The best Led Zeppelin songs ranked (2023)

We're reposting this list from earlier this year in honor of Led Zeppelin's addition to TikTok. Check out the band's 50 best songs below and visit the new TikTok channelHere.

Led Zeppelin - to paraphrase a movie character named after one of their songs - is getting older, but their fans are still the same age.

Formed in 1968 by a renowned guitarist named Jimmy Page, Zeppelin released eight albums over the course of twelve years until drummer John Bonham's death in 1980, ending the band. Over the next few years, Page and singer Robert Plant worked together occasionally. both duo and trio reunited (for one show in 2007) with bassist John Paul Jones. Otherwise Zeppelin has been on the ground for over 40 years. And yet, now, they are still one of the most popular rock bands in the world. You can measure this by any number of metrics: record sales, streams, radio play, blacklight banners hanging in fashion stores, etc. Even with so many bands of their generation slowly fading into history, it seems that every year there's a new subgroup of teenagers who decide to become obsessed with Led Zeppelin, just when their hormonal activity is at its peak.

To find out why, we have to look back at his top 50 songs. What exactly are the top 50 Zeppelin songs and who decided it? I'll answer the second part first: I. I did. And I took it seriously. I'm giving you every inch of my Zeppelin opinions here.

Do you need refrigeration? baby I'm not wrong I'll send you back to school - Zeppelin school I mean. Here are my 50 Favorite Led Zeppelin Songs of All Time.

50. "The Wild Song"

The Beatles had the best songs. The Rolling Stones were the coolest. U2 was more successful for a longer period of time. But when it comes to classic A-list rock bands, none are more exciting than Led Zeppelin. This is music that speaks directly to the most primitive, non-intellectual parts of your body with an eloquence more devastating than anything in rock 'n' roll. It's a force that hits you with unparalleled vigor, starting with John Bonham's incomparable percussion, John Paul Jones' incredibly deep bass rhythms, Robert Plant's seductively high vocals and followed by Jimmy Page's battalion of fiercely electrifying guitar riffs. It's the heaviest sound, but it's not loud; in fact, he is agile and original, like a dancer who is also a serial killer. You put on "The Wanton Song" and it sounds like you wish all rock bands sounded. Led Zeppelin perseveres because all these other bands didn't work out.

49. "Riverside Roaming Blues"

Led Zeppelin is also the best.complicatedclassic rock band because if you know anything about them you are aware of some pretty despicable aspects of their career and legacy. Let's start with his long and low-key history of stealing black music and making millions off it. Ultimately, of course, the history of the blues is a story about artists drawing from the same source, repurposing the same raw musical and lyrical materials in new ways. The obvious difference with Zeppelin is how much they've grown rich using that tradition. But any attempt to retrospectively dismiss them as mere crooks fails when you listen to "Traveling Riverside Blues". Originally written by Robert Johnson, it did not appear on a Zeppelin album until 1990.led zepelinbox set. Nor is he anything like Robert Johnson, a man whose taped utterances are suffused with a deep sense of doom. Zeppelin's "Traveling Riverside Blues", on the other hand, is absolutely lush. Think of the most charismatic person you've ever met and how their incredible confidence lifted you like a wave. That's how this song feels. This magnetic splurge is Zeppelin through and through.

48. "Té para uno"

A different kind of Zeppelin blues since their first non-masterpiece in 1976Gift."Tea For One" doesn't convey any sense of power; expresses weakness and depression, steeped in the knowledge that the horrible things you've been doing in pursuit of absolute pleasure are finally catching up with you. In the late '70s, Page lived like a vampire in a row of dark Los Angeles hotel rooms, feasting on heroin and groupies and maybe a single sandwich every other week. Meanwhile, Plant was in a serious car accident that confined him to a wheelchair for months, while Bonham delved into the worst drinking problem in human history. Jones, judging by itThe song remains the same.he had a really awful haircut that made him look like the Dutch boy, but other than that, he escaped that era relatively unscathed.

