The importance of Led Zeppelin
Not
for the first time in my life, I’m currently reading the marvellous ‘Hammer of
the Gods’ by Stephen Davis. In case you’ve never read it or heard of it (shame
on you if you haven’t) it’s an authorised biography about Led Zeppelin ... and it’s
absolutely brilliant!!
So,
with this being Mols Sound Words, I thought I’d reminisce a little about my continuing
lifelong love affair with all things Zeppelin – the notoriety, the black magic,
the tragedy, the fame, the fortune, the controversy, but, above all for me, the
music!
Every
now and then, when you get to my age, you tend to go through phases when
you‘re-discover’ a band that played a big part in your life! The memories that
comes with it (and there’s many of them) and the great times you had in your
youth!
But,
as the whole point of this blog is – we sometimes take Led Zeppelin for granted
and completely misunderstand where music would be without them! I know music
today is pretty shite, granted, we all know that, but during the time most of
us grew up – the late 80’s, mid 90’s and the early 00’s, Led Zeppelin were
absolute gods and nothing really has changed! Hence the word ‘importance’ in
the title of this
I
saw a posting on Facebook a few weeks ago. It was a rather amusing graph that
depicted the topics of Led Zeppelin songs. 50% was about sex, 49% was about
mystic goblins, sorcery and Lord of the Rings and 1% was about citrus!* Made me
laugh that!! But, it kind of was posted in a half serious manner because if you
really do look at the topics led Zeppelin wrote about, these three subjects pretty
much narrows it down perfectly
*and yes – I do know The Lemon Song is about
sex!!
But,
the whole joy and pure brilliance about Led Zeppelin is not just the subjects
and lyrics of their songs! To truly understand how they ‘ticked’, you have to
listen to the production side of each and every one of their albums!
In ten
short years Jimmy Page and Peter Grant (with the odd contribution from John
Paul Jones), Led Zeppelin took the production of music to boundaries never
before heard. Granted, when Page ‘assumed control’ of The Yardbirds, he did change
their production style from standard R&B (this is proper R&B by the way,
not the shite you hear booming from pimp mobiles with black out windows in
every city centre around the world) to cosmic, space-age freak out rock! But his
work with Led Zeppelin surpassed everything he did with The Yardbirds by a
country mile! Even the simple affect of quickly changing the vocals from one
speaker to another during the end of Ramble On from Led Zep 2, to the awesome
drum sounds of Led Zep 4, Led Zeppelin were the true pioneers and innovators of
modern twentieth century heavy rock!! We truly do have a lot to thank them for
not just for the inspiration their music gave, but for the way music is
produced today.
Led
Zeppelin was more than just a band – they were absolute phenomena in all
aspects of the music industry. They were the first band to secure a royalties deal
(courtesy of their manager Peter Grant – more on him later) that equalled four
times of what The Beatles earned. They were the first band to sell out stadium
after stadium in the US with releasing less than 5 singles! They were the first
band to secure a deal with music promoters in America that gave the band a 90/10
split! They were the first band to be paid a million dollars for a small tour
of America! They were the first band to turn American blues from artists like
Howling Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson and the much revered Robert Johnson into
heavy rock! – THAT was new
The
players
Robert
Plant
When
Plant joined Led Zeppelin, he was a shy, young boy who suffered from
homesickness and had to hide behind the amps because he was too shit scared to
face the crowd! But, he grew into it fairly quickly and become one the finest
singers the world of music has ever seen. There’s a great story in the book I’m
reading about him and Bonham cowering and crying in the back of a van that was
about to break down in severe snow! Bonham & Plant were very close as they
were both from the same area of the midlands and Plant’s rea2ction to Bonham’s
death was the main reason Led Zeppelin never continued. You can’t blame him
really as Bonham really was a damn fine drummer!
