Led Zeppelin Album Opening Songs Ranked From Worst to Best

Led
Zeppelin‘s
album
opening
songs
are
as
varied
and
interesting
as
the
LPs
that
followed.
Together,
they
provide
a
road
map
as
the
band
quickly
transcended
their
foundational
influences
to
redraw
the
rules
for
what
hard
rock
could
be.

The
first
two
albums
from

John
Bonham,

John
Paul
Jones,

Jimmy
Page
and

Robert
Plant
were
hulking
slabs
of
heavy-blues
music
so
tied
to
the
past
that
copyright
lawsuits
were
filed.
They
followed
1969’s
eight-times-platinum


Led
Zeppelin
I
and
12-times-platinum


Led
Zeppelin
II,
however,
with
1970’s
chart-topping


Led
Zeppelin
III
–
an
album
that
found
Led
Zeppelin
quickly
branching
out
musically.
Soon,
the
band
would
come
into
its
own.

The
24-times-platinum
international
Top
5
smash


Led
Zeppelin
IV
redefined
their
career
in
1971
before
1973’s
No.
1
smash


Houses
of
the
Holy
found
the
group
at
their
free-wheeling
creative
zenith.
There
was
a
bit
of
retrenchment
as
1975’s


Physical
Graffiti
strained
to
remain
completely
engaging
over
its
expanded
two-album
depth.
Led
Zeppelin
then
returned
to
hard
blues
with
1976’s
multi-platinum
No.
1
hit


Presence
before
concluding
their
original
run
with
a
final
chart-topper,
1979’s


In
Through
the
Out
Door.

READ
MORE:

Led
Zeppelin’s
Most
Head-Scratching
Lyrics

The
aptly
titled
million-seller


Coda
officially
wrapped
things
up
in
1982
with
odds
and
ends
released
after
Bonham’s

sudden
death
shattered
the
group.
By
then,
they’d
released
nine
albums
with
nine
fascinating
opening
songs
that
tell
the
story
of
Led
Zeppelin’s
rise
to
fame
as
well
as
any
biography
ever
could.
Here’s
a
ranked
look
back:
 

No.
9. “We’re
Gonna
Groove”
From:

Coda
(1982)

The
post-breakup
album

Coda
begins
with
a
doctored
song
that
Led
Zeppelin
apparently
considered
for
inclusion
on
their
second
LP. “We’re
Gonna
Groove,”
a
surprisingly
muscular
R&B-kissed
blues
offering
from
Ben
E.
King
of “Stand
By
Me”
fame,
was
certainly
worthy
of
one
of
their
sludgy
early
makeovers.
Led
Zeppelin
made
this
pass
on
Jan.
9,
1970,
at
London’s
Royal
Albert
Hall,
then
Jimmy
Page
added
new
guitars
for
release.
Their
update
of
Willie
Dixon’s “I
Can’t
Quit
You
Baby”
found
later
in

Coda
is
from
the
same
show.

 

No.
8. “Good
Times
Bad
Times”
From:

Led
Zeppelin
I
(1969)

“Good
Times
Bad
Times”
was
an
encapsulation
of
Led
Zeppelin’s
original
bluesy
hard-rock
aesthetic,
though
they
rarely
played
it
live.
(A
notable
exception
was
2007’s


Celebration
Day
reunion
show,
where “Good
Times
Bad
Times”
was
the
opening
song.)
The
Jimmy
Page
riff,
which
John
Paul
Jones
actually
came
up
with
on
an
organ,
was
played
on
a

Jeff
Beck-gifted
guitar.
John
Bonham
elbows
it
all
along
with
a
series
of
triplets
inspired
by
Carmine
Appice’s
work
on
a
contemporary

Vanilla
Fudge
cover
of
the

Beatles‘ “Ticket
to
Ride.”

 

No.
7. “Custard
Pie”
From:

Physical
Graffiti
(1975)

“Custard
Pie”
emerged
from
sessions
in
early
1974
at
Headley
Grange
that
produced
enough
material
for
about
three
sides
of
music.
Led
Zeppelin
decided
to
round
things
out
for
a
double-disc
release
with
some
(occasionally
not
as
interesting)
leftovers
from
earlier
albums,
rather
than
make
judicious
cuts
to
release
a
single
LP.
As
a
result,
they
ended
up
losing
the
momentum
achieved
by
this
hard-charging
start.
Page
ran
that
eruptive
guitar
solo
through
an
ARP
synthesizer,
and
it’s
almost
worth
the
price
of
admission.

