What do you get when Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Ron Paul Jones, and John Bonham all form a band? Who are those people? What? All you know is 'Lil Wayne and Lady Gaga? Well the answer is that you have one of the greatest bands ever to grace this earth: LED ZEPPELIN.



Don't act like you have never seen four classy hippies in a black and white photo.

 Led Zeppelin, though, was more than just a band. They were a symbol of the seventies, a period of transition. Jim Miller, editor of Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, even argued that "On one level, Led Zeppelin represents the final flowering of the sixties' psychedelic ethic, which casts rock as passive sensory involvement" (Wikipedia) This final flowering transcended into the good ol' rock n' roll we have come to love. 

The United States was going through a period of transition as the Vietnam War was finally winding down and coming to an end. The environmentalist movement was beginning to take shape as many worried about the pollution taking over the planet we lived on. People were calling for the government to stop spending incredible amounts of money on space exploration, and women were beginning to finally take up positions of high power in governments such as Margaret Thatcher, whom was voted as prime minister of England. (Hoeveler) 

And with these changes, Led Zeppelin strolled along with their own. Their first two albums were extremely rooted in blues. Here is an example: "You Shook Me" off of their first album, Led Zeppelin I.

From this, we can take two characteristics of blues: the long instrumental solo in the middle of the song and the bass line. The blues was so apparent in Led Zeppelin's first two albums that the band was even accused of using copyrighted music. As their albums progressed, you can notice how much Led Zeppelin is changing.  In Led Zeppelin III, the band managed to  (Wikipedia) Further changes were observed in Led Zeppelin IV, especially the use of acoustic guitar as is proven by "Stairway to Heaven," which became a top hit. Houses of the Holy further shows changes as the band "expanded its use of synthesizers and mellotron orchestration" (Wikipedia):

"The Crunge" (notice the blues influence is still present, though)

 

As the world was changing, so was Led Zeppelin with their musical style. They were constantly thinking of new ways to enhance their music and succeeded as all of their albums had reached the top 200 album chart. In my opinion, they set the tone for bands to come. Bands nowadays tend to create new types of music with each upcoming album, trying to make it as good as the first one yet making it different. Led Zeppelin did this with ease. What Led Zeppelin also did was impact fashion. Yeah, you see those hipsters walking around campus with their tight pants and shirts? Mr. Plant, Mr. Bonham, Mr. Page, and Mr. Jones were the ones to make that style look incredibly good. 

Sorry hipsters, Led Zeppelin were the first people to wear tight band shirts and pants on stage

All in all, Led Zeppelin could (should) be considered one of the most influential bands in history. They managed to make an old style of music and brought it to the popular scene in the form of rock 'n roll. And as the 70s changed, so did their music as they kept experimenting by adding the acoustic guitar, use of synthesizers, and mellotron orchestras. Just like many people before them, Led Zeppelin turned folk music into pop music. Except, nobody had made the it as popular as Led Zeppelin did evidenced by consistently selling out concerts ranging in the hundreds of thousands of Zeppelin lovin' fans. Led Zeppelin is quite simply, one of the most influential bands in history, if not THE most influential.

WORKS CITED: 

Why we'll always have the blues. (2012, Nov 17). Sunshine Coast Daily. Retrieved from http://lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1152153193?accountid=7082

Hoeveler Jr., J. David. The Postmodernist Turn: American Thought and Culture in the 1970s. New York:    Twayne Publishers, 1996.

"Led Zeppelin." Wikipedia: the Free Encycopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 17 November 2012. Web. 18 November 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin>