Led Zeppelin. Songs & Style. Led the way for modern rock music.
Even though Led Zeppelin‘s first band name was the “New Yardbirds” (whaaa?), the British band really did define “hard” rock and helped usher it into all kinds of new directions. They had style (sadly, thought Led Zep might be somewhat to blame for all of the blown hair and glam makeup of 80’s LA rock bands – those guys took it waaaayy too far.).
For helping to define modern rock, for writing amazing songs, and for putting on great shows over and over again, we thank Led Zep: Jimmy Page (Guitars), Robert Plant (vocals), John Paul Jones (bassist/keyboardist), and John Bonham (drums).
Below are some Led Zeppelin photos, history, a video of one of our favorite Led Zeppelin songs, and album information.
Led Zeppelin History: first concert ever (then playing as the New Yardbirds”) was: September 7, 1968 Gladsaxe / Denmark / Teen-Clubs, Box 45, Egegaard Skole. Then by the end of the year they’re playing Universities and the Seattle Center Arena. Not bad for a new band, eh? When you look back on the first shows (that we know of and they admit) that they played you see (concerts in 1968) places that are either named or described as “Teen clubs” and “Pop clubs” in Denmark and Sweeden. Can you imagine Led Zeppelin playing teen or pop club concerts?!?
An easy-to-read article about Jimmy Page’s guitar sound as well as recording techniques (excerpt below). Jimmy produced the records, and I have a chance to work a couple times with audio engineer Eddie Kramer (Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin III, Houses Of The Holy, Physical Graffiti, The Song Remains The Same, Coda), so it’s sort of interesting to read more about the recording side (below is buy GIbson guitars, so you can image where the focus is). Only got a couple sessions with him, but was sort of surreal to work on multitrack recording with him (That’s Eddie’s voice on Black Country Woman when the plane flies by at the beginning. They recorded most of that outside in the backyard of Mick Jagger’s “estate” interesting acoustics recording outdoors.)
From Led Zeppelin on Wikipedia: “After changing their name, the band signed a favourable deal with Atlantic Records that allowed them considerable artistic freedom. Led Zeppelin did not release songs from their albums as singles in the United Kingdom, as they preferred to establish the concept of album-orientated rock. Their first two albums, with their heavy, guitar-driven blues rock sound, led to Led Zeppelin being regularly cited as one of the progenitors of heavy metal andhard rock, even though the band’s individualistic style drew from varied sources and transcends any single music genre. Their next two albums incorporated wider musical influences, particularly from folk music; the fourth, untitled album, which featured the track “Stairway to Heaven“, is among the most popular and influential works in rock music, and it cemented the status of the group as “superstars”. Subsequent albums saw greater musical experimentation and were accompanied by record-breaking tours, which, like the group’s earlier tours, earned them a reputation for excess. Although they remained commercially and critically successful, in the later 1970s, the band’s output and touring schedule were limited by the personal difficulties and circumstances of the members. Led Zeppelin disbanded following Bonham’s sudden death in 1980.”
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/jimmy-page-wizard-0107-2012/
Listen to Led Zeppelin tracks and read more info from last.fm:
http://www.last.fm/music/Led+Zeppelin
A meager and humble nod to one of the music greats.
