We all have artists and bands that we love with a fiery passion, and regardless of who they are, they are all influential in some way.  Every artist offers a new take on his or her genre.  Yet, some bands historically are known as the most important; dream teams so perfect that it was unbelievable that they could even exist.  These are the bands in which every member was at the peak of their trade and influenced people for generations to come.  The Beatles would probably come to mind.  Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr all could have had amazing solo careers (and some eventually did), yet joined forces to form a monster of a band.  Yet the Beatles were known for their personal mastery of music, not necessarily their skill with their instruments (John Lennon didn’t even know how to play guitar when he first joined the Beatles).  Imagine combining the masterful skill and knowledge of music as an art (like the Beatles had) with impeccable instrumental skill so great in fact that it led the artists to be the best at everything—guitar, drums, bass, and vocals.  You would form a band called Led Zeppelin.
   

Now you might say, “This sounds like you’re pandering to Led Zeppelin fans, I mean, not everybody likes them you know.  You can’t just say they were the best band to have ever existed and have it be true.”  If so, you’d be right.  Not everyone likes Led Zeppelin, and not everyone would say that they were the best band to have ever existed.  That’s not the point.  The point is: Led Zeppelin was a legend of a band—something that might not happen again, if not for a long time.
     

“Why?” You ask.  Well, faithful reader, the answer lies in the artists.  Take Jimmy Page for example.  Page is no doubt an excellent guitarist, but what makes him so good?  Well for starters, at the time (the 70’s) he was at the epitome of guitar playing skill.  Give him anything, and he could play it.  Not only this, but he was also what rock-fanatics might call a “riff machine.”  This man would spit out iconic riff after riff, making every song incredibly catchy.  Take their 1971 hit “Black Dog” for instance.  “Black Dog” is entirely driven by Jimmy’s riff, repeating through breaks of Robert Plant’s wailing vocals.  Songs that were given the power of Page’s iconic riffs became rock staples.  Now that might be enough to call him one of the best, but he’s not done.  One of Led Zeppelin’s key factors is their solo potential.  Jimmy Page could solo, and he could solo hard.  Really hard.  The hardest.  From the iconic “Stairway to Heaven” to the short and sweet “Whole Lotta Love” solo, Jimmy demonstrated absolute dominance over the industry in practically every song.  His skill combined with his fellow band members’ proved to be one of the best in the business.
     

Speaking of fellow band members, on to the glorious Robert Plant.  Plant, the singer, was the spitting image of “showman.”  He had the long blond hair, the extra-skinny skinny jeans, and the staple unbuttoned shirt purposely exposing his entire torso.  And he had the stance, too.  When singing, he would stand perpendicular to the crowd with his right hand raised to eye level, his finger lazily pointing upwards while he moved his hand around without much of a pattern.  He was so feminine that he was incredibly masculine, I mean look at the sex appeal of the time:  Grown men with long hair and makeup that wore tight clothes and sang with screeching high-pitched voices.  Plant perfected this image (and did away with the makeup).  The man was a legend for several reasons.  Aside from the look, he had the voice.  He was characteristic for his screeching wails and charisma, and he commanded the stage with ease.  His voice gave a twisted, darker sound most of the time, but can easily be happy or bluesy.  Robert Plant’s voice is really what gives a Led Zeppelin song its flair, and without it the songs wouldn’t feel the same.
     

Page and Plant were known as the flagships for the band, but don’t forget about the forgotten duo:  John Paul Jones and John Bonham.  Let’s begin with JPJ, because without him, most bassists wouldn’t have an idol.  His ability to creatively and skillfully craft new riffs on bass that could mimic the guitar riffs gave the songs an incredible drive, and he is also a multi-instrumentalist.  Not only did he play bass (which he was most famous for), he also plays the guitar, koto, lap steel guitars, mandolin, autoharp, violin, ukulele, sitar, cello, and recorder (as heard in “Stairway to Heaven”).  Not only does he play all of these instruments, he plays them well.  Well enough to use in whatever song the band needs.  John Bonham on the other hand was the glue that stuck the band together.  JPJ was the jack-of-all-trades, Page was the guitar wizard, and Plant was the showman, but Bonham had something that Led Zeppelin needed.  He was very dear to the band members, and kept them together and happy.  He was one of the best drummers to have ever existed, and was known for his speed, power, and groove.  For instance, consider his performance in the song “Moby Dick.”  That’s why when his heavy drinking led to his passing (he drank an extremely large amount, went to bed, and choked to death on his own vomit), the band never performed again.  Led Zeppelin ended.  Clearly, these two members were incredibly important to the band, and helped to form one of the best bands to have ever existed.
     

Now my final reason, one everyone should hold dear, is the ability for Led Zeppelin to create songs of different, rather odd genres and still have them all turn out as a major commercial success.  Take the skill of each member and combine them into one song and you could make anything happen.  Their strong suit, the combination of hard rock and blues, was their defining factor—but they had much more.  “Stairway to Heaven,” some would say their magnum opus, almost lacks a genre.  It has a hard rock section at the end, but in the beginning (with the aforementioned medieval recorder section supplied by the wonderful John Paul Jones), it had an indiscernible, eerie sound.  “Over the Hills and Far Away” utilized an acoustic indie sound which led into some hard rock, and “Going to California” took that indie sound and ran with it for the whole song.  “What is and What Should Never Be” is almost indiscernible as well, yet does feel like hard rock at times.  Led Zeppelin had an artistic freedom in instrumentation, lyrics, and genre that none could rival, pushing them forth to be one of the most influential and creative (if not best) bands in history.
     

Without a doubt, Led Zeppelin most definitely has what it takes to be one of the best bands in history.  The combination of skill, technique, genre, and a level of musical bravery to surpass the norms seen during its time lead the band to be incredibly memorable.  When listening to Led Zeppelin, almost all of their songs have become staples in American history.  Each member was at the peak of his trade and each added his own flavor to the music.  Led Zeppelin is so good in fact that I truly believe the world of music would be vastly different without them, more so than any other band in history.