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FBG'S TOP 81 LED ZEPPELIN SONGS: #1 - When The Levee Breaks from Led Zeppelin IV (1971) (1 Viewer)

Anarchy99 said:
I must say I am disappointed in many of you. How dare you all try to be civilized and act like adults! I only signed up to do this for name calling, complete indignation, and a message board equivalent of the Jerry Springer show. I want to see some serious beyotch slapping.
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Anarchy99 said:
I sense you are anti-chipmunk. This is a friendly family forum. Chipmunks are family friendly. #REPORTED
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Do tell

 
Just couldn't rank Going to California. It's not that I don't like the song but I don't love it. It's just kinda meh for me currently. 

 
#12 - Heartbreaker / Living Loving Maid from Led Zeppelin II (1969)

Appeared On: 37 ballots (out of 62 . . . 59.7%)
Total Points: 523 points (out of 1,550 possible points . . .  33.7%)

Top 5 Rankers: @fatguyinalittlecoat@Ilov80s@jwb DEADHEAD @Tom Servo@Just Win Baby
Highest Ranking: 2

Live Performances:

Heartbreaker
LZ: 258 (Paris - 1969-10-10, Montreux - 1970-03-07, London - 1971-04-01, Long Beach - 1972-06-27, New York - 1973-07-28, London - 1975-05-24, Los Angeles - 1977-06-21, Knebworth - 1979-08-04, Zurich - 1980-06-29, New York - 1988-05-14)
Page & Plant: 123 (Bucharest - 1998-03-01, Las Vegas - 1998-09-23)
Plant: 40 (Upper Darby - 2005-06-22, Nashville - 2005-06-29, Byron Bay - 2013-03-30, Newcastle 2013-03-31)
JP & The Crowes: 17 (Wantagh - 2000-07-10)
JPJ: 2

LLM
Plant: 44 (Dallas - 1990-08-04, Seattle - 1990-09-19, Universal City - 1990-10-31, Musgokee - 1990-11-26, London - 1991-01-08, 

Covers: 

Heartbreaker: Train, Dread Zeppelin, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Coalesce, The Section Quartet, Nirvana, Steve Morse, Speed Limit, Rangzen, Rachel Barton & Stringendo, Bjørn Berge, The Replacements (Not that band), Bonerama, Mothership, Aerosmith, Zebra, Ben Harper, Righteous Continental, High Voltage, John Craigie, Led Blimpie, Sugarpie & The Candymen, Lackthereof, Frank Hannon, Joey Belladonna, Anthony Gomes, Lou Gramm, Rat Race Choir, Zepparella, The Cat & Owl, Maria Rico, Giovanni Falzone Contemporary Orchestra, Zoso, Razer & Slash, The Equinox, People's Front Of Zeppelin, Ira Green, Dee Snyder, Gentle Groove, Metal Allegience, Steamroller, Acid Drinkers, Strange Brew, Sybarite5, Hindenburg & George Cintron, Phish, Hammer Of The Gods, Mollie Marriott, Linda Perry, The Slip, Buddy Whittington, Wild Adriatic, Mammoth, Lady Zep, Flying Circus, After Hours, Off The Record

LLM: Great White, Alyona, Dread Zeppelin, Train, Zozojones, Hard Box, Dirty Sanchez, Sara Loera, Night Owls, Copycat Killers, Acoustic Bruce, Swamp Donkey, Resistance Organ Trio, Bass Zeppelin, Doxomedon, Studio 99, The Hit Co., Bonerama, Nico Suave, Paolo Fedi, Ramiro Jatuff, Grand Rock Highway, Gov't Mule, Heavy Tiger, Joey Hebdo, Andreas Kisser, Acid Looks, Bateros Argentinos, Lecheenpolvo & Friends, Alright, Wiseguise, Jet Lemon Band, AUTISTAS CHOCADORES, Kevin Byrne, Batwanger

Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 92 songs): 9 & 50
Vulture Ranking (out of 74 songs): 45 & 48
Rolling Stone Ranking (out of 40 songs): 22 & 33
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): 27 & Not Ranked
Uproxx Ranking (out of 50 songs): 39 (Combined)
WMGK Ranking (out of 92 songs): 10 & 30
SPIN Ranking (out of 87 songs): 3 & 50
Ranker Ranking (out of 87 songs): 21 & 47
Anachronarchy Ranking (out of 80 songs): 4 & 49

Spare me the righteous indignation about me combining these two songs. This has been discussed already. IMO, it did not have much impact on where Heartbreaker ended up ranked, and I only remember one person that voted for LLM and not Heartbreaker. It scored nearly 50 more points than Rock And Roll did at #14. I don’t remember anyone saying they ranked Heartbreaker HIGHER because LLM made it a twofer. Living Loving Maid most likely would have ranked as song #60 plus or minus a couple spots. Heartbreaker did not receive a #1 vote and only saw one second, one third, and six Top 5 votes. It did muster up 15 Top 10 votes and appeared on 37 ballots (most so far). Four of the outside rankers ranked it in their Top 10.

Heartbreaker was recorded in sessions two months apart and then mixed almost two months after that. Page had recorded 10 reels worth of guitar solos (not just for Heartbreaker), and Page and the team of engineers listened to all of them before going with the one that made the album. The idea of introducing 46 seconds of solo guitar in the middle of a rock track was a fairly unique idea. Page’s unaccompanied solo is pitched slightly higher than the rest of the song. It was added / inserted much later than when the main track was initially recorded. Essentially, it wasn’t recorded as part of the song initially.

Page explained: "I just fancied doing it. I was always trying to do something different, or something else that no one else had thought of. But the interesting thing about the solo is that it was recorded after we had already finished Heartbreaker . . . it was an afterthought. That whole section was recorded in a different studio and it was sort of slotted in the middle. If you notice, the whole sound of the guitar is different.” The explanation is probably that different tape recorders in different studios were running at slightly different speeds. Given that the main song and the solo were already recorded and the band was not around, they audio engineers blended things together as best they could.

