Welcome back to my blog! Below I’m going to explain my reasoning for crediting the AMAZING Led Zeppelin with being one of the first to introduce metal music to the world. Please feel free to engage and enlighten me with your thoughts and opinions with a comment!

 

Rock Music is an ever-changing sound. With each new genre, different artists are credited with being an inspiration. Led Zeppelin is constantly compared to popular heavy metal groups today like Godsmack and Judice Priest, an unfair comparison when LZ was in fact their inspiration.¹ When LZ came into the music scene the popular bands were sounds like Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry, in comparison they were a hard-heavy band. Led Zeppelin’s music meets all the definitions of what makes metal music, the introduction of the electric guitar, heavy and loud drums, and aggressive sound.² Comparing Zeppelin to bands that grew the genre LZ created is unfair and irrelevant. They deserve to be credited for introducing the genre to the music industry, not torn down because new bands have intensified the sound.

Led Zeppelin makes heavy use of the electric guitar. They use long instrumental intros in their songs, and powerful guitar solos. Their lead guitarist Jimmy Paige is a known legend in the rock world. There’s not a guitar type instrument he couldn’t play, and that talent was very present in all of Led Zeppelin’s music³. A fantastic demonstration of their use of electric solos is in the song “Heartbreaker”. “The guitarist employs a series of hammer-ons and pull-offs intermingled with rapid-fire picking.”⁴ Paige was given total creative freedom to feel the music in this song. His solo was recorded separately, and the song was built around it. The solo is the highlight of the song, it’s a strong representation of the bands sound as a whole.

The drum sound in Zeppelin’s music is also a very prominent feature. The beat of a drum is the loudest part of a metal song, it’s what shakes the room during a concert. Although LZ’s drumming isn’t quite as intense as that of Metallica or other currently popular metal groups, it still is the strongest part of most their songs. The opening to their song “Kashmir” is an iconic example of the power of drums in metal. This song was Hulk Hogan’s theme song. Its beat represents intensity, power, rage. The same uncensored theme metal music stands for. The Rolling Stone wrote that John Bonham, Led Zeppelin’s drummer, changed rock drumming forever, or at least set the bar pretty high. In the same article they refer to Bonham’s work as mesmerizing and powerful, “jaw-dropping-bass-drum”, and “heavy, lively, virtuous”.⁵ They ranked him as their number one most influential drummer.

Despite the blues influence noticeable in Led Zeppelin’s music, they still carry a very loud and aggressive sound over-all. Metal music is characterized as having a thick, massive sound, loudness, rage, and machoism. The vocals are often very emotional or controversial while still being loud and intimidating. The cynical song “Achilles Last Stand” is brash and loud, telling a story of growth and change. The complexity of the song mixed with the power in Robert Plants voice defined Led Zeppelin as a metal band. In comparison to the metal and thrash rock bands they inspired, LZ sounds soft and bluesy, but in their time, blues music was the norm and LZ’s sound was the most outrageous music on record. The legendary Zeppelin, founder of heavy metal music, changed the rock and roll world and are not to be discredited.

Music grows, and artists feed off each other. Elvis is no less rock than the Chilli Peppers because the latter is more intense. Just as Led Zeppelin is no less Metal than Metallica because the latter expanded the genre. They meet all the criteria the new bands do even if it’s not as obvious or in your face. Their use of the electric guitar is amazing, their songs drown in the beat of the drums, and their vocals are powerful and soulful. Led Zeppelin bleeds Rock and Roll.

 

Sources Cited

1. “The Elvisualization.” Accessed August 10, 2018. https://static.echonest.com/insights/elvis/elvisualization.html
2. “What is Heavy Metal Music?” Accessed August 10, 2018. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-heavy-metal-p2-2456255
3. “Achieving the Tons of Jimmy Page.” Accessed August 10, 2018. https://reverb.com/ca/news/nailing-it-achieving-the-tones-of-jimmy-page
4. “Top 10 Jimmy Page Guitar Solo’s.” Accessed August 11, 2018. http://ultimateclassicrock.com/jimmy-page-guitar-solos/
5. “Greatest Drummers of all Time.” Accessed August 11, 2018. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-drummers-of-all-time-77933/john-bonham-37887/

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/.