As I go through all the popular music released, year over year, some names of course came up a lot. One of them – Led Zeppelin.
As I review, listen to and rate as much popular music as I can get my hands on, I was curious about certain groups and artists and how I feel about their music today. I decided to rank the songs of some of the greats and after kicking things off with the Beatles, it’s time to dive all the way into rock ‘n roll with another elite supergroup. Possibly my favorite band of all time and in fact I had considered Led Zeppelin as just that for many, many years. Now that I’m into my 40s though, the “modern” bands that I didn’t at the time think qualified…suddenly do. Pearl Jam is no longer “new”, but are actual Hall-of-Famers with 25 years under their belt. But Zeppelin will always be legends and their songs will always hold up.
From my own yearly classifications, 12 of their songs ranked as “awesome” (that’s more than I had for the Beatles, at eight) with an additional 10 garnering the “great” moniker. Zeppelin ended up with 44 songs on my year-by-year lists, and that’s an amazing accomplishment considering they only recorded 108 songs. Nearly half got on my list of favorites.
In putting this together, I decided to do away with the classifications and give my own hard ranking. With the understanding that, depending on mood, any of these songs can slide up or down 20 spots pretty easily. It was definitely not an easy task. And of course, I shouldn’t have to explain that the 40th song ranked here is not their worst song – remember they have 108 songs recorded, so the 40th song actually tops 68 others.
The songs that made my year-by-year list but did not crack the Top 40 are: No Quarter (1973), I’m Gonna Crawl (1979), For Your Life (1976) and Baby Come on Home (1982).
40. Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman) (1969)
39. Trampled Underfoot (1975)
38. Communication Breakdown (1969)
37. That’s the Way (1970)
36. Celebration Day (1970)
35. Houses Of The Holy (1975)
34. The Lemon Song (1969)
33. Friends (1970)
32. Nobody’s Fault But Mine (1976)
31. Four Sticks (1971)
30. Moby Dick (1969)
No lyrics in this one, and to truly drive the point home about how great this drum solo is, here is an extended version of it. Live at Royal Albert Hall in 1970. When Bonham kicks back into it at 14:10 it gives chills.
29. Going to California (1971)
An incredible live version. Generally I like to leave the videos on here that made me love the song, but I saw this version and had to use it (update: the idiots at YouTube removed it, so we’re back to the ‘officially sanctioned’ version – it’s our loss)…
28. Out on the Tiles (1970)
27. Dancing Days (1973)
26. Gallows Pole (1970)
25. In The Evening (1979)
24. Fool In The Rain (1979)
23. Rock and Roll (1971)
22. Good Times Bad Times (1969)
21. Dazed and Confused (1969)
20. Heartbreaker (1969)
19. All My Love (1979)
18. The Ocean (1973)
17. What Is and What Should Never Be (1969)
16. Your Time Is Gonna Come (1969)
15. Immigrant Song (1970)
14. Misty Mountain Hop (1971)
13. When the Levee Breaks (1971)
12. Traveling Riverside Blues (1982)
11. Kashmir (1975)
An incredible performance of this song in 2002 – 27 years after this song was released. Robert Plant is 54 here.
10. Black Dog (1971)
9. Tangerine (1970)
8. Whole Lotta Love (1969)
7. Thank You (1969)
6. Ramble On (1969)
5. D’yer Mak’er (1973)
4. Hey, Hey, What Can I Do (1970)
This song was never released, was never on a studio album, was never performed by Led Zeppelin in concert. How did this happen? It was on a various artists UK album in 1972, and a B-side to the Immigrant Song single in 1970. It didn’t really come to prominence until 1990 when it was part of a four-CD Zeppelin box set.
3. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp (1970)
2. Over the Hills and Far Away (1973)
1. Stairway to Heaven (1971)
Of course
You can listen to this entire playlist on YouTube here
Here is the full list of songs
| 1 | Stairway to Heaven | – | Led Zeppelin | 1971 |
| 2 | Over the Hills and Far Away | – | Led Zeppelin | 1973 |
| 3 | Bron-Y-Aur Stomp | – | Led Zeppelin | 1970 |
| 4 | Hey, Hey, What Can I Do | – | Led Zeppelin | 1982 |
| 5 | D’yer Mak’er | – | Led Zeppelin | 1973 |
| 6 | Ramble On | – | Led Zeppelin | 1969 |
| 7 | Thank You | – | Led Zeppelin | 1969 |
| 8 | Whole Lotta Love | – | Led Zeppelin | 1969 |
| 9 | Tangerine | – | Led Zeppelin | 1970 |
| 10 | Black Dog | – | Led Zeppelin | 1971 |
| 11 | Kashmir | – | Led Zeppelin | 1975 |
| 12 | Traveling Riverside Blues | – | Led Zeppelin | 1982 |
| 13 | When the Levee Breaks | – | Led Zeppelin | 1971 |
| 14 | Misty Mountain Hop | – | Led Zeppelin | 1971 |
| 15 | Immigrant Song | – | Led Zeppelin | 1970 |
| 16 | Your Time Is Gonna Come | – | Led Zeppelin | 1969 |
| 17 | What Is and What Should Never Be | – | Led Zeppelin | 1969 |
| 18 | The Ocean | – | Led Zeppelin | 1973 |
| 19 | All My Love | – | Led Zeppelin | 1979 |
| 20 | Heartbreaker | – | Led Zeppelin | 1969 |
| 21 | Dazed and Confused | – | Led Zeppelin | 1969 |
| 22 | Good Times Bad Times | – | Led Zeppelin | 1969 |
| 23 | Rock and Roll | – | Led Zeppelin | 1971 |
| 24 | Fool In The Rain | – | Led Zeppelin | 1979 |
| 25 | In The Evening | – | Led Zeppelin | 1979 |
| 26 | Gallows Pole | – | Led Zeppelin | 1970 |
| 27 | Dancing Days | – | Led Zeppelin | 1973 |
| 28 | Out on the Tiles | – | Led Zeppelin | 1970 |
| 29 | Going to California | – | Led Zeppelin | 1971 |
| 30 | Moby Dick | – | Led Zeppelin | 1969 |
| 31 | Four Sticks | – | Led Zeppelin | 1971 |
| 32 | Nobody’s Fault But Mine | – | Led Zeppelin | 1976 |
| 33 | Friends | – | Led Zeppelin | 1970 |
| 34 | The Lemon Song | – | Led Zeppelin | 1969 |
| 35 | Houses Of The Holy | – | Led Zeppelin | 1975 |
| 36 | Celebration Day | – | Led Zeppelin | 1970 |
| 37 | That’s the Way | – | Led Zeppelin | 1970 |
| 38 | Communication Breakdown | – | Led Zeppelin | 1969 |
| 39 | Trampled Underfoot | – | Led Zeppelin | 1975 |
| 40 | Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman) | – | Led Zeppelin | 1969 |
Dobber's Take 
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