(Rough Mix with Vocal), Instrumental, No Overdubs

Heartbreaker was released as a single. Some countries got LLM as the flip, while others got Bring It On Home. LLM was also the B-side of Whole Lotta Love in many countries. The solo in Heartbreaker with open-string pull-offs purportedly inspired Eddie Van Halen to develop his influential tapping technique after he had seen Led Zeppelin play Heartbreaker live. 

LLM is about a persistent groupie on the West Coast of the U.S. who would not leave the band alone. The group disliked the track (particularly Page), and they considered it to be little more than filler (and a reminder of the annoying woman). It is said that the song was never played live. However, it was rumored to have been played in Dusseldorf - 1970-03-12 after Heartbreaker. I have two different recordings of the show, and neither one has Living Loving Maid on it.

Heartbreaker was the 6th most performed Zeppelin song with 258 performances. It was also the 9th most performed Page & Plant song with 123 performances. Plant solo added another 40 times, and Jimmy & The Crowes added 17 more. Plant played LLM 44 times from 1990 - 1993 (amazingly more times than he’s played Heartbreaker).

Ultimate Classic Rock (9 & 50 of 92 songs): That riff pretty much seals the song's legacy, but there's a lot going on in its four quick minutes, most of it based around Page's guitar. And just when you think you've heard everything Heartbreaker has to offer, Page tosses off a 45-second solo that ranks among rock's all-time greatest. At barely two and a half minutes, Living Loving Maid is often dismissed as the song that immediately follows the better Heartbreaker. But it's not the throwaway it appears. Just listen to that riff.

Vulture (45 & 48 of 74 songs): Thematically, this is basically the same song as Rod Stewart’s Maggie May. One is timeless, musically alluring, and emotionally rueful. The other is leaden, labored, and comes across as contrived. Page’s ferocious unaccompanied guitar-break was novel for the time, though. One of the abiding questions of rock ‘n’ roll is why these four hirsute brutes, at least three of whom would probably have lived out sad and anonymous lives were it not for the mysterious goodwill of a benevolent god who created them at the one moment in history where their odd talents could make them rich, famous, and objects of shockingly inhibited sexual desire to a new generation of liberated women, spent so much time writing woman-hating lyrics. A lot of it was received nonsense, and of course they were products of their time. But their inability to see beyond that is a strong part of the case against the band.

Rolling Stone (22 & 33 of 40 songs): Page's solo was a heavy-metal textbook full of pyrotechnics that, per legend, inspired a young Eddie Van Halen to re imagine the possible. A take down of "Annie," a two-timer who leaves the singer "alone and blue," it became a live staple during which Page would slip Bach's "Bourrée in E minor" and other quotes into the jam. Think there are no bad songs on Led Zeppelin II? Page disagrees: He left this off their 1990 box set, and Zeppelin never played it live. Still, the fast, hard-twanging rocker about an aging groupie became a radio standard.

Louder (27 & Not Ranked of 50 songs): Although the latter part of Led Zeppelin II was somewhat uneven, Heartbreaker was among the highlights. The fifth track was recorded and mixed at the A&R studios in New York and showcased one of Page’s most exciting and memorable guitar outbursts. Robert’s question – 'Hey fellows, have you heard the news?' – sets up a dynamic groove, which the band supports. The band even stops dead in its tracks to allow Page to explode all over his fretboard, before drums and bass clamber back. The guitar picks up speed as Page piles climax upon climax. After an abrupt halt, Plant returns to continue his diatribe: 'You abused my love a thousand times!' The song became one of the favorites for the band to perform live from October 1969 onward, and was used as a set opener, alternating with Immigrant Song. Jimmy would extemporize at length during his Heartbreaker solo, often quoting from Greensleeves or from themes by Bach.

Uproxx (39 (Combined) of 50 songs): What Zeppelin lacked in pop radio exposure they more than made up within classic rock stations from coast to coast who implemented “Get The Led Out” segments. In my town, you were encouraged to get the Led out at 5 p.m., also known as quitting time for Zep’s blue-collar fan base. And because there was quite a bit of Led that we all needed to get out, you would usually hear at least two songs. We all get the Led out in different ways, but in my community the songs most likely to be played in this segment was this double-shot from Led Zeppelin II. The first part features one of the most iconic riffs in the Zeppelin canon and the wankiest guitar solo. The second part was supposedly considered garbage by the band, who never played it live, but I remember loving it as a virginal teenager who aspired to one day date beautiful sanitation workers.

WMGK (10 & 30 of 92 songs): Side one of Led Zeppelin II closed with the beautiful love song Thank You, but when you flipped over to side two, listeners were greeted by this tale of lust coupled with another monster riff and solo from Jimmy Page. LLM was the b-side to Whole Lotta Love, which is strange considering how it’s literally inseparable from Heartbreaker, and radio still plays both tracks together as if they are one song. But the riffs on Living Loving Maid (She’s Just A Woman) are oddly complementary to those in Whole Lotta Love. 

SPIN Ranking (3 & 50 of 87 songs): A typically searing main riff and Plant vocal for the first few verses, but Heartbreaker doesn’t reach its highest gear until the key shifts unexpectedly for the song’s makeshift third verse, which goes all crazy at the end (“Why’d you call me some other guy’s name / When I’m tryina make LOOOOOVEEEE TO YOUUUUU!!!”) before cutting out completely for a solo Page showcase. His playing in that section, sans accompaniment — rivaled only by Eruption as the most famous true guitar solo in rock history — is peerlessly electrifying, and the moment when the band kicks back in is nearly as good.

Taken in full, Heartbreaker is an insane mishmash of questionable ideas — hell, how many other songs can you think of that end mid-word? — but the band’s brilliance and sheer bravado carries it, making it one of their best and best-remembered songs, and proof that they could simply do things other bands could not.

LLM's lyrics rank among Zep’s most vile, as unapologetic-ally misogynistic as Zeppelin would get on record. For better or worse, though, the hooks come out of this thing from so many different directions — not to mention that at a scant 2:39 (and bursting out of the speakers after the surprise end to Heartbreaker), it’s one of the group’s tightest jams — that it remains impossible to deny completely. (Unless you’re Jimmy Page, anyway, who allegedly hated the song and never once played it live.)