47. "Out on the Tiles"

Much of this is in Stephen Davis' bookHammer of the gods,the most compulsively readable work of rock semification ever put to paper. I read it like a pizza-faced schoolboy a decade after Led Zeppelin broke up, and it immediately transported me into an extended Zeppelin phase that never really ended. They will always be my favorite comic book superheroes; even now they offer the comfort of the familiar and at the same time seem mysterious and irrevocably dangerous. surely someone is readingHammer of the godsnow and experiencing the same thing. When the first generation of Zeppelin fans heard them, especially the boys, they "got cocky and cocky", to quote Jimmy Page's ex-girlfriend Bebe Buell. The song was so powerful, even for a relatively straightforward rocker like "Out On The Tiles", that the audience felt bigger than them just by being in its presence. This, of course, affected the band members themselves by a factor of 1000, most notably Jimmy Page, whose pervasive fascination with writer/occultist/mountaineer/hedonist Aleister Crowley had less to do with Satan worship (or Selling Your Soul, for one thing). of the main storylines) had to make points ofHammer of the gods) and more with the idea that you can become exactly who you want to be. The fact that Jimmy Page did just that in the '70s makes Crowley a fan, including recording the Crowleyisms "Do What Thou Wilt" and "So Mote Be It" on the inner beat ofLed Zeppelin III -a little less crazy.

46. ​​​​​​„Galgenpfahl“

A big part of the narrative of Zeppelin's early career is that critics hated it. Seeing them play live in 1969, Jon Landau, the guy who wrote that famous line about the future of rock and his name Bruce Springsteen, called Led Zeppelin "loud... violent and often insane." (Incredibly, he didn't mean that as a compliment.) Even Lester Bangs, the only first-generation rock critic you'd expect to like Zeppelin, called them "utterly two-dimensional and unrealistic." (This initial critical reception is Zeppelin's only authentic connection to Greta Van Fleet.) Although Zeppelin responded to criticism by immediately expelling most of the press from its inner circle,Led Zeppelin IIIit seems like an obvious gesture to show that they are not "two-dimensional". They brought in the guitars and mandolins and marinated them in mellow hippie vibes, like a Brit.big pink musicfor some really amazing herb. The magic of the Gallows Pole is that even in this mode, the Zeppelin still looks dangerous and sexy.

45. "House of the Saint"

The Zeppelin's secret weapon was its innate ability to sway, even when switching to Hobbit-style folk songs. This is, of course, thanks to Bonham, who is rightly recognized as the greatest rock drummer of all time. But it also comes from Jones, the most underrated member of a great rock band ever. Jones was apparently underrated in his own band, as Page and Plant basically ignored him after Zeppelin broke up. (A fact that Jones acknowledgeshilarious and weird(When they were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.) Jones' unassuming, even nerdy demeanor speaks volumes against him: he ranks a distant fourth on Zeppelin's "cool kids" rankings. But none of that really translates into its gameplay or its understanding of what made Zeppelin tick. "You coulddanceto Zeppelin”, the Jones data to Barney HoskynsLed Zeppelin: The Oral History of the World's Greatest Rock Band."As a session musician, I did all the Motown covers because I was the only one who knew how to play that style. You can hear the James Jamerson feel in this song, which actually bills itself as a killer dance song. The number works". as well as bloodthirsty hard rock.

44. "Hey, what can I do?"

Like Jones, Jimmy Page was one of the best studio musicians on the British rock scene before Zeppelin. Plant and Bonham were relatively new to Black Country, but they learned quickly. This combination of experience and youthful energy allowed Zeppelin to tackle a broad spectrum of music from the start: Page and Jones were used to working in different genres, and Plant and Bonham were too young and dumb to be bullied. If the idea was to sound like an American retro band on "Hey Hey What Can I Do", whyI could notdo you take it off? Unfortunately, this B-side didn't make it.led zepelín iii,even if it is undeniably better than "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp".

