Led Zeppelin to Receive 2012 Kennedy Center Honor

Led Zeppelin will join a long list of rockers who have received Kennedy Center Honors. That list includes musicians like Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend and more. The award recognizes outstanding lifetime contributions to the arts.

The class of 2012 also includes Oscar-winning actor Dustin Hoffman, TV host David Letterman and Russian ballerina/choreographer Natalia Makarova. The honors will be given on December 2 at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Then, on December 28th a two-hour special will air on CBS with highlights from the event.

The chairman for the Kennedy Center, David Rubenstein, said:

Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant transformed the sound of rock and roll with their lyricism and innovative song structures, infusing blues into the sound of rock and roll and laying the foundation for countless rock bands.