10 Best Follow Up Albums In Hard Rock

With the British Blues Boom getting into full swing, Led Zeppelin definitely stood out as something special. Though the band's first record had the typical takes on blues standards like most other groups, songs like "Dazed and Confused" brought something much more interesting to the table. Once the band hit the road, the recording of the album took place while the iron was still hot.

Much of Led Zeppelin II was recorded in between shows, but the results are anything but slapdash. Each of the tunes on this record showed Jimmy Page refining his songwriting approach with some of the greatest riffs in the rock canon from "Whole Lotta Love" to "Heartbreaker." While Robert Plant was already a blues belter on the band's debut, his vocal approach is much more fresh like the blend of soft and shriek on "What is and What Should Never Be."

Though all of the melodic passages are fantastic, John Bonham took the hugest leap on this record, where he delivers a masterclass on how to fill out a track with percussion finesse. Led Zeppelin had the potential to be a band that could grow past the blues tag, but this record showed their capacity to completely transcend mere mortal music.