Artists like Led Zeppelin and Elton John toured around in a Boeing 720 private jet that featured a bar and a waterbed — see inside The Starship

The age of rock and roll started in the 1950s with iconic artists like Elvis Presley and Little Richard.

Source: Britannica

These world-famous musicians pioneered the genre, recording Billboard top hits like Presley's 1956 Heartbreak Hotel, which sold over 300,000 copies in its first week.

Getty

Source: Billboard, The Current

These artists inspired other rock groups, like The Beatles, to rise in the 1960s and reshape the genre into the styles we know today.

Source: Britannica, Readers Digest

Bands like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones took the world by storm, with adorning fans traveling all over to see them play.

Chris Ware/Keystone Features/Getty Images

With their rise in fame, they set off on month-long tours, parading from show to show in buses and limousines.

Source: Britannica

However, as the 1970s rolled around and their fame grew, these rock bands wanted to take their wealth and success to new heights.

Source: Britannica

So, some started chartering a Boeing 707 quad-engine variant, known as "Starship," for a staggering $2,500 per hour, which is about $17,000 today.

Source: Billboard

Here's a look inside the impressive Boeing private plane that carried some of the most famous rock artists to ever live.

The Starship aircraft was a Boeing 720, which was a variant of the Boeing 707 that was built to fly shorter flights and operate on shorter runways.

Source: Boeing

Delivered to United in October 1960, the Starship was the first-ever Boeing 720 to be built.

Source: Boeing

The 138-seater plane flew commercially for 13 years before being sold in 1973 and transformed into a rock and roll private jet.

Source: Billboard

The 720 was purchased by pop singer Bobby Sherman and his manager, Ward Sylvester, for $600,000, which is more than $4 million in 2023.

Source: Dollar Times, Billboard

The pair then started a $200,000 (more than $1.3 million in 2023) project to retrofit the interior of the jet to create an extravagant flying home for world-famous rock bands.

Source: Dollar Times, Billboard

With many grandiose amenities, like a white fur bedspread and an electric organ behind the bar, the plane was the height of luxury.

Source: Billboard

Big-name artists like Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Deep Purple, The Rolling Stones, and The Allman Brothers Band all chartered the tricked-out jet, which only sat 40 people after the redesign.

Source: Billboard

Led Zeppelin was the first to use the 720 to travel between cities on their 1973 North American tour, paying Sherman and Sylvester $30,000 (about $200,000 in 2023) to rent it for the remainder of their shows.

Source: Billboard, Far Out Magazine, Dollar Times

Well-known author and photographer Bob Gruen took an iconic portrait of the band in front of the Starship in 1973, telling Insider his photo "sums up the excess of the 70s."

Source: Bob Gruen

"They didn't even have to button their shirts," he said. "A lot of musicians told me that was the goal, to be a guy who just walked around with their shirt open and flew around on their own plane."

He also explained that the jet was a better option for the bands who didn't like the inconvenience of moving hotels and continuously unpacking and repacking.

"With the plane, they could base at one hotel like the Four Seasons in New York and just take a car to the airport, skip security, and commute to work," he said. "It was a much easier way to travel."

Described by Gruen as a "flying tour bus," the jet had myriad spaces to sit back and relax, like a long brass bar…

Source: Billboard

…an electric organ built into the bar to play live music…

Source: Billboard

…a 30-foot-long couch…

Source: Billboard

…a TV and video player…

Source: Billboard

…plush revolving armchairs…

Source: Billboard

…a bedroom complete with a king-sized water bed, an electric fireplace, and a standing shower…

Source: Billboard

…and a first class section with giant loungers and tables.

Source: Billboard

With the sleek finishes, Zeppelin slapped their band name across the fuselage and put the plane to good use, hosting parties and getting into plenty of shenanigans onboard.

Source: Billboard

Led Zeppelin's road manager, Richard Cole, told the New York Times in 2003 that there was plenty of alcohol to go around, calling the jet "a floating gin palace."

Source: The New York Times

However, the band's success shined through with the thousands of dollars worth of champagne they had onboard.

Source: The New York Times

"In those days, we went through a phase where we only drank '64 and '66 Dom Pérignon," Cole said. "If we found a good deal we'd have one of the assistants buy several cases and store it on the plane."

Source: The New York Times

The English band was not the only artist to travel in style onboard the custom 720. Deep Purple used the plane in 1974…

Source: Billboard

…while Elton John used the jet for his tours from 1973 to 1976.

Source: Elton John

Gruen told Insider that he was onboard the jet with a hungover John, who was not in the mood to do much before his evening show. But, unbeknownst to John, Gruen said the team secretly snuck Stevie Wonder onboard to play the piano.

Source: Bob Gruen

"Finally, Elton walks to the bar, and Stevie was playing Crocodile Rock or something on the piano, and Elton's mood immediately changed," he said.

Source: Bob Gruen

While the jet was the height of luxury during its hey day, the 720's poor operating economics and inefficient four engines made it unsustainable.

More airlines are choosing single-aisle jets for flights from North America to Europe — see the full evolution of jet-powered transatlantic flying

Guitarist Peter Frampton was the last to use the Boeing aircraft in 1976 for his European tour.

Source: Peter Frampton

The plane had a few more years of service with Aeroamerica and Private Jet Services before being parked in London in 1979 and scrapped in 1982.

Source: Simple Flying

Despite its short life as a VIP transport aircraft, the Starship will go down in history as one of the most iconic private jets to ever fly.