40 Years And Still Surviving

''In the days of my youth,I was told what it was to be a man, Now Ive reached the age,Ive tried to do all those things the best I can, No matter how I try,I find my way to do the same old jam''. That was the first verse of the first song of the first album Led Zeppelin ever recorded. Who knew this verse would change the direction of rock and who knew this band would have such a succes?

Led Zeppelin has been, is and will be remembered as one of the greatest hard rock bands to ever exist. The mix of Robert Plant's voice which continues to be first-class and rivitting, the unhuman solos by the great Jimmy Page, the tasty bass licks by John Paul Jones and the hard drumming by John Bonham gave the result of Led Zeppelin. This band has become and will be the voice of a generation.

Fourty years ago, four guys got a record an album out just as any regular band would have. No one knew the sensation this band would encounter. The album was entitled Led Zeppelin such as the name's band. Coincidence?

This album release was the beginning of an era, the face of rock and roll would forever change. The Beatles were replaced by these outstanding musicians. This album was considered as one of the best rock albums. The magazine Rolling Stone ranked this album in the 29th place in the 500 greatest albums. Impressive, you can say...

The album is a fusion of blues and rock which gives the one and only Led Zeppelin. According to Page, "The first album is a live album, it really is, and it's done intentionally in that way. It's got overdubs on it, but the original tracks are live."

Many people, even fourty years later, wonder what is in the cover of the album? "The cover of Led Zeppelin...shows the Hindenburg airship, in all its phallic glory, going down in flames. The image did a pretty good job of encapsulating the music inside: sex, catastrophe and things blowing up."
—Greg Kot, Rolling Stone

Those nine songs appearing in the record were just a simple preview of what this band was able to do. After all this, two questions only come to mind: Will Led Zeppelin reunite and tour around the world and the second one is: Will there ever be a band such as this one; so talented and influential?

Comments

[evolucian]

Very cool primer. Another bit of trivia is that it was recorded in just 30 hours, basically over a weekend.

[FlyingLeukemia]

I think Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You is their best song (not that that has anything to do with your article).

Led Zeppelin was a wildly talented group in my opinion, but you should not write reviews of such biased, unyielding praise. Try to use more facts that speak for the band and less 'impressive, you can say', 'rock and life in general would forever change', 'will there ever be a band such as this one?', etc.

I mean, Alter Bridge is just one example of a band that is all of the things that Led Zeppelin is (another, although they have a more separate style, would be Audioslave, and there are a few others).

They are basically the same band as far as the merits Zeppelin is regarded for go, but with songs that aren't as messy due to more modern production. Their singer is incredibly talented and arguably has the most technical skill and talent of any singer alive today, their guitarist definitely knows his way around the frets, the bassist serves his part as much as he did in Zeppelin (contributes the least), and their drummer is arguably better (in that he often displays more creativity).

Was this band influenced by Zeppelin? I can guarantee you they were, but they are taking an old band and improving upon it.

No band can be the greatest of all time due to the subjective nature of music in general, but even for people who believe the band is the best, another band takes their place soon enough.