 
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Page's hatred for Living Loving Maid just shows that artists are sometimes terrible judges of their own work.  The combo of that with Heartbreak is just fantastic.  The solo in Heartbreaker is classic Jimmy Page, as there is a moment or two where he sounds like he is about to lose the plot, but manages to keep it together.  That kind of flawed looseness in his playing is a big part of the LZ sound. 

I get why many rate Rock and Roll so high, but I never thought it was anything more than a solid hard rock tune, even back in the day before I had heard it 1,000 times. 

I was not a fan of Going to California for a long time, but now it is probably my 3rd favorite song from IV, behind the big two still to come (the side closers). 

 
Anarchy99 said:
#12 - Heartbreaker / Living Loving Maid from Led Zeppelin II (1969)

Appeared On: 37 ballots (out of 62 . . . 59.7%)
Total Points: 523 points (out of 1,550 possible points . . .  33.7%)

Top 5 Rankers: @fatguyinalittlecoat@Ilov80s@jwb DEADHEAD @Tom Servo@Just Win Baby
Highest Ranking: 2

Live Performances:
LZ: 258 & 0
Page & Plant: 123 & 0
Plant: 40 & 44

Covers: 

(^^^ Will add all those later. ^^^)

Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 92 songs): 9 & 50
Vulture Ranking (out of 74 songs): 45 & 48
Rolling Stone Ranking (out of 40 songs): 22 & 33
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): 27 & Not Ranked
Uproxx Ranking (out of 50 songs): 39 (Combined)
WMGK Ranking (out of 92 songs): 10 & 30
SPIN Ranking (out of 87 songs): 3 & 50
Ranker Ranking (out of 87 songs): 21 & 47
Anachronarchy Ranking (out of 80 songs): 4 & 49

Spare me the righteous indignation about me combining these two songs. This has been discussed already. IMO, it did not have much impact on where Heartbreaker ended up ranked, and I only remember one person that voted for LLM and not Heartbreaker. It scored nearly 50 more points than Rock And Roll did at #14. I don’t remember anyone saying they ranked Heartbreaker HIGHER because LLM made it a twofer. Living Loving Maid most likely would have ranked as song #60 plus or minus a couple spots. Heartbreaker did not receive a #1 vote and only saw one second, one third, and six Top 5 votes. It did muster up 15 Top 10 votes and appeared on 37 ballots (most so far). Four of the outside rankers ranked it in their Top 10.

Heartbreaker was recorded in sessions two months apart and then mixed almost two months after that. Page had recorded 10 reels worth of guitar solos (not just for Heartbreaker), and Page and the team of engineers listened to all of them before going with the one that made the album. The idea of introducing 46 seconds of solo guitar in the middle of a rock track was a fairly unique idea. Page’s unaccompanied solo is pitched slightly higher than the rest of the song. It was added / inserted much later than when the main track was initially recorded. Essentially, it wasn’t recorded as part of the song initially.

Page explained: "I just fancied doing it. I was always trying to do something different, or something else that no one else had thought of. But the interesting thing about the solo is that it was recorded after we had already finished Heartbreaker . . . it was an afterthought. That whole section was recorded in a different studio and it was sort of slotted in the middle. If you notice, the whole sound of the guitar is different.” The explanation is probably that different tape recorders in different studios were running at slightly different speeds. Given that the main song and the solo were already recorded and the band was not around, they audio engineers blended things together as best they could.

(Rough Mix with Vocal), Instrumental, No Overdubs

Heartbreaker was released as a single. Some countries got LLM as the flip, while others got Bring It On Home. LLM was also the B-side of Whole Lotta Love in many countries. The solo in Heartbreaker with open-string pull-offs purportedly inspired Eddie Van Halen to develop his influential tapping technique after he had seen Led Zeppelin play Heartbreaker live. 

LLM is about a persistent groupie on the West Coast of the U.S. who would not leave the band alone. The group disliked the track (particularly Page), and they considered it to be little more than filler (and a reminder of the annoying woman). It is said that the song was never played live. However, it was rumored to have been played in Dusseldorf - 1970-03-12 after Heartbreaker. I have two different recordings of the show, and neither one has Living Loving Maid on it.

Heartbreaker was the 6th most performed Zeppelin song with 258 performances. It was also the 9th most performed Page & Plant song with 123 performances. Plant solo added another 40 times, and Jimmy & The Crowes added 17 more. Plant played LLM 44 times from 1990 - 1993 (amazingly more times than he’s played Heartbreaker).

Ultimate Classic Rock (9 & 50 of 92 songs): That riff pretty much seals the song's legacy, but there's a lot going on in its four quick minutes, most of it based around Page's guitar. And just when you think you've heard everything Heartbreaker has to offer, Page tosses off a 45-second solo that ranks among rock's all-time greatest. At barely two and a half minutes, Living Loving Maid is often dismissed as the song that immediately follows the better Heartbreaker. But it's not the throwaway it appears. Just listen to that riff.

Vulture (45 & 48 of 74 songs): Thematically, this is basically the same song as Rod Stewart’s Maggie May. One is timeless, musically alluring, and emotionally rueful. The other is leaden, labored, and comes across as contrived. Page’s ferocious unaccompanied guitar-break was novel for the time, though. One of the abiding questions of rock ‘n’ roll is why these four hirsute brutes, at least three of whom would probably have lived out sad and anonymous lives were it not for the mysterious goodwill of a benevolent god who created them at the one moment in history where their odd talents could make them rich, famous, and objects of shockingly inhibited sexual desire to a new generation of liberated women, spent so much time writing woman-hating lyrics. A lot of it was received nonsense, and of course they were products of their time. But their inability to see beyond that is a strong part of the case against the band.

Rolling Stone (22 & 33 of 40 songs): Page's solo was a heavy-metal textbook full of pyrotechnics that, per legend, inspired a young Eddie Van Halen to re imagine the possible. A take down of "Annie," a two-timer who leaves the singer "alone and blue," it became a live staple during which Page would slip Bach's "Bourrée in E minor" and other quotes into the jam. Think there are no bad songs on Led Zeppelin II? Page disagrees: He left this off their 1990 box set, and Zeppelin never played it live. Still, the fast, hard-twanging rocker about an aging groupie became a radio standard.