Plant
also had this aura about him! You could say some sort of mystic, god-like
spirit. Men wanted to be him and women simply worshipped him. Rumour has it
that he once stood on the balcony of the LA Riot House and announced to his
worshipping hoards gathered beneath him: “I
am a golden god!” – In a way, you kind of agree with him!
John
Paul Jones
Like
Jimmy Page, JPJ was a stalwart of the hired session musician scene. Jones could
pick up any instrument by the time he was 13 years old and pretty much master
it! He also, unknown to many, possessed the great ability to arrange music for
some of the best artists around at the time such as Aretha Franklin and Wilson
Picket.
Jones
was the ‘quiet’ member of the band who never messed around with groupies and
hardly ever did drugs. He was also rumoured to be the only member of the band
who didn’t ‘sell their souls to the devil’ in return for instant fame and
fortune. Hence the reason he never encountered personal sadness or disaster
like Page, Plant and ultimately Bonham! But, JPJ’s experience and expertise was
vital to Led Zeppelin’s outstanding musical arrangements and style! Without JPJ
– there simply would not be a Led Zeppelin! 100% professional to the core!
John
Bonham
He
was very much a simple man with simple needs and taste! His drumming style
though was far from simple! Bonham changed the way drumming way played
throughout rock music! This was mainly down to the size of his drum sticks –
tree trunks, as they become known. He also developed a recording style helped
by Jimmy Page where he placed tin foil around the inside of his bass drum that
gave the impression of it sounding like two drums! Maybe that’s why his drums
sounded SO loud.
Before
Bonham, rock drumming was very much in the background of music and recorded,
rather daftly, in mono by bands like Cream, the Kinks & the Beatles
recorded the drums as a mere afterthought and background music. Have a listen
to their recordings and you’ll realise it sounds pretty lame and thin compared
to Bonham’s banging and boisterous pounding! An example of this drumming would
be the intro to When the Levee Breaks off Led Zep IV – stunning playing and
even better production that jumps up and gives you full on kick in the bollocks!
Bonham,
though, fell foul to the lifestyle that sadly took his life at the age of 31 –
drink, drugs and an all-round dark ability to be seriously un-liked and nasty –
which he was when he was drunk! He was nick-named The Beast by everyone
associated with the band (who often hid from him during after show parties).
Groupies feared him as did other bands including his own! It’s sad to say, but
he was such an immense drummer, but, when drunk, a dreadfully horrible person
too! But, rock drumming would not be where it is today if it weren’t for Bonham
- Dave Grohl, Phil Rudd, Steven Adler, Stewart Copeland, Phil Selway, even
other drummers of that era have a lot to thank him for.
Jimmy
Page
Jimmy
Page – in my opinion the best guitarist ever! Forget Clapton, Beck &
Hendrix, Page was a master! A sorcerer! A wizard! A shaman! He could hold an
entire audience spellbound for hours with his magic show and his attack towards
his guitar! He was the first guitarist to use a thermion in tandem with his
guitar playing, hypnotising the crowd with sci-fi sounds and the strange, alien
noises it created! He was the first guitarist to experiment using a bow! He was
the first guitarist to use two microphones when recording his guitar in a
studio – one directly in front of his speakers, and another 10 feet behind so
the microphone picked up the residual sound! He was the first guitarist to mix
and produce his band’s music! He was simply a genius.
I
remember reading some throw away comment about Jimmy Page on Facebook a few
months back about him not moving on and being continually stuck in the past
with his re-issuing and re-mastering of Led Zeppelin recordings – so what!
Personally Led Zeppelin’s music will NEVER be stuck in the past! It’s as
relevant, important and crisp today as it was over 40 years ago when it was
recorded! For me, that is something to hold onto, cherish and be thoroughly
proud of! – Page is responsible for all of this!