43. "Four Suits"

The worst song on the best Zeppelin album,Entitled,also known as "Led Zeppelin IV". There are people who will objectphysical graffiti(also known as "The Double-Album Career Summation") is his best, or perhapsLed Zepelín II("the hottest, hardest rocker") orLed Zeppelin III("The one about Vikings and sunsets"). But the worst songs on those albums aren't on the list. However, every vestige ofEntitledis here. as it says i read in itThe wolf of Wall Street,Led Zeppelin asks that you not judge them by their winners, but by their (relative) losers because they have so few.

42. "Shadow Mountain Leap"

If you talk to 10 Zeppelin fans, three of them will insist that "Misty Mountain Hop" is the best song onEntitled.(Yes, this is just based on my personal experience and not actual data, but as the song says, I'm just looking and describing what I see.) Of course, "Misty Mountain Hop" is also a great radio song, but not as well known as "Stairway To Heaven" or "Black Dog". But it's definitely the most poppy track on the album, complete with a hook that John Paul Jones pulled out of nowhere at Headley Grange one morning while playing an electric piano while the rest of the band slept with hangovers.

41. "Your time will come"

none of the songsEntitledthey would be released as singles, as Zeppelin were not interested in making singles. Zeppelin's visionary manager Peter Grant, a 6-foot-1, 300-pound former wrestler whose menacing professional demeanor belied a gentle hand like father and husband, the perfect physical manifestation of Zeppelin's essence, insisted that the company's record label avoid pop hits. would eventually add to the Zeppelin's mystique. (Although in the US, the label sometimes went against Zeppelin's wishes and still released singles.) As it turned out, Zeppelin arrived at a time when free-form FM radio was becoming important in America and its absence from the side AM identified opposing superstars. Format. Taking a stand against singlesan orderBecoming one of the most played radio bands in rock history defines Grant's strategic genius.

40. "All My Love"

Zeppelin maintained the "no singles" policy even during the twilight of their career, when they made their most obvious pop song of all time with 1979's "All My Love".Enter through the exit door.It was around this time that Page became so exhausted that Plant turned to Jones as his new main collaborator, which explains the lack of guitars and the abundance of synths and music on Carouselambras. In Hoskyns' book, rock photographer and pageman Friday Ross Halfin claims that Jimmy hates the song, "but as it was about Karac", Plant's 5-year-old son, who died of a stomach virus in 1977, "couldn't blame this."

39. "Heartbreaker / Loving, Cheerful Maiden"

What Zeppelin lacked in pop radio exposure, they more than made up for with classic rock stations from coast to coast implementing "Get The Led Out" segments. In my town, they were encouraged to open Led at 5pm, which is also known as closing time for Zep's blue-collar fan base. And because there was a lot of Led that we all had to put out, you usually listened to at least two songs. We all pull Led in different ways, but in my community, the songs that played the most in that segment were these dual outputs.Led Zeppelin II.The first part contains one of the most iconic riffs in the Zeppelin canon andTo diethe craziest guitar solo. The second half was supposedly rubbish by the band who never played it live, but I remember loving it as a teenage virgin aspiring to one day date cute plumbers.

38. "Achilles' Last Stand"

Page and Plant have openly distanced Led Zeppelin from any metal associations over the years, which is a bit like Francis Coppola arguing that it should never be mentioned in relation to gangster movies. But there's no other way to describe "Achilles Last Stand" than as one of the great Prog Metal songs of the '70s. As much as Rush Zeppelin stole from the start, "Achilles Last Stand" sounds like a band that just went broke. listening to "By-Tor & The Snow Dog" for the first time and immediately becoming obsessed with getting over it.

37. "The song remains the same"

More Prog Metal, although it can be simple Prog. Page originally wrote that it was an instrumental he would eventually open with "The Rain Song".saint's housesBut then Plant listened and, as he often does, was inspired to write about starry Honolulu and sweet Calcutta rain. And luckily for everyone involved, the last sentence rhymed with "the song stays the same".

