So why is Led Zeppelin IV on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I mean, what can you say about this one that hasn’t been said? That there’s a scene in a movie* that’s kind of iconic simply because the main character attempts to play “Stairway To Heaven” at a local Guitar Center?
* That’d be our guy Wayne Campbell in the Filmic Classic, Wayne’s World.
And then there’s a scene in another movie – from the great Almost Famous – that fuses with my love for New York City, Led Zeppelin, and the album sometimes referred to casually (for real heads) as Zoso*.
* “The symbol “Zoso” on Led Zeppelin IV is not a word, but a symbol designed by Jimmy Page, and its true meaning remains a mystery,” so says this Led Zeppelin forum.
The scene takes place in New York City, and it’s right before one of the truly great rando lines in filmic history (it’s all happening!) gets dropped. William Miller and the Stillwater fellas are in an old school NYC yellow cab crossing what native and old school New Yorkers refer to as the 59th Street bridge (known as the Queensboro Bridge these days) as we hear the magical and mystical and all kinds of wonderful “Misty Mountain Hop” descend from the hallowed Led Zeppelin heavens.
And here’s another story, back to “Stairway.” I know it’s one you’ve never heard before, because it’s mine. It’s a little bit painful in the way that only adolescent deep psychic indentations can be painful, and music is the catalyst for bringing those feelings back in a way that still hurts in a vague distant way and yet is also somehow soothing and pleasing – healing maybe? – all at once.
So let’s cut back to my high school junior prom, which is where all the best teenage hurts are birthed for some reason, right?
I couldn’t find a “real date” to the thing, of course, so I was paired off “as friends” with a lovely girl I was sort of friends with, a sophomore, as a way to leverage bringing our entire extended friend group to the big event.
Now we’re at prom, everyone dressed up in their awkward rental outfits finest. Oh, we’re just talking about me here? Okay fine, point taken. It’s the part of the night where some kids are dancing, paired off or in little dancing groups or whatever, but me – not being much of a dancer (I hadn’t yet discovered the magical transformative powers of ska and punk rock to move me to shake it, I guess?), sits at the table like a lump.
My date, the lovely girl a year my junior, just kind of staring off into the middle distance, listlessly.
And then, wouldn’t you know it: “Stairway to Heaven” begins.
Do I get up, take my Forever Platonic date in hand and confidently announce, “This is one of the greatest songs of all time and we are going to HONOR THAT.”
No. That did not happen.
Instead, I too stared into my own far more desultory middle distance and kind of half spoke, half mumble-sang along with Robert Plant.
And yes, it might be one of the more truly half-assed audience-of-one karaoke performance ever performed by a 16-year old in a cheap rental tux.
I apologize, lovely girl prom date from days of yore. I truly do.
End scene. Hope you enjoyed.
Anyway, “Stairway” is incredible, and always will be. If you’re reading this, you know. I can’t explain it any other way than that. Or maybe I’ll just offer this: try hard to listen to it with fresh ears. Really listen, and maybe you’ll find some memories from Yesteryear Times will come knock on your mental door to pay a visit.
Okay, here’s another high school story connected to Led Zeppelin IV, this one more embarrassing (for me) than painful, and… also related to a junior prom I attended during my sophomore year.
Yes, it’s another high school junior prom story related to Led Zeppelin, and I swear I didn’t make this connection until I started writing this piece, people.
This time around, your Humble Narrator had been invited by another lovely gal, the junior, for another go round at Platonic Friends Who Just Really Need A Date For The [REDACTED] Prom.
It’s the day of the prom, and she’s driving me to her house to have pictures taken by her family (an excruciating scene that I’ll skip over retelling here, but trust me) before we get picked up by the limo. On route, somehow “Black Dog” manages to pop up on the radio. This prompts me to take on the role of Self-Appointed Led Zeppelin Expert, and I probably brag about how much I know about the band (which honestly was not all that much, but let’s put that aside for now).
She probably replied with something like, “Oh…” which made me – for reasons that remain astoundingly unclear – pontificate with regard to “Black Dog,”: “Well, you know some songs are just about getting laid.”
Record scratch moment. From the world’s largest record player, hovering above the earth (in Led Zeppelin’s hallowed heavens, perhaps).
He laid the needle to the groove, indeed.
One more Led Zeppelin IV high school story, if you can stand it. One year, this guy named Steve in our class performed “Rock and Roll” as part of a very short set during one of those multi-hour high school talent show deals.
I recall the performance vividly, and I think it’s because I thought the song (of course) and Steve were cool as hell. And Steve was cool as hell; still is.
In fact, in high school Steve was one of those guys – so seemingly at ease in his own high school skin – where I felt it was impossible that he was also cool to me and not just cool with his own Cool People crowd (which, let’s face it, is how it often goes with High School Cool People crowds).
Decades later, Steve and I managed to get back in touch via social media somehow. And if I needed any further validation of all my blather from above, he relayed how cool he always thought I was back in the day.
Anyway, Steve’s a sports dad in Pennsylvania these days, with a seemingly cool-as-hell family scene going on. And bonus extra coolness: once upon a time, he acted in a scene with an A List actor in a Netflix show you’ve probably seen.
On a final note: in my mid-twenties, my man Adam and I moved from New York City to Oakland in my old car, taking I-80 the entire way.
So you know “Going to California” was on heavy rotation on my cassette deck* during that journey to the west.
* As was “Over the Hills and Far Away,” one of the all-time great road trip songs.
Some stats & info about Led Zeppelin IV
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, British Bands, Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Album Rock, Arena Rock, Blues Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #58
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was Led Zeppelin IV released? 1971
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #56 out of 1,000
Led Zeppelin IV on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Led Zeppelin IV that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.