Peter
Grant & Richard Cole
Behind
every successful venture, be it in business or music is a mastermind! Behind
every mastermind is hired muscle! These two were Grant & Cole. Cole started
out being a roadie for many bands working for Grant before taking on the job of
‘looking after’ Led Zeppelin after persuading Grant to give him the job full
time. Cole was a true hard bastard who took absolutely no shit from anyone who
came within an inch of upsetting the band. His usual solution was to break
someone’s nose or give them a good kicking backstage! God forbid any
bootleggers in the crowd recoding a Led Zeppelin show as well as he was known
to drag them out by their hair and smash their equipment! He did this once
thinking it was a bootlegger, it turned out to be an under-cover police officer
monitoring the sound levels!
Many
things were written about Led Zeppelin. Many were true, many were made up! But
one rule was absolute - you really didn’t fuck with or even try to fuck over
Peter Grant! Period! There are plenty of stories about Grant’s notorious
violent streak! One such story was how he escorted two rednecks from the
backstage area by their waists after they pulled a gun on him in a dispute over
money!! But the greatest and most poignant achievement in Grant’s time with Led
Zeppelin was without doubt the record deal he secured for the band with
Atlantic Records! The deal he agreed on would see the band receive 4 times more
of what The Beatles received in their contract and has never been matched to
this day! That is something you simply have to take your hat off to.
The band,
after Bonham’s death, split turned out to be pretty messy and lawsuits were
filed in a haze of cocaine and tragedy! But Led Zeppelin remains to this day
one of the highest grossing and successful bands the world has ever seen! This is
all down to Peter Grant! Like him, love him or sue him, if you were in a tight
spot – you’d want him on your side any day of the week!
My two
favourite albums
Led
Zep 4
Many
rock critics and music observers over the years have said there are two great
rock albums that sits at the top of the pile. Many say AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’
and many say Led Zeppelin’s 4th album (or ‘The Druids Album’, ‘Four
Symbols’, ‘ZOSO’ or ‘Led Zep 4’ – as it has been known over the years).
Personally, I think Back in Black IS a great album, but Led Zep 4 IS the
greatest!
The intro
to Black Dog is by far the most recognisable opening track in rock music! The
wah wah wah wah wakka wakka wakka fade in of Page’s guitar really is quite splendid!
Then Plant’s “hey hey mama ...” – brilliant!
This
album was the first time Led Zeppelin adopted a recording technique on truly
high tech equipment, by recording it at an old house owned by Jimmy Page called
Hedley Grange. It’s also quite hard to believe that the whole of the drums were
recorded on one microphone on the landing of the house! Once again, Bonham’s
ability to pound the drums like no other drummer in the world was partially the
result why the drums sound so mighty and loud!! Page turned the knobs to make
it sound crisp! How he did this on one microphone though is truly outstanding!
But
Led Zep 4 wasn’t all balderdash and balls out – it had a softer, tender side to
it with songs like ‘Going to California’ and ‘The Battle of Evermore’. You
could even count the intro to ‘Stairway to Heaven’ too! I felt this was Plant’s
influence on the band due to his personal and stage persona of the peaceful,
free loving hippy (take a look at his personal film on the film they did called
The Song remains the Same – its utterly brilliant)
Led
Zep 4 also had a degree of mysticism around it with the actual album having no
record label insignia or writing except for the lyrics to Stairway to Heaven
and four symbols that decorated the inside sleeve. The symbols (allegedly)
represented each member of the band as chosen by themselves. The album cover
itself lived up to Led Zeppelin’s trade mark strange ability to create the
obscure
Many
say they did this just to piss off the record label, but the truth was that
they did it to wind the press up! The press (especially in America) seen them as
arrogant rock star royalty and hated them for it! In a way, they were right! But
led Zeppelin retaliated (as Grant would have them do) in a fashion that baffled
the press by giving their first three album titles numbers instead of names,
not releasing singles and, the straw that broke the camel’s back, releasing Led
Zep 4, as i’ve stated, with no markings! Personally I think this was a stroke
of genius! If there’s one thing that will get kids rushing to the shops to buy
a new album – it’s the unknown! Especially when it’s the biggest band on the
planet doing it! You only have to look at how many copies this album sold to
realise how big it actually was!