36. "Black Country Woman"

EntitledIt's Zeppelin's best album, butphysical graffitiit's the one I listen to the most because it has the highest percentage of tracks that haven't been played by any rock radio station on the planet. The second disc in particular has a wall-to-wall quality to deep cuts like this song, a throwback to the strong British folk rock ofLEADEDZepelim IIIwith a dash of early Rod Stewart work. not howExile on Main Street, physical graffitiis the rare double album that never feels like an exercise in decadence. This is a band in full control of themselves and their music, their ultimate position.Beforedecay crushed them.

35. "D'yer Maker"

About half of the materialphysical graffitiit's solvedEntitledYsaint's housesDepartures It was then that Zeppelin reached their full potential and thus operated with the greatest metabolism of any rock band ever. the miracle ofEntitledthus each gesture is fully realized; withholy houses,The execution is just as flawless, even if they take risks.distantriskier, like trying a reggae song with a title that all white Zeppelin fans will mispronounce for years. In "D'yer Mak'er", Zeppelin dared to play the fool, and even so,yetit sounded like sex gods pouting.

34. "Friends"

led zepelín iii,As well as being "the folk record", it was also the album that Page and Plant really developed, writing the record while wandering around Wales watching the sun go down. "Friends" is his upbeat version of "Dudes Rock": "The best thing you can do right now / Is exchange a smile with someone who is now sad." But then again, Jones provides a key element in "Friends" by sharing the String section arranged for exotic Indian flair.

33. "Communication Break"

The first Zeppelin album was recorded in 36 hours and it looks like around 10 minutes were spent on this song. The dislike punks had for "dinosaur" bands like Led Zeppelin in the late 70's is such an old story that even the original punks ignored it. (Johnny Rotcalled once physical graffitione of their favorite albums.) At this point, "Communication Breakdown" might as well be a Sex Pistols song. It certainly sounds that way, as it captures the raw energy at the Zeppelin's core before it's even been slightly refined.

32. "Sick Again"

It's been a minute since we talked about the problematic aspects of Zeppelin, so let's talk about its misogyny for a moment. Stories of Zeppelin's mistreatment of women abound in every book written about her, although "Sick Again" is one of the few Zeppelin songs that is actuallyonehis brazen pursuit (and often ruthless elimination) of all women, young and not-so-young, in his orbit. But it's also true that many of Zeppelin's biggest fans (and those most insightful about what made them great) are women, whether they be journalists like Jaan Uhelszki, lovers like Bebe Buell or half-breeds like Pamela Des Barres. facts. Based on reports from people who were there, Zeppelin treated women as sex objects, but also allowed women to be trafficked.theyas sex objects, a dynamic that finally comes out vividly on “Sick Again.”

31. "Baby I'm Leaving You"

Musically, Zeppelin also have a distinctly feminine side, often expressed most strongly in their open and passionate appreciation of Joni Mitchell. This was not common in the hard rock world of the 70's, nor even among men in general. (Mitchell himself called Zeppelin "very brave" because he was such an outspoken fan. "Straight white men had problems with music," he added.) And then there was "Baby, I'm Gonna Leave You," a song made popular by Joan Baez in the early 60's and made Zeppelin's debut. But while Zeppelin's version hits harder, Plant makes little attempt to make his voice sound "masculine" as most ankle-deep rock singers do. It looks like you are tryingPerhapsa folk singer, and he pretty much understands.

30. "Gracias"

Zeppelin has dozens of songs about sex I think.oneThe song at least has sex in the subtext of Bonzo's drumming. But there aren't many romantic love songs in their catalogue. This is one of them. "My love is strong / There's nothing wrong with you / Together we'll walk to death."

29. „Puddingkuchen“

To keep this list from getting too sugary, let's go full circle on a song that is blatantly about female genitalia. Yes, that's gross, but Zeppelin stood on the shoulders of giants and referenced similar pie metaphors used by bluesmen like Blind Boy Fuller and Brownie McGhee. Furthermore, this song is a prime example of the Page/Bonham bond, where the latter closely intertwines with the former to create one of the most gloriously bombastic Page 1, Track 1 of all time.

