Led Zeppelin IV

Certain Songs #902: Led Zeppelin – “When The Levee Breaks”

June 9, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album:
Year: 1971

“If it keeps on raining,” she said, “The levee’s gonna break.”

In their all-time greatest recording (if not my favorite of their songs) (though sometimes it is), Led Zeppelin turn the blues upside down using the simple trick of recording John Bonham from the other side of the universe, and then taking advantage of the light-years it took for his playing to actually get to the studio by filling in as much of the space and time with guitars, harmonica and Robert Plant trying to sound like both a guitar and harmonica.

Certain Songs #901: Led Zeppelin – “Four Sticks”

June 8, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album:
Year: 1971

The fourth Led Zeppelin album isn’t quite my favorite Led Zeppelin album, but pound-for-pound it’s probably their best. Which is why it was so hard to figure out which songs to write about: pretty much everything here is as great as Zeppelin — and therefore rock and roll — ever got.

So the only song that I was going to for sure write about was “When The Levee Breaks” (tomorrow!) and the only I was for sure going to skip was “Going To California” (I already live here), but as for the others go, it could have been any combination of the other six songs. So just because I didn’t get to “Black Dog,” “Battle of Evermore” or “Misty Mountain Hop” doesn’t mean that they weren’t under heavy consideration. Because that’s just how ridiculous this record is.

Certain Songs #900: Led Zeppelin – “Stairway to Heaven”

June 7, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album:
Year: 1971

The “Smells Like Teen Spirit” of the Baby Boomers, “Stairway to Heaven” has, of course, become much much larger than a mere rock and roll song, but rather a key symbol of the era when rock ‘n’ roll became rock, as well as arguably the most important thing not just in popular culture, but the culture at large.

Of course, that’s just the young teenage boy in me speaking, and I’m pretty sure that I remember people talking about “Stairway to Heaven” before I experienced it firsthand. In fact, I’d like to report I remember the first time I heard “Stairway to Heaven,” that it was some kind of lightning bolt or something, but no. I’m sure that I caught it somewhere in the middle, during some tuning of the radio dial looking for new sounds, or maybe Craig from across the street played it for me.

Certain Songs #899: Led Zeppelin – “Rock and Roll”

June 6, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album:
Year: 1971

Man, that drum intro! Right?

Using nothing but his kick, snare and a wide-open hi-hat, John Bonham spontaneously created an intro that will be imitated by drummers for just about ever. The legend has it that they were trying (and failing) to tame the rather tricky “Four Sticks,” and Bonzo just came up with what became the intro to their simplest and most straightforward rock and roll song.