Excellent gentleman changes name to "Led Zeppelin II"

Missouri resident George F. Blackburn had a moment of inspiration one day when he went to the local courthouse to finalize his divorce from his third wife. The 64-year-old gentleman seized the opportunity to file papers with the clerk's office to do something he'd been thinking about for years: changing his name to Led Zeppelin II, after his favorite album by the great rock band.

"I reinvented myself," he tells stltoday.com. "Since I became Led Zeppelin, my life has improved a thousand fold."

Zeppelin said he had a childhood fascination with zeppelins, and has been a fan of the rock stars since seeing them live in concert in Chicago in the late 1960s. It has been a love affair with their music since. The "II" at the end of the name is after the band's second album, "Led Zeppelin II."

"I don't want to appear to be some off-the-wall, drug-addict idiot," he said. "I just changed my name from the standpoint that I can be a better person than I used to be."

He said it's a tribute to the music. "They changed my life, forever, and that's my whole reason for doing this." When some fellow Led Zeppelin music fans learn his name, he said, they buy him drinks and dinner. They say they admire him for having the guts to do it. Even his ex-wife is supportive, calling him L.Z. or Zep. Some folks still call him George instead of Led, and he said he's fine with that, too. "I want them to be comfortable."

I got a whole lotta love for that guy. What is and what should never be is the freedom to redefine ourselves as we see ourselves. I could listen to him ramble on all day about his new name, he has a way of bringing it on home. Thank you.

Read the full story here at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

• [gwailo_joe]

  It really is one of their better albums…

  Good luck Mr. II

• [Ben Watson]

  I’m going to change my name to Mezzanine.

• [dpamac]

  Xeni, you get a time out for the punny song references! My groan organ is exhausted. (Not that it wasn’t funny.)

• [tristan eldritch]

  I’m glad his ex is supportive, but I wonder was it before or after the name change that she decided to say “Babe, I’m gonna leave you”? 

  • [Xeni Jardin]

    She’s just a woman.

  • [Bierchen]

    Maybe they had a Communication Breakdown?

  • [Aron Broadway Pritchard]

    after. he did it the day OF the divorce, they prop had different problems than that, would you want to leave some one if they decided  to me named after one of the greatest rock band ever? i sure as hell wouldn’t! :)

• [UnnecessaryUmlaut]

  So, does he name his son III or Led Zeppelin II the 2nd?
  Oh the humanity.

• [jimh]

  Hats off to (George) Blackburn. I’ll bet that with his new name, he’s a real heartbreaker!

• [David Forbes]

  I’d have to name myself Freak Out! to carry on this tradition.

  • [ill lich]

     Good idea, probably better than changing your name to “Frank Zappa.”

    • [Phikus]

      Yeah, but Bongo Fury would rock!

• [irksome]

  Considering the transformative experience that was a mid-’80s Butthole Surfers concert, I hereby change my name to Locust Abortion Technician.

  Can’t wait to tell Mom.

• [LintMan]

  Since Mr. Physical Graffiti doesn’t work quite as well as a name, I’d probably go for Led Zeppelin IV before II.

• [Donald Petersen]

  I see nobody’s breaking down the courthouse door to rename themselves Presence.

• [franko]

  Mr. Houses Holy?
  Mr. Coda?
  Mr. Presence?

  i’m gonna crawl….

• [JBarnes01]

  I’m glad he chose the second album, because filling in forms with “Led Zeppelin In Through The Out Door” just wouldn’t fit on any pre-printed forms.

  I have a friend who changed his name to Coda. (Really, true story) I wonder if it had anything to do with Led Zeppelin’s mostly forgotten album?

  Butthole Surfers?  Saw ‘em with the Dead Kennedy’s in ’83 or ’84 — That’s 45 minutes of my life I’d like back, or better yet, I would have appreciated more DK’s!  The highlight of the show was when the singer came out, he had about 50 wooden clothes pins all pinned in his hair.  He began the first number, and started shaking his head violently, and a spray of clothes pins went everywhere–That was kind of entertaining.  It was all downhill from there…

  • [irksome]

    What, they didn’t show the 16mm film of reconstructive surgery performed on a farmer who got his penis caught in a wheat-thresher? Pity, that. I’m guessing I went in ’86.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtMUIjhlsrc

• [RJ]

  They didn’t mention his girlfriend, Iron Butterfly. She’s a bit square-built, but refined. Like a power-lifter in a summer frock.

