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In 1971, Led Zepplin was working on their fourth album, aptly named "Led Zepplin 4."
After fans had groused about the lighter "feel" of "Led Zepplin 3," the group was shooting for a harder edge, and things were not going well.
While recording the song "Four Sticks," everything came crashing to a halt. In frustration, drummer John Bonham started banging away on something entirely different: a drum riff from the 1957 Little Richard song "Keep 'a' Knockin."
The rest of the band started jamming along, and within 10 minutes. today's "Great Song of 1971" was written. Less than a HOUR later, "Rock and Roll" had been recorded!
The title, of course, was dead on, and it was immediately added to the album.
Led Zepplin did not always release singles because they felt they were an "underground album cut" band, and wanted to stay that way. This time, however, they made an exception...and of course, "Rock and Roll" immediately made its way to underground FM rock stations, but it ALSO crossed into the mainstream, making its way to #47 on the Hot 100.
It wasn't a HUGE AM radio hit, but in this case, it didn't matter. Led Zepplin proved to everyone that they could still "Rock and Roll!"
(Trivia: in 2001, the song was used in ads by Cadillac. They wanted to update their image for younger car buyers, and it worked. Sales in 2002 increased by 16%!)
"Rock and Roll" by Led Zepplin: a "Great Song of 1971!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCN6eRVav5k
For the record, here's "Keep 'a' Knockin'" by Little Richard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcJrExewkYA
Tomorrow: Nobody's happier than Donna!
Coming Soon: Great Songs of the '80s!
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