How Led Zeppelin Influenced American Culture
One of the most influential rock bands, Led Zeppelin, not only influenced American musicians, but also influenced the American culture with their combined rock, heavy-metal, blues, and folk to create an outstanding and timeless sound which can be followed from the origins of the band, through the height of the band's career, to the legacy they left behind. Before Led Zeppelin was founded, each of the members had previous experience playing different styles of music that contributed to the sound of Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant's main influences were blues player, Willie Dixon and the influences found in the country of Morocco. Both men played in many other bands including Jeff
In today's society, musicians of all genres and elements of popular culture sample songs of Led Zeppelin. "Beginning in the 1980s, the iconic nature of many Zeppelin riffs made them a popular target for sampling," (Grant). Many musicians often do cover songs of Led Zeppelin. "For the movie Godzilla, guitarist Jimmy Page collaborated with P. Diddy reworking the famous riff from ‘Kashmir' in the hit song ‘Come With Me'—Page also has a brief vocal part in this song." (Grant). Other movies where you can hear Led Zeppelin's distinctive sound are School of Rock, Almost Famous, and One Day in September. The Beastie Boys also have sampled many of Led Zeppelin's greatest hits including "When the Levee Breaks" and "The Ocean". Also, the one sample that you hear in every day commercials, ‘Rock n' Roll', can be heard in Cadillac commercials because of their timeless sound and mass appeal.
"Led Zeppelin is universally regarded as the most influential hard rock band of all time. Their lineup became the template for many hard rock bands that followed. Robert Plant was the sexually-driven high-voiced vocalist, Jimmy Page was the atomic riff-creator and delivered the high energy blues solos, John Paul Jones was the multi-talented, stoic bassist, and John Bonham was the party animal, thunderous drummer," (Grant).
Still today, John Bonham's drumming is the most