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(Credits: Far Out \/ Dick Barnatt \/ Atlantic Records \/ John Paul Jones)<\/p>\n
Mon 23 February 2026 14:58, UK <\/p>\n
It might seem like the world spent most of its time allowing rock stars to do whatever they so chose. But that\u2019s not quite true. In the glory days of rock excess, Led Zeppelin<\/a> could never catch a break with critics. <\/p>\n Although the fans clamoured for what the next instalment from the band was going to be, critics lambasted their first record and thought that they were bottom-of-the-barrel rock and roll, despite making huge epics like \u2018Stairway to Heaven\u2019. As the band got to the end of the self-titled phase of their career, Houses of the Holy was when they started to switch things up.<\/p>\n Across its runtime, Zeppelin doesn\u2019t get bogged down in blues traditions that often, instead focusing on expanding their musical palette through genres like funk and world music. Although songs like \u2018Over the Hills and Far Away\u2019 and \u2018The Rain Song\u2019 remain staples from this era, \u2018D\u2019Yer Ma\u2019ker\u2019 has never sat well with John Paul Jones.<\/p>\n The truth is, it never really stacked up against the group\u2019s output. The band had displayed such a delicate ability to transfer between gentle style shifts that they probably thought shifting toward some gentle reggae would be a fairly simple and accepted process. But it would seem that the band misunderstood what their fans wanted, and the tune has been routinely lambasted ever since.<\/p>\n When stacked up against all the other tracks on the project, there\u2019s something tonally off about the song, as Robert Plant does his best stabs at playing a reggae-influenced song. Though almost every single member of the band had a hand in this questionable song, Jones points the finger at John Bonham for the song\u2019s wonky beat, discussing in Led Zeppelin FAQ (via Cheatsheet<\/a>), \u201cIt would have been all right if Bonham had worked at the part. The whole point of reggae is that the drums and the bass really have to be very strict about what they play. And he wouldn\u2019t be, so it sounded dreadful\u201d.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n