Диссертация (1098575), страница 49
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What is not in dispute is that theysparked each other to reach heights that they could not attain on their own.The popularity of the Beatles-as-unit, however, proved eternal. In part, this is because the group's1970 split effectively short-circuited the prospects of artistic decline; the body of work that waspreserved was uniformly strong. However, it's also because, like any great works of art, theBeatles' records carried an ageless magnificence that continues to captivate new generations oflisteners.
So it is that Beatles records continue to be heard on radio in heavy rotation, continue tosell in massive quantities, and continue to be covered and quoted by rock and pop artists throughthe present day.That fascination didn't fade in the new millennium. At the dawn of the 2000s, the Beatles released1, a compilation of the 27 number one singles the group charted in the United Kingdom and UnitedStates. 1 was a runaway success, topping the charts around the world. It remained at number onefor several weeks in the U.K.
and U.S. (nine and eight, respectively), and continued to be a strongcatalog item for years. By the end of the 2000s, it had sold over 31 million copies worldwide,making it the biggest album of the decade32.Led ZeppelinWhat the Beatles were to the '60s, Led Zeppelin were to the'70s: a band so successful and innovative they wound upcreating the prism through which their entire epoch wasseen. Zeppelin ushered in the era of album rock – theyrefused to release singles off their albums, even when theywere garnering massive radio play – and of arena rock,playing ever-larger stadiums as their ticket sales skyrocketed. Other bands played on a similar field32http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-beatles-mn0000754032/biography267but Led Zeppelin carried a unique mystique cultivated by cryptic album art, distance from thepress, and, of course, their music.
Drawing upon postwar electric blues, early rock & roll, andpsychedelia, Zeppelin created a titanic roar in their earliest days but even then they weren't merelyheavy. Underneath the wattage, there was a strong undercurrent of folk-rock and the quartet wouldsoon thread in world music, funk, country, and synthesizers, creating an adventurous body of workthat had a long, lasting influence on hard rock, heavy metal, and alternative rock.Quite a feat for a band whose origins lie in the ashes of the pioneering British rock band theYardbirds. Jimmy Page, a guitarist who made his reputation as a session man in the '60s, joined theband in 1966, functioning as the replacement for bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, but he soon splitleadguitardutieswith JeffBeck andtookoverthatpositionentirelyonce Beck departed. Page contributed heavily to the band's final album, 1967's Little Games,which also saw contributions from John Paul Jones, a bassist and string arranger who also ran inthe same studio circles as Page; the two played on Beck's 1966 single "Beck's Bolero," which alsofeatured Keith Moon.
Under the direction of their new manager Peter Grant, theYardbirds supported the album with a tour of the United States, but the group was in its final days.Just before the band's dissolution, Page filled the time with session work, including a spring 1968session where he played on Jones' arrangement of Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man." During thesessions, Jones requested to be part of any future project of Page's. This future project materializedquickly.
In the summer of 1968, the Yardbirds' Keith Relf and James McCarty left the band,leaving Page and bassist Chris Dreja with the rights to the name, along with the obligation offulfilling an upcoming fall tour. Page set out to find a replacement vocalist and drummer. Initially,he wanted to enlist singer Terry Reid and Procol Harum's drummer B.J.
Wilson, but neithermusician was able to join the group. Reid suggested that Page contact Robert Plant, who wassinging with a band called Hobbstweedle.After hearing him sing, Page asked Plant to join the band in August of 1968, the same month ChrisDreja dropped out of the new project. Following Dreja's departure, John Paul Jones joined thegroup as its bassist. Plant recommended that Page hire John Bonham, the drummer for Plant's oldband, the Band of Joy. Bonham had to be persuaded to join the group, as he was being courted byother artists who offered the drummer considerably more money. By September, Bonham agreedto join the band.
Performing under the name the New Yardbirds, the band fulfilled the Yardbirds'previously booked Scandinavian engagements in late September 1968. The following month, theyrecorded their debut album in just under 30 hours. Also in October, Dreja informed Page he hadthe rights to the New Yardbirds name for the live dates only, so the group switched its name to LedZeppelin.
