It wasn't until we were discussing its release this week that Rocks Off realized we're basically the same age as Led Zeppelin's debut album. Recorded in October 1968 and released the following January, Led Zeppelin is 42 years old.
It suffers from some of the same ailments as all of us who reach that age: It's a little stiff in spots, the lines that were so awesome when you first heard them may sound a little stale - though we'll stand by our assertion that "In the days of my youth/ I was told what it means to be a man" may be one of the best opening lines of all time - and frankly, "Dazed and Confused" got old the 50th time we heard it blaring from a dorm during freshman year midterms.
But in spite of all that, only a crazy person (or Rolling Stone back in '69) would deny the album's greatness. As a first album alone, it ranks among the best of all time, which means it's an easy pick for the greatest self-titled debut albums in rock and roll.
...See, that's what "eponymous" means.
It wasn't just the first album for Iggy Pop and the gang, but the birth of punk rock itself. After all, the Stooges were accused of being unable to play their instruments almost a decade before those spotty English blokes.
Punk wasn't the only thing that came to rescue us from disco in the late '70s. The same year Star Wars came out, America was also introduced to a leonine, roundhouse-kicking front man and its new guitar god. The first side -- "Running with the Devil," "Eruption," "You Really Got Me," "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love," and "I'm the One" -- may be one of the most satisfying of all time.
