It’s interesting now, in the 21st century, to go back and read some of the critical responses that Led Zeppelin got when they emerged in the late ‘60s. The young, attitudinal music press wrinkled its collective nose at the heaviosity of the band, at Robert Plant’s pinched blues-wail-moan and the general bombast.
For anyone raised on classic rock radio, the Mighty Zep represent a towering musical legacy. One could simply talk about the drumming of John Bonham as reason enough to revere Led Zeppelin, without even touching on the musical mastery of guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones. Unlike many of the other early British rock bands, Led Zeppelin threaded a touch of British folk-revival mysticism into their creative borrowing from Chicago and Delta blues.
They were into the folklore of the crossroads, but also of standing stones, dark magic, and epic warriors. The band’s catalog is deep and wide, with bits of country twang, raga drones, rock-funk and acoustic folk, in addition to all the straight-up rock. And, forgetting all of the time-honored classics, there are loads of deep-cut treasures to the Zeppelin songbook: “What Is and What Should Never Be,” “Tangerine,” “Trampled Under Foot,” “The Crunge,” “Achilles’ Last Stand” and so on.
Handing out superlatives is often a silly testosterone-ish exercise, especially in the realm of rock, but there are many, many people who would insist that Led Zeppelin was the greatest rock band of all time. All, of which is say that paying tribute to LZ, in the devoted fashion that Get The Led Out does it, seems to make perfect sense.
Hear the hammer of the gods when Get The Led Out play College Street Music Hall, 238 College St., New Haven, on Friday, Feb. 2, at 8 p.m. $25 to $37. collegestreetmusichall.com.
