The most notorious band of all time could only have been managed by an equally notorious figure. Led Zeppelin accrued a legendary and nefarious reputation among fans, with stories of them ravaging hotel rooms and sacrificing teenage groupies beginning to run around the music rumour mill from the very beginning of their career. Like all things, these were largely exaggerated, but it was hard to exaggerate the actions of manager Peter Grant.

Standing over six feet tall and weighing over 300 pounds, Grant used his size to his advantage when shaking down everyone from concert promoters to fans recording bootlegs. A naturally shy and reserved man, Grant postured as music’s meanest bastard in order to push Led Zeppelin to the top of the rock world. As an equal shareholder in the corporate side of Zeppelin, Grant was as invested in his band as any manager had ever been.

Grant first encountered Jimmy Page when he took over managerial duties for the floundering Yardbirds, then at the end of their initial run. Almost immediately, Grant became a boogeyman figure to everyone who wasn’t a Led Zeppelin band member: whether you were a fan, groupie, label executive, or anyone in between, Grant was the one man you didn’t want to cross.

During his decade-plus steering Led Zeppelin toward rock and roll glory, Grant became involved in a number of infamous incidents that added to the Zeppelin legend. Some are fully verified (with the police reports to prove it), while others can only be considered alleged incidents. All of them added to the colourful and occasionally dangerous world that Led Zeppelin lived in throughout the 1970s. Here are some of the craziest stories involving Peter Grant.