Louder (27 & Not Ranked of 50 songs): Although the latter part of Led Zeppelin II was somewhat uneven, Heartbreaker was among the highlights. The fifth track was recorded and mixed at the A&R studios in New York and showcased one of Page’s most exciting and memorable guitar outbursts. Robert’s question – 'Hey fellows, have you heard the news?' – sets up a dynamic groove, which the band supports. The band even stops dead in its tracks to allow Page to explode all over his fretboard, before drums and bass clamber back. The guitar picks up speed as Page piles climax upon climax. After an abrupt halt, Plant returns to continue his diatribe: 'You abused my love a thousand times!' The song became one of the favorites for the band to perform live from October 1969 onward, and was used as a set opener, alternating with Immigrant Song. Jimmy would extemporize at length during his Heartbreaker solo, often quoting from Greensleeves or from themes by Bach.

Uproxx (39 (Combined) of 50 songs): What Zeppelin lacked in pop radio exposure they more than made up within classic rock stations from coast to coast who implemented “Get The Led Out” segments. In my town, you were encouraged to get the Led out at 5 p.m., also known as quitting time for Zep’s blue-collar fan base. And because there was quite a bit of Led that we all needed to get out, you would usually hear at least two songs. We all get the Led out in different ways, but in my community the songs most likely to be played in this segment was this double-shot from Led Zeppelin II. The first part features one of the most iconic riffs in the Zeppelin canon and the wankiest guitar solo. The second part was supposedly considered garbage by the band, who never played it live, but I remember loving it as a virginal teenager who aspired to one day date beautiful sanitation workers.

WMGK (10 & 30 of 92 songs): Side one of Led Zeppelin II closed with the beautiful love song Thank You, but when you flipped over to side two, listeners were greeted by this tale of lust coupled with another monster riff and solo from Jimmy Page. LLM was the b-side to Whole Lotta Love, which is strange considering how it’s literally inseparable from Heartbreaker, and radio still plays both tracks together as if they are one song. But the riffs on Living Loving Maid (She’s Just A Woman) are oddly complementary to those in Whole Lotta Love. 

SPIN Ranking (3 & 50 of 87 songs): A typically searing main riff and Plant vocal for the first few verses, but Heartbreaker doesn’t reach its highest gear until the key shifts unexpectedly for the song’s makeshift third verse, which goes all crazy at the end (“Why’d you call me some other guy’s name / When I’m tryina make LOOOOOVEEEE TO YOUUUUU!!!”) before cutting out completely for a solo Page showcase. His playing in that section, sans accompaniment — rivaled only by Eruption as the most famous true guitar solo in rock history — is peerlessly electrifying, and the moment when the band kicks back in is nearly as good.

Taken in full, Heartbreaker is an insane mishmash of questionable ideas — hell, how many other songs can you think of that end mid-word? — but the band’s brilliance and sheer bravado carries it, making it one of their best and best-remembered songs, and proof that they could simply do things other bands could not.

LLM's lyrics rank among Zep’s most vile, as unapologetic-ally misogynistic as Zeppelin would get on record. For better or worse, though, the hooks come out of this thing from so many different directions — not to mention that at a scant 2:39 (and bursting out of the speakers after the surprise end to Heartbreaker), it’s one of the group’s tightest jams — that it remains impossible to deny completely. (Unless you’re Jimmy Page, anyway, who allegedly hated the song and never once played it live.)
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My rank: None

My friend's rank: 19

This is probably the post will get the second-most amount of e-poo flung at me, after my reaction to In My Time of Dying. So I'll just cut to the chase.

A. I like LLM better than Heartbreaker. Even taking into account LLM's awful lyrics. 

B. I think Heartbreaker is an "impressive" song, but it does zero for me from a feelings/emotional perspective. I don't feel any joy, passion or anything when I listen to it. Just, "yeah, the band is good." 

C. I see Heartbreaker as more like a grade-A Vanilla Fudge song than a grade-A Zep song. It has no swing. 

D. I think Heartbreaker, via its influence on Eddie Van Halen, is to blame for the birth of a particularly soulless brand of metal that I have never liked. (I was going to bring this up even if EVH wasn't mentioned in the entry.) I like Heartbreaker and much of the DLR-era Van Halen material well enough because of how well the songs are executed (and how they benefit from extremely charismatic frontmen), but most of the Van Halen-inspired metal bands of the '80s just leave me cold -- they are all flash and no soul. Wankery, as the British would say.

E. I love LLM for the same reasons I love Immigrant Song, Communication Breakdown, etc. Relentless momentum, controlled chaos, incredible bursts of sound that do everything they need to do in 2 or 3 minutes. I'm convinced it's not in the same pantheon as the other two because it's always been thought of as a tack-on to Heartbreaker. Not because of the awful lyrics -- let's face it, back in the day, almost no one was docking songs for misogynistic lyrics. Indeed, I had no idea what they were singing about until recently -- I pay very little attention to the lyrics of electric Zep songs. I mostly just see Plant's voice as another instrument. LLM would probably have appeared on my list if our lists went to 40 (and we ranked Heartbreaker and LLM separately).

My friend loves Heartbreaker and LLM -- he has always seen them as separate entities (he never listened to the FM rock stations that always played them together) and his initial list ranked them 19 and 20. I don't recall ever discussing these with him so I don't have any insight beyond that he prefers their older stuff and loves II almost as much as III and IV. 

 
After Babe I'm Gonna Leave You,  Stairway and Over the Hills and Far Away come off the board I'm home free. 

Heartbreaker and Rock N Roll are terribly overrated by the masses but it is what it is.  I don't hate either song, they would be top tier songs by many bands, just not this one.  

 
One song that I'm happy is still alive is Ramble On.  I half expected it to be on the board by now.   Hoping I didn't jinx it and it gets into the top 10, if not top 5.

I didn't have it top 5 but as most of my top 5 is decimated, it's the song I'm rooting for. 

If When the Levee Breaks is not top 5, that will be criminal, but I don't think that will happen.

