10 Greatest British Hard Rock Bands

For as much musical innovating went down in the '60s, rock and roll still felt like it was in its infant stage. Though acts like Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones were pushing rock in a more aggressive direction, the scene were still in the era of flower power and free love throughout the world. Once the decade reached its end, Led Zeppelin showed that rock grew up fast.

Though many rock fans had known Jimmy Page for his work with the Yardbirds, Zeppelin was almost a spiritual entity, with songs that took the blues into the stratosphere. With Robert Plant up front, the band had one of the greatest singers in rock history, who combined the gutteral howl of the blues and combined it with the call of the sirens of Greek mythology. While Page's riffs may have been the glue of the entire project, John Bonham's drums gave every song the muscle it needed, with a rock solid backbeat that still has yet to be matched.

Starting with their debut, the band pumped out one classic after another until the tragic passing of Bonham at the start of the '80s. Zeppelin may not have been bulletproof, but the amount of classics they have left behind may be able to last beyond mortality.