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Led Zeppelin — Whole Lotta Love — The Beginning of My Endless Love Gaioz (Gia) Mamaladze
By Gaioz (Gia) Mamaladze — From my upcoming book "The Rhythms That Make God's Heart Beat"
The beginning of my endless love for Led Zeppelin...
On December 22, 1969, Led Zeppelin II was released and immediately conquered the world. It came a little later to the Soviet Union, cut off from world culture. We were still children, and it conquered our hearts too.
You would put the disc on the record player and you were instantly struck by an immense love — the song Whole Lotta Love — and it wrapped you in something new, still unknown, but very close and very familiar...
According to Rolling Stone's poll "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", Led Zeppelin's 1969 composition Whole Lotta Love is at #75 among 500 world masterpieces. To be in the top 500 is a huge honor.
Among rock fans, this composition is even more appreciated. In 2010, according to British radio station Absolute Classic Rock, Whole Lotta Love took 4th place in the world's best rock top ten (1st place went to the same band's Stairway to Heaven). According to Kerrang!, the guitar riff of this composition is #3 among the 100 greatest guitar riffs in the world.
Led Zeppelin II is probably one of the most beautiful recordings humanity has ever created. It is not only an object of great love for the middle generation of music lovers, but a recording that unites rock lovers of all generations.
Happy was he who could buy this vinyl in the 1970s, which for us — living in the Soviet totalitarian empire, for the population of Georgia occupied by Russia — was almost impossible. It barely crossed the border and cost a fortune from resellers. Listening was only possible by borrowing the disc or via audio tape, in that inhuman Soviet Union.
Led Zeppelin II begins with Whole Lotta Love. Truly an immortal song, it expresses the highest talent of instrumental and vocal performance bestowed upon the band members by Providence.
According to legend, this song was written in a hotel — after all, to record the new disc, the musicians had to fly to New York between concerts, work, and fly back again, or rent a studio in different cities. The vocal part of Whole Lotta Love was recorded in a rented studio, on the very first take. Robert Plant had no more time or means.
Fifty years have passed since this song was created, yet this masterpiece has not lost its popularity. On January 12, 1995, Led Zeppelin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In August 2008, we Georgians were not singing — Russian bombers were flying over our heads and bombing us. Otherwise we would have seen that the Beijing Olympic Games were closed with the song Whole Lotta Love — to the accompaniment of this song, the Olympic flag was handed to the Mayor of London for the 2012 Olympics. At that time, a double-decker London bus rolled into Beijing's main Olympic stadium. The bus unfolded, dancers and musicians came out. Jimmy Page was playing guitar. Vocals, instead of Robert Plant, were performed by Leona Lewis. At the end of the song, David Beckham came out of the bus and kicked a ball towards the audience.
For 40 years, Whole Lotta Love has been performed by countless musicians: Tina Turner, the London Symphony Orchestra, Carlos Santana, Prince, Tori Amos and many, many others.
All this proves that Whole Lotta Love is immortal and promises us endless and immense love in the future too.FROM MY UPCOMING BOOK "THE RHYTHMS THAT MAKE GOD'S HEART BEAT" |
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