 
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There's something about Heartbreaker/LLM I find special. If we had to consider them separately, I don't now how it would have shook out, but they'd be lower, of course. They need each other, and I like that about them.

But that's a hallmark of most music I like. I'm a China>Rider, Help>Slip>Frank kind of dude, music-wise.

 
My top 25 (consensus)

Bolded songs not in consensus.

1.
2. Since I've Been Loving You (15)
3.
4. The Rain Song (17)
5.
6. The Ocean (20)
7.
8. Travelling Riverside Blues (43)
9. Ten Years Gone (22)
10. Heartbreaker / Living Loving Maid (12)
11.
12.
13. What is and What Should Never Be (16)
14.
15.
16.
17. 
18.
19. Hey, Hey, What Can I Do (24)
20. Going to California (13)
21. In My Time of Dying (26)
22. Houses of the Holy (37)
23. Communication Breakdown (18)
24. I Can't Quit You Baby (50)
25. Your Time is Gonna Come (39)

The 5 consensus top 25 songs that didn't make my list:

Rock & Roll (14)
No Quarter (19)
The Battle of Evermore (21)
The Song Remains the Same (23)
Misty Mountain Hop (25)

 
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⚡DEADHEAD⚡ said:
There's something about Heartbreaker/LLM I find special. If we had to consider them separately, I don't now how it would have shook out, but they'd be lower, of course. They need each other, and I like that about them.

But that's a hallmark of most music I like. I'm a China>Rider, Help>Slip>Frank kind of dude, music-wise.
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For a second I saw the "," as another ">" and was about to furiously start a search to find a show where Rider transitions into help. In my head I'm still trying to imagine how that would sound. Not sure what key they were usually in, but I can totally hear I Know You Rider ending with the opening riff of Help on the Way rather than that last crashing cord. 

 
Dwayne Hoover said:
One song that I'm happy is still alive is Ramble On.  I half expected it to be on the board by now.   Hoping I didn't jinx it and it gets into the top 10, if not top 5.

I didn't have it top 5 but as most of my top 5 is decimated, it's the song I'm rooting for. 

If When the Levee Breaks is not top 5, that will be criminal, but I don't think that will happen.
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Shhh!! Be quiet you. Don’t jinx it. 🤫

 
No righteous indignation about combining these two songs but it definitely impacted how I ranked them.  But I’m cool with that.  I hadn’t started my rankings until that decision was made but ended up having the combo at #11.  I would have had Heartbreaker in the late teens and LLM probably one of my last in or last out - probably out.  It worthy but I’m also glad it didn’t end up to 10.

 
AAABatteries said:
No righteous indignation about combining these two songs but it definitely impacted how I ranked them.  But I’m cool with that.  I hadn’t started my rankings until that decision was made but ended up having the combo at #11.  I would have had Heartbreaker in the late teens and LLM probably one of my last in or last out - probably out.  It worthy but I’m also glad it didn’t end up to 10.
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Same. I would not have moved Heartbreaker out of its current tier, but by itself it'd have been towards the bottom of it and not the top at 11. That instant flip from the slow and sludgy **HEART** to the more chatoic **With a purple umbrella and a 50 cent hat** is part of what makes this 'song.'

 
Had it in the low 20s for my initial rankings partly due to the fact that it was a 2fer. After going through for a second, third, and even a fourth time it just kept dropping to not even being close.

Will still jam too either when they come on. 

 
#11 - Good Times Bad Times from Led Zeppelin I (1969)

Appeared On: 41 ballots (out of 62 . . . 66.1%)
Total Points: 534 points (out of 1,550 possible points . . .  34.5%)

#11 - Good Times Bad Times from Led Zeppelin I (1969)

Top 5 Rankers: @Sullie@DocHolliday@Pip's Invitationfriend @Tom Servo@Anarchy99@dickey moe@wildwombat@raidergil
Highest Ranking: 2

Live Performances:
LZ: 3
Page & Plant: 1
Plant: 6

Covers: 

(^^^ Will add all those later. ^^^)

Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 92 songs): 17
Vulture Ranking (out of 74 songs): 2
Rolling Stone Ranking (out of 40 songs): 6
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): 20
Uproxx Ranking (out of 50 songs): 20
WMGK Ranking (out of 92 songs): 6
SPIN Ranking (out of 87 songs): 19
Ranker Ranking (out of 87 songs): 24
Anachronarchy Ranking (out of 80 songs): 29

The final answer to the trivia question from weeks ago. GTBT is the last remaining song without a first-place vote. It did get picked as a #2 selection and two people had it as their #3. It did cobble up eight Top 5 votes, but it is our first offering to break the 40-ballot threshold with 41 voters (66%). Good Times was arguably Zeppelin’s most important song even if it may not be their best, as this was the first song anyone would have heard from the band (either in single or album form). Not to keep stating the obvious, but this song NOT making the Top 10 only showcases how incredible the remaining songs are. Three of the outside rankers have it in their Top 10 (with a high of #2).

I am short on time these days and am heading out of town for a week. I will backfill the missing pieces to the write ups when I get back. At this point, I figure people would rather have half a loaf over none. I’ll have to try to figure out when and how to get at least partial write ups up.

Ultimate Classic Rock (17 of 92 songs): The opening song from Zeppelin's first album and their first single. So, in effect, pretty much everyone's introduction to the band. And what a remarkable intro, even if its relatively short length and straightforward pop structure barely hint at the group's breadth.

Vulture (2 of 74 songs): In one sense this is a cartoon, and Zeppelin would outgrow such stuff. But it has to be noted that this is the sensational lead off track to a debut album and career, the first echoing, crisp, very hard guitar chords heralding something very new. The cocky, knowing lyrics, the fire hose of sound, and the très cool guitar work all announce that the terms of the debate have been changed; indeed, Page’s flurry of notes at the end of the first verse ends the debate with a slap upside its head.

Rolling Stone (6 of 40 songs): The first song on the first album introduces the band with a declaration of surly defiance ("I don't care what the neighbors say"), a stun-gun riff and a restless, syncopated drum pattern, which Page cited as evidence of Bonham's "amazing technique." Though the lyrics are a standard evil-woman blues complaint, the message was as immediate as a car accident: Zeppelin intended to use four-piece dynamics in exhilarating new ways.