28. "To the Light"

Just as they've taken a hard line on radio singles, Zeppelin rarely allows their music to be licensed for movies and TV shows. It's a shame considering how cinematic and atmospheric the song is. But it's also what makes Zeppelin really stand out when you hear a song appear in an unexpected context. For example, using Zeppelin's best Black Sabbath-sounding track, "In The Light", from the season one finale.mind hunteris one of the best uses of a rock song on a TV show in years. Though I suspect most serial killers prefer that in terms of sheer evil.through the exit doorAPhysical graphite.

27. "It's nobody's fault but me."

From here I could write about how sick Bonham sounds in every song. (Even on acoustic tracks where he doesn't play, I swear I can hear him breathing in the background in perfect time.) But Bonzo soundsparticularlysick with this music Significant portions of the Zeppelin books are devoted to describing the sound of John Bonham's drums. You can learn where the mics were placed in the studio, how you tuned your drums, and how the air felt in the room you recorded. But I'll go back to one of my favorite vague Muso terms: he had some amazing words.to feel.He attacks his team aggressively, but isn't reckless or inaccurate. It is alsononot reckless or overly technical. It's tight but loose, loud but also weird...soothing?What I'm saying is that the stuff on "Hammer of the Gods" wasn't just classic rock crap.

26. "Over the Hills and Far Away"

saint's housesit really is Zeppelin's "most fun" album, on which they tried everything. This is the "Let's check ours."Led Zeppelin IIIdress up but do it a little better." It's also the song of choice for college guitarists. This probably goes without saying, but it's best to avoid anyone whose opening line is, "Hey lady, you've got the love I need / maybe more than enough."

25. "The Battle of Evermore"

2018,Interview as Robert Plantand it was a rare case that I gotIn realitynervous before talking to a rock star. I nervously pronounce "a knot in the pit of my stomach 48 hours before the call". It was inconceivable to me that anyone could actually talk to this person.How the hell do you interview Thor?What heightened my anxiety was Plant's well-documented reluctance to talk about Zeppelin, especially when he's supposedly promoting a solo project. I decided to approach the subject indirectly by asking Plant about Sandy Denny, his duet partner on The Battle Of Evermore and one of the giants of 20th-century British folk. Luckily Robert took the bait and soon we were talking about recordingEntitled.As it turns out, Thor was actually a pretty normal, approachable guy.

24. "All the Lotta Love"

This song is a lot. Along with Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", it is the most notorious example of a fake orgasm in modern pop music. Only Zeppelin has done this beforedeep Throatconventional pornography; this is proto-John Holmes rock. (It also reminds me of one of my all-time favorite quotes about Led Zeppelin, courtesy of hard rock singer Michael Des Barres: "Robert was Marilyn Monroe and Jimmy was Hedy Lamarr with a Les Paul.") Having a kid was awesome. . inappropriate, although now when I hear "Whole Lotta Love" my attention is drawn to the dirt on Page's guitar. Jack White once called the little boy's solo during the break "some of the greatest guitar notes ever played", and I don't think that's an exaggeration.

23. "Rock and Roll" (The song remains the same.Execution)

The song remains the same.is considered one of the most ridiculous and boring rock movies of the 1970s. I've seen it at least 20 times, but I don't think I've ever finished it without falling asleep. (Note that I usually start to seeThe song remains the same.very late at night and never in the most sober mood.) People love to make fun of the Peter Grant sequences where he struts around in his vintage gangster clothes like a white English Suge Knight. But for me the least coherent scene is when John Paul Jones is seen readingJack and the Magic Beansto her children dressed as Dirk Diggler. (Has beento trymake John Paul look like a giant idiot?) That aside,The song remains the same.is a five star rock movie made by me just for the performance of "Rock And Roll", which is an amazing portrayal of arena rock at its absolute peak. The shot behind the band when Bonzo enters the opening drum set in the dark, and then the burst of light as the rest of Zeppelin falls feels like you have a rocket strapped between your legs.

