ARTICLES
The 3 Led Zeppelin albums that Slash picked as his favorites
The Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash was influenced by many incredible bands when he was growing up, especially the British groups. One of them was Led Zeppelin, band formed by Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and John Paul Jones.
He was only a kid when they released their first albums, but he had the chance to see the evolution of the band during the 1970s and they were a huge influence for him. To show how much he loves Zeppelin, Rock and Roll Garage selected 3 albums by the group that Slash already praised over the years.
The 3 Led Zeppelin albums that Slash picked as his favorites
Led Zeppelin self-titled debut (1969)
The first album is Led Zeppelin’s debut, released in 1969, when Slash was only four-years old. A few years later, when he discovered the group, he bought some of their albums with his own money but also stole a few ones from Tower Records. He recalled that in an interview with Metal Hammer, listing that record as one that changed his life.
“There’s a blur between the albums I bought and albums I nicked! I didn’t have any money so I’d go to Tower Records and use a five-finger discount. I remember getting the first Zeppelin record early on. They opened the door for everything that the 70s was about: hedonism, excess and drugs. Their music made me just want to bang girls!” Slash said.
Some of the most famous songs from the album are “Good Times Bad Times”, “Dazed and Confused” and “Communication Breakdown”. The record peaked at number 1 on Australian charts, number 6 on the United Kingdom and 10 on the United States Billboard 200. Those were really impressive numbers for a new band.
Led Zeppelin “Led Zeppelin II” (1969)
Another Led Zeppelin album that Slash loves is the second one, also released in 1969. It was a record his parents owned, so he had the chance to listen to the tracks continuously during his youth. He said during a radio interview that it was after hearing “Whole Lotta Love”, from that album, that he discovered what he wanted to do with his life.
There is a song that even before the ‘Rocks’, Aerosmith record came along that definitely had a big influence (on me). I mean, I didn’t have any aspirations to be a musician. But I really loved music all my entire childhood. So I was really drawn to it. (I) loved pulling out records, putting them on, listening to them. I think I can name classic records that (I used to like) when I was a kid. But one that really had an impact on me was the ‘Zeppelin II’ record. The song that means the most to me because it had such an impact on me would be ‘Whole Lotta Love’”.
Slash continued:
“I think that sort of speaks to a subliminal thing that later on when I started to play guitar (was) what I was drawn to. So a lot of the music I was really into as a kid, without ever having thought playing guitar, turned up later as having a really big influence on me.”
“‘Whole Lotta Love’ was just this really sexy, sleazy, guitar driven thing that I just loved. That actually ended up being sort of the catalyst for my first experimentation with distortion. (Also) Les Paul’s and that kind of thing. Oh god, it was so cool. It was just such a great introduction to the 70s. (Also to) where the 70s was going to go,” Slash said
Besides “Whole Lotta Love”, other tracks from that record are “Thank You”, “Heartbreaker”, “Ramble On” and “Moby Dick”. It peaked at number one in several countries like Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom and United States. Like all Led Zeppelin albums, this one was also produced by the guitarist Jimmy Page.
The Song Remains The Same (Led Zeppelin, 1976)
![Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same (Madison Square Garden 1973) [Official Video]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DtVKz0rv4cg/hqdefault.jpg)
The third album that Slash already said is one of his favorite ones by Led Zeppelin is the live record “The Song Remains The Same”, released in 1976. It was the live soundtrack of the concert film of the same name the band released that year. But the music was actually recorded three years before, during a show at Madison Square Garden.
“Led Zeppelin’s ‘The Song Remains the Same’ was a pretty good one,” Slash said in an interview with Noisecreep. This album already was released through Swan Song, the band’s own music label. That record features many of their most famous tracks like “Rock and Roll”, Whole Lotta Love” and “Stairway To Heaven”.
