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Connor Merriman
Mr. Newman
English 101: Rhetoric
30 September 2014

Led Zeppelin: The band that started it all

Led Zeppelin, a band very widely known for their creativity and willingness to take risks
with their music has produced some of the most popular music ever known. Not only is the band
known for the popularity their music has received, they have also been know play a major part
in establishing the era of modern rock music. But also, the band took risks with the music they
were playing. The way in which they presented themselves on stage played a huge role too. In
Slate Magazine article, from June 18th, 2014, "Good Times Bad Times", Jack Hamilton
effectively uses pathos to show how the band, Led Zeppelin, were one of the most influential
bands of all time and shaped modern rock to what it is today.
The article starts out putting the reader in the shoes of someone in early 1969 and is
listening to the first Led Zeppelin album for the first time. In the article, Hamilton further talks
about how Led Zeppelins legacy is abundantly long and still lives on to this day. Hamilton says
how many people believe that modern rock n roll music started with Bob Dylan's Like a
Rolling Stone, but describes .these myths are wishful, and overly fanciful: Modern rock
music started with Led Zeppelin. Although there are many bands that had an influence on
today's rock music, Led Zeppelin is the one to thank. They were the band that gave anyone
over the age of 40 anxiety, while also having a dramatic influence on the lives of young
adolescents during the 70s. Nearly 45 years later, people are living in the path that Led
Zeppelin left behind.

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While the stage for rock n roll music had seemed to been set for that era from, The
Beatles, Led Zeppelin had took that style of music and had flipped it upside down. It cemented
Led Zeppelin as the biggest band of the post-Beatles era, even if returns afterward were
diminishing From the dramatic burst of guitar that opened the song Good Times Bad Times,
to the soft voice of Robert Plant in Stairway to Heaven, the band did everything in a new,
exciting fashion the world had never seen before.
On September 25th, 1980, the band that changed rock n roll music forever, had ended
its career after only 12 short years together. Hamilton describes this well in his article by
showing how the fans still gave the bands music the power to live on through to this day. Not
only has the music survived because of how good it was, but also how the fans helped it
continue. Led Zeppelin may not be everyones favorite band, but the impact they had on the path
rock n roll music has led to today has had a dramatic impact on the music being produced
today. From the greek mythology used to write their lyrics, to the murderous blasts of 20 minute
long guitar solo blasting from Pages Les Paul on stage, Led Zeppelin took a risk and played
their own take on what they believe rock n roll music should be, and it did everything it was
supposed to, it changed rock n roll music for all the generations to follow. Hamilton uses pathos
very well to describe the emotion the fans received from the music and how Led Zeppelin had a
great impact of todays rock n roll music produced.

Work Cited

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Hamilton, Jack. Good Times Bad Times. Slate. Slate Group, 18 June 2014. Web. 2 Oct. 2014.