Led Zeppelin

The greatest rock band ever? You bet!

A long time ago, I was listening to Lagaan when one of my friends walked in and said to me, "Abey yeh kya bakwaas sun raha hai, Led Zeppelin sun, Led Zeppelin!" At that time, I didn't care who Led Zepp were. I used to like Creed at that time. I still do, I think they're great. But now I feel at that time I would've not been able to appreciate the greatness of Led Zeppelin. After having been exposed to rock for a few more years, after having heard Deep Purple, Sabbath, Linkin Park and the like, I now have enough rock music mileage under me to say that Led Zeppelin kicks everybody's ass. What's more, they produced the best rock music ever when there was no reference to look up to. Maybe that helped. Either way, their work is revered even now. Art being timeless is a quality afforded to only the best of the best.

There are very few bands that’ve had more than one hit album. Not many could do it. Although, the ones who did it, did it consistently. Take The Beatles, for example. They have a CD with 36 #1 singles. Pink Flyod is another example. The brilliant Bob Dylan hardly ever dropped his lofty standards. All these people were pioneers in their time. They made music like no one had ever made before. And Led Zeppelin fall exactly in that category. Delivering hit after hit after hit, they set about changing the face of rock music, if not giving it the face it has today. They were one of the first heavy metal bands and all their eight albums are platinum hits. ALL!

What I like most about Zeppelin is that each of the songs in their album is of a high caliber. Usually, you find that in an album maybe one or two songs are good, the rest are ordinary. With Led Zeppelin, you find it difficult to skip songs. Ofcourse you are going to have favorites, but the others are equally good. They've also got great variety in their work. From pure heavy metal to jazz to classical, from blues to pop to folk. They have fast, heart stopping numbers to slow soulful solos. All their songs are different without losing the Zeppelin hallmark, like A.R Rahman (who did Lagaan, I might add!). My favorite song is the unstoppable Achilles Last Stand from the album Presence. Fast, really fast beats, accompanied by brilliant guitar work and a haunting vocal performance, Last Stand is a sheer adrenalin rush! Towards the end, as Plant let's out his rallying cry, you almost feel like if Achilles had been on his last stand, and had he heard this song, he would've taken out that arrow from his heel and fucked the shit out of whoever shot it! In what Led Zeppelin themselves claim as the song they enjoyed recording the most, Achilles Last Stand is a tribute to band's loyalty to hard rock!

No blog post on Led Zeppelin can be complete without a discussion on Led Zeppelin IV and Stairway to Heaven. They say that Stairway to Heaven is always on air at some radio station across the US. The symbol of Led Zeppelin, Stairway, is regarded as their greatest work. It is a song that amazes me each time I hear it. It’s got the best guitar solo of all time, lyrics that are yet to be understood and an amazing tempo which you can almost never pin down. It starts with a vocal solo, drums kick in way after the guitar. Suddenly, it shifts gears and becomes this unstoppable, irresistible force. You have to hear it to believe it. And if you've heard it, you know what I'm talking about! With each song an epic, Led Zeppelin IV was a 23x platinum hit.

I think what makes their music so good is that they never waste a single beat. Every beat, every guitar riff is carefully placed. It just makes the music littered with detail. If you've not heard Zeppelin yet, you're missing out on something great.

I've never enjoyed any single brand of music so much. Long live the rock and roll kings!

Some of my Zeppelin favorites:

Achilles Last Stand
Stairway to Heaven
Nobody's Fault But Mine
When the Levee Breaks
Immigrant Song
Rock and Roll
Since I've Been Loving You
Tangerine