Negotiating Middle East Peace Was Easier for Bill Clinton Than Getting Led Zeppelin to Reunite

It turns out that negotiating peace in the Middle East was probably easier for Bill Clinton than convincing Led Zeppelin to reunite.

Here is the video from 60 Minutes Overtime:

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The 60 Minutes Overtime segment focused on the Robin Hood Foundation, but the coolest story of all is how Bill Clinton tried to get Led Zeppelin to perform at the 12/12/12 concert. Robin Hood executive director David Saltzman said, “There were two bands that we were trying desperately to recruit. One was the Rolling Stones. The other was Led Zeppelin. Harvey Weinstein had this great idea that we could enlist Bill Clinton to convince Led Zeppelin to reunite to perform at the 12/12/12 concert. So Harvey and I got on a plane to fly down to Washington to meet with President Clinton who was going to be seeing the members of Led Zeppelin who were being honored at the Kennedy Center. And you know, the president was just, ‘I really wanna do this. This will be a fantastic thing. I love Led Zeppelin.’ And Bill Clinton himself, asked Led Zeppelin to reunite, and they wouldn’t do it.”

If Bill Clinton couldn’t get Zeppelin to reunite, what chance does anyone else have of making it happen?

Led Zeppelin’s last live performance with the three remaining members was in December 2007 at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert. Since the release of that performance in October of last year, fans have been clamoring for a reunion. Bill Clinton is the most popular living former president, but reuniting Led Zeppelin on the fly would have taken the legend of his negotiating skills to a whole other level.

Since John Bonham died there have only been a few reunions of the surviving band members (Live Aid, Atlantic Records 50th Anniversary celebration, and the 2007 Ahmet Ertegun tribute.) Zeppelin has definitely taken a very Beatles like approach to reuniting. It would have been a miracle if Bill Clinton could have pulled it off, but apparently even his powers have their limits.

It seems like Bill Clinton can do anything. Well, anything but reunite Led Zeppelin.

If the Nixon meeting Elvis photo is the height of surreal, Bill Clinton trying to reunite Zeppelin is the ultimate in cool.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association