Led Zeppelin was formed in London, England in 1968 by Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and John Bonham. The band kept recording and touring until the tragic death of the legendary drummer in 1980 at the age of 32.
During that time the band released 8 extremely successful albums that made them one of the best-selling bands of all time. They have sold an estimated amount of 200 to 300 million records worldwide.
They influenced countless generations of musicians, including the Metallica co-founder, guitarist and singer James Hetfield, who even revealed once which is one of his favorite Led Zeppelin songs.
The Led Zeppelin song James Hetfield said is one of his favorites
James Hetfield was only 5 years-old when the groundbreaking Led Zeppelin self-titled debut album was released in 1969. The band tragically came to an end after John Bonham’s death at the age of 32 in 1980. One year later, Metallica was formed by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, releasing their debut album two years later in 1983.
Although their music was much heavier than Led Zeppelin, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal wouldn’t have been the same without the British band. They helped those music genres to evolve and get to the point where bands like Metallica could take things further.
Hetfield always shared his love for the group and in an interview with Rolling Stone back in 2004, he listed “Stairway To Heaven”, Zeppelin’s most known song as one the best of all time in his opinion. “When I first got a guitar, I figured out the first couple of fingerings to this. I ran around the house saying, ‘Check it out! I can play this!’ My family was like, ‘Where’s the rest of the song?’” James Hetfield said.
“Stairway To Heaven” was featured on the band’s 1971 album “Led Zeppelin IV” and was written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. It is often voted as one of the best songs in the history of music.
That album also had other famous tracks like “Black Dog”, “Rock and Roll” and “Going To California”. It reached the first position on the United Kingdom albums chart. In the United States peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200 at the time.
Robert Plant is one of the best singers of all time according to Hetfield
Like most Hard Rock and Heavy Metal musicians, Hetfield was influenced by the British group. In 2008 he was asked by Rolling Stone to list the singers who he believed were the best of all time. In the position number 10, he placed Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, was in front of names like Johnny Cash, Freddie Mercury, Ronnie Van Zant and Steven Tyler.
However, for Hetfield there are nine singers who are better than the Led Zeppelin vocalist. They are Ozzy Osbourne, Glenn Danzig, Lemmy Kilmister, Paul Di’Anno, Bon Scott, Chris Cornell, Rob Halford, Layne Staley and Ronnie James Dio.
See the complete list of the best singers of all time according to James Hetfield:
- Ronnie James Dio
- Layne Staley
- Rob Halford
- Chris Cornell
- Bon Scott
- Paul Di’anno
- Lemmy Kilmister
- Glenn Danzig
- Ozzy Osbourne
- Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin)
- Steven Tyler (Aerosmith)
- Ronnie Van Zant (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
- Freddie Mercury (Queen)
- Sean Harris (Diamond Head)
- Johnny Cash
- John Bush (Armored Saint/Anthrax)
- Cal (Discharge)
- Lee Ving
- Jaz Coleman (Killing Joke)
- Maynard James Keenan (Tool)