Classics Part Three: Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin are the third band of the big three who began it all. Compared to Sabbath and Purple, Zep were a bit more on the folky side of things, with lyrics ranging from LOTR to classic English folk songs. Led Zeppelin got their name from a line by John Entwistle the bassist from The Who (something to do with a possible formation of a super group involving Keith Moon, John Entwistle, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck going down like a lead zeppelin).

Led Zep aren’t as heavy as either Purple or Sabbath but they definitely hold their own, like being banned for life from the Tokyo Hilton, John Bonham riding motorcycles through hotel corridors etc etc, but along with the excess of rock they had a string of absolute classic albums:

It was around this time that tragedy struck Zep, Robert Plant was in a car accident and he broke his ankle, and his wife Maureen almost died and Jimmy Page’s heroin addiction was starting to become apparent.. Zep had a bit of time off and wrote Presence:

To me that’s when the magic began to dwindle and the shit really started to hit the fan, it was rumored that Jimmy Page was dabbling in the occult, he had even bought Aleister Crowleys castle in Scotland (I think) and weird shit started happening, well, crazy things, Robert Plants son Karac died of a stomach infection at age 7 (All My Love is dedicated to him) Jimmy Page broke is ring finger and couldn’t play guitar and there were more weird things that happened but I can’t quite remember them all .

John Bonham died September 25th 1980 and that effectively ended Led Zeppelin, they had one album post Bonham, CODA, but I am not even going to post that.

Out of the three, Led Zep, Sabbath and Purple they definitely my least favourite, they have some utterly brilliant songs but they just don’t do it for me the way the other do. Plant is easily my favourite vocalist and that scream of his on Immigrant Song gives me chills. Bonzo is a great drummer but for me both Bill Ward and Ian Paice do a better job. Jimmy Page is a genius on guitar some of the things he did on guitar blow my mind.

Those slight negatives aside, Led Zep still row my boat and Led Zeppelin III is an all time favourite for me as well.

Classics Part Two: Deep Purple

Well I thought since I posted about Black Sabbath I might as well post about another influential band that help start the monster that is metal, Deep Purple.

Deep Purple hold a special place in my heart as they are one of the earliest of my metal discoveries, thanks to my Dad. He bought me Machine Head for me on Christmas and I remember listening to Highway Star with him.

Deep Purple had some amazingly talented musicians, Jon Lord on keyboards, his solo’s sound like they are played on a guitar, Ritchie Blackmore, a legendary guitarist, Ian Paice, a brilliant drummer, Roger Glover, a godly bassist and Ian Gillian who sounds like some sort of absolute god on vocals, I love his voice.

Deep Purple went through a number of line up changes and Mark II is considered the classic line up, they put out the all the classic albums:

Child in Time is one of my all time favourite songs and Machine Head is easily my favourite album, every song is killer.

Deep Purple did the whole Symphonic Orchestra some 29 years before Metallica thought of the idea, I’ve never heard it but I do plan on buying a copy very soon:

To me Deep Purple are a bit more refined than Zep or Sabbath, a bit more gentlemanly if you catch my drift. Anyway no one should be without at least one Purple album even if it is a best of.

Classics Part One: Black Sabbath

Ahhhhhh Sabbath, the Godfathers of all things heavy and of course all things Metal \m/. It amazes me every time I play a Sabbath song or album how relevant they still are today, sure some of their songs sound dated but everything else sounds as if it could have been recorded yesterday.

Pretty much every Metal band in existence owes something to Black Sabbath, their influence can be felt every where.

I could hear Paranoid every single day and never tire of it. I remember the first time I heard Black Sabbath, it was coming home from a school trip and this guy put Self-Titled on the bus stereo, and skipped to The Wizard, I was spellbound and I have been a fan ever since.

I love the simplicity of the album covers and the fact that you put an album on you can seem to never want to turn it off:

I would post albums after Sabotage but they just don’t have the same magic.