There's a certain element of mysticism and magic to the music of Led Zeppelin: it's an intangible quality that, even back in 1969 -- when their phenomenal self-titled debut album was released -- distinguished the band from its varied and eclectic influences, ranging from blues to British folk. Today, Robert Plant and company are widely considered the forefathers of hard rock and metal -- yes, even more so than Black Sabbath -- and their influence can still be felt today.
This past Sunday marked 25 years since the death of the band's iconic drummer, John Bonham, an event that ultimately brought about the group's untimely end. Bonham's death, caused by accidental asphyxiation following a drinking binge, was the last in a series of misfortunes that befell the band in its later years. In 1976, Plant broke his ankle and his wife nearly died in a car crash in Greece. A year later, Plant's son died of a stomach infection, forcing the band to cancel their U.S. tour. The band further suffered from the death of friend Keith Moon, drummer for the Who, in 1978 and Plant's worsening heroin addiction.
But it is not for these misfortunes that the band is remembered, of course. Rather, Led Zeppelin's legacy lies firmly in the enduring power and beauty of its music; its place in rock history has forever been sealed. What each member brought to the overall sound and impact of their songs -- and how their input synergistically created a unique voice -- is to this day unparalleled among rock bands.
Some have called John Bonham an octopus; listen to any version of "Moby Dick" and you'll swear that there was a team of drummers with two sticks and a pedal each. Bonham's thunderous right-foot pedal and mile-a-minute triplets made his technique both unique and revolutionary, and his brash, unbridled style set the standard for many drummers in his wake.
Zeppelin immediately became the definitive image of the ultimate hard rock band -- along with Bonham, there was cocky, enigmatic lead vocalist Plant, hell-shaking lead guitarist Jimmy Page and overlooked yet brilliant bassist John Paul Jones.
The band formed from the ashes of the Yardbirds, an early British rock band known for its virtuosic guitar stylings as well as for jumpstarting the careers of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Page. After the group's breakup, Page recruited Bonham, Jones and -- upon a recommendation from Terry Reid, Page's first choice for vocalist -- Robert Plant. This new group was briefly called the New Yardbirds, a name that lasted until Keith Moon famously commented that, with the lineup of songs for their debut album, they'd "go down faster than a metal balloon." The band quickly adopted the name of "Lead Zeppelin," changing the spelling for easier pronunciation.
Zeppelin's self-titled debut album was important for many reasons. It was one of the earliest successful fusions of blues and rock, and its then-unique proto-metal sound, typified by guitar amplification and distortion, came to dominate hard rock in the years that followed. Moreover, the album's psychedelic sound endeared the group to the countercultural movement on both sides of the Atlantic. Almost from the start, it was clear that Zeppelin was to be a musical and cultural phenomenon.
The band's next two albums, simply titled "Led Zeppelin II" and "Led Zeppelin III," both strengthened and widened the band's appeal. The combination of Plant's artfully excessive vocals and Page's astonishing dexterity, together with John Paul Jones' oft-ignored consistency and Bonham's roaring percussion, established Zeppelin as the definitive English heavy blues/rock group, overshadowing contenders such as Jeff Beck by appealing more to popular tastes. Zeppelin explored new genres, with songs like "Tangerine" possessing a more folksy, acoustic sound and other tracks like the mystical "Ramble On" clearly drawing influence from "Lord of the Rings."
But it was really Zeppelin's fourth album, untitled but commonly referred to as "Led Zeppelin IV" -- "Zoso" and "Runes" are other title suggestions -- that ecstatically embraced the group's ability to blend disparate styles into a single, unified voice. Nowhere is this clearer than in the ubiquitous "Stairway to Heaven," a song which starts as a soft, romantic ballad and builds to a seismically powerful guitar solo and a stirring and jazzy finish. (Page himself once said that the song "crystallized the essence of Led Zeppelin.")
The group continued to weave variant styles -- including James Brown-inspired funk in "The Crunge," reggae in "D'Yer Mak'er" and even harder rock in "Kashmir" -- into their last truly great albums, "Houses of the Holy" and "Physical Graffiti." However, they never quite achieved that same exultant dynamic between inspiration and ingenuity that drove "IV," which has rightly come to be viewed as their masterpiece.
There is an ongoing debate surrounding Zeppelin's artistic integrity, and hence their legacy. Many detractors point to "Whole Lotta Love," which bears such a lyrical resemblance to Willie Dixon's "You Need Love" that Dixon's lawyers eventually sued. (Dixon now gets partial songwriting credit.) Others bring up the "Rock and Roll" Chevrolet commercials and insist that Zeppelin sold out. And still others contend that the group's eventual obsession with black magic and the fantastical drew them dangerously close to self-parody, leaving music lovers unable to take them -- or any of their successors -- seriously.
Yet to fans, the whole debate is mostly sound and fury. Zeppelin's impact on hard-rock groups today is undeniable, and many of their iconic riffs have found their way into the music of such varied successors as Metallica, the Beastie Boys and Sublime. With Zeppelin's emergence into the limelight in 1969, the world bore witness to a style that was new to post-Beatles rock: a heavier, faster, heftier, wilder and more improvisational sound. It is a sound that -- in the 25 years after the band's breakup -- has echoed in the high-ceilinged hallways of rock history, and it is a sound that rings gloriously in our ears to this day.
