The focus of this blog will be why I feel Led Zeppelin is a good choice of study as not only a talented seminal heavy metal band but one of the most influential of its time. The songs I’ll be using as examples of their talent and influence span their career, and appear on separate albums. The first song, Dazed and Confused, is off their eponymous 1969 debut album, Led Zeppelin. The second, When the Levee Breaks,  appears on their best-selling 1971 album, Led Zeppelin IV. The last song, Kashmir, is from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.

The reason there is so much debate and discussion as to whether Led Zeppelin’s music was in fact heavy metal is due to the broad definition and characteristics, as well as the evolution that it and associated styles went through for the past almost half a century. Generally speaking, heavy metal music is characterized as loud and aggressive, with heavy distortion and riffs, with an electric guitar as the main instrument.[1] It typically has less syncopation and blues, more showmanship and brute force.[2] Its the fact that Led Zeppelin takes so much blues influence and plays such a diverse selection of music that fuels the debate. Other popular aspects of heavy metal are rapid, thrashing riffs, pounding, heavy drums and dark or aggressive vocals and themes.

As one of the groups earliest songs displays many of the characteristics of heavy metal. The echoing and sparse guitar chords sound spacey and solemn. They create a sound that can only be described as “dazed and confused”. The vocals are rough and high pitched simultaneously. The content of the lyrics, mostly relationship problems, isn’t particularly edgy but does help to augment the somber tone. Through out the song are eerie, dark riffs that flow in and out of the foreground and back into the background. It aims to create a sense or paranoia.

Midway through the song the tempo kicks up and breaks into a lighter jam where all the band members seem to just jam as fast and crazy as they want, then settles right back into the ominous ambiance of before. It really exemplifies the occult interests the band shared, and the image they aimed to portray. The loud screaming vocals sound almost tortured, yet energetic and excited at the same time. This track is an example of many of the trends that heavy metal music would embody in the coming years.

When the Levee breaks is another of Led Zeppelins song which contains many traits of metal music. The guitar is very sharp and heavily distorted, and there is long sections where it and the pounding drums take prominence, with no vocals. It is multi-sectional, and transitions through many different stages, leaving one as fast as another comes. The lyrics paint a picture of a tragedy about to happen; the rain keeps coming and the levee is going to break. However, although it shares traits with heavy metal songs, it also retains the blues form of singing and a slower tempo then most modern metal songs.

Kashmir’s heavy percussion and rhythm makes it sound like a march to war. The sound is dense  just has a sense of heaviness. Again, this song is long and multi-sectional, sometimes producing a lighter triumphant sound, and  its then back to business. The string riffs played briefly are extremely virtuosic and show a high level  of skill. Again, there is a lot of instrumental sections breaking up the verses. Once again however, there are elements that are arguably not typical of heavy metal. The blues style of singing, and the uplifting sections don’t share much with conventional metal. The arabic and indian inspired sounds also don’t have much connection to heavy metal.

In the course textbook, there are a number of differences stated that differentiate heavy metal from rock music. Some of them are shared by Zeppelin, while others aren’t. For example, distortion is very common, as is a tendency to be multi-sectional with many instrumental sections, and a great degree of virtuosic talent. Not all of the aspects of heavy metal are exemplified, which is why Led Zeppelin in my opinion is a seminal heavy metal band or a precursor to it. It was a different type of sound than other popular rock from the age, but not completely different.

So if you agree that Led Zeppelin is indeed heavy metal, or an important precursor to it there can be no greater band to mention regarding the development and mainstream understanding of the genre (maybe Black Sabbath). They sold more records than almost any other group of the time. Even today, they are still popular among those who weren’t born at the time, with 183 million streams across their Spotify catalog.[3] Theres no question when it comes to influence that Led Zeppelin reigns supreme.

Sources:

1. Estrella, Espie. “What Is Heavy Metal Music?” ThoughtCo. Accessed August 01, 2018. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-heavy-metal-p2-2456255.

2. Pareles, Jon. “HEAVY METAL, WEIGHTY WORDS.” The New York Times. July 10, 1988. Accessed August 01, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/10/magazine/heavy-metal-weighty-words.html?

3. “Just how popular are Led Zeppelin with streaming music users? Accessed August 01, 2018. http://musically.com/2015/02/25/led-zeppelin-streaming-music/.

The song I’ve chosen to blog about is called “Me and the Devil”, written by Robert Johnson. I was quite surprised to find out that it was written by Robert Johnson, as I am quite familiar with the version performed by Gil Scott Heron, and I had assumed it was written by him.