22. "Trample"

A great homage to Stevie Wonder, just as "Pastime Paradise" is a great homage to Led Zeppelin.

21. "Ve a California"

More worship from Joni Mitchell for a song so good it could have endedAzul.On Joni's "California", she sings about spending time in Paris and feeling homesick. ("I'll see the people I like/I'll ​​even kiss a Sunset Pig.") For Zeppelin, California, Los Angeles in particular, was a home away from home, a fantasy land they never stopped romanticizing, even after they they were immersed in the nastiest of the nastiest underworlds in Los Angeles. "Going To California" marks the point where melancholy began to seep into Zeppelin's music, a confirmation that they were at their peak and not for much longer. Coming from an alpha band, the vulnerability of "Going To California" hits hard. "Telling myself it's not as hard, as hard as it seems," sings Plant, and if you know what's in store for him and his band, your heart might ache a little too.

20. "Good Times, Bad Times"

It was Led Zeppelin in every appearance.To dieLed Zeppelin pretty much from the moment they were first hooked up. "It was just an energy release," Plant later said. "But I felt like it was something I always wanted." You can hear it on this song, the first track on the first album. It's rare for a band to be as sold out as Zeppelin at this point. But the instrumental alchemy was there immediately: the way Bonham's drums play Page's riff and are held together by Jones' deep bassline and then sent into space by Plant's vocals.

19. "How many times?"

Led Zeppelin Iit's so tight and focused. Even "Dazed And Confused" comes and goes in less than seven minutes. But on "How Many More Times" they really explode. Page pioneered jammy rock with The Yardbirds and met his counterpart in Plant and Bonham, whose improvisations with his previous group, The Band Of Joy, emulated the West Coast groups Plant was passionate about. But while The Grateful Dead did the main song, "How Many More Times" is a time signature improvisation.

18. "What is and what should never be"

As good as the debutLed Zepelín IIis the first true masterpiece, the record that officially ended the '60s and ushered in a new era. (This album replacesAbbey Roadat the top of the album charts for the last week of 1969 is the boomerIt doesn't matterMichael Jackson's expulsion in late 1991 is for Generation X). That's the main reason why critics at the time hated her so much:Led Zepelín IIit made her feel old. But they needn't have worried. All they had to do was heed Robert Plant's words in What Is and What Should Never Be: Take his hand, child, and let him lead you to the castle.

17. "Crazy in the Rain"

"What if Led Zeppelin was Steely Dan?" It's a pretty crazy idea, although it's not even in the top 5 crazy ideas out there.Enter through the exit door.("What if Led Zeppelin were Buck Owens?" is amazing in this case.) John Bonham's masterful execution of the Purdie shuffle is one of his greatest moments of all time, a feat that seems all the more impressive when you consider that Bonzo it was not in its heyday. If he could somehow clean himself up, Bonzo would certainly have kept playing.a nocturnal fly

16. "Ten years ago."

A rare look at the "emotionally mature" Led Zeppelin. This is not a band to call if you're looking for deep insight into the complex dynamics that occur between men and women in adult relationships. But Ten Years Gone is theirsblood on the railsmovement, with Plant reflecting on a relationship that ended when he joined Zeppelin. It's also one of Page's most complicated guitar overdub builds. Later, while touring (rather underrated!) with The Black Crowes in the late '90s, Page found that he could finally replicate all of these parts to his satisfaction. Only three guitarists were needed on stage.

15. "Song of the Immigrant"

Robert Plant once claimed that all the great Viking imagery is in this song.intentionallyfunny and I'm inclined to believe him. "Immigrant Song", "The Lemon Song", "The Crunge", "Hot Dog": Zeppelin was dumber than he looks, probably because Page's riff and Bonham's drumming were too much for anyone to notice.