Louder (20 of 50 songs): Right from the dramatic two beat opening, John Bonham leads this track and puts the whole kit through its paces. That pioneering use of bass drum triplets heralded the arrival of a very special drummer. Doing things with a bass pedal that it took two of James Brown’s drummers to try and emulate – and they knew a bit about rhythm. Rolling Stone cited this song when they named John Bonham as the world's best drummer in 2016, saying: “Jimmy Page was still amused by the disorienting impact that Good Times Bad Times, with its jaw-dropping bass-drum hiccups, had on listeners: ‘Everyone was laying bets that Bonzo was using two bass drums, but he only had one.’ Heavy, lively, virtuosic and deliberate, that performance laid out the terrain Bonham’s artful clobbering would conquer before his untimely death in 1980."

Uproxx (20 of 50 songs): By all accounts, Led Zeppelin was the Led Zeppelin pretty much from the moment they first plugged in. “It was just an unleashing of energy,” Plant later said. “But it felt like it was something that I’d always wanted.” You can hear it in this song, the first track on the first album. It’s rare for a band to arrive in that moment as fully formed as Zeppelin was. But the instrumental alchemy was there immediately — the way Bonham’s start-stop drums play off Page’s riff and is held together Jones’ deep-in-the-pocket bass line, and then sent off into outer space by Plant’s screaming vocal.

WMGK (6 of 92 songs): A crushing Jimmy Page riff. John Bonham’s funky but powerful drumming. A 20-year old Robert Plant wailing, “In the days of my youth / I was told what it means to be a man.” And John Paul Jones’ understated but vital bass playing. Those elements kicked off the first song on side one of Led Zeppelin’s debut. It was also the band’s first single, so Good Times Bad Times provided a powerful introduction to the band for rock fans in 1969. At the end of the song, Plant sings, “Realize, sweet babe, we ain't ever gonna part,” and it was sort of prophetic: although the band would last only a little over a decade, millions of fans have never stopped loving Zeppelin, and they keep picking up new followers with each new generation. 

SPIN (19 of 87 songs): A hell of a way to kick off your recorded output, with that repeated bar chord and the drums sneaking up from behind it, congealing into one of the band’s definitive grooves right in time for Plant to slither in over it. Zep would grow as songwriters and musicians over the course of their ten-year career, but “Good Times” shows how their swag was on 100 right from their very first notes as a band, and their cockiness is still totally infectious when heard in the American Hustle trailer over 40 years later.

 
I believe these peeps all had the Top 10 songs on their lists: @Rustoleum@BrutalPenguin@dickey moe@Witz@Sinn Fein@Andrew74@AAABatteries@cap'n grunge@raidergil

I believe these people have the most points remaining:
@AAAABatteries- 180 (the only one with all Top 5 songs remaining)
@Andrew74- 178
@Sullie- 175
@DocHolliday- 167
@PIK95- 160
@Witz- 159
@Sinn Fein- 159
@Getzlaf15- 158
@dickey moe- 155
@[scooter]-154

We still have to anoint the person to have no songs remaining (not soon) . . . and learn which person ranked the actual Top 4 in their personal Top 4.
 

 
Anarchy99 said:
#11 - Good Times Bad Times from Led Zeppelin I (1969)

Appeared On: 41 ballots (out of 62 . . . 66.1%)
Total Points: 534 points (out of 1,550 possible points . . .  34.5%)

#11 - Good Times Bad Times from Led Zeppelin I (1969)

Top 5 Rankers: @Sullie@DocHolliday@Pip's Invitationfriend @Tom Servo@Anarchy99@dickey moe@wildwombat@raidergil
Highest Ranking: 2

Live Performances:
LZ: 3
Page & Plant: 1
Plant: 6

Covers: 

(^^^ Will add all those later. ^^^)

Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 92 songs): 17
Vulture Ranking (out of 74 songs): 2
Rolling Stone Ranking (out of 40 songs): 6
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): 20
Uproxx Ranking (out of 50 songs): 20
WMGK Ranking (out of 92 songs): 6
SPIN Ranking (out of 87 songs): 19
Ranker Ranking (out of 87 songs): 24
Anachronarchy Ranking (out of 80 songs): 29

The final answer to the trivia question from weeks ago. GTBT is the last remaining song without a first-place vote. It did get picked as a #2 selection and two people had it as their #3. It did cobble up eight Top 5 votes, but it is our first offering to break the 40-ballot threshold with 41 voters (66%). Good Times was arguably Zeppelin’s most important song even if it may not be their best, as this was the first song anyone would have heard from the band (either in single or album form). Not to keep stating the obvious, but this song NOT making the Top 10 only showcases how incredible the remaining songs are. Three of the outside rankers have it in their Top 10 (with a high of #2).

I am short on time these days and am heading out of town for a week. I will backfill the missing pieces to the write ups when I get back. At this point, I figure people would rather have half a loaf over none. I’ll have to try to figure out when and how to get at least partial write ups up.

Ultimate Classic Rock (17 of 92 songs): The opening song from Zeppelin's first album and their first single. So, in effect, pretty much everyone's introduction to the band. And what a remarkable intro, even if its relatively short length and straightforward pop structure barely hint at the group's breadth.

Vulture (2 of 74 songs): In one sense this is a cartoon, and Zeppelin would outgrow such stuff. But it has to be noted that this is the sensational lead off track to a debut album and career, the first echoing, crisp, very hard guitar chords heralding something very new. The cocky, knowing lyrics, the fire hose of sound, and the très cool guitar work all announce that the terms of the debate have been changed; indeed, Page’s flurry of notes at the end of the first verse ends the debate with a slap upside its head.

Rolling Stone (6 of 40 songs): The first song on the first album introduces the band with a declaration of surly defiance ("I don't care what the neighbors say"), a stun-gun riff and a restless, syncopated drum pattern, which Page cited as evidence of Bonham's "amazing technique." Though the lyrics are a standard evil-woman blues complaint, the message was as immediate as a car accident: Zeppelin intended to use four-piece dynamics in exhilarating new ways.

