By Jaideep Shergill
CEO, MSLGroup, India
If the sun refused to shine, I'd still be loving you. If mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me. - Led Zeppelin
I’m a rock addict. The auditorium of my mind is filled with drum rolls and guitar riffs. On the stage are long-haired men powering through songs and chords, their eyes shining with madness as the arc lights switch colours, blinding now and mellow then. The audience is a writhing, screaming mass bathed in black, cigarette lighters casting a ghostly glow on adrenalized faces.
Spending my life attending rock concerts around the world wouldn’t be a half-bad thing. I have loved all the great rock acts of our time – The Who, Rolling Stones – and their music is a part of who I am. Yet, when I’m asked who’s the greatest of them all, it’s Led Zeppelin that comes to mind.
I’ve often tried to articulate what I feel instinctively. Why do I think Led Zeppelin is the greatest? Why are M/s Page, Plant, Bonham and Jones better than M/s Jagger, Richards, Wood and Watts?
It’s a tough question. I’m not even sure Led Zep – widely considered one of the most innovative and certainly among the most successful acts in history – is better than Rolling Stones, but let me attempt to say why I like them more.
Led Zep epitomized the excess and debauchery – not to mention on-stage madness, backstage antics and even a touch of the occult – that you associate with rock. But, they went way beyond that. Led Zep, for me, recreated a genre. They transformed rock from a swinging, bluesy wind into a tornado.
Led Zep displayed the capacity to shake your insides while you stood rooted to a spot even as they transported you to a different place. Somebody once described its sound as ‘ferocious’. It’s an apt description, but let’s not forget the melodic cadences of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ or Jimmy Page’s use of a violin bow on the guitar. Robert Plant’s voice could go from delicate to primal force.
When you listen to a Led Zep album, you’re not listening to music. You’re going on a journey rooted in the blues but one that occasionally dips into the British, Celtic and Soul legacies. The band disbanded after the death of drummer Jason Bonham, but I believe that it hasn’t lost its relevance. It remains among the most-listened-to bands even now and few could claim to approach its brilliance.
Here are a few reasons I believe makes Led Zep the greatest:
Lyrics: You’d be hard-pressed to find better writers than The Beatles’ Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Yet, what can surpass the lines below?
Little drops of rain whisper of the pain,
Tears of loves lost in the days gone by,
My love is strong, with you there is no wrong,
Together we shall go until we die.
Guitar virtuosity and machine-gun drums: ‘Stairway to Heaven’. Listen to it. The guitar on that and other numbers goes from languid, ‘walk in the park’ pace to supersonic speed. The drums are like thunder claps.
Melodic: Where there is thunder and lightning, there is mellowness and contemplation. Listen to the tribute to Plant’s deceased son ‘All My Love’ and the haunting ‘The Rain Song’.
Still think Led Zeppelin’s not the greatest band ever? Maybe these lines of theirs will convince you.
Oh, did you ever believe that I could leave you, standing out in the cold, I know how it feels 'cause I have slipped through to the very depths of my soul.
Feedback: jaideep.shergill@mslgroup.com
