[imagesource: Quora]

For rock bands in the 1970s, renting the Starship was the ultimate status symbol.

The extravagantly decked-out, name-checked Boeing 720 jumbo jet pretty much acted as a flying tour bus for some of the biggest bands of the era.

You can see Led Zeppelin posing alongside the jet above, while photos of The Rolling Stones, Elton John, the Bee Gees, Alice Cooper, and Peter Frampton living their best rock ’n’ roll lives on board the plane abound.

You can just imagine the kind of turbulence that went on when Starship was in the sky with those guys.

Starship made airwaves when, in 1973, teen heartthrob Bobby Sherman and his manager, Ward Sylvester, bought the first Boeing 720 ever produced (in 1960) from United Airlines:

They spent a decent $600 000 on the plane, and then an additional $200 000 ($1,3 million in today’s currency) converting the interior to become the most famous plane in rock ’n’ roll, reported Robb Report:

Seating dropped from 138 to 40, while new shagadelic amenities included a 30-foot-long brass-edged bar, an electric fireplace in the “drawing room,” a king-sized waterbed and shower in the bedroom, rotating armchairs and a rudimentary entertainment system and film library that included everything from Groucho Marx movies to Deep Throat.

Once the groovy aircraft was named Starship, rock ‘n’ rollers could charter the jet out for $2 500 per hour.

Led Zeppelin was the first paying customer:

Photographer Bob Gruen, who shot the iconic 1973 image of the band in front of the jet, said that “it was a lot better than getting around by limousine or owning a Ferrari, and it set the bar for being a rock star for future generations”:

For Led Zeppelin, it was also a rip-roaring good time between short-haul stops on their 1973 and 1975 tours. The Starship changed the way bands toured, with the ability to ferry large numbers of people and cargo from point A to point B and back again, obviating the need for hotels—and helping to fuel rock lore along the way.

Zeppelin’s infamous manager Richard Cole called it a “flying gin palace,” though the band’s tastes often ran richer. “In those days, we went through a phase where we only drank ’64 and ’66 Dom Pérignon,” Cole told The New York Times in 2003. “If we found a good deal we’d have one of the assistants buy several cases and store it on the plane.”

The stories of sex, drugs, and turbulence on the Starship are as bottomless as the band’s Dom Pérignon, although, some seem so far-fetched it is hard to tell if they actually happened.

Like that time “Welcome Allman Brothers” was written in cocaine on the bartop when the band first chartered it.

Or that time Zeppelin drummer John “Bonzo” Bonham tried to pee out the plane door, per The Telegraph:

Once asked what his favourite memory of the Starship was, lead singer Robert Plant replied: “oral sex during turbulence.” But the wildness could get out of hand. Their eccentric manager Peter Grant took to waving a gun around on board, while after a particularly raucous party the drummer almost walked off the plane mid-flight: “John Bonham one tried to open the plane’s door over Kansas City because he had to pee,” according to hostess Suzee.

Others are more believable:

Gruen tells a story of traveling with Elton John’s entourage on the star’s birthday, when Stevie Wonder emerged from the bedroom to surprise John with a version of “Crocodile Rock” played on the electric organ under the bar.

The Rolling Stones were supposedly less easily amazed by the Starship’s excesses, with Mick Jagger’s first words on board reportedly being “It’s so tacky!”

Alice Cooper also enjoyed a few antics on board the Starship for his 1973 tour:

Who knows what the hell went on with that furry monster?

Another story goes that Peter Frampton snuck drugs onto the plane by hiding his stash at the bottom of his band’s stinky laundry basket, in order to confuse the sniffer dogs.

At the end of Frampton’s 1977 tour, the bad was beginning to outweigh the glamour and he was the last star to use the plane before it was sold off in 1979.

Three years later, the Starship was scrapped for parts.

[source:robbreport]