14. "In my dying hour"

At just over 11 minutes, this is the longest Zeppelin song ever recorded, and it feels even longer. But that's not a complaint. "In My Time Of Dying" really builds like a deathbed confession, starting out slow and painfully and then picking up speed as the spirits descend to ensnare our protagonist... well, it's probably not for heaven, is it? "In My Time Of Dying" proves that Zeppelin could dance even when moving at a snail's pace, which is nearly impossible for most bands without breaking up. This songsidesit fails several times, but fits in with the thematic concerns raised in the text (mortality, Jesus, groaning, etc.). stupid zeppelinintentionally,and then (at the 3:46 point) they suddenly do the opposite of rolling. The charisma is impeccable - it's a total "put the cape on James Brown's back" flourish.

13. "Walk"

A highlight ofLord of the RingsSub-genre of Zeppelin songs, as well as an excellent early example of Zeppelin's ability to mix acoustic and electric guitars beautifully. Inevitably asked in every Jimmy Page interview to unravel the mystery of Zeppelin's sound, he always goes into his favorite riff about his interest in alternating between "light and shadow" and mixing heaviness with screeching melody. "Ramble On" was the first time he really nailed it, before he honed it to perfection on the next four Zeppelin albums. Although Radiohead are not often mentioned in the same sentence as Led Zeppelin, they emulated this electro-acoustic mix of "light and shadow".the curvesYfine calculator,and he succeeded with almost the same talent.

12. "The Rain Song"

After “Stairway To Heaven,” listeners may have perceived it as an attempt to outdo (or simply copy) their most iconic power ballad. But although "Stairway" cannot be denied, contrary to what happens inWayne's world -"The Rain Song" is the epic soft-to-loud zeppelin ballad I play most often. This band's willingness to sit back and be extremely cheesy for a few minutes, and on the second track ofholy houses,nothing less, it is perhaps its most underrated quality. I'm sure this sounds like melancholy melancholy to some ears, but I don't care. When I'm playing in Zeppelin, sometimes I want to hear a million guitar overdubs, a dripping string section and Robert Plant cooing that it's the spring of his love. And after five minutes, I want John Bonham to kick me out of my coma in the face.

11. "Tangerines"

Along with "The Rain Song", Cameron Crowe's "Tangerine" was used infamous caseslike an elegiac anthem recalling the sunny glory days of rock history bygone. Even more than "Tiny Dancer", it's impossible to separate my feelings for these songs from my feelings for the film, which are complicated but above all loving. Led Zeppelin is one of those bands that every new generation grows up with, no matter how far they are from the real life of the band. That's because Zeppelin obviously embodies the youthful ideals of boundless energy and strong libido. But there's also a sneaky melancholy built into this song, as if Zeppelin can see the end too, even as they're about to conquer the world. If this band was just a bunch of silly teenage stuff, I probably would have moved on by now. But the melancholy speaks to me now in a way I never expected as I pored over the mud shark stories.Hammer of the gods.

10. "Dizzy and confused" (How the West Was ConqueredExecution)

A strange quirk in my Zeppelin fandom is that I really becameadvancetolerant of super-long versions of "Dazed And Confused" as he grew older. I think this song was meant to represent the snooty side of the band that made punk "necessary" or whatever gets repeated in a million rock documentaries. But Zeppelin's jamband covers cannot be removed from the bigger picture; if anything, her ability to switch between doom-laden slime and alien squeaks for half an hour in front of 20,000 people andyetbringing the house down speaks to their unique status and power as an arena rock band. What could be irritating about Zeppelin is also a crucial part of what made them transcendent. Also, the inclusion of this particular version assuages ​​my guilt for not including The Crunge on this list, as The Crunge is indeed hidden.insidethis conquest

9. "Unforgivable"

Bow, John Paul Jones. I was tempted to include a live version of that song as well, so we can all enjoy an endless keyboard solo from JPJ, who sounds like Chick Corea on Quaaludes. But the study is taking off.saint's housesmore than lives up to what is arguably the best pothead song in the Zeppelin canon.