  • [paulj]

    So does his girlfriend call him Moby Dick? (Sorry, that was just too obvious to not put it out there.)

    • [RJ]

      Pink Floyd

  • [anderalert]

    they met ina gadda da vida, baby. (hope no one’s done that yet)

    • [Jerrold Adler]

      Iron Butterfly.

• [Childe Roland]

  I want to be John Bonham Zeppelin.

• [Alvis]

  After skimming this post I immediately thought about the kerfuffle over Xeni’s name on her Wikipedia article’s talk page (please let’s not revive that discussion here).  Sure enough, I scroll back up… and look who posted it!

  I’m not sure I could ever go through with a name change – having a name you don’t like is like a badge of honor.  But then again, I’m not the type who would be down for elective plastic surgery, either.  There’s “freedom”, and there’s learning to deal with the cards you’re dealt.

  • [irksome]

    I’ll have to show your post to my kids, Adolf Lee Harvey and little Pol Pot.

    • [Alvis]

      Everyone is in agreement that trying to give yourself a nickname is the lamest thing ever, right?  I don’t see why changing your legal name gets a pass.

      • [bardfinn]

        No, everyone is not in agreement. Your horse is quite high, sirrah.

        • [Alvis]

          Fair enough.  I actually thought that to be the case – was just watching a show last night where a character was made fun for assigning himself a nickname.

• [ackpht]

  Ah, but that’s America is supposed to be, no? The opportunity to make your life what you want it to be.

• [moonglum]

  “And then Golem and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her.”

  What a great divorce lyric!

• [Chris Hallbeck]

  I can’t wait for this guy to sign up for Google+

• [Aladdin Sane]

  Way to go, Mr. Zeppelin II!   And In a show of solidarity, I’m changing my name to Aladdin Sane! 

• [bardfinn]

  It’s clear he doesn’t want to be the black dog of the family, but some would call him just a fool in the rain.

• [sdmikev]

  I’m partial to LZ 3, myself.  Or the forgotten album.  So killer, Out on the Tiles is one of my all time favorite songs from the fellas.  Plus, Since I’ve Been Loving You, one of the greatest songs ever written in C minor blues.. :)

• [Jerrold Adler]

  A whole lotta love? Every inch?

• [BarBarSeven]

  I hope he isn’t gonna leave his children down on that killing floor.

• [kmoser]

  I’m waiting for somebody to change their name to Hindenburg.

• [nosehat]

  Inspired by this man’s courage, I might legally change my name to Trout Mask Replica.

• [10xor01]

  Hilarious.  As such a diehard fan, I’m sure he’ll have no trouble finding someone to squeeze his lemon, till he falls right out of…well, you know.

• [Phikus]

  I’m changing my name to Amon Düül II.

  (You know, to keep it in the family.)

• [Emanuele Pavone]

  Leeeeeed Zeppelin
  He’s the man
  Whose name you’d love to tooooooouch
  But you mustn’t toooooouch

• [Matt_B]

  Is his name pronounced “Led Zeppelin Two” or “Led Zeppelin the Second?”

• [MaxFrancardi]

  “I don’t want to appear to be some off-the-wall, drug-addict idiot”
  hey, no one’s calling you a drug addict

• [extremus2]

  Would It be seen as a racially motivated to change my name to “The White Album”?

• [Casey Winstead]

  I’d change my name to Tortelvis, but I’m afraid he might sue me.

• [Fred Moore]

  What an idiot — everyone knows I and III were superior efforts.  II has a drum solo on an EP!!!!

• [Frederick Thornburg]

  Hmmmm….. If I were to “re-brand” myself by changing my name to that of my favorite album, I would unfortunately become Mr. Hot Rats, after the 1969 Frank Zappa album. (My friends would just call me Hot.)

• [Martin Kasdan Jr]

  Led Zep II – oh yeah, the one where they stole Willie Dixon and Sonny Boy Williamson