Ep. 180: Led Zeppelin – Top 5 Songs
Intro
Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.
I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and today's episode will be on probably the biggest band of the 1970s, Led Zeppelin. Now saying this is quite significant because other contenders for big bands in the 1970s include, bands like The Rolling Stones, Queen, The Who, AC/DC, Aerosmith, and Kiss. And if you want to learn more about these bands, they can all be found in the archive apart from The Who and Aerosmith which will be coming up later this year.
Led Zeppelin was formed in 1968. The band consisted of Robert Plant (vocals), Jimmy Page (guitar), John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards), and John Bonham (drums).
Initially called “The New Yardbirds” Led Zeppelin found their name after a statement made by the drummer of “The Who” Keith Moon. Known for their hard and heavy rock with folk and blues influences Led Zeppelin were known for their powerful live performances.
They released their debut album in 1969 called, Led Zeppelin. This was followed by Led Zeppelin II also in 1969, which was then followed by Led Zeppelin III in 1970. Led Zeppelin IV was their crowning achievement which was their highest selling album selling around 37 million copies and featuring the classic hit “Stairway to Heaven.”
In total Led Zeppelin released nine studio albums between 1968 to their disbandment in 1980 which was brought on by the tragic death of drummer John Bonham.
Today’s mnemonic will be on Led Zeppelin’s top 5 songs. I did think about doing the four band members, but thought that most people might already know them, and the mnemonic is quite small. However, if you are not too familiar with the band, the mnemonic I use, is to picture Robert Plant who most people know is the lead singer, sitting on two toilets, otherwise known as the John, so John Paul Jones on the left and John Bonham on the right, with Robert Plant trying to separate these toilets with a jimmy bar, hence Jimmy Page. Hope that helps.
So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.
Wikipedia Summary
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised Robert Plant (vocals), Jimmy Page (guitar), John Paul Jones (bass and keyboards) and John Bonham (drums). With a heavy, guitar-driven sound and drawing from influences including blues and folk music, Led Zeppelin are cited as a progenitor of hard rock and heavy metal. They significantly influenced the music industry, particularly in the development of album-oriented rock and stadium rock.
Led Zeppelin evolved from a previous band, the Yardbirds and were originally named "the New Yardbirds". They signed a deal with Atlantic Records that gave them considerable artistic freedom. Initially unpopular with critics, they achieved significant commercial success with eight studio albums over ten years. Their 1969 debut, Led Zeppelin, was a top-ten album in several countries and features such tracks as "Good Times Bad Times", "Dazed and Confused" and "Communication Breakdown".
Led Zeppelin II (1969), their first number-one album, includes "Whole Lotta Love" and "Ramble On". In 1970, they released Led Zeppelin III which opens with "Immigrant Song". Their untitled fourth album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV (1971), is one of the best-selling albums in history, with 37 million copies sold. It includes "Black Dog", "Rock and Roll" and "Stairway to Heaven", with the latter being among the most popular and influential works in rock.
Page composed most of Led Zeppelin's music, while Plant wrote most of the lyrics. Jones occasionally contributed keyboard-focused parts, particularly on the band's final album. The latter half of their career saw a series of record-breaking tours that earned the group a reputation for excess and debauchery.
Although they remained commercially and critically successful, their touring and output, which included Presence (1976) and In Through the Out Door (1979), declined in the late 1970s. After Bonham's death in 1980, the group disbanded. The former members have sporadically collaborated and participated in one-off concerts, including the 2007 Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert in London, with Bonham's son Jason Bonham on drums.
