GREATEST BAND EVER

The 1970’s was home to what many enthusiasts consider the greatest rock and roll band of all time; Led Zeppelin. The band was formed in 1968 and consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist John Paul Jones, singer Robert Plant, and drummer John Bonham. Like many of the great rockers before them, Zeppelin was a blues-based rock band with ties to British folk music that would integrate a powerful guitar, loud drums, and screaming vocals at times. When asked about the type of music Led Zeppelin played, Page described it as “contemporary blues”. The band was the first to be categorized as having characteristics of hard rock with “Page’s heavyweight guitar riffs, Plant’s raw, half-screamed vocals, and the rhythm section’s deep, walloping assaults – all hallmarks of a new approach to rock that combined heaviness and delicacy”. Jones described the band as a sponge that would “use everything [they] came across, whether it was folk, country music, blues, Indian, Arabic”. Their first albums had strong relations with blues but also had that essential touch of hard rock that was becoming so popular. As more and more albums were released, Led Zeppelin progressed further towards the hard rock form. Songs like “Dazed and Confused”, “Good Times Bad Times”, “Ramble On” and “Since I’ve Been Loving You” all had a touch of acoustic, folk, and electric blues. Other songs such as “Immigrant Song”, “When the Levee Breaks”, and “Black Dog” showed just how hard Zeppelin was capable of rocking. Released on their fourth album was “Stairway to Heaven”, perhaps the greatest rock ballad of all time. This song has been requested more than any other on the radio and has more mystique surrounding its meaning than imaginable. Led Zeppelin developed a hedonistic following as well, something that would become fairly common with future rock bands in both their lyrics and fan base. Zeppelin had laid the groundwork for modern rock and arguably is still the most influential band in the industry.