123. Led Zeppelin, "Led Zeppelin II"

 


If you were exposed to FM radio in the 70s or 80s, you may be entitled to substantial compensation, wait I mean, you know every song on this album.  The very first thing you hear when you drop the needle on it or slide the 8-track into your older brother's Camaro is the ultrafamous riff from "Whole Lotta Love," one of the best-known guitar parts in rock, just one of the many iconic moments on this sludgy, heavy record.

I think this was always my least-favorite Led Zeppelin album.  Not only does it have a song that's essentially a (let's be honest here) fairly boring drum solo with some great riffing around it ("Moby Dick"), it also has the inevitable JRR Tolkien-influenced lyrics (in "Ramble On"):

I ain't tellin' no lie
Mine's a tale that can't be told
My freedom I hold dear
How years ago in days of old
When magic filled the air
'T was in the darkest depths of Mordor
I met a girl so fair
But Gollum, and the evil one
Crept up and slipped away with her
Her, her, yeah
Ain't nothing I can do, no
I guess I keep on rambling
I'm gonna, yeah, yeah, yeah
Sing my song (I gotta find my baby)
I gotta ramble on, sing my song

They got sued by Willie Dixon for lifting some of the lyrics for "Whole Lotta Love" directly from Dixon's "You Need Love" which, honestly, must have been a thrill for them, since Dixon was an obvious influence on the band.  In fact, it's fair to say that Zep truly wrote six of these nine songs, while the rest are reinterpretations of American blues classics.

Jimmy Page's riffs are the real takeaway here.  Apart from "Whole Lotta Love," who doesn't know the famous "Heartbreaker" lick (although I must say, in terms of Heartbreakers, Rolling Stones' "Heartbreaker" > Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker").  And the way that song ends and "Living Loving Maid," with yet another famous Page part, immediately starts?  It's such a great rock and roll moment.  Actually, after this relisten, I think "Maid" might be my favorite song on this album.

The reach of this album is undeniable.  Like I said, it was a staple of hesher radio in the late 20th century, and if you're my generation (i.e., Gen X), you almost certainly got stoned listening to this album at some point and maybe that's why listening to it now takes me back to some mostly-forgotten point in my life when a nickel bag really could give me a whole new perspective on the world.

Is this album in my personal Top 500? I'm afraid teenage me would never let me live it down, so sure, we can find a place for it.  I think if I owned the album on vinyl at one point, it automatically goes on my list, and I owned all the Zeppelin albums (except for Coda, what was that).

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