78. Led Zeppelin-IV (1971)
Favorite Song: “Stairway to Heaven”
“Stairway to Heaven” would rank at #36 on my top 100.
Led Zeppelin was one of the heaviest bands in early rock and roll. Being one of the earliest bands to explore the ‘darker’ side of rock and roll, Led Zeppelin managed to find the perfect balance point between epic guitar rips and managing to create lyrics that weren’t cheesy.
Their fourth untitled album is still easily one of, if not the best hard rock album of all time. Even if you dismiss them as a ripoff band, due to their habit of taking older blues songs and using parts in their songs, they still managed to choose all the right songs to ripoff in IV.
IV starts off with the rather epic “Black Dog.” I love the way the music just cuts out. It puts so much emphasis Robert Plant’s excellent voice. It’s this wavy, groovy song that’s hard to keep up with as it seems to constantly change pace. Add in an epic guitar riff and just all around awesome instrumentation and you get Led Zeppelin at their jamming best.
“Black Dog” leads into the even more epic “Rock and Roll.” The drumming is even more intense the guitar riff is even better, and it’s just all around fun. This epic hard rock is pulled back for a folkish song with “The Battle of Evermore,” one of Led Zeppelin’s strange fantasy songs. Mainly using an acoustic guitar and mandolin, it is an excellent example of Led Zeppelin’s range of talents. They can write heavy hitters, and they can write lighter stuff at the same quality.
The final song of the first half of the album is the legendary “Stairway to Heaven.” It is quite a long song. The first time I heard it, I didn’t really see what was so great about it at first. It seemed to go endlessly at a slow pace. Then, the epic rock ending kicks in, and all the buildup and tension is released. It’s a rare song that manages to succeed at making an extended buildup and not lose it. There are few greater releases in music than the ending of this song, the only one coming close subtly using an entire album to achieve the same feeling.
Unfortunately, the second half of the album doesn’t hold as many hits as the first half. They’re all still great tracks, but they don’t have as great of riffs as their other songs do. However, the album manages to pull itself together at the end with “When the Levee Breaks.” One of their more thematically ominous tracks, “When the Levee Breaks” tells a tale of a town that will become worthless when the titular levee inevitably breaks. That opening drum is one of the most recognizable in music. It’s a slow tempo song, but it still manages to be fun throughout.
Led Zeppelin IV is the best album by one of the most talented rock acts of all time. Featuring some of the heaviest riffs of all time, it is an album that everyone should listen to at least once. The only reason it isn’t higher is probably because I’m not the biggest fan of hard rock, yet it still managed to rank highly on this list, so even not liking the genre doesn’t affect my opinion much.
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