8. "Take it home"

The best example of how they take a familiar John Lee Hooker blues shuffle and push it into a whole new Zeppelin zone. The purpose of this band wasnoBring it home, because Zeppelin was as far away from the home of the blues as you could get. Instead, they had the audacity to take the blues and use it to make themselves appear larger than life, taking them as far away from their own homes as their own willpower would allow. You hear the explosion happen around the 1:45 mark on this song, and what follows is as electrifying as blues-based rock.

7. "The Ocean"

The first of two sampled songs.sick leaveto make the top 10. Like Zeppelin, the Beastie Boys were misfits operating in a culture that was not their own, and they tolerated it not even trying to fit in, but emphasizing their otherness. Like Zeppelin, the Beasties enjoyed bombastic, bombastic, swaggering riffs that made you feel good and goofy. If I may take this comparison a step further, is it fair to say that the drunken slum that Bonzo does at the beginning of "The Ocean" somehow resembles rap? He really was the beast boy of them all.

6. "Since I Love You"

I know it's technically a blues ballad, but for me it's Zeppelin's most emo song. It's definitely what I played the most as a teenager with no romantic experience who dreamed of one day being in a relationship so intense and tumultuous that it felt miserable as Robert Plant. Not that "since I love you" made any sense to me; for example, I couldn't relate to the rigors of working from 7:00 to 7:00 to 11:11:11 every night, but I was willing to accept the premise that it was a drag. Also, for a band that somehow failed to find the bridge on “The Crunge”, here they absolutely crush the bridge.

5. "Black Dog"

The first song onEntitled,that was my first Zeppelin album, which means "Black Dog" was one of the first Zeppelin songs I heard. It's like walking into a bar for the first time and instead of a beer they give you one.Scarface-lots of uncut Colombian cigars and they tell you to get them all in exactly 1.2 seconds. As always in Zeppelin, there's a lot of talk, but the band delivers: you sweat, you move, you can't help it and in the end all you can say is "Oh yeah!"

4. "Stairway to Heaven"

If this song existed in a vacuum it would probably be #1. It's incredibly well constructed and beautiful, seriously.Lawrence of Arabiaof rock'n'roll. It's so epic and moving and beloved and over-the-top and seriously is so over-the-top but it's still great and here comes that guitar solo, sweet Jesus, but boy did the overexposure finally shame Robert Plant enough to do it. I couldn't sing with a straight face because everybody sings. do you remember laughing

3. "This is the way"

The more accessible "Stairway To Heaven," the one with the least cultural baggage, the brilliant zeppelin ballad that's as down-to-earth as the girl next door.famous casesis also responsible for thisLed Zeppelin IIIThe Deep Cut has a little more polish, but ultimately "That's The Way" ranks among my Zeppelin songs because (like all of the band's best tracks) it feels like a perfect place to live for about four minutes. "That's right" is the Shire: lush, green, eternally sunny, and suddenly gone.

2. "Kashmir"

Ai ai ai ai duh duh duhduh duh duhduh duh duhduh duh duhduh duh duhduh duh duh

1. "When the dam bursts"

It's all there: contradictions and darkness and orgasms and drugs and life and power and death and Bonzo's hammer of the gods and Jimmy's supernatural guitar and Plant and Jonesy's plea hold it all together as it hovers over the flames of hell.

Zeppelin appropriated the blues and the rappers appropriated that titanic drum break. They sang about the end of the world and made it sound like a rebirth. When Plant talks about "going down", he's talking about sex.Yvisit satan "When The Levee Breaks" is so dense and heavy with no ups and downs. I've heard it hundreds of times and it still seduces and scares me a little. It's neither fast nor slow: it seems to last 20 minutes when it's on and 20 seconds when it's ready. But as long as this song plays I can believe every wordHammer of the godsand forget there ever was another rock band.

Led Zeppelin is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.