Heron’s version instrumentally is much darker, with a wider array of sounds including very prominent drums and synths, and obviously crisper due to technological improvements. His voice is also much raspier due to decades of crack smoking[2]. But, I digress. The version we’re talking about is the original.

Musically, the instrumental is skeletal, just Johnson plucking sadly on his guitar. Often its quietly in the background, but then it breaks into the forefront with a brief eerie riff, and then its back to the background. It paints an image of the kind of sound W. C. Handy would have heard when he first discovered someone playing what he would call blues in 1903[3], though obviously not quite as skilled. Its known as a shuffle rhythm, where the beat is divided into two unequal parts.

Accompanying the skeletal instrumental is Johnson’s masterful blues vocal style. Its a mixture between singing and talking, starting high and ending low. There are frequent long pauses in both vocal and guitar playing. The vocals combined with the guitar create a sound that is both creepy and sad simultaneously, or blue rather. At times Johnson seems full of emotion, other times hopeless, others darkly comical such as when he throws in an adlib (“babe I don’t care where you bury my body when I’m dead and gone”).

The lyrics are very dark and solemn, painting a picture of Johnson becoming one with the devil. The devil comes knocking at his door, and he greets him as an old friend,  in a sort of reluctant acceptance.  The refrain “Me and the Devil, walking side by side” repeats over and over. There is some suggestive and violent imagery, as Johnson says he’ll “beat his woman, until he’s satisfied”. He says explains the reason he’s “dogging her ’round” is the evil spirit inside of him. The song ends with him saying that they may bury his body down by the highway side so his evil spirit can ride the greyhound bus.

The lyrics are simplistic, but paint such a vivid picture. Its quick and swift but straight to the point. Its also one of the most well known tales of selling a soul to the devil, similar to the German play Faust. Johnson has another song with similar themes, crossroads, though it doesn’t explicitly mention the devil. Its become somewhat of a legend with Johnson however, that he took his guitar to the crossroads of highway 49 and 61 in Clarksdale, Mississippi to sell his soul. In return he was given mastery of the guitar.[1] This theory is also crafted from another song, “Cross Road Blues” by Johnson, though it doesn’t contain any explicit references to the devil.

One of the most interesting things about the legend is how many versions and variations of it there are. Some tales simply refer to the devil as a large black man, and there is a noticeable minority of fans who speculate that the real crossroad is in Memphis, Tennessee.[5] Numerous bars, and restaurants have popped up in spirit of this. There are also others who believe the figure Johnson met was not the devil, but the Voodoo trickster god Papa Legba.[6] Papa Legba is said to stand at crossroads, and direct appeals to the spiritual realm. Another interesting aspect is the idea that Johnson doesn’t care where he’s buried, and it might as well be by the highwayside where he can catch a bus. Its fitting in the regard that no one knows for sure where Johnson is buried, and there are a host of speculative graves.

I actually really enjoyed this song, as well as the other Johnson songs I’ve recently begun listening to. Its refreshing to listen to a song that is both meaningful and relatively simple. The instrumental does an excellent job of augmenting the yelpy, high pitched singing and dark lyrics. Reading about the legends and mythology surrounding Robert Johnson, and his supposed deal with the devil most likely impacted my view of the song, as it caused me to examine it more closely and in a different light.

This creepy song did a ton to cement Robert Johnson’s legacy. It helped shape the mythos and speculation about his life, and left questions in peoples minds about what had come of him, what was true and what was fiction. Even his mysterious death seemed fitting where he joined the 27 club and supposedly was murdered by a jealous husband of a woman he slept with.[4]

Sources:

1. Lewis, John. “Robert Johnson Sells His Souls to the Devil.” The Guardian. June 15, 2011. Accessed July 13, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/16/robert-johnson-sells-soul-devil.
2. Lynskey, Dorian. “The Downfall of Gil Scott-Heron.” The Guardian. November 15, 2001. Accessed July 17, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/nov/15/artsfeatures1.
3. “W.C. Handy Encounters the Blues – Tutwiler.” Paramount Records. Accessed July 17, 2018. http://msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/w-c-handy.
4. “The Story of Bluesman Robert Johnson’s Famous Deal With the Devil Retold in Three Animations.” Open Culture. July 21, 2015 Accessed July 17, 2018. http://www.openculture.com/2015/07/the-story-of-bluesman-robert-johnsons-famous-deal-with-the-devil-retold-in-three-animations.html.
5. “The Crossroads: Where Robert Johnson Sold His Soul to the Devil.” WONDERLUST. February 27, 2018. Accessed July 17, 2018. https://wonderlusttravel.com/black-history-month-clarksdale-mississippi-robert-johnson/.
6. Watman, Max. “Drinking at the Crossroads With the Ghost of Robert Johnson.” The Daily Beast. July 18, 2017. Accessed July 17, 2018. https://www.thedailybeast.com/drinking-at-the-crossroads-with-the-ghost-of-robert-johnson.

