The Led Zeppelin Top 50 Countdown (#50-46) & This Week's Statistics

Hello, my friends! I know that many of you enjoyed the Doors countdown - it was quite popular. I hope that you will enjoy the new countdown as much. It concerns the most popular album band of the 1970s: Led Zeppelin.

It's difficult to remember now how precious the blues seemed to rockers in the 1960s. The blues were a serious matter, meant to be played a certain way. Rock bands always fooled around with doing the blues louder and with less finesse, of course, but beyond that, folks like Eric Clapton were the models, with their sincere embarkations into the music. They were done with brio, but with probity and respect, too.

Jimmy Page put an end to all of that with Led Zeppelin, the band that broke the blues and created something new - hard rock, heavy metal, whatever you want to call it.

The blues-influenced British rock band the Yardbirds (I love them and will probably present some of their songs in the future), apart from being one of the best and most successful groups of the "British Invasion" of the 1960s, were also characterized by another distinction; they were the group that featured the three top British guitarists of the 1960s. Not simultaneously, of course. That would have been either heaven or hell, I'm not sure which. First, there was Eric Clapton, but when he felt that the group was straying from its blues-oriented beginnings to pop-ier territories, he decided to leave the band. He was replaced by Jeff Beck.

Then in 1966, London-based session guitarist Jimmy Page joined the Yardbirds to replace bassist Paul Samwell-Smith. Page soon switched from bass to lead guitar, creating a dual lead guitar line-up with Jeff Beck. Following Beck's departure in October 1966, the Yardbirds, tired from constant touring and recording, began to wind down. Page wanted to form a supergroup with him and Beck on guitars, and the Who's Keith Moon and John Entwistle on drums and bass, respectively. Vocalists Steve Winwood and Steve Marriott were also considered for the project. The group never formed, although Page, Beck, and Moon did record a song together in 1966, Beck's Bolero, in a session that also included bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones.

The Yardbirds played their final gig in July 1968 at Luton College of Technology in Bedfordshire. They were still committed to several concerts in Scandinavia, so drummer Jim McCarty and vocalist Keith Relf authorized Page and bassist Chris Dreja to use "the Yardbirds" name to fulfill the band's obligations. Page and Dreja began putting a new line-up together. Page's first choice for the lead singer was Terry Reid, but Reid declined the offer and suggested Robert Plant, a singer for the Band of Joy and Hobbstweedle. Plant eventually accepted the position, recommending fellow Worcestershire-bred and former Band of Joy drummer John Bonham. John Paul Jones inquired about the vacant position at the suggestion of his wife after Dreja dropped out of the project to become a photographer. Page had known Jones since they were both session musicians and agreed to let him join as the final member.

After the completion of their first album, the band were forced to change their name after Dreja issued a cease and desist letter, stating that Page was allowed to use the New Yardbirds moniker for the Scandinavian dates only. One account of how the new band's name was chosen held that Moon and Entwistle of the Who had suggested that a supergroup with Page and Beck would go down like a "lead balloon", an idiom for disastrous results. The group dropped the 'a' in lead at the suggestion of their manager, Peter Grant, so that those unfamiliar with the term would not pronounce it "leed". The word "balloon" was replaced by "zeppelin", a word which, according to music journalist Keith Shadwick, brought "the perfect combination of heavy and light, combustibility, and grace" to Page's mind.

Enough with the introduction; let's begin our countdown. At #50 is Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, a song found on Led Zeppelin III (1970). Although it is not one of the highest sellers in Led Zeppelin's catalogue, Led Zeppelin III is now generally praised and acknowledged as representing an important milestone in their history. Although acoustic songs are featured on its predecessors, this album showed that Led Zeppelin were more than just a conventional rock band and that they could branch out into a wider musical territory.

The song is named after Bron-Yr-Aur, a house in Gwynedd, Wales, where the members of Led Zeppelin retreated in 1970 to write much of Led Zeppelin III after having completed a concert tour of North America. Bron-Yr-Aur means "golden breast" or "breast of gold" in Welsh, as in a hillside of gold. The cottage had no electricity or running water.

As much as we use the word “stomp” to talk about Led Zeppelin’s sound, this is the only song of theirs that actually includes it in the title, and it certainly earns it. With Page’s endless acoustic riffing and Plant’s double-tracked rhapsodizing laid over Bonham’s boom-bap drums, with handclaps and castanets and even spoons (!!!) adding to the fun, it sounds like the whole village is in on this one, giving Zep the traveling-folk-band air they seemed determined to cultivate on LZIII’s first half. Despite hardly being the band’s most popular number, they played this one live throughout the 1970s, and it’s not hard to see why.

We will probably have trouble finding the original studio versions of many Led Zeppelin songs on youtube - hopefully less trouble than we had with Dylan or the Beatles. Case in point, the original studio version of Bron-Y-Aur Stomp is only found on the following link, but you'll probably have to endure a 30-second commercial before you get to the song. I did.

Bron-Y-Aur Stomp

Then again I'm not too pissed about it since there are great live versions available. Led Zep's live versions were often as good as, if not better than the originals. They also took excess to another level. Here's a live version of Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, performed live at Earls Court, London, UK, 1975:

At #49 is a song from the album Presence (1976), called Tea For One. The album was a commercial success, reaching the top of both the British and American album charts, and achieving a triple-platinum certification in the United States, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics and being the slowest-selling studio album by the band (other than the outtake album Coda).

