How Led Zeppelin Changed the World

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Led Zeppelin, when viewed in all their powerful, radiant splendor, are challenging to classify. Typically, they’re considered deities of heavy metal, and this is an assertion that few would dispute – though I believe that the foundation of classic metal is equally indebted to Black Sabbath’s second album, “Paranoid,” as it is to Zeppelin. Nonetheless, Led Zeppelin towered over the entire metal universe like gods on Mount Olympus: their aggressive chords and fiery guitar solos, their swaggering struts with long hair, their powerful vocals that exude dominance, their sexualized destruction, the raw power they embodied.

In a similar vein, I often compare Zeppelin to the Beatles of heavy metal. Just as their music had a darker edge, they also created tracks that evoked a dreamy, romantic, and glorious image of life – songs such as “Going to California” or “Thank You.” These tunes seemed to embody the lingering hippie spirit within them. Ultimately, this leads us to “Stairway to Heaven,” which I would confidently rank among the 10 greatest songs of the 20th century. It’s a song that is idyllic, tragic, divine, and stunningly beautiful all at once – it encompasses numerous emotions.

In this rephrased version, the original meaning and style have been preserved, but I’ve tried to make it even more natural and easy to read for the audience.

The dual facets of Zeppelin coexist in a peculiar symphony. They were peace-loving hippies who could also be destructive; they were poetic troubadours who, through Jimmy Page’s riffs, Robert Plant’s impassioned vocals, and John Bonham’s powerful drumming, reached a kind of transcendent wildness. I adore how the opposing forces of yin and yang would merge in a single song, such as “Over the Hills and Far Away,” which initially presents as a shining folk-rock ballad with Plant entering like a medieval troubadour (“Lady, you hold the love I yearn for…”), only for Page’s acoustic strumming to swiftly elevate it to the heavens, and then, in an instant — BOOM-boom! BOOM-boom! — Bonham’s drums shatter the tranquility like a tank plowing through a leisurely picnic. At that juncture, you’re no longer in Kansas. You’ve entered rock ‘n’ roll paradise with a twist of hellish delight. (Zeppelin’s stairway had steps leading up and down.)

This weekend, the first official Led Zeppelin documentary titled “Becoming Led Zeppelin” premiered on 369 IMAX screens, raking in $2.6 million. By next weekend, it’s expected to expand to a thousand screens. Such widespread distribution for a music documentary is rare these days, and even more so for Sony Pictures Classics, the discerning distributor who acquired, edited, and released this film. The documentary offers an intimate look into the band members from their early years, detailing their formation in late 1968, their release of their first two albums in 1969, and their numerous live performances, particularly at music festivals following Woodstock. Watching it, you can feel the electrifying energy they exuded, a force that still resonates powerfully as both sound and iconic rock lore today.

Reflecting on my youth, specifically the ’70s when Led Zeppelin’s tunes echoed through the air hockey tables of my favorite pinball arcade (the epitome of teenage joy for me back then), I find myself amazed at how the essence of Zeppelin seems to transcend time and pulsate with a vibrant energy that feels more potent than ever. It’s no surprise that timeless music ages gracefully, but what truly resonates with me today is how their songs seemed to tap into the pulse of tomorrow.

In various shapes, their music ranged from unnamed metal to electric blues, pastoral tunes reminiscent of “Lord of the Rings,” mystical Eastern drone rock, a fusion of Beatles-style melodies with primitive Stone Age drums, and more. According to the documentary, Jimmy Page often tuned his guitar like a sitar to produce the exotic modalities found in tracks such as “The Rain Song.” However, the essence of Led Zeppelin, from “Whole Lotta Love” to “Black Dog,” “Immigrant Song,” “Rock and Roll,” “Misty Mountain Hop,” “Kashmir,” was not just about the sound itself but the spirit that lay beneath it. In many aspects, this spirit served as a precursor to what we now know as punk music. The closing credits of “Becoming Led Zeppelin” include an unfamiliar live performance of their cover of “C’mon Everybody,” which, in its raw energy, bears striking resemblance to the early works of The Ramones.

As a fellow admirer of punk music, let me try to explain what I mean by punk in my own words. The punk movement of the ’70s was multifaceted, but if you, like me, consider the Sex Pistols as the epitome of punk – the band that mirrored society’s reflection at the time – then I believe punk was an exhilarating genre that embraced a raw, unapologetic rejection of empathy. Essentially, it was about stripping away human emotions and feelings we often associate with connection.

One of my favorite Sex Pistols songs has always been “No Feelings,” because I think it perfectly captures the raw honesty of the changing youth culture. It expresses the unfettered self-direction that was emerging, as well as the simmering anger towards a world that was turning human connection into a marketable product.

Punk’s initial wave may have subsided, yet I believe the detached anger it embodied persisted and evolved. In many aspects, today’s world mirrors the punk ethos: individuals brimming with anger, constantly at odds, speaking without truly listening. A void of empathy…

While the originators of punk are well-known (MC5, Iggy Pop, the Who with “My Generation” and the Beatles with “Helter Skelter”), I’d contend that on a broader scale, Led Zeppelin paved the way first. Although their music doesn’t sound like conventional punk, Zeppelin’s tunes were just as destructive, if not more so, in their impact on society as punk ever was.

Due to their immense and far-reaching impact, Led Zeppelin signified the point when a vast audience encountered rock ‘n’ roll as an unbridled expression of personal freedom. A significant aspect of their appeal lies in their lack of pretense, making their music a cathartic outlet for individual emotions. This self-centeredness was not new, but the power of rock ‘n’ roll to channel societal energy cannot be overstated. Legends like Elvis, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis paved the way, followed by The Beatles, Dylan, and The Stones. Led Zeppelin took this a step further, amplifying the sensual energy of all previous counterculture movements while also revealing the potential outcomes of such hedonistic music – a blend of temptation and danger. As Robert Plant sang in “Kashmir,” Oooo my baby! Let me take you there. This could be interpreted as a journey to both a good place and a dangerous one, but ultimately it represents where we are today.

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2025-02-09 21:17