#6 Black Dog

Arguably Led Zeppelin’s magnum opus work of art came in 1971. They had already released three albums that shot straight to number 1, but not without harsh criticism.

Although they were rightfully perceived as the top hard rock band in the world (note: 1/3 of their released music was acoustic-based), top critics at Rolling Stone referred to them as “noise”. Fans continued to sell out arenas, but the music industry seemed to not totally understand why. I should also note that through the entire 12 year span that Led Zeppelin was active, Rolling Stone Magazine only gave them one cover story (Britney Spears has graced the cover 13 times).

It was out of some frustration that guitarist, Jimmy Page, came up with what seemed like a commercially suicidal idea: they would release this album with no title or reference to the band at all, simply mailing the vinyl records to shops and radio stations and allowing the general public’s curiosity do the rest. The initial result, the untitled “fourth album” was the only Led Zeppelin album to not debut number one. The ending result, the album has certified 23x Platinum, making it their best selling album and the fourth best selling album in the history of music.

Top to bottom, this album is perfect. It plays almost like a greatest hits album, with hit after hit after greatest hit. The album’s mystery added to the high school hallways lore that Zeppelin had already established. Cameron Crowe, writer/director of "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" and "Almost Famous" alludes to this stereotype in the former. When the creepy ticket scalper gives the young kid advice on how to hook up with his female counterparts, he advises:

"When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on Side One of Led Zeppelin IV."

And the album kicks off with another Led Zeppelin sex-oriented track; “Black Dog” was recorded at the Headley Grange mansion and was named after the black lab-retriever that wandered around the grounds during their recording sessions. The vocal start/stop a-capella structure of the song was inspired by 1969’s “Oh Well” by Fleetwood Mac, but the main riff was written by bassist John Paul Jones, who states his inspiration was Muddy Waters’ album Electric Mud.

The song switches between time signatures constantly, making the song extremely difficult to play live. Drummer, John Bonham, would eliminate the 5/4 variation when they played it live, but if you listen closely, you can hear a faint click of the drum sticks in between vocal phrases. This was to keep the band in sync as the instruments returned.

Black Dog continues to be a radio favorite on classic rock stations nationwide and is widely regarded as one of their greatest hits on arguably their greatest album.