Grant helped the band sign a record-setting contract with Atlantic Records in the UnitedStates before the end of the year; they were paid a reported $200,000 advance, at that date thelargest sum for any new band. Early in 1969, Led Zeppelin set out on their first American tour,which helped set the stage for the January release of their eponymous debut album.
Two monthsafter its release, Led Zeppelin had climbed into the U.S. Top Ten. Throughout 1969, the bandtoured relentlessly, playing dates in America and England. While they were on the road, theyrecorded their second album, Led Zeppelin II, and that speed gave the record's loud, riff-heavyblues a palpable urgency.Like its predecessor, Led Zeppelin II was an immediate hit upon its October 1969 release, toppingthe American charts two months after its release and spending seven weeks at number one.
Thealbum helped establish Led Zeppelin as an international concert attraction, and for the next year,the group continued to tour relentlessly. Led Zeppelin started to broaden their horizons with Led268Zeppelin III. Recorded in a cottage in Wales and released in October of 1970, the album saw themweaving British folk into their heavy rock, a hybrid that deepened the band's sound. Led ZeppelinIII reached number one in both the U.K. and U.S. but, comparatively, sales were softer for thisrecord than the two previous blockbusters; it never earned a platinum certification in the U.K. but,over the years, it went platinum six times in the U.S., a sign of its reputation as one of band's mostdistinctive records. Despite Zeppelin's stated aversion to singles, they did support III with therelease of "Immigrant Song" as a 7" in the States, backed with the non-LP "Hey, Hey What Can IDo," their only B-side to not appear on an album.
Led Zeppelin didn't tour as heavily behind LedZeppelin III as they did Led Zeppelin II, but they were well on their way to consolidating theirstatus as one of the most popular attractions in rock. Their next record, an untitled recordcommonly referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, cemented that reputation. Released in November1971, Led Zeppelin IV merged the heavy blues of II with the folk mysticism of III and at thecrossroads of those two extremes lay "Stairway to Heaven," an eight-minute epic that encapsulatedmuch of Zep's majesty. "Stairway to Heaven" was an immediate radio hit, eventually becoming themost played song in the history of album-oriented radio; the song was never released as a single.Despite the fact that the album never reached number one in America, Led Zeppelin IV was theirbiggest album ever, selling well over 37 million copies over the next four decades.Led Zeppelin supported Led Zeppelin IV with their biggest tour to date – biggest according tosize, not dates.
All around the world they made the leap into stadiums and sports arenas, pioneeringa circuit that became commonplace later in the decade, leaving legends of excess along the way.After completing their 1972 tour, they retreated from the spotlight and recorded their fifthalbum, Houses of the Holy. Appearing in March 1973, Houses of the Holy found them weaving intouches of funk and reggae amidst their crunching rock and seven-minute epics. Onceagain, Zeppelin had another smash album on their hands and its success led to an American tourthat broke box-office records – most of which were previously held by the Beatles. The band'stour culminated in a three-night stand at New York's Madison Square Garden in July 1973, a stintthat was filmed and released as the concert film The Song Remains the Same in 1976.
Followingthis record-breaking tour, Led Zeppelin spent a quiet year during 1974, releasing no new materialand performing no concerts. They did, however, establish their own record label, Swan Song,which released all of Led Zeppelin's subsequent albums, as well as records by Dave Edmunds, BadCompany, the Pretty Things, and several other acts. Physical Graffiti, a double album released inFebruary of 1975, was the band's first release on Swan Song. The album was an immediatesuccess, topping the charts in both America and England.
Led Zeppelin launched an internationaltour with a five-night stint at London's Earls Court but on the eve of the American leg thatfall, Robert Plant and his wife suffered a serious car crash while vacationing in Greece. The tourwas canceled and Plant spent the rest of the year recuperating from the accident.As Plant recovered, the band headed to Malibu to record a new album. Theresulting Presence appeared in the spring of 1976 and while it debuted at number one in both theU.S. and U.K., sales lagged slightly, possibly due to the band's decision not to tour in support ofthe album.
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