(Finished August 8th, 2026) Part 1 of The Thunderous Impact of Led Zeppelin

Hello,

Led Zeppelin was born out of the ashes of the Yardbirds. With the wailing vocals of Robert Plant, the thundering back beat of John Bonham’s drumming, the guitar virtuosity of Jimmy Page and the multi instrumentalist abilities of John Paul Jones Led Zeppelin was set to take off. The spark was lit by the ferocious management of Peter Grant.

For this blog series I read Stephen Davis’ “LZ-’75: The Lost Chronicles of Led Zeppelin’s 1975 American Tour”. It’s a decent enough Led Zeppelin book. It’s probably more for a Led Zeppelin completist like myself than a casual fan.

While the charges of plagiarism against Led Zeppelin are true, the mighty Zep took those songs up several levels. For this blog I’m going to post the original song and then Led Zeppelin’s version.

1) “Whole Lotta Love” based on Willie Dixon’s “You Need Love”:

Sure these two songs share some of the same lyrics, but they are completely different songs. This is one of Led Zeppelin’s two or three best songs. I love how the tension builds and then explodes. 2) Led Zeppelin “Whole Lotta Love”:

3) Howlin Wolf “Killing Floor” is the basis for “The Lemon Song”:

4a) Led Zeppelin “The Lemon Song”:

4b) Led Zeppelin “The Lemon Song”:

5) Bobby Parker “Watch Your Step”:

6) Led Zeppelin “Moby Dick”:

Wow, these two songs don’t even compare. 7) Joan Baez “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You”:

8) Led Zeppelin “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You”:

9) Jake Holmes “Dazed and Confused”:

10) Led Zeppelin “Dazed and Confused”:

11) Willie Dixon “I Can’t Quit You Baby”:

12) Led Zeppelin “I Can’t Quit You Baby”:

13) Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy “When The Levee Breaks”:

14) Led Zeppelin “When The Levee Breaks”:

15) Moby Grape “Never”:

16) Led Zeppelin “Since I’ve Been Loving You”:

17) Blind Willie Johnson “In My Time of Dyin’”:

This is the last song Chris Cornell sang with Soundgarden before killing himself. 18) Led Zeppelin “In My Time of Dying”:

This is Led Zeppelin taking a traditional song and making it into their own, “Gallows Pole”:

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