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?ÄúLed Zeppelin IV?Äù by Led Zeppelin

I rarely listen to the radio these days. It could be due to lack of interest in what is being presented by playlist-dictated stations, different venues to hear recorded music (websites and blogs with mp3s, Internet broadcasts, mix CDs made by friends), or maybe a combination of the two. Regardless, I keep the radio off as a general rule.

I broke that rule a few days ago while stopped in traffic. I hit the “on” button on the radio and there was the descending A-minor chord acoustic guitar intro to “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” by Led Zeppelin. By the time Robert Plant put his vocal pedal-to-the-heavy-metal with “I can hear it callin’ me back home,” I was very much in touch with my inner fifteen-year-old.

For the two of you who have never heard this particular song, less than a minute after that section of the song, the arrangement shifts from delicate acoustic guitars to a loud electric rock band format playing an Am-G-F#-F-E progression. This progression is the same one used in another song from the same period, “25 or 6 to 4″ by Chicago, back when they were still calling themselves Chicago Transit Authority.

Both songs were recorded around 1969-1970. Nearly forty years have passed since their release into the pop mainstream. Two bands that relied on the same basic riff for their debut LPs. Why, then, is one band considered legendary and the other one nearly forgotten? (Name the last time you even THOUGHT about Chicago. The band, not the city.)

Forget about any arguments over dynamics-based acoustic-to-electric rock music versus jazz-inspired horn arrangements grafted to a rock format. The real reason Led Zeppelin is the gold standard for rock bands can be explained in three words: chicks dig ‘em.

“Led Zeppelin IV” is the essence of this band’s music: virtuoso guitar work by Jimmy Page, one of rock music’s icons; a solid rhythm section of John Paul Jones on bass and John Bonham on drums; Robert Plant’s whisper-to-scream-to-falsetto vocal range; the above-mentioned dynamics best exemplified on “Stairway To Heaven”; music inspired by American blues, Middle Eastern rhythms, and Celtic techniques; eight killer songs that begin with “Hey hey mama, said the way you move” and end forty-two minutes later with “Going to Chicago.” (The city, not the band.) All this and that lurching stop-and-start rhythm during the outro of “Black Dog”: DAH-dum DAH-dum/DAH-dum dah-DUMMMM/repeat for 1:17 of teenage boy bliss.

How deeply rooted is this recording’s music in popular culture? Cadillac has been using “Rock And Roll” in its car commercials for years. Films reference it: “Fast Times In Ridgemont High” included a passage where one character tells the other to play Side One of “Led Zeppelin IV” during a date with one of the women in the film (“Greatest make-out album of all time!”); “Wayne’s World” has a section where Wayne begins to play “Stairway” on an electric guitar in a music store and a harumphing employee directs him to a posted sign with “No playing ‘Stairway To Heaven’ in the store” printed on it. Bob Dylan borrowed the basic lyric and melody line from “When The Levee Breaks” as the starting point for his own version on his “Modern Times” CD.

(“When The Levee Breaks” originated from an old blues song by Memphis Minnie. At least Led Zeppelin gave her a songwriter credit on their version; Dylan claimed sole authorship on his recording. Perhaps Dylan, being Dylan, does not have to abide by the same rules.)

I was seventeen when “Led Zeppelin IV” was released by Atlantic Records in 1972. I purchased it immediately. Not long after bringing it home, my parents and siblings went out for a Sunday drive. I stayed home. The second the family car’s tires hit the asphalt, I called my girlfriend and asked her to come over. We sat on the couch in the front room and listened to the entire album. By the time Page was into his electric guitar solo on “Stairway,” she turned to me and said, “We’re going to hear this so much, we’ll wind up hating it.” She was half right.

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