Led Zeppelin: Truly the Greatest Rock Band of All Time
Led Zeppelin’s story is probably one of the most remarkable stories music has to offer in our existence. Their short but energetic twelve-year-reign over the world left a huge impact in our music today and span across generations among their fans: from the first fans who saw the early gigs of Led Zeppelin in the early Sixties, to young fans like myself today, blasting their unique catalog on Spotify and watching their live performances on YouTube. However, why Led Zeppelin is the “Greatest Rock Band of All Time” or the G.R.B.O.A.T?
Founded in 1968 after the breakup of Sixties rock band The Yardbirds, guitarist Jimmy Page and session musician John Paul Jones teamed up with former Band of Joy members Robert Plant and John Bonham. Page gave the name “Led Zeppelin” after a joke from The Who’s Keith Moon that the band would “go over like a lead balloon”. However, the band definitely didn’t go down that path as they made their immediate impact the moment they were formed. Turns out, Ahmet Ertegun and Atlantic Records were so sure of Led Zeppelin’s potential that they signed the band to a long-term contract that was “one of the most substantial deals Atlantic has ever made”. The band surely didn’t disappoint.
On January 12th, 1969, Led Zeppelin released their debut album. It only took them thirty hours to record the entire album, and guitarist Jimmy Page even paid the album’s expense from his own pocket. The album was an immediate success, peaking at 10 in the US Billboard 200 and 6 in the UK Albums chart. Although critics from the Rolling Stone were displeased with the band’s music, it nevertheless impressed many fans hearing the album for the first time. Music from the early Led Zeppelin stages was a fusion of blues and rock, and its riff-driven songs like “Communication Breakdown” would later become staples for live performances in the years to come. It was only ten years that Led Zeppelin would release their second album, containing memorable riffs like “Whole Lotta Love” and “Heartbreaker”. The album peaked at the top of both the American and British charts, and Led Zeppelin II is arguably the album that kickstarted modern rock as we know it.
Led Zeppelin was already popular in Britain, but they were even more popular in the States. The band did frequent touring of North America to the point where the band members were getting exhausted from it. Hence, in 1970, the band retired at a cottage in Wales known as “Bron-Yr-Aur”. There, they wrote less heavy material for their third album. In an interview in 1977, Page describes the huge contrast between the tranquility of the Bron-Yr-Aur cottage and the intense touring from 1969. Later, in October 1970, Led Zeppelin released their third album. Although equally as successful as Led Zeppelin II, critics feel that the third album was too similar to the music of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. The constant negative press was getting became the main factor in the absence of information in the untitled fourth album, simply known as Led Zeppelin IV.
Led Zeppelin IV was recorded in the historical mansion, Headley Grange. The album was a synergy of hard rock, progressive rock, and folk-rock. The diverse dynamics of the album is what made it so unique, and it executed the balance between acoustic Celtic folk and hard rock better than its predecessor. Songs like “Black Dog” and “Rock And Roll” would be played in almost every concert after its debut.
However, the untitled fourth album contains, perhaps, the most important song to Led Zeppelin’s legacy: “Stairway To Heaven”. It was probably the first epic that they ever wrote and its gradual rise of the tempo is what made it stood out from the rest of their catalog. The song starts off with soft acoustics from Page and eerily sounds of recorders played by Jones. As the song progresses, it gradually increases its tempo and intensity. It then becomes a slow, progressive rock song, before the bombastic hard rock section led by Page’s guitar solo. The “Stairway To Heaven” guitar solo is widely regarded as the greatest guitar solo in the history of music.
By 1972, Led Zeppelin was the world’s premier rock band. They had sold-out shows wherever they go. The band dominated classic rock radio, as “Stairway To Heaven” became the most requested song during the Seventies. By refusing to release the song as a single, it paved the way for album-oriented rock radio. After constant touring, the band released another album, “Houses of the Holy”. It was a more experimental album, as the band abandoned the bombastic sounds from their earlier stages and move on to art-rock. There were more layers and overdubs in the recordings, and the atmosphere from the album was an expansion of the progressive rock idea kickstarted by “Stairway To Heaven”. Songs like “The Song Remains the Same”, “The Rain Song”, and “No Quarter” defined the band’s new direction they are heading and their growing creativity with the use of their instruments. Despite weird and off-beat songs like “D’yer Mak’er” and “The Crunge”, “Houses of the Holy” was nevertheless a great hit and the subsequent 1973 North American Tour was successful to the point that the movie also called “The Song Remains The Same” was filmed that their three concerts in New York City. They would release the movie three years later.
