Led Zeppelin, "IV"

CJ professes a whole lotta love for this rock classic

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Feb 24, 2021

CJ’s Pitch:

I got to the Led Zeppelin party right about the time John Bonham left it. I distinctly remember my friend’s college-aged brother showing us tickets to a Zeppelin concert that was never going to happen because Bonham had drowned himself in an ocean of vodka.

On his recommendation, I picked up Led Zeppelin IV to see what all the voodoo was about. After playing it two or three times, I decided that I didn’t need to listen to anything else ever again.

“Black Dog” doesn’t just open IV, it launches you into space with the most thrilling call-and-response between a man and a guitar ever recorded. On top of that, you get a Sex Ed lesson from Professor Robert Plant.

(Teenaged CJ in an imaginary Q&A with Plant): Excuse me, Mr. Plant. This lady friend of yours? You say that you’re going to make her sweat, groove, burn and sting. How would one go about doing that? Asking for a friend, of course. I’m also unclear on the whole honey thing. Where exactly is it dripping from? Oh…Ohhhhhhhh. No further questions.

You barely have time for a post-coital cigarette when you’re thrust headlong into “Rock and Roll”, hard rock’s “Johnny B. Goode” in that everybody in the genre seems to have covered it. The Rolling Stones’ Ian Stewart adds the sizzling piano track to this standard.

Say, does anybody here like Scottish war stories tinged with references to Lord of the Rings?

(author eagerly raises hand).

Well, you’re in luck. Here’s what it would sound like if William Wallace formed a band with Frodo, Gandalf and Aragorn. We call it “The Battle of Evermore.”

(author faints dead away)

Side 1 closes with the 8-minute opus that ended every high school dance from 1971-1990. You hear the first strains of “Stairway to Heaven” and you race to find a partner to slow dance with. The first several minutes afford you the opportunity to encircle each other’s waists and wonder what a hedgerow is. When the screaming guitar solo kicks in, you don’t pull apart and fast dance. No, instead you mash your faces together in a mind-melting make-out session. By the time “Stairway” comes to its lilting conclusion, you’re going steady. And some of you are engaged. That’s how fucking epic this song is.

Side 2 picks you (and your betrothed) up, dusts you off and treats you to a counterculture number about being hassled by the cops. “Misty Mountain Hop” (another LOTR reference) is a fun romp for people who just want to legalize it, maaaaaaaan.

John Bonham is probably best known for his drum work on “Moby Dick” and “Achilles Last Stand”, but “Four Sticks” may have been his niftiest trick. He actually played the song using four drumsticks—two in each hand. It’s worth listening to for the sheer degree of difficulty it took to create.

“Going to California” is an acoustic number for all you dudes dreaming of the sun-kissed women on the Left Coast. This may or may not be the genesis of yacht rock, but I’m not complaining.

And finally, “When The Levee Breaks” isn’t just the end of the album. It’s the END OF DAYS! This apocalyptic cover of an old blues tune lays it out in plain, unfiltered truth:

Cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good

When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.

It’s a fitting coda for an album that tosses you like cork at sea. Every time there’s a lull and you think you can catch your breath, another tidal wave of sound comes crashing down all around you.

Led Zeppelin IV isn’t just rock royalty. It’s the king of them all.

Ken’s Response:

I’ve taken a lot of unpopular stances in my life, but seemingly none more controversial than my distaste for Led Zeppelin. I’m not going to argue that those four Brits weren’t talented or that they weren’t innovative; that’s not a winnable argument. What I’m saying is that the end result of their talent, skill, rehearsals, and recording sessions is a product I’m not particularly fond of.

If this was a movie, this is the part where we’d cut to a montage of short dialogues I’ve had about Zeppelin over the last 35 years and the hundreds of shoulder shrugs, eye rolls, head grabs, and other assorted looks of shock and horror people have given me because I don’t adore a band that people somehow assume should be universally loved. I’ve been told “If you don’t like Led Zeppelin you don’t know anything about music.”, “That’s just ridiculous.” and “What’s wrong with you?” simply because their favorite band isn’t my favorite band.

