When Rolling Stone originally ran its scathing review of Led Zeppelin's 1969 eponymous debut, the magazine fired the initial salvo in a 20-plus-year war between the media and Zep. Rolling Stone essentially called the British band a pale imitation of the Jeff Beck Group, an act whose front man had played alongside Zeppelin's Jimmy Page in the Yardbirds. Today, Led Zeppelin is considered the apex among all blues-based rock albums, and more than 30 years after the fact, Zeppelin enemy Rolling Stone amended its initial betrayal to call the album a "triumph."

It's been a long time, been a long time since the three surviving members of Zep -- Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Page -- ended their spat with the media. Nowadays, Plant despises interviews only because they conflict with tennis or force him to field questions about "Jonesy," the Zep bassist who wasn't asked to perform alongside Page and Plant on their last two albums or tours. And while Plant deplored comparisons to the Jeff Beck Band way back when, nothing irks him more now than contemporary artists who cross the line between similarity and thievery. "If you get nicked for doing some song that somebody wrote in 1930," he says, "then how come you can't get nicked for doing something that somebody wrote in 1979?"

Considering his position on sampling, it was a surprise that Plant had never heard a pair of current popular Zeppelin-esque songs, one from Creed and one by Wyclef Jean. Thanks to Playboy.com, now he has, and as you'll see, Plant had more than a passing interest in setting the records straight.

It's all about paying respect, not stealing it -- and Zeppelin is certainly getting its share with How the West Was Won, a three-disc set and companion DVD that chronicles its California tour from 1972 and showcases their mind-blowing live shows.