10 Best Rock Anthems
4. Rock And Roll - Led Zeppelin
Rock had been around a while before Led Zeppelin came along, but it wasn't until these four musicians got together that the genre really started to mature past the standard blues foundations and into heavier territory. The biggest song that defined the absolute decadence of the band's appeal came from calling back to the rock musicians of old.
Modeled around the Little Richard song "Keep a Knockin," Led Zeppelin took the standard 12-bar blues chord progression and brought in the attitude of the freewheeling troubadour, from the relentlessness of John Bonham's groove to the zany looseness of Jimmy Page's guitar riff. The icing on the cake though is Robert Plant's vocals, whose climax brings the track to a screeching halt every time the chorus rolls around.
The way that the song is constructed makes it feel like you've been transported into a sweaty blues club while these four musicians deliver some of the most visceral rock music ever to be performed by mere mortals. With just a few masterstrokes, Zeppelin picked up a few tricks from rock's golden age to remind us why we all fell for rock's allure all those years ago.