The Brown Bomber

Nicknamed after the airship that looms in the brown background over the band, Led Zeppelin II was released in 1969. For many, it was the album that brought them to love Led Zep. To some critics, this is the album that invented heavy metal, thus the double meaning to Brown Bomber since that was heavyweight boxer Joe Louis's nickname and this album packs a pretty big punch. But it's pretty amazing that the album even got made at all.

II was written and recorded while the band was doing a huge tour in the US in 1969. They used random studios located in London, New York, and even Vancouver whenever they had to time to record. Lyrics were written and songs built in hotel hallways after hours. Jimmy Page was flying all over the country during the tour to produce the album when he had time. This album should have been an absolute disaster, but somehow, Led Zep managed to bring the energy of a live performance into an awesome album.

The Brown Bomber

The album had 400,000 pre-orders and became a #1 album in the US. The album starts off with "Whole Lotta Love," a song that would become Led Zep's anthem. The brass and raunchiness of the song can still take you by surprise. This tune also set the structure for future dance songs with a relentless riff, a breakdown, a build, and then a final drop. And this song is a hard to one to follow. One of my personal favorites off the album is "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)." It's got a sweet riff throughout and its a great song to just listen to.


The album ended up outselling Abbey Road (Beatles) and Let It Bleed (Rolling Stones) but was the subject of many lawsuits. "The Lemon Song" started as an honest cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor," but Led Zep ended up getting sued for forgetting to give credit where it was due. They were also sued by Willie Dixon when they borrowed some lyrics from Sonny Boy Williamson's "Bring It on Home" for their own song of the same name (which the band maintains was supposed to be a small tribute to him). Despite these lawsuits, the success of Led Zeppelin II showed that Led Zep could pay any price and were a force to be reckoned with in the world of rock.

Led Zep: The Beginning

Led Zeppelin, one of the most beloved bands of all time, was really just created to keep some Scandinavian gig commitments in 1968. The Yardbirds, which at the time consisted of Jeff Beck, Keith Relf, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja, and, of course, Jimmy Page, suddenly broke up while on tour (Fun fact: Page was brought in when Eric Clapton left). Page became the sole remaining member and he and manager Paul Grant had to get a band together to finish up the tour. With some help, he found singer Robert Plant, bassist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham.

The band played old Yardbirds tunes as well as new songs like "Killing Floor/The Lemon Song" which wouldn't be recorded until Led Zeppelin II. In just weeks, the band learned to play together and threw superb and fluid shows, unusual for a band who had been together for so short a time. But this smashed together group had a lot of chemistry and decided to keep going together, but in a new direction. With all the old links broken from The Yardbirds, in November of 1968 the band revealed their new name: Led Zeppelin.

The members of Led Zeppelin

You may wonder where the name comes from. Keith Moon (the drummer from The Who) quipped that the last Yardbirds line-up would "go down like a lead zeppelin." Page, Plant, Bonham, and Jones decided that they could use the line for an identity change and removed the "a" from "lead" as to avoid pronunciation confusion of the band's name. Thus, Led Zeppelin was born.

In January of 1969, Led Zeppelin was released after a short 36 hours of recording. Every track rated 4 stars or higher on their debut album, which included hits like "Dazed and Confused" (an old Yardbirds tune), "Good Times, Bad Times," and "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You." It's clear that some of their songs had roots in old Yardbirds songs, but it can be seen that Led Zep had their own sound - and they were transforming and rocking the blues genre. The band had incredible power, riffs, and swing, and these qualities would be brought in greater quantities to each successive album in the next 10 years.

Visit their website for even more info: www.ledzeppelin.com
Jimmy Page's Twitter: @jimmypagecom