Hello, I’m Reed, a 4th year computer science student.  I live here in Saskatoon. I enjoy video games, movies, art of all kinds as well as music from all genres. I work as an application analyst for Nutrien. Introductions aside, I’ve decided to make my first post as a biography of most popular  and influential early blues musicians, C. W. Handy.

As a child, his father dissuaded him from music, only allowing him to play the organ. This didn’t stop him from pursuing it, and it became a force that engulfed his life. Like many black musicians of the time, Handy got his first taste of performance as a part of a minstrel show production. Though he briefly became a teacher, his passion was always in music[1].

Handy wrote that he discovered what came to be known as the blues in 1903 by watching a black man plunk a guitar strangely.  “As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings of the guitar in a manner popularized by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars… The singer repeated the line three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the weirdest music I had ever heard[2].” Inspired by this, he would use elements of the style while traveling with different bands, eventually settling in the clubs located in Memphis, Tennessee.  Here he would craft his first big hit, “Memphis Blues”, which was published in 1912.

The song sounds upbeat and catchy, with a memorable riff, its no wonder it caught on.  It was also fairly novel, and spread like wildfire due to its distribution of sheet music. Everyone wanted to play this new form of music, and to do that you needed the sheet. However, Handy never saw the financial success he deserved, because he had sold the rights of the song[1]. He received $50 for the sale of it, and watched as it exploded in popularity. This unfortunate experience inspired him to start his own publishing company, which would prove to be one of the best and most important decisions of his career.

Now in charge of his own music, Handy’s next big hit “The St. Louis Blues” was even more successful.

Unlike the first one, this song was less upbeat and cheery sounding, and less predictable. It has more syncopation, and more musical dominance by only one instrument at a time, instead of all of them competing equally. With his new publishing firm now directly in the spotlight, he was able to purchase new artists songs, while continually producing hit songs.

During this time, many songs would come out his publishing firm[3]. Often times, Handy would make his own versions of previously existing songs, recreating them in a blues style. For example, his song “Hesitating Blues” was based off “Hesitation blues”, a blues song credited to three artists which was again based off of an old tune. As well, his song “Loveless Love” was his take on “Careless Love”, another old well known song with many blues variations.

I’ve posted here a piano cover, because its difficult to find mp3 versions of Handy’s songs, outside of his two biggest hits. But it does well to emphasize the point that most of Handy’s songs became well known due to the spread of sheet music, and many people would recreate their own versions. One of the best known versions of the song is played by Louis Armstrong.

These competing styles show that the same song can sound radically different due to instrumentation and tempo. Connected by the same melody, but sonically very different, they paint different pictures. The piano version sounds light-hearted and playful, whereas the Armstrong version sounds laid back and relaxing. His gruff singing also adds a less open interpretation of the meaning being conveyed, as well as generally an important missing element. The addition of vocals allow for more musical expression.

W. C. Handy’s legacy is a very important one, but not without hardships. He was plagued with health scares, and racism and southern prejudice forced him to relocate his business to New York. Due to a fall from a subway platform in the 1940s, he received a skull fracture that caused him to develop blindness. In 1955, he suffered a stroke that left him wheelchair bound, and he died in 1958 from bronchial pneumonia[1].

However, despite the hardships and prejudice, his legacy endures. His achievements lead to him being known as the “Father of Blues”. Handy reached large white audiences with his book “Blues: An Anthology”, and his funeral was attended by 20,000 who filled the church and streets.

Sources:

1. “W.C. Handy.” Biography.com. October 27, 2015. Accessed July 05, 2018. https://www.biography.com/people/wc-handy-39700.

2. Banerji, Robin. “WC Handy’s Memphis Blues: The Song of 1912.” BBC News. December 30, 2012. Accessed July 05, 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20769518.

4. Matteson, Richard. “Matteson Art.” Understanding Magritte – Matteson Art. Accessed July 05, 2018. http://www.mattesonart.com/11111111history.aspx.