Since most modern pop music continues to find new ways to suck my will to live, I thought I’d cleanse the palette and talk about music I actually like. I don’t know when it is that I fell out with most modern pop music. Maybe it’s when all singers decided to sound like tone-deaf, auto-tuned, helium balloons singing wimpy platitudes about love occasionally interrupted by weak guitar solos. I’m not against love or commitment, or even something low key and in-offensive. But I at least ask it have some heart, some excitement, some joie de vivre. I want music that makes me want to get up and move. Everything on the radio today seems intent on putting me to sleep.
Tone-deaf helium balloons aside, it’s hardly hyperbole to talk about how influential Led Zeppelin has been on the world of rock music. I think it’s precisely because they weren’t afraid to add a little grit, a little edge, a little heartbreak to their music. Their first album in particular, there isn’t much in the recording quality that separates it too far from most other rock music at the time. The difference I think comes in the energy of the performances put forth by the band members. Jimmy Page has been quite open talking about how the band’s first record was recorded in a day and a half using low watt amplifiers, and that immediacy shines through.
But we’re not here to talk about Led Zeppelin’s first record. We’re here to talk about their fourth record. I’ll refer to it as Led Zeppelin IV (their previous three records numbered as such), even though technically it was released without a title. It’s sometimes referred to amongst fans as “Stick Man” because of it’s album cover, or “Four Symbols” because of the artwork on the back. But it’s undeniably it’s Zep’s biggest record, selling 20 million copies in the US alone.
Right at the beginning, with “Black Dog”, Robert Plant not so much sings as commands “Hey hey mama/Love the way you move/Gonna make you sweat/Gonna make you groove”. If there’s one thing Led Zeppelin was always good at, it was groove, and “Black Dog” is one of their best. Both this track and the follow-up “Rock and Roll” feel not so much like album openers as they do manifestos. This is Led Zeppelin presenting their mission statement to us, with an old school Little Richard piano solo no less.
Led Zeppelin were always big fans of “Lord of the Rings”, and Led Zeppelin IV has perhaps the most references. The Celtic-tinged “Battle of Evermore” makes a direct reference with the lyric “The Ringwraiths are out in black” and “Misty Mountain Hop” is named after a central location in “The Hobbit”. “Misty Mountain Hop” and “Four Sticks” are perhaps the only two tracks I hesitate to call classics, because they’re nowhere near as well known as other songs on this album. They’re still really good songs however, showcasing John Paul Jones’ Rhodes piano work on the former and John Bonham’s rolling drum work on the latter. While not as legendary as others, their status amongst hardcore Led Zeppelin fans make them two of the band’s most well known B-sides.
The flawless A-side closes with the legendary “Stairway to Heaven” and…well, what can I say about this song that hasn’t been said already? It’s the template of the grand rock epic for a simple reason: it builds. It starts off small, and builds and builds and finally crescendos in one epic moment of rock awesomeness. It’s everything Led Zeppelin was about in one single song. It’s status has been well-earned.
Back on the B-side, after “Hop” and “Four Sticks”, we have the forlorn “Going to California”. Zep always did acoustic wonderfully, with this song and “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” standing as their best in my opinion. But where “Babe” was almost menacing, “California” is tender and bittersweet. Robert Plant’s vocals have never sounded better than they do here.
The album closes with the pounding “When the Levee Breaks”, with John Bonham’s pounding drums providing the pulse. With him and Page setting the rhythm, it’s Plant’s harmonica that oddly acts as the lead instrument on this song. Zep were always fond of taking old blues standards like this and making them palpable to rock fans, and this the band at their most desperate and mournful. Forgive the reference, but Hurricane Katrina had a soundtrack this would be it.
Led Zeppelin IV, to me, is as close to a flawless LP as you can get. Only eight songs long, but every one of them matters. No filler, just the good stuff. Six great songs, and two still really good ones. Other bands should be so lucky.