Tea For One is the last track on the album. It begins with mid-tempo interplay between guitarist Jimmy Page and drummer John Bonham before settling into a sotto voce groove. The song evolves into a slow blues epic, featuring lyrics which deal with homesickness and loneliness. Much of this was felt by Robert Plant, who recalls sitting alone in a New York hotel during a US concert tour drinking "tea for one". Other members of the band, notably John Bonham, were also widely reported to suffer from homesickness during Led Zeppelin's concert tours.

The song recalls an earlier Led Zeppelin song in sound and style, Since I've Been Loving You. Page said that the song "was the only time I think we've ever gotten close to repeating the mood of another of our numbers, Since I've Been Loving You. The chordal structure is similar, a minor blues. We just wanted to get a really laid-back blues feeling without blowing out on it at all."

The result is 10 minutes of languid blues, including an extended and very persuasive old-school blues solo from Page. Here's the original studio version of Tea For One:

Tea For One

This is a live version at Tokyo Budokan, in 1996, featuring one-half of Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant:

At #48 we find You Shook Me, found on Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut album, released in the beginning of 1969. The album established their fusion style of both blues and rock music, attracted a large and devoted following to the band, was commercially successful, and was ranked at #29 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

You Shook Me was one of the covers that were found on this album. Written by blues master Willie Dixon, it was first recorded in 1962 by Chicago blues legend Muddy Waters. Led Zeppelin's version is a heavy, pummeling bit of post-psychedelic blues-rock, with healthy doses of vocal histrionics from Robert Plant and guitar fireworks from Jimmy Page, complete with some call-and-response guitar 'n' voice work at the end. Here it is:

This is Muddy Waters' original version:

... And this is the great Etta James:

At #47 is I'm Gonna Crawl, the final track on Zep’s final studio album, In Through the Out Door (1979). The song is an underrated throwback to their super-early soul days, a torch ballad with a 25 Miles-like lyrical hook of doing whatever it takes to get back to Plant’s woman. Of course, they didn’t have this many synths back then, but that’s OK - the keys don’t distract from Plant’s superlative vocal performance, reaching tortured heights not heard from the singer since In My Time of Dying.

Ten years into his career as a star, Plant seems to be discovering that need and vulnerability can be sexy, too. Page contributes a restrained guitar attack. As a whole, another sign of the maturity available on In Through the Out Door.

In a review of In Through the Out Door, Andrew Doscas of PopMatters found I'm Gonna Crawl as a standout among Zeppelin closing tracks. He called the song "a steadier and dreamier piece that sounds more like a waltz across the clouds."

Finally for now, at #46, For Your Life is the second song for today from the album Presence (1976). During the recording of For Your Life at Musicland Studios, Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant was convalescing from a serious car accident which he had sustained in Greece the previous year, and he delivered his vocal performance from a wheelchair. The song's vocals are notable in part because of the snorting sound heard around 5:30, with the lyrics: "With the fine lines of the crystal payin' through your nose". Plant later explained the song's venom was due in part to his observations of the excessive amount of cocaine which had now pervaded and ruined the music scene in Los Angeles, during his stay on the West Coast prior to recording.

Andrew Doscas of PopMatters said the song was "one of the brightest hidden gems in the band's entire catalogue", praising its "powerful" bass line, its "rugged" guitar riff, and its "sardonic" lyrics.

This song was never performed live by the band at Led Zeppelin concerts until their reunion show on 10 December 2007 at The O2 in London. This is that version:

Now, let's continue with last week's statistics; it was an OK week for us: Even though the number of total visits dropped by 13% from last week, the total of said week was so high, that even with the drop, the total number of visits is still very good. All of last week's stories did well, but yet again at #1 for the week is the story of George Maharis. Impressive.

As far as visits are concerned, this week's main winner was the United Kingdom, with Russia also doing very well for a second week in a row. Also doing well are Canada, Cyprus, Italy, and Spain. France and the United Arab Emirates visited just enough in order to maintain their all-time percentage, while Greece, Germany, and Belgium experienced small drops. The United States is at #2 for the week, but their lead on the all-time list is continuously getting smaller. This may not be necessarily due to US readers abandoning this blog, but rather due to the widening of the blog's impact in more countries around the world. It is really moving to know that people read this blog in countries where being gay is no easy matter. I dedicate today's story to you, brothers and sisters.

Here are this week's Top 10 countries:

1. the United Kingdom

2. the United States

3. Russia

4. France

5. Canada

6. Greece

7. Cyprus

8. Italy

9. Spain

10. Germany

Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Paraguay, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, and Vietnam. Happy to have you all!

And here's the all-time Top 10:

1. the United States = 40.2%

2. Greece = 8.8%

3. the United Kingdom = 8.6%

4. France = 7.3%

5. Russia = 4.9%

6. Germany = 3.7%

7. Cyprus = 1.36%

8. Italy = 1.28%

9. the United Arab Emirates = 0.66%

10. Belgium = 0.62%

That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!