creative role alongside Plant, and for the first time in the band’s history, Page wasn’t credited on two tracks — including “All My Love.” The loss of creative command, paired with the song’s gentle tone, may have left Page feeling out of step with the group’s direction.
Yet, even if the song wasn’t his style, Page understood what it meant. He didn’t fight its inclusion. He knew that for Plant, “All My Love” was deeply personal.
“It was just paying tribute to the joy that [Karac] gave us as a family,” Plant later explained in 2018, “and, in a crazy way, still does occasionally.”
In the end, Page’s role wasn’t to critique — it was to support. He put aside his discomfort, recognizing that the band was no longer just about pounding riffs or primal energy. Sometimes, it was about being there for each other when it mattered most.
