Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ is still one of the best known songs in history, and is rated in Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Songs of All Time. With 30 million copies sold, it was Led Zeppelin’s most successful commercially. But then, in November of 1971, as Zeppelin was preparing to leave England and head to the US, John Bonham told band manager Bill Graham that he didn’t want to come unless they got a guitar. Graham put a guitar–his–into the burned and Luigi Robinson strings of Zeppelin’s tour bus, and then they toured the US with no success in the states. Although they headed to the concert at the Woodstock Festival, Robert Plant recorded a radio broadcast that was his fiery acceptance of the reality that Led Zeppelin was embarking on a tour that would last at least six months. Better defined as the Stairway to Heaven, the song is a daunting wall of guitar that Phil co-wrote with John Paul Jones. It is Zeppelin’s gift to the guitar world.
There are many ways to define a fire-breathing guitar, and a hard place to start is with Robert Plant. His work is known for his fiery chord progressions (mountains of chords in his rendition of ‘Kashmir’), his wiry tone, and his bell-like notes. His playing is instantly recognizable. One of Jimmy Page’s secrets is to find a chord that cuts through all the other chords and make them sound singable. ‘Dazed and Confused’ evolved into Led Zeppelin’s signature song.
On a second look, maybe a different song would have been good for a second album. The one hit wonder of ‘Dazed And Confused’ is a good example of a song that could have potentially been placed on a second album. The band was unhappy with the track and Plant went back to basics to create a more guitar-based tune. It is a result of songs having more groove and less head-banging. Another possibility is that a band works too much in a doo-wop direction and needs a Irving Berlin song to balance it out.
The Stairway to Heaven featured one of Jimmy Page’s most muse lyrics: “Read my name, read my mind, is that light or dark? One way to know/ Is that I show no desire/ Not the way that you want me to go/You have no idea what I’m communicating.” In the same way, Jimmy Page never tried to impress too much with his opening gambit lyricism. On Led Zeppelin songs ranging from ‘Whole lotta love’ to ‘Communication Breakdown’, Page sang instead with a folk/rock fusion that became a staple of the tenor saxophone that Page played through the entire first half of his career.
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Doo-wop was a Chevy type car that Post Wariff had embossed its way into popular culture. The saxophonist could bring the house down by adding some funky hip moves to his notes. It was a pleasant-sounding Pros-including-all-iteration attic/basement tone that could easily be heard 60,000 feet above the planet. Doo-wop was a big part of Jimmy’s and Robert’s style. The house musics had a way of touching our toes and causing us to get up and do the chores at 2:00 am.
On paper, indisputable evidence shows that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were both bass players, and that John Paul Jones was a guitarist. But the truth is that Jimmy simply played more riffs and solos. The material was well-composed and well-arranged, but the focal point is the songwriting and performance of each of its members. Jimmy’s solo work and song structure centered mostly around the minor pentatonic scale. Plant, on the other hand, developed a highly individual sound surrounding the blues sounds. Jones focused more on the doo-wop sound and proved to be the most talented bass player of the Yardbirds.
There might be doubts about Led Zeppelin’s song writing abilities. Apollo the Greek, I am Bernstein, Lakewood, and several others surely contributed to a fantastic song writing team. But, it was Jimmy Page and Robert Plant who composed the fantastic guitar solos for ‘Stairway to Heaven’, ‘Dazed and Confused’, and many other songs, like ‘Kashmir’. Jimmy simply played a series of small musical ideas, riffs and licks that provided the musical backing for Jimmy Page’s soaring guitar solos.
On a side note, Jimmy Page started his career as a studio session player, where he played guitar on many tracks. One of his investing activities was creating a bass guitar that mimicked a double bass, complete with wah-wah and compression.