3 Things to Know About Led Zeppelin’s “Achilles Last Stand”

The song was born from a crisis Robert Plant broke his ankle in a 1975 car accident in Rhodes, Greece. Led Zeppelin canceled a tour and recorded Presence while he was in a wheelchair.

It’s not literally about the crash Plant described “Achilles Last Stand” as a mythical travelogue, not a direct account of the accident. But the album’s urgency and Plant’s physical struggle shaped the song’s seven-minute epic feel.

It’s the band’s fight song The track captures a band pushing through adversity. If you want the one song that came directly out of that experience, this is it.