At this stage, it was safe to say Led Zeppelin was the biggest band in the entire world. Bigger than the Rolling Stones. Bigger than Pink Floyd or the Eagles. They were above every single band during their height of popularity In 1974, after their contract with Atlantic Records, Led Zeppelin was able to create their own recording company, Swan Song Records. Not only were they able to record and release their own albums as well, but also invited other artists as well, most notably supergroup Bad Company. The band’s manager Peter Grant served as the president of the new record company and Led Zeppelin released “Physical Graffiti” as their first album from Swan Song Records in 1975. A double-side album, it was full of new and heavy riff-driven songs, such as “The Wanton Song”, “The Rover” and “Custard Pie”. However, the most impressive song to come out of “Physical Graffiti” was the Eastern-influenced song “Kashmir”. A song out of this world, it was generally agreed among the band members that it was the greatest accomplishment yet. The epic rock song has been played in almost every single live performance after its release to the public.
Led Zeppelin was untouchable. Then, bad luck started rolling in.
After their triumphant Earl’s Court shows, lead singer Robert Plant and his family were involved in a serious car crash during their vacation in Greece. The singer was reduced to a wheelchair when the band recorded their seventh album “Presence” in 1976. It gets far worse. Page was started to get consumed by his heroin addiction, and Bonham went on violent alcohol binges. Despite having another successful North American tour in 1977, the situation in the band didn’t improve. The band hired the London gangster John Bindon as their security coordinator, and when one of the staff for concert promoter Bill Graham was beaten up, it led to an intense fight that led to the arrests of the band’s manager Peter Grant, tour manager Richard Cole, and the drummer John Bonham.
And then, on that fateful day in New Orleans, right before their concert there, Plant received a call that his five-year-old son Karac has died suddenly from a stomach infection. The tour was immediately canceled. The band faced its first major crisis.
However, the band did recover with their successful album “In Through the Out Door” in 1979. Although a great success that topped the Billboard 200, the last album was nevertheless a disappointment to some fans as it was driven by sympathizers and the presence of the guitar was very minimal. In fact, “All My Love” (Plant dedicated this song to his late son) and “South Bound Suarez” were the only two songs that Jimmy Page didn’t have songwriting credits too. Along with its mediocre performance on the album, the band returned to England the final time during the Knebworth Festival in 1979. As tax exiles, they tried to regain their momentum in their home country due to the rise of punk rock during the late Seventies. The two concerts they performed at Knebworth were sold-outs and the band embarked on a lower-profile tour of Europe in 1980. Led Zeppelin regaining quite a bit of momentum back and they were planning to do another North American tour that same year.
However, on September 25th, 1980, John Bonham passed away at the young age of thirty-two after choking on his vomit during his sleep. It was said that he had taken forty shots of vodka leading up to his death. Just a few months later, the remaining members of Led Zeppelin called it quits. The greatest rock band of the Seventies was no more.
Throughout the Eighties, the remaining members participated in two ill-fated reunions. The first one was the notorious Live Aid concerts in 1985, with Chic drummer Tony Thompson and Genesis drummer Phil Collins joining in. It was an absolute disaster, as not only Page’s guitar was off-tune, but also that Plant’s vocals were horrible and the drummers weren’t in sync. In fact, Phil Collins mentioned in his 2016 autobiography “Not Dead Yet” that he wanted to walk out from the performance, but the enormous media presence there stopped him from doing that. The second one was their 1988 reunion at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary. It was still rather mediocre, even though John Bonham’s son Jason played on the drums for the band.
On December 10th, 2007, Led Zeppelin’s redemption had arrived. The three remaining members (Page, Plant, and Jones) along with Jason Bonham once again reunited for their first concert in twenty-seven years at the O2 Arena in London. It was triumphant, and the concert film from that concert (“Celebration Day”) was released five years later. The band was back in full shape and the concert nevertheless a great success. There were murmurs about a reunion tour of Led Zeppelin, but Plant refused, as he was in the midst of a musical project with folk singer Allison Krauss at the time.
Led Zeppelin had an enormous influence on rock music. You can argue that the Beatles had more influence on pop culture in general, but the rock would never be the same without Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham.
Led Zeppelin is truly the greatest rock band of all time.
