I’ve already posted up the first of my 10 favorite records (Talk Talk – Laughing Stock) on Facebook directly, but I think this is a better spot to elaborate a little. The second record on my list is the first album by Led Zeppelin. I listened to it over and over on our console stereo, through Koss cans, just as Jimmy Page intended it. What I didn’t notice until high school, coinciding with my newfound interest in drums, was the double-kick action straight out of the gate on track 1 – Good Times Bad Times.
Bonham was a larger-than-life character, but for all the bombast, people sometimes forget how innovative he was. Sure, there were more technical and faster drummers, and some very soulful drummers, but Bonham put his stamp on every song, all over the sonic landscape. Ballads to bangers, he had chops for days. Anyhow, one of the first challenges I worked on as I figured out how to drum was just to play Good Times Bad Times. It’s still hard to get all the doubles on kick drum.
So, this was an influential record in helping to form my taste in music, and also charting a course for how I’d want to play drums. But at the end of the day, it’s one hit after another. All good songs, nary a dud. I can’t imagine a time when I wouldn’t feel like listening to it.
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