Louder (20 of 50 songs): Right from the dramatic two beat opening, John Bonham leads this track and puts the whole kit through its paces. That pioneering use of bass drum triplets heralded the arrival of a very special drummer. Doing things with a bass pedal that it took two of James Brown’s drummers to try and emulate – and they knew a bit about rhythm. Rolling Stone cited this song when they named John Bonham as the world's best drummer in 2016, saying: “Jimmy Page was still amused by the disorienting impact that Good Times Bad Times, with its jaw-dropping bass-drum hiccups, had on listeners: ‘Everyone was laying bets that Bonzo was using two bass drums, but he only had one.’ Heavy, lively, virtuosic and deliberate, that performance laid out the terrain Bonham’s artful clobbering would conquer before his untimely death in 1980."

Uproxx (20 of 50 songs): By all accounts, Led Zeppelin was the Led Zeppelin pretty much from the moment they first plugged in. “It was just an unleashing of energy,” Plant later said. “But it felt like it was something that I’d always wanted.” You can hear it in this song, the first track on the first album. It’s rare for a band to arrive in that moment as fully formed as Zeppelin was. But the instrumental alchemy was there immediately — the way Bonham’s start-stop drums play off Page’s riff and is held together Jones’ deep-in-the-pocket bass line, and then sent off into outer space by Plant’s screaming vocal.

WMGK (6 of 92 songs): A crushing Jimmy Page riff. John Bonham’s funky but powerful drumming. A 20-year old Robert Plant wailing, “In the days of my youth / I was told what it means to be a man.” And John Paul Jones’ understated but vital bass playing. Those elements kicked off the first song on side one of Led Zeppelin’s debut. It was also the band’s first single, so Good Times Bad Times provided a powerful introduction to the band for rock fans in 1969. At the end of the song, Plant sings, “Realize, sweet babe, we ain't ever gonna part,” and it was sort of prophetic: although the band would last only a little over a decade, millions of fans have never stopped loving Zeppelin, and they keep picking up new followers with each new generation. 

SPIN (19 of 87 songs): A hell of a way to kick off your recorded output, with that repeated bar chord and the drums sneaking up from behind it, congealing into one of the band’s definitive grooves right in time for Plant to slither in over it. Zep would grow as songwriters and musicians over the course of their ten-year career, but “Good Times” shows how their swag was on 100 right from their very first notes as a band, and their cockiness is still totally infectious when heard in the American Hustle trailer over 40 years later.
Click to expand...
My rank: None

My friend’s rank: 3

Zep introduced themselves with what on first listen sounds like a straightforward melodic rock song, but actually contains subtle and not-so-subtle displays of virtuosity from all four members. In addition to all the elements mentioned in the writeup, I also love the little bass breakdowns from JPJ. It was one of the 40-ish songs I wished I could have stuffed into the last 10 spots on my list.

My friend loves ‘60s pop and rock, and this (particularly on the chorus) is one of the band’s few attempts to sound as accessible as that stuff. He plays bass and loves JPJ’s work here. 

 
I ranked Good Times at 3 and have loved this song from the minute I heard it.  This is how you craft a memorable rock song.  Bonham’s drums are just interesting enough without overtaking the song.  Page rips a great, short solo that fits perfectly.  Plant sings well and avoids unnecessary screeching.  Jones adds just enough bass lines to keep the song chugging along. First song. First album.  Home run. 

 
HB/LLM were consecutive in my initial rankings, as I felt they had to be together. Then Anarchy said it was counted as one and to add another song to the end of my list.

Like many of the top songs, they were overplayed a bit, but I didn't ding them for that like I did some others. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Cowboysfan8 said:
9th for me also. I haven’t been tagged for a song but maybe once I think

Anyway, from 2-9 for me could be in any order on any given day 
Click to expand...
I have been tagging people for their Top 5 songs (and sometimes people with their Top 10 picks). You only had a couple of songs in the first 40 or so songs. You would have only been tagged so far for Four Sticks and Thank You.

 
Furthering the "what if" discussion for lead singer options had Plant been out of the picture . . . why not Lou Gramm?
Gramm is only a couple of years younger than Plant . . . he just didn't catch a break as soon as Plant did. It's unlikely Lou and Jimmy would have crossed paths, so it would have been unlikely.

Crazy . . . or crazy like a fox? Here are three Zep covers from 1997 with Gramm at the microphone:

Black Dog, Heartbreaker, Stairway To Heaven

 

 
Wish I had more time now, but Heartbreaker/LLM is my jam.  Could not love it more.  Will try to write more later.

Also dig Good Times Bad Times but at this point they're all gems.

 
Top 10 are all powerhouses, I don't have any idea how this all shakes out from here:

  • Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
  • Dazed and Confused
  • Ramble On
  • Whole Lotta Love
  • Immigrant Song
  • Black Dog
  • Stairway to Heaven
  • When the Levee Breaks
  • Over the Hills and Far Away
  • Kashmir
 
fatguyinalittlecoat said:
Top 10 are all powerhouses, I don't have any idea how this all shakes out from here:

  • Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
  • Dazed and Confused
  • Ramble On
  • Whole Lotta Love
  • Immigrant Song
  • Black Dog
  • Stairway to Heaven
  • When the Levee Breaks
  • Over the Hills and Far Away
  • Kashmir
Click to expand...
I don't know when I will be able to get to the next song, so if people want to guess what the order of the Top 10 will be, have at it. TBH, I don't have a handle on it either, I generally only care about the song for the write up and not ones higher up the food chain. My spreadsheet is a bunch of color-coded numbers, so it's easy not to notice.

 
Anarchy99 said:
Furthering the "what if" discussion for lead singer options had Plant been out of the picture . . . why not Lou Gramm?
Gramm is only a couple of years younger than Plant . . . he just didn't catch a break as soon as Plant did. It's unlikely Lou and Jimmy would have crossed paths, so it would have been unlikely.

Crazy . . . or crazy like a fox? Here are three Zep covers from 1997 with Gramm at the microphone:

Black Dog, Heartbreaker, Stairway To Heaven

 
Click to expand...
Gramm was American — playing bars in upstate NY — and would not have been likely to cross paths with Page. 