THAT
was what made Led Zep 4 so big and so brilliant! The press hated them, the
labels hated them (because of the deal they had), but the kids LOVED them!!! You
could say they really were a band of the people instead of these arrogant rock
gods as they were labelled by the American press!!
But,
finally, when the dust settles and the sands of time (sic) find themselves back
at square one and Mother Nature finally runs out of gas and air, Led Zep 4 will
be sat there, on a misty mountain side, waiting, looking at its watch saying “I’m
still here! Has anyone done anything better than me yet?”
Led
Zep 2
Led
Zep 2 was the first sign of Led Zeppelin beginning to experiment with different
recording techniques as, and this is not a criticism here, but Led Zep 1 did
sound slightly rushed (historically/allegedly it was recorded in 36 hours). This
was also the first time Led Zeppelin began using sound effects. Songs like
Whole lotta Love proved this
But,
without doubt, the most stand out performance on the whole album has to be Page’s
guitar work! Songs like Living Lovin’ Maid (She’s Just a Woman), The Lemon
Song, Heartbreaker and Bring it on Home – I honestly don’t think Page never
matched these performances!
To
pick one song to sing Page’s praise though would have to be Heartbreaker! This is
simply stunning that also has a degree of arrogant showmanship to the way the
song stops at exactly 2 minutes and allows page to unleash what is quite
possibly his greatest guitar solo! It really does have everything, but then
stops to unleash the 2nd guitar solo that even matched the first!
Sublime!! For the record – both solos last 1:40, but seems like an eternity!!
But Heartbreaker
isn’t just about the solo(s); the intro is firmly embedded into rock music
folklore! Instantly recognisable across the world, you can almost see every rock
music fan the world over doing the devil signs with their little finger and
pointer finger upon hearing it (especially most inhabitants of The Swan pun in
Liverpool, eh Pughy?)
Finally,
you could say that led Zep 2 set the bar for heavy rock! Many Black Sabbath fans
may disagree! They may have a point, but, in my opinion, Sabbath we’re one
trick ponies with their sluggish rhythm section and their second rate guitar work!
Led Zeppelin were 25 trick stallions ... with a big fuck off hard on! Led Zep 2
was the Viagra of the birth of stadium rock music! Led Zep 2 seen the birth of
the TRUE rock guitar hero! Led Zep seen the start of real, new, innovative rock
music production and set the mandate for rock/heavy metal music of today!
Summary
We all
have our favourite bands! I do – the Stones! Most of you know that! It’s a love
that will never go away to my last breath! But, and this is not a criticism of
The Stones by any means, but Led Zeppelin, in my opinion made you think! They made
you look up and go “WOW!!”. They made you appreciate all aspects of music
whether it be heavy rock, psychedelic, folk, blues or pop! They made you look
at Robert Plant & Jimmy Page and think “Fucking hell! I bet they could fuck
any bird they wanted to at the drop of a hat!”
Led Zeppelin,
in 11 brief years, jammed more outstanding music into that time than any other
band in my opinion. But, more importantly – they made every album count! They never
shirked or added some shit album filler at the request of some pushy A&R
tit from a record label! This was mainly because they also (like The Stones &
The Beatles) seen the advantages of creating their own record label thus giving
them full artistic control over what they released – something you do not see
these days!!
So,
next time you listen to Led Zeppelin, think about the music and what they put
into it! Think about Plant’s lyrics! Think about how Page thought out a solo! Think
about John Paul Jones’ creativeness and think about Bonham being a drunken rhinoceros
with two tree trunks as drumsticks bashing the fuck out of a drum kit!
Finally,
I thought i’d leave you with the lyrics of the current, random Led Zeppelin
song i’m listening to as I write this – ‘Thank You’ off Led Zep 2......
“If the sun refused to shine
I’d still be loving you
Mountains crumble to the sea
There’d still be you and me”
Marvellous
stuff
Mol
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