Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy

Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy

Led Zeppelin is arguably one of the best rock n' roll bands of all time. They were collectively some of the best musicians ever to play rock n' roll music, and were also great lyricists. Robert Plant (the lead vocalist) was quoted as saying that for some of the songs that he wrote, he felt that someone pushed the pen for him. Whether some mysterious force was moving his hand or not, one things for sure, Led Zeppelin wrote some timeless masterpieces of music.

They were formed from the ashes of British blues-rockers the Yardbirds. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelins official founder) started off as the bassist for the Yardbirds, but eventually moved on to play electric guitar for the band. In 1968 the Yardbirds broke up leaving Jimmy Page the rights to the band. Jimmy went out looking to start a new group and found charismatic vocalist Robert Plant, Roberts close friend and explosive drummer John Bonham, and already famous bass guitar player John Paul Jones. The group hit it off and did a few shows in England before renaming the band Led Zeppelin.

Somewhat a mysterious band, Led Zeppelin rarely did interviews and did not talk much to the press. For these reasons much of the press did not like them. However, their fans loved them. Led Zeppelin established a strong fan base by means of intense touring from the start of the group's formation. With this intense touring came a lot of temptation. Led Zeppelin indulged in heavy drug and alcohol abuse as well as a lot of sex with groupies, especially American groupies. Their regimen of intense partying would eventually cause the band problems and inevitably lead to the bands undoing with the death of drummer John Bonham. I feel that Led Zeppelin could have been much more. To many Led Zeppelin fans that might sound crazy, but I truly feel that they had much more to offer the world than they ever got to give. The reason I say this is because they really didn't have a long career and within a 5 or 6 years of forming the band they started having misfortune and tragedy such as the death of Robert Plants son, Roberts car accident (which interfered with his touring and ability to perform for a few years), John Bonham's excessive alcohol use, and Jimmy Pages' heroin addiction that obviously interfered with their touring and songwriting. The biggest reason Led Zeppelins time was cut short is the death of John Bonham in 1980. Had John Bonham not died, Led Zeppelin would probably be around today, still making music. However in the time they had, they made some fantastic and what I feel is timeless music.

I feel that Led Zeppelin often has two meanings to most of their songs, both in lyrical content and musical instrumentation and feeling. They tend to have a straightforward, somewhat obvious message and meaning, yet a sometimes and somewhat mysterious second, yet intertwining meaning as well. Some of this comes from their many interests and fascinations. Jimmy is adamant in saying that he is not a Satanist, however he does have some interest and fascination with black magic and the occult. On the same token, all members of the band are interested in religion as a whole, especially Jimmy and Robert. Robert also has an interest and fascination with ancient history, such as medieval literature, Viking literature and mythology, and Celtic literature and mythology. Robert also loves and is fascinated by J.R.R. Tolkien stories such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. All members are also interested in many different styles of music, different cultures, attitudes, and beliefs, as well as the meaning of life. All of these influences can be heard in their music and lyrics and one of the reasons that I feel that they are such talented musicians and lyricists is because they combine all of their interests and influences to create great music. However the combined simplicity and complexity of Led Zeppelin also makes some of their songs difficult to decipher and explain.

Led Zeppelin had great success with their first four albums and were already superstars when "Houses of the Holy" their fifth album, and definitely a masterpiece of rock n' roll music, was released. It also is the album I chose to write my report on. It was released in 1973; the year American forces "officially" left Vietnam. This album was very significant because the "Peace and Love" movement was about over and Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix had all died within a year or two before "Houses of the Holy" was released. These great musicians deaths left a great void in rock n' roll music, and left big shoes to be filled. However, Led Zeppelin did a great job of filling these shoes.

All of the songs on "Houses of the Holy" are, in my opinion, with maybe the exception of The Crunge, great rock n' roll songs. Don't get me wrong, The Crunge is an alright song, but in my opinion it just doesn't compare with the rest of the tracks on the album. If there is a weakness on this album, I would have to say The Crunge is it. The song just doesn't do it for me like the rest of the songs on the album do. It sounds like Led Zeppelin was trying to make a funk song and it just didn't work out. Apparently they took the guitar riffs for The Crunge from James Brown songs Get on Up, Get Up Sex Machine and Superbad. Also the time signature on this song seems weird and hard to follow in my opinion. There are some rumors however that this song was not supposed to be a good song at all. These rumors say that the song was meant to be funny, not good. However, in my opinion, the rest of the album has few, if any flaws.

The first track on this album is The Song Remains The Same. The instruments used on this song are the electric guitar, bass guitar, drums(note: vocals are used on every song that I write about). The song starts out very fast paced with explosive drumbeats and guitar riffs and they sound great! When the lyrics kick in the pace of the music slows down for a minute or so before picking up to the original fast paced playing style. Jimmy Page has four excellent guitar solos in this song. I feel that he is one of the greatest guitarists in the rock n' roll world and that is evident in this song. All members of the band did an excellent job with this song, however, I feel that John Bonham (nicknamed Bonzo for his wild antics and explosive hard hitting drum style) stood out in this song and delivered an amazing performance.

The feeling that this song gives to me is a feeling of acceptance, in the context that life is a universal journey that everyone has to take and that is somewhat the same for every human being that ever lived or that ever will live, no matter there