The Led Balloon That Flew

Keith Moon, the legendary drummer of The Who, is infamously quoted for once saying that the up-and-coming heavy rock band formed by Jimmy Page, then known as The New Yardbirds, would go over like a led balloon with crowds.

Moon couldn’t have been more off, making one of the worst predictions about a band since Decca Recording Co. rejected The Beatles in 1962 because they thought guitar music was on its way out of being included in main stream music.

Change the word balloon to Zeppelin and you have one of the most influential bands ever, Led Zeppelin — a quartet of rock gods who became the progenitors of heavy metal, setting off trends of power chord ridden riffs, big arena rock-style songs and even bigger hairdos.

The “led” balloon flew, completely overshadowing the world of music to the point where it was almost impossible not to take a moment to look up and see how this band was re-setting the framework of rock ‘n’ roll.

Led Zeppelin IV, also known as the Four Symbols, could have been considered the most notoriously anti-Zeppelin sounding album when it originally surfaced in 1971.

Yes, it was the album that launched “Stairway to Heaven,” one of the Zeppelin’s most iconic songs, but it was also the album that preceded Led Zeppelin III, an album chastised for resonating too much of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young on the acoustic tunes and the heavier songs being nothing less than unconducted noise.

Led Zeppelin IV altered the band’s sound. Jimmy Page’s merciless riffs began to seep out even heavier than before, colliding with Robert Plant’s vocals which begin to sound more like a wailing banshee’s than a normal man’s, a formula that would gradually evolve into classic songs like “Black Dog.”

The record shoots lightning through your speakers, with an unlimited source of power fueled by tracks like “Four Sticks,” “When the Levee Breaks” and “Rock and Roll.”

The sound of Led Zeppelin IV is very much what Led Zeppelin is known for today, but not until this eight-track record had the band truly defined during their early years what their legacy was going to be.

Some of the more delicate songs like “Battle of Evermore” are carefully folded into the band’s fourth album, untouched by the fury of Page’s electric six-string assaults.

Instead, Page substituted his guitar for a mandolin, creating one of the most unique riffs by Zeppelin. John Bonham’s recognizable drums are also noticeably absent on this one as Plant sings a shameless tribute to the lore of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

“Stairway to Heaven” is easily the most recognizable songs on this album. Page’s delicately strummed intro is something every guitarist wishes they were responsible for creating.

Led Zeppelin IV will withstand time. It’s a reminder of the golden age of classic rock when music wasn’t packaged, commercialized and branded with a logo.

From initially thought as a sinking balloon to becoming one of the greatest rock bands in history, the zeppelin still floats on.