10 best led zeppelin songs

[rone]

#10: "What Is and What Should Never Be"  I'm not sure why i like this song so much.  I guess i just think that it's pretty.

#9: "Stairway to Heaven"  Yes, yes, it's overplayed to hell, but it's still a grand, well-constructed, and iconic song.

#8: "Achilles' Last Stand"  A thrashing song that's all muscle.

#7: "The Ocean"  Shifting time signatures and a swinging conclusion.  Plus a ringing phone at around 1:40.

#6: "Misty Mountain Hop"  Bouncy fun anchored by Bonzo's monster beat.

#5: "Tea for One"  I feel like i'm cheating here because, as i said already, it's a simple song.  Even more, it's almost the same song as "Since I've Been Loving You".  But it's sparse and haunting.

#4: "Custard Pie"  The intro to this song just kills me, a perfect ramp-up into a superbly punctuated confluence of instruments and vocals.

#3: "How Many More Times"  A little brother to my #1.

#2: "In My Time of Dying"  I don't know if i can say that a blues song can have movements as if it were a classical piece, but god damn it, this is a four-movement blues song.  It is epic, and not just because it's the longest track they ever released.

#1: "Wearing and Tearing"  I think the band must've realized that this track was so good that it would've outshone everything else on In Through the Out Door if they'd left it in.  Everyone's performing at 100% individually, as a band, technically, everything.

Comments

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

No Crunge?

That's it, you're dead to me.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

It was definitely considered. Probably #11.

[foaf.livejournal.com]

I was gonna say Crunge too.

It's not very Indie Rock Pete of me, but I'm a big fan the monster riff in Black Dog.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

One of Jonesy's highlights, for sure.

[tronpublic.livejournal.com]

No Rain Song? Dood!

[crisper.livejournal.com]

I'm not gonna say BEST or whatever but, dude, Black Dog and (even being a cover) When the Levee Breaks. I could listen to Levee on repeat-one all day.

[peglegpete.livejournal.com]

Listen to this man -- he speaks wisdom.

[tronpublic.livejournal.com]

Now do The Beatles. Suites on side 2 of Abbey Road count as one song.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Heh. Not a Beatles fan. I considered maybe doing this for Van Halen but it would just devolve into a DLR-Hagar flamefest in the comments.

[reverendluke.livejournal.com]

Not bad. You're clearly missing both "Tangerine" and "Hey, Hey, What can I do?" but I'm willing to overlook that. However, both "Four Sticks" and "When the Levee Breaks" belong above "Stairway." Denied!

Short, shameful confession, though: I actually gained a new appreciation for "What Is and What Should Never Be" when I first heard the Black Crowes & Jimmy Page version.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Methinks you did not see my previous entry.

"Levee" is pretty damn awesome. Probably #12.

[reverendluke.livejournal.com]

Apparently so... "Your Time Is Gonna Come" and "Tangerine" make worst, but "The Ocean" and "Misty Mountain Hop" make best? It's like... I don't even know what to say to you at this point.

[covertmusic.livejournal.com]

"Kashmir"!

[filthy-habit.livejournal.com]

"The Rover"

"Since I've Been Loving You"

"For Your Life"

"Nobdy's Fault But Mine"

"Dazed and Confused"

"I Can't Quit You, Baby"

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I love "The Rover". I like SIBLY but, as i said, it's almost the same song as "Tea for One" and TfO is much better.

ICQYB: original or Coda version? I like the Coda version better.

[filthy-habit.livejournal.com]

Both version have their merits, but I'd say I go with the Coda version (if that's the one on the box set), which I assumed was live.

I just listened to TfO for the first time in probably 20-years. TfO has an edgy, raw feel that I like, but I think I stick with SIBLY more because of a long term emotional commitment and the fact that Bonzo is on steroids---try timing some of his stuff, like at 3:37. You can't count it. You simply have to feel it. The guy was amazing.

[reverendluke.livejournal.com]

"The Rover"

IAWTC.

[vampyrecat.livejournal.com]

I agree with the above comments, and must add:

I have a weakness for The Battle of Evermore. I discovered this song about the same time that I discovered D&D, so in my mind it is inextricably entwined with roleplaying.

[eb-oesch.livejournal.com]

I'm not enough of a Led Zeppelin devotee to argue with either of these lists, but if I were, then it's a statistical certainty that my list would be different, so I might as well skip the research and go right to the foregone conclusion that you are sadly deluded and nekulturny. Hollyhocks!

(That callback actually works in the alternate universe where there exist more than seven people who remember the sci-fi story with the gimmick of benevolent aliens who fix up Earth in keeping with their absolutely rigid opinions on taste.)