Led Zeppelin are one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated record sales of between 200 and 300 million units worldwide. They achieved eight consecutive UK number-one albums and six number-one albums on the US Billboard 200, with five of their albums certified Diamond in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Rolling Stone described them as "the heaviest band of all time", "the biggest band of the seventies", and "unquestionably one of the most enduring bands in rock history".[1] They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995; the museum's biography states that they were "as influential" in the 1970s as the Beatles were in the 1960s.[2]
Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin]
Mnemonic
Led Zeppelin – Top 5 Songs Mnemonic – Wet & Windy BuSK
(Picture the band Led Zeppelin busking in London, where the band was formed on a wet and windy day)
1. When the Levee Breaks
2. Whole Lotta Love
3. Black Dog
4. Stairway to Heaven
5. Kashmir
Five Fun Facts
1. The breakup of the “Yardbirds” is what led to the formation of “Led Zeppelin.” Jimmy Page was looking to form a new band and subsequently organised a jam session with singer Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham and bassist John Paul Jones and the rest is history. Interestingly “The Yardbirds” started the careers of three of rock’s most famous guitarists which were Erik Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page.
2. When choosing a lead singer Jimmy Page’s first option was Terry Reid who turned it down. Pages second option was Steve Marriot from the Small Faces but he also declined the roll. It was only then that Robert Plant was considered as an option, which was a good one in the end with Plant writing the lyrics to some of the biggest hits in history.
3. The bands most famous song “Stairway to Heaven” was never supposed to be released as a single, rather just part of an album. Atlantic Records wanted to issue it as a single, but the band’s manager Peter Grant refused to do so in both 1972 and 1973. As a result, many fans bought the fourth album “Led Zeppelin IV” as if it were the single.
4. The first name for “Led Zeppelin” was “The New Yardbirds” after the breakup as I mentioned earlier in fact one of “The Yardbirds.” The name Led Zeppelin was inspired by Keith Moon of “The Who,” who once said the band would go down like a lead balloon! Before settling on Led Zeppelin though, other band names were considered such as “The Mad Dogs,” and “Whoopee Cushion” but “Led Zeppelin” came out on top following advice from the Beatle, Ringo Starr.
5. Still on the name “Led Zeppelin” the descendants of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the inventor of the Zeppelin air ship, wanted to ban the band from using their name. The descendant was Frau Eva von Zeppelin whose actions were mainly in vain; however, she did have one win where in Copenhagen the band changed their name to “The Knobs” as a result, of a threat of legal action.
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Three Question Quiz
Q.1. What year was Led Zeppelin formed?
Q.2. Did Robert Plant warm up his voice with slow Elvis songs? Is that True or False
Q.3. Before playing lead guitar, what instrument did Jimmy Page play? Option are Harmonica, Keyboards, or Bass
Bonus Q. How many Grammy Awards has Led Zeppelin won? Options are four or seven
Bonus Q. Why did the rookie technician allow a German zeppelin to fly over Allied airspace?
Mnemonic Recap
Led Zeppelin – Top 5 Songs Mnemonic – Wet & Windy BuSK
(Picture the band Led Zeppelin busking in London, where the band was formed on a wet and windy day)
1. When the Levee Breaks
2. Whole Lotta Love
3. Black Dog
4. Stairway to Heaven
5. Kashmir
Three Question Quiz Answers
Q.1. What year was Led Zeppelin formed?
A. 1968
Q.2. Did Robert Plant warm up his voice with slow Elvis songs? Is that True or False
A. True and Plant even sang one of Elvis’s songs to Elvis when the band was invited into his hotel suite after a 1974 concert.
Q.3. Before playing lead guitar, what instrument did Jimmy Page play? Option are Harmonica, Keyboards, or Bass
A. Bass
Bonus Q. How many Grammy Awards has Led Zeppelin won? Options are four or seven
A. Four
Bonus Q. Why did the rookie technician allow a German zeppelin to fly over Allied airspace?
A. Apparently, it was just a blimp on the radar!
Word of the Week
tempestuous
[ tem-pes-choo-uhs ]
adjective
tumultuous or turbulent
Example
John Bonham had a tempestuous relationship with alcohol that ultimately led to his untimely death due to pulmonary aspiration in 1980, the same year that John Lennon was tragically shot.
Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]
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References
https://www.dw.com/en/5-little-known-facts-about-led-zeppelin/g-45381407
https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/quizshow.php?title=led-zeppelin-trivia_1&q=22