10 Best Hard Rock Songs Over 10 Minutes Long
6. Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand - 10:26
The year is 1975 and Led Zeppelin are at perhaps the peak of their popularity off the back of Physical Graffiti, a record which not only contained the legendary stomp of Kashmir but also pushed the band’s creativity with the longest song they would ever put to record with In My Time of Dying. But that’s not the song we’re here to talk about…
It’s one thing for a band to push the limits of their creativity with exuberant song lengths but it’s another altogether to be brave enough to open a record with a mammoth of a track like Achilles Last Stand.
The opener to 1976’s Presence features all the hallmarks of a great Zeppelin number; undeniable rhythm, beautifully playful guitar parts and Robert Plant’s voice floating through it like a warm light. Jones employs an eight-string bass that gallops through the number like heavy metal and Jimmy Page’s luscious guitar overdubs are the stuff of dreams. Bold and bright, not only does the song sizzle out of the gate like any good hard rock number should but it also just sounds like the band truly enjoying themselves. So much so that Plant managed to reinjure a recovering broken ankle during the recording out of sheer excitement. That’s some irony, all things considered…
Regardless, the vocalist certainly has warm feelings for the track, saying in several interviews that he considers it his favourite Led Zeppelin song of all time and calling it “us at our least charming and most proficient”.