Robert Plant has a unique voice with a great vocal range, but it’s a little screamy for me. Jimmy Page is, well, he’s Jimmy Page so he’s one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Bonham has the skill only a few before and since have had, but for me it’s too busy and comes across as a little self-indulgent. John Paul Jones is a bass player, and if you need to go there in your defense of Led Zeppelin, you’ve already lost the debate.

Now, with all that said, there are still a few songs that I enjoy, and a couple of them are on this album. So while I won’t be giving them all of my love, there’s still some good rock n’ roll.

Pitch Failed

Don’s Response:

When The Beatles officially broke up in April 1970, so officially ended the ‘60’s, as well as their reign as The World’s Most Important Rock & Roll Band.

Would The Who be next, following their experimental opera? Or The Stones, mercifully reconnecting with their honky tonk roots after a misguided psychedelic trip?

Those fellow British Invasion bands still had their greatest work in front of them. But in through the Fab Four’s out door burst the next most influential band in rock history: Led Zeppelin, whose fourth album kicked open the ‘70’s and removed all doubt about who would dominate the decade.

What else is there to say about Led Zeppelin IV? Recorded in the English countryside, using the Rolling Stones’ mobile recording studio, and engineered in Los Angeles by the great Andy Johns, the album is a whole lotta everything great about the band squeezed into 42 minutes of hot molten vinyl.

It’s Zeppelin in full bloom, tapping folk, rock, blues, and heavy metal. Robert Plant’s lyrics at their most epic. Jimmy Page’s ambitious arrangements requiring the use of a double-neck guitar. Bonzo, so in command of his powers that he used four sticks on a tune so direct they simply had to name it after the technique. And John Paul Jones’ shifting time signatures somehow staying in the groove, grounding the band from floating away.

I was born the year they recorded Led Zeppelin IV, so I can’t relate to its impact at the time. But with the benefit of perspective, it feels like Zeppelin had more influence on the future of rock and roll than any artist who followed, ascending to heights no other has reached since. Stairway to Heaven, indeed.

Pitch Successful

Mitch’s Response:

There comes a time in every young rock fans' life when they discover the truth. Years of deep listening leads to a seemingly obvious conclusion: that Led Zeppelin is the greatest rock band ever to grace the stage and Led Zeppelin IV is the greatest rock album ever made. It happens to all of us eventually.

For most of us this phase doesn’t last forever - just long enough to score a fuzzy hermit backlight poster, a copy of Hammer of the Gods, and to convince oneself that Page’s epaulets really did look cool. But for the true believers, it’s not enough to know the truth - you must spread the word and become an evangelist for the greatness of Zeppelin. When I reached this stage I decided that I absolutely needed to convince my show tunes loving Mother to get the led out.

One day, while driving to Sensei Rosenfeld’s dojo, I slipped a copy of Zoso into the Lincoln’s tape deck, cued up “Stairway to Heaven” and asked my Mom to listen, to really listen to the majestic masterpiece - as if my Mom didn’t have every opportunity to listen to Zep over the preceding 15 years.

As she listened, I watched her like a dog praying for table scraps, and the 8 minutes dragged to an eternity. Finally over, I eagerly asked what she thought about the song, desperately hoping and praying that she’d approve of it. She looked at me, and with a sly grin said, “well the first part was nice…” and I instantly knew that she both hated Zeppelin and loved me.

I grew out of my Zeppelin phase long ago, but as the shadows grow taller and her blessed memory drifts on the whispering wind, these small moments from the past reveal the real truth. I guess I still do believe that Led Zeppelin IV is the greatest rock album ever made. It just doesn’t have anything to do with the music anymore.

Pitch Successful

CJ’s pitch broke the levee and Led Zeppelin’s IV has been added to the Newbury St. Collection.

Let’s bring it on home this week by dropping into the comments section so you can ramble on and tell your friends what is and what should never be when it comes to Led Zeppelin IV.

Exile on Newbury St.

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