Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were formed during the late 1960's . This came about after their guitarist, Jimmy Page, left a band called the Yard Birds to go onto create Led Zeppelin.

Above shows a picture taken in 1968 of the band. John Paul Jones , Jimmy Page , Robert Plant and John Bonham.

Their first two albums ,called Led Zeppelin I and Led Zeppelin II , were both released in 1969 so only just made it into the 1960's. Their music and style of dress were both very different to the Beatles. Led Zeppelin's music was influenced by the ' Blues ' and ' Folk ' style of music. Also unlike The Beatles they didn't release singles from their albums ,as they wanted the fans to enjoy the whole of the music on their records ,so if  they heard a song they liked on the radio they would have to go out and buy the album.

The first song on their first album is called ' Good Times Bad Times ' here is a link to it. This album was released in 1969 and was called ' Led Zeppelin ' and was a instant success both here and in America.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm2-K6ttHYs

Album cover for first album.

Their second album was also released in 1969 and was their first album to become both number one in the charts in the UK and America.

Album cover for second album.

Here is a link to my dad's favourite from this album....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKVp-atyiVA


Led Zeppelin went onto release 9 studio albums in total up until John Bonham, their drummer ,unfortunately died in 1980, these were from 1969 to 1982.







Link to Led Zeppelin official Web Site ; http://www.ledzeppelin.com/
  

The Beatles during the 1960's

The Beatles were a  band from Liverpool, England  formed in 1957 .This was after John Lennon, The Beatles first member, had been in another group with his friends called the Quarrymen.

 Above shows a picture taken in 1957 of 3 of the original members , from left to right George Harrison age 14, John Lennon age 16 and Paul McCartney aged 15. As you can see there are only three members of The Beatles,that is because Ringo Starr didn't join The Beatles until, 1962.

The Beatles Sound and image
Their musical style was influenced by the American 1950s rock and roll and the English homegrown skiffle sound, the group explored a great variety of musical styles including Psychedelic Rock, Experimental, Ballads, Western and Indian Classical among others.
As they went on to become more and more popular they even made their own films 5 in total from firstly with ' A Hard days Night ' in 1964 through to 1970 with their last 'Let it Be' . The most enjoyable of the films has to be ' Yellow Submarine ' released in 1968 as this is a cartoon .

Here is a link to the full film on You Tube...enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMngpNTU3PY





The Beatles Fashion

As well as being famous for their music, The Beatles were also known for the fashion in their clothes and the influence they had on how their fans dressed. Below is probably the most famous picture taken of the Beatles.This picture is of the Beatles walking outside the famous Abbey Road studio and was used for the cover of their album titled 'Abbey Road'. By coincidence this picture was on the same day my dad was born 8th August 1969. Here they are wearing flared trousers and have long hair and beards.

Also in my research I have found a web site showing live images from a web-cam looking over the same zebra crossing the Beatles walked on all those yeas ago. Even now , after 43 years , people are still having their picture taken by their friends.Me and my dad sat and watched it for about 5 minutes. One person was even kissing the road.
http://www.abbeyroad.com/crossing.

 Below is a music video of The Beatles singing ' Here comes the Sun taken from the 'Abbey Road ' album..It shows lots of there fashion styles and changes in their career. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6tV11acSRk



The Beatles went onto to have had more number-one albums on the British charts and sold more singles in the UK than any other act.They hold the record for most number-one hits on the Hot 100 chart with 20.The Beatles have received 7 gramme awards,and 15 Ivor Novella Awards.They are the best-selling band in history,with EMI records estimating sales of over one billion units.

They stayed together as a band until 1970 when the broke up and went onto to record their own songs . The last album was ' Let it Be' with the last Beatles single to be released being the ' Long and Winding Road'


The Beatles first single, Love Me Do was released on the 5th of October 1962 , there is a link to this song below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed_2W_KO_zI