Led Zeppelin “Led Zeppelin II” released 50 years ago today, October 22nd, 1969. Led Zeppelin II was the band’s first LP to reach #1 – in both the US and the UK, though they only released one single from the album (and that was outside the UK; weirdly not a single Zeppelin single was ever released in their home country): “Whole Lotta Love” which hit #4 on the US Billboard chart. It’s been ranked among the top greatest songs of all time (most especially for its guitar riff) but it was not without controversy. Parts of the track were a direct lift from Wille Dixon’s “You Need Love” (recorded by Earl Hooker and Muddy Waters in 1962 for Chess Records) but Dixon was uncredited. That led to a lawsuit which resulted in Dixon winning credit and royalties (1985).

I’ve blogged about Led Zeppelin II before so I’m going to quote myself here:

Allmusic says “Led Zeppelin II provided the blueprint for all the heavy metal bands that followed it… the overall sound of the album is heavy and hard, brutal and direct. While Led Zeppelin II doesn’t have the eclecticism of the group’s debut, it’s arguably more influential. After all, nearly every one of the hundreds of Zeppelin imitators used this record, with its lack of dynamics and its pummeling riffs, as a blueprint.”

As I’ve noted in earlier posts, I was, relatively speaking, late to Zeppelin (weird subculture “rules” being what they were, 80′s punks – at least in my town- did not listen to Zeppelin, that was for the grits/heshers/dirts/headbangers) so I didn’t listen to any Zeppelin, including Zeppelin II, until I got to college. Now I love it. “Whole Lotta Love” has one of the most excellent and recognizable lead chords on any album ever, the groove of “What Is and What Should Never Be” is utterly addictive and Zeppelin’s spin on traditional blues in “The Lemon Song” is epic, sexy as hell if not very subtle (“Squeeze me baby, ‘till the juice runs down my leg/The way you squeeze my lemon I’m gonna fall right out of bed”). That’s just Side 1! Side 2′s bass riff on “Heartbreaker” is so slinky, Bonham’s drum solo on “Moby Dick” is insane and II has one of my all-time favorite tracks: “Ramble On.” I was on a serious Tolkien kick during my freshman year at college (I had read The Lord of the Rings as a kid but got it into my head to re-read the entire trilogy over Christmas break that year) so I found the lyrics amazing. Now they kinda make me giggle but I still love “Ramble On” intensely.