20 Most Important Hard Rock Albums Of All Time
1. Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin
When you boil hard rock down to its bare essentials, Led Zeppelin basically checks every single box. From the howling vocals of Robert Plant to the stomping rhythm of John Bonham to Jimmy Page's fantastic guitar riffs, you couldn't imagine a better hard rock band even if you tried. Though almost any Zeppelin record deserves the mantel of classic, it was their untilted fourth record where hard rock was closest to perfection.
Every single track on this record has the potential to be the best song in any other band's catalog, from the primal stomp of "Black Dog" to the ballad to end all ballads "Stairway to Heaven." Once the band steps out of the traditional song format, tracks like "The Battle of Evermore" and "Misty Mountain Hop" take the listener on a musical journey through the deepest depths of the countryside.
Even when drawing on their bluesy roots, the band make the closer "When the Levee Breaks" seem like a harbinger of doom. Led Zeppelin were not the first hard rock band nor would they be the last, but their masterful offerings gave the hard rock world some of its most enduring cuts. If you're even remotely curious as to what hard rock is about, this should be the album that you should always go to first.