 

No.
6. “Whole
Lotta
Love”
From:

Led
Zeppelin
II
(1969)

The
bloat
that
would
hamper

Physical
Graffiti
was
first
hinted
at
with “Whole
Lotta
Love.”
The
song
was
already
at
a
robust
5:30
with
a
stuck-in-time
middle
section
of
freakout
vocals
and
overdubbed,
wildly
stereo-panned
sounds.
Then
they
started
playing “Whole
Lotta
Love”
in
concert,
stretching
things
out
to
10
minutes
and
then
to
more
than
20.
Stick
with
the
gold-selling,
more
tightly
paced
U.S.
hit
single
version,
a
striking
3:45-long
preview
of
all
that
the
emerging
genre
of
heavy
metal
would
soon
wrought.

 

No.
5. “The
Song
Remains
the
Same”
From:

Houses
of
the
Holy
(1973)

By
now,
Led
Zeppelin
had
played
plenty
of
shows
–
and
they
had
plenty
of
stories.
That
made
it
easy
for
Robert
Plant
to
add
road-themed
lyrics
to “The
Song
Remains
the
Same,”
which
began
life
as
a
Page
instrumental
simply
called “The
Overture”
meant
to
precede “The
Rain
Song.”
Its
inventive
arrangement
found
Led
Zeppelin
slowing
down
for
this
nifty
half-tempo
section
before
ramping
up
to
a
furious
end.
Call
it
a
preview
of
the
rangy
inventiveness
that
would
mark
this
often-underrated
LP.

 

No.
4. “In
the
Evening”
From:

In
Through
the
Out
Door
(1979)

This
international
chart-topping
album
produced
Led
Zeppelin’s
sweetest,
softest,
most
deeply
emotional
moment
with “All
My
Love.”
(The
Plant
ballad
was
dedicated
to
his

late
son
Karac,
who
died
while
Led
Zeppelin
was
out
playing
a
North
American
tour
in
1977.)
But

In
Through
the
Out
Door
certainly
didn’t
start
out
that
way:
Instead, “In
the
Evening”
is
this
leering,
thrillingly
metallic
plea
for
love,
even
with
another
swooning
middle
section.
It’s
also
Page’s
best
turn
on
an
LP
with
too
few
of
them.

 

No.
3. “Black
Dog”
From:

Led
Zeppelin
IV
(1971)

Sessions
for
this
career-defining
project
began
with “Black
Dog,”
a
tricky
statement
of
purpose
that
combined
a
towering
collaborative
Page-Jones
riff,
their
classic
stuttering
rhythms
and
Plant’s
lip-smacking
lyric
about
a
nakedly
desirous
suitor
to
hold
it
all
together.
The
impetus
was
a
stray
retriever
who
would
return
each
morning
to
the
Headley
Grange
studio
grounds,
seemingly
worn
out
from
evening
after
evening
of
carousing.
As
with
the
old
blues
songs
that
Led
Zeppelin
so
loved,
however, “Black
Dog”
ends
in
a
sudden
betrayal.

No.
2. “Achilles
Last
Stand”
From:

Presence
(1976)

The
rhythm
section
parts
for
this
brilliant
10-minute
multi-part
opening
song
were
laid
down
first,
with
Jones
playing
a
distinctive
eight-string
bass.
Plant
completed
the
basic
track
with
a
narrative
inspired
by
his
recent
travels
into
Africa
with
Page.
Then
came
a
marathon
overdubbing
session
in
which
Page
added
not
two
guitars,
not
four
guitars,
but
an
eye-popping
six
guitars.
The
thunderous
results
sound
like
an
on-coming
army.
Perhaps
no
surprise
then
that
Page
has
called “Achilles
Last
Stand”
his
favorite
Led
Zeppelin
track.

 

No.
1. “Immigrant
Song”
From:

Led
Zeppelin
III
(1970)

Plant
unleashes
an
unforgettable
wail
before
this
galloping
song
gets
underway,
giving
little
hint
of
the
more
acoustic
turn
that

III
soon
takes.
Page,
Jones
and
Bonham
honed
the
relentless
basic
track
at
Olympic
Studios,
with
the
rest
completed
at
Headley
Grange.
Plant
found
inspiration
for
the “Immigrant
Song”
during
a
recent
tour
to
Iceland
in
which
he
couldn’t
sleep
because
of
the

summer
months’
endless
sun.
His
thoughts
inevitably
turned
to “Vikings,”
he
said,
and “big
ships.”
Countless
future
heavy
metal
acts
followed
him
there.

 

Denis
Leary
Doesn’t
Understand
Why
Led
Zeppelin
Won’t
Reunite