(Credits: Far Out / Heinrich Klaffs)
Wed 27 August 2025 21:00, UK
No matter what Led Zeppelin album you listen to, whether it’s their debut or the last piece of music they ever put together, one thing becomes abundantly clear: the band didn’t want to fall prey to a type.
Exploring different kinds of music was at the forefront of Jimmy Page’s mind when he started sketching the blueprint for what would prove to be one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. You need to bear in mind that this band didn’t come from the mind of a wannabe rockstar; Page was a lot more than that, even in the early days.
He was experienced at this point, as he had worked as a session musician and played in The Yardbirds. In doing both of these things, he had managed to put together a plan in his mind of what elements he wanted to take from the range of people he had worked with and put them all together in one musical outfit.
The vision was clear (if not incredibly complicated). He wanted Led Zeppelin to be more than just rock music and expand upon what could be considered rock, injecting various different styles into a sound that was presented under the heavy label of rock. The pillars that held up the genre were ever-present. Your classic distortion, screeching vocals and big choruses were clear, but they came alongside stripped-back acoustic sections, elements of folk music, and nods towards the blues and R&B.
A genre always has small glints of treasure lingering underneath the blanket sound that the world initially falls in love with, and no one knew this more than Page. During a time when rock music was one of the most popular genres in the world, he and Led Zeppelin showed the public just how far this style could be stretched.
When discussing the record Led Zeppelin II, he disclosed which two songs were written first, and how it’s amusing to consider those two tracks as they’re polar opposites of one another. This wonderfully reflects the stunning versatility of the band.
(Credits: julio zeppelin)
“The first two songs that I had for Led Zeppelin II were ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and ‘What Is and What Should Never Be’,” he said, “It is almost like turning a coin, isn’t it? One side to the other as far as textures and moods.”
A lot of people don’t know when they have a hit on their hands, but Page knew when he finished recording ‘Whole Lotta Love’ that it was a track Led Zeppelin fans would feel particularly drawn towards. The riff, the vocals, and the elongated middle section all culminated to make something special and layered. There was a story embedded within that track, one that Page couldn’t wait for fans to turn the first page on.
“With ‘Whole Lotta Love’, that was clearly going to be the track that everybody was going to go to, because that riff was so fresh and it still is,” said Page, adding, “If somebody plays that riff, it brings a smile to people’s faces. It’s a really positive thing.”
The issue he had was the fact that people wanted the band to release the song as a single, but also, in a bid for the song to become a single, the middle section would need to be removed. The middle section of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ is bizarre, but then what part of these musical maestros’ work isn’t? A heavy and catchy rock song descends into an unrelenting atmosphere as wind sound effects are paired with scratches of guitar, shimmers of cymbals, and occasional vocal hits by Robert Plant. When this section ends, the track erupts into a face-melting guitar solo, the only kind Page knew how to play.
It all works together well, but radios would never have played such a long period of building atmosphere. This represented a persistent problem Led Zeppelin had, which was getting their best songs over the line, even if they weren’t radio-friendly. ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and that song’s subsequent success was the turning point for the band, who stopped caring about making songs radio-friendly and ready to be singles so long as they knew they were good.
“I knew with ‘Whole Lotta Love’ that there weren’t going to be any edits. I insisted that they kept the middle section in it, which of course they didn’t like, but they had to do it,” said Page, “So I thought, ‘Well, if you just keep making the numbers longer and longer… [laughs] They’re not going to make them singles!’ I did think that in a mischievous way.”
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