He got his shot with Foreigner because he happened to meet Mick Jones and Ian McDonald when they were holed up in NYC.

 
Anarchy99 said:
I don't know when I will be able to get to the next song, so if people want to guess what the order of the Top 10 will be, have at it. TBH, I don't have a handle on it either, I generally only care about the song for the write up and not ones higher up the food chain. My spreadsheet is a bunch of color-coded numbers, so it's easy not to notice.
Click to expand...


My totally random guess about the final rankings:

  1. When the Levee Breaks
  2. Immigrant Song
  3. Ramble On
  4. Stairway to Heaven
  5. Whole Lotta Love
  6. Dazed and Confused
  7. Kashmir
  8. Black Dog
  9. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
  10. Over the Hills and Far Away

 
fatguyinalittlecoat said:
My totally random guess about the final rankings:

2.Immigrant Song
Click to expand...


meh, the reading i get from this room is no dice on it being that high - no effin' way. 

it's my choice for #1, but i don't think this collective lot will have it in the top 5 - a very loooongshot, imo, for it to crack that fin mark. 

but, ehhhh ... no way at #2. 

:shrug:

 
Anarchy99 said:
Furthering the "what if" discussion for lead singer options had Plant been out of the picture . . . why not Lou Gramm?
Gramm is only a couple of years younger than Plant . . . he just didn't catch a break as soon as Plant did. It's unlikely Lou and Jimmy would have crossed paths, so it would have been unlikely.

Crazy . . . or crazy like a fox? Here are three Zep covers from 1997 with Gramm at the microphone:

Black Dog, Heartbreaker, Stairway To Heaven
Click to expand...
Didn't have the last two songs ranked, sue me.

As for the above quoted, you keep trying to replace Bob and keep hitting further and further from the mark IMO. Gramm is singing the songs like Plant did in these covers. Had he sung the originals would he have chosen to sing them that way? That's the fun of "what if" I guess but also why, if you replace Plant with any of these guys, I don't think any of them develop the songs the way Plant did. Which is why I think the Zeppelin sinks without Plant. Guess they could have hit it out of the park but I just don't get the vibe from Lou Reed or Lou Gramm or Terry Reid that any of them bring the power to the songs Plant did. And I also don't think any of them attack the lyrics like Plant did.

 
Pip's Invitation said:
Zep introduced themselves with what on first listen sounds like a straightforward melodic rock song, but actually contains subtle and not-so-subtle displays of virtuosity from all four members. In addition to all the elements mentioned in the writeup, I also love the little bass breakdowns from JPJ.
Click to expand...
I didn't rank it nor did I consider doing so, but - yep. There are 4 songs from I that made my list (all in the top 13) and 4 I never need to hear again. This is the outlier in between. I'd probably feel differently about it if it were my first exposure to them, but I don't think I was aware this was the first song from their first album until one of those album binges in college. It's pleasant on the ears, is more creative than it seems on the surface, but in the end I forget it exists unless it comes up on a shuffle.

 
beer 30 said:
Didn't have the last two songs ranked, sue me.

As for the above quoted, you keep trying to replace Bob and keep hitting further and further from the mark IMO. Gramm is singing the songs like Plant did in these covers. Had he sung the originals would he have chosen to sing them that way? That's the fun of "what if" I guess but also why, if you replace Plant with any of these guys, I don't think any of them develop the songs the way Plant did. Which is why I think the Zeppelin sinks without Plant. Guess they could have hit it out of the park but I just don't get the vibe from Lou Reed or Lou Gramm or Terry Reid that any of them bring the power to the songs Plant did. And I also don't think any of them attack the lyrics like Plant did.
Click to expand...
I'm not trying to replace Plant, only trying to have some silly discussion on what might have been in an alternate reality. Given that Plant wrote a lot of the lyrics, obviously without him the songs would have to be all different. It was more an exercise as to if they could have had a different composition of the musicians and still sounded the same and had a similar vibe.

It's no different than discussions in the Shark Pool wondering what would have happened if Drew Bledsoe didn't get hurt. The fallout could easily have been NE never would have won a SB, Tom Brady could have been out of the league in 4 years after holding a clipboard and never playing, and Bill Belichick could have been selling auto parts somewhere by now. The entire landscape of the NFL for 20 years would have been different.

 
First song I nailed the spot on at #11.

Bolded not on consensus list.

My top 25 (consensus)

1.
2. Since I've Been Loving You (15)
3.
4. The Rain Song (17)
5.
6. The Ocean (20)
7.
8. Travelling Riverside Blues (43)
9. Ten Years Gone (22)
10. Heartbreaker / Living Loving Maid (12)
11. Good Times Bad Times (11)
12.
13. What is and What Should Never Be (16)
14.
15.
16.
17. 
18.
19. Hey, Hey, What Can I Do (24)
20. Going to California (13)
21. In My Time of Dying (26)
22. Houses of the Holy (37)
23. Communication Breakdown (18)
24. I Can't Quit You Baby (50)
25. Your Time is Gonna Come (39)

The 5 consensus top 25 songs that didn't make my list:

Rock & Roll (14)
No Quarter (19)
The Battle of Evermore (21)
The Song Remains the Same (23)
Misty Mountain Hop (25)

 
Anarchy99 said:
#13 - Going To California from Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
Click to expand...
I'm clearly not adverse to the hippier side of LZ but there are a bunch of other tunes from them I would listen to before Going to California to get that fix. Love the vibe of it but it just misses in my 25.

Anarchy99 said:
#12 - Heartbreaker / Living Loving Maid from Led Zeppelin II (1969)
Click to expand...
Much like Rock and Roll, this awesome combo of songs rocks hard and has some memorable moments but just doesn't have the emotion I look for to make my Top 25. Another crowd pleaser song(s) that must have been great to see live. 

Anarchy99 said:
#11 - Good Times Bad Times from Led Zeppelin I (1969)
Click to expand...
Squeezes into my Top 10 in the tenth spot. Everyone shines here. I can't imagine the reaction when people first heard this. Power from the get-go and just rips throughout. 

 
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