Volume 16, Track 7
“Bring It On Home” by Led Zeppelin (1969) Led Zeppelin II ends with “Bring It On Home,” a song in which the intro and outro are based on a Willie Dixon blues song. The middle of the song is original music written by Page and Plant. The intro and outro showcases John Paul Jones’ mastery [...]
Volume 16, Track 6
“Royal Orleans” by Led Zeppelin (1976) “Royal Orleans” is a song that follows a very simple formula: let John Bonham’s drums drive the energy. Sure, you can hear Jimmy Page’s quick riffs in the foreground, John Paul Jones’ precise bass lines in the background, and Robert Plant’s vocals throughout[1] but make no mistake the energy [...]
Volume 16, Track 5
“Celebration Day” by Led Zeppelin (1970) “Celebration Day” is the second half of a combo that “Friends” begins. “Friends” starts out mellow and ends with a flourish that “Celebration Day” continues. “My, my, my, I’m so happy/I’m gonna join the band/We are gonna dance and sing in celebration/We’re in the promised land,” sings Robert Plant [...]
Volume 16, Track 4
“The Rain Song” by Led Zeppelin (1973) The story goes that the inspiration for “The Rain Song” was born out of a comment that George Harrison made to John Bonham about how Led Zeppelin had not recorded any ballad songs yet. The second track on Houses Of The Holy, “The Rain Song” is pretty universally [...]
Volume 16, Track 3
“Your Time Is Gonna Come” & “Black Mountain Side” by Led Zeppelin (1969) One of the things that Led Zeppelin does better than any other band is mask their wussy-ness. “Your Time Is Gonna Come” has its moments of pure, unfettered wuss with lyrics like “Made up my mind/Break you this time/Won’t be so kind/It’s [...]
Volume 16, Track 2
“Four Sticks” by Led Zeppelin (1971) When I was in seventh grade I borrowed my friend’s Led Zeppelin IV cassette. I had recently heard “Rock And Roll” for the first real time[1] and I wanted to hear the rest of the album for the first real time too. I popped in what I thought was [...]
Volume 16, Track 1
“The Song Remains The Same” by Led Zeppelin (1973) 1971 saw the release of Led Zeppelin IV, the epic album that not only gave the world “Rock And Roll,” “Black Dog,” “Stairway To Heaven,” “Misty Mountain Hop,” and “Going To California” but it also cemented Zeppelin’s status as unanimous rock icons. How do you follow [...]
Volume 16 Introduction
“They [Led Zeppelin] are the only group in the history of rock n’ roll that every male rock fan seems to experience in exactly the same way.” — Chuck Klosterman This statement is kind of hard to refute. Speaking as a male rock fan who has had two love affairs with Led Zeppelin[1] it is [...]
Volume 15, Track 14
“The Firebird Suite –1919 Version” by The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (2000) It happens at the 5:55 mark. The lone, redemptive oboe that signals the change in mood for the piece. From here on out it takes the form of a stunningly beautiful song intent on washing away the violence that occurs in the beginning. To [...]
Volume 15, Track 13
“Drown” by The Smashing Pumpkins (1992) Unless you owned Gish in the summer of 1992 there was a 99% chance you had never heard of The Smashing Pumpkins. Furthermore, if you had picked up the Singles soundtrack during that same summer and listened to “Drown,” the final song on the soundtrack, you would have mostly [...]
Volume 15, Track 12
“I Wanna Be Your Dog” by The Stooges (1999) The Stooges are regarded by some as the progenitor of punk rock. With their heavy sound, menacing looks, and the crazy personality and legend that is Iggy Pop, The Stooges certainly laid some groundwork down for the New York scene of the mid-’70′s (though those bands [...]
Volume 15, Track 11
“A Whiter Shade Of Pale” by Procol Harum (1983) Is it cliché to include a song from The Big Chill, the Rumours of soundtrack albums? Maybe. And maybe Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade Of Pale”[1] with its heavy and (to some) almost overbearing organ is a fitting apotheosis of the movie’s own sentimentality and exaggerated [...]
Volume 15, Track 10
“Do Your Thing” by Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band (1998) You may not know who Charles Wright is by name but you have almost certainly heard his song “Express Yourself,” which has been sampled by many a hip-hop/rap artist (most notably, N.W.A.’s use of it for a song of the same [...]
Volume 15, Track 9
“Temptation” by New Order (1996) There was a time—not terribly long ago in the overall scheme of things—when pop/dance singles were not only good but were also good and exceeded the five minute mark. “Temptation” was the fourth single that New Order released[1] and if you are not smitten by its carefree and buoyant rhythm [...]
Volume 15, Track 8
“Paper Planes” by M.I.A. (2008) Okay, so a song that is not even three years old and was used in a movie that recently won an Oscar for Best Picture does not an overlooked song make—I will admit this. But consider this post my nomination for Future Overlooked Song. If you have been following this [...]
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