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Rolling Stone: 50 Artists' Favorite Playlists


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http://rollingstoneextras.com/playlists/view/rick-rubin

'After the Beatles, Led Zeppelin are the most consistent band from album to album, song to song," says superproducer Rubin. "They take all different modes of music and put them through the Zeppelin filter."

1."Your Time Is Gonna Come" 1969

It's like the drums are playing a big rock song and the guitars are playing a gentle folk song. And it's got one of the most upbeat choruses of any Zeppelin song, but the words are so dark.

2."What Is and What Should Never Be" 1969

The descending riff is amazing: It's like a bow is being drawn back, and then it releases. The rhythm of the vocals is almost like a rap. It's insane — one of their most psychedelic songs.

3."Thank You" 1969

The delicacy of the vocals is incredible; the acoustic guitar and the organ work together to create an otherworldly presence.

4."Heartbreaker" 1969

One of the greatest riffs in rock. It starts, and it's like they don't really know where the "one" is. Magical in its awkwardness.

5."Ten Years Gone" 1975

A deep, reflective piece with hypnotic, interweaving riffs. Light and dark, shadow and glare. It sounds like nature coming through the speakers.

6."Since I've Been Loving You" 1970

They take what we think of as black blues and play it to a white extreme that no bluesman would ever do, because it's just not cool.

7."Misty Mountain Hop" 1971

I've heard it a million times, it's supercatchy, and I have no idea what any of the words are.

8."No Quarter" 1973

It takes such confidence to be able to get really quiet and loose for such a long time. Zeppelin completely changed how we look at what popular music can be.

9."Nobody's Fault but Mine" 1976

A traditional blues, twisted through a trippy, psychedelic filter. They played with such precision, doing these odd arrangements that sound like loose jams but are really choreographed.

10."In My Time of Dying" 1975

The bass line in the fast grooves is so interesting and unexpected. It keeps shifting gears, over and over.

11."Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" 1969

It's a song with a classical nature that also really rocks. It really takes you on a trip.

12."Celebration Day" 1970

It feel like a freight train, even though it's not one of their heavier songs. There's tremendous momentum in the way they play together. The bass playing is beyond incredible and the guitars interact really well—there's a heavy-riffing guitar, which is answered by a funky guitar.

13."Stairway to Heaven" 1971

I think we spent so long not listening to it, because it was so overplayed, that now you can listen to it again and it's refreshing. It was just so ubiquitous for so long that it got to be like the punch-line of a joke, and a lot of the people who loved it were people you didn't especially like. But it wouldn't have that power if it wasn't actually that great.

14."The Rain Song" 1973

I don't even know what kind of music this is. It defies classification. There's such tasteful, beautiful detail in the guitar, and a triumphant feel when the drums come in — it's sad and moody and strong, all at the same time. I could listen to this song all day. That would be a good day.

15."Houses of the Holy" 1975

This is a funk jam with really interesting, jazzy chords. It's one of their more compact feeling songs. And it's the only Zep song to use what sounds like a cowbell.

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...and a mention by Adam Levine of Maroon 5, although, skeletons? :blink: :

The Maroon 5 singer got into the Police through his mom's record collection. "I love how they threw together reggae and rock & roll and punk rock," he says. "Their records sound like no one else."

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4."King of Pain" 1983

Sting's lyrics are a cross between McCartney's earnestness and Zeppelin talking about kings and queens and skeletons.

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I love all the songs in the list. The only one missing, as others have said already, is Zep's magnus opus, Achilles Last Stand. I think that deserves some recognition.

Edited to add: no Kashmir either! :o I think both Kashmir and ACL are superior to What Is and What Should Never Be which IMO is the weakest one on the list.

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^

I much prefer What Is and What Should Never Be to Achilles Last Stand. Always thought ACL was overlong and overrated amongst Zep fans. ACL is the type of later Zep song where I can 'kind of' understand why the punks called Zep bloated pompous dinosaurs.

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What I really really like is the fact that two terribly underrated songs like "Celebration Day" and "Misty Mountain Hop" (both are personal favourites of mine, by the way :D) actually made it to that list! Hats off to Rick Rubin! :thumbsup:

Absolutely. Me too. Those are the kind of songs I would have chosen too along with the likes of, say, Down By The Seaside or Tangerine etc.

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^

I much prefer What Is and What Should Never Be to Achilles Last Stand. Always thought ACL was overlong and overrated amongst Zep fans. ACL is the type of later Zep song where I can 'kind of' understand why the punks called Zep bloated pompous dinosaurs.

me too, Mangani. I was just being facetious. If you look through the archives, you'll see a thread i presented on the very subject of ALS and why so many were fascinated by it. I never thought it one of their better songs and remember passing it by when playing the album "Presence" on my stereo. Needless to say, I was challenged by many who tried in vain to convince me otherwise. Someone (can't remember who) hit the nail on the head for me though, by simply explaining that ALS was for 12 year olds. Works for me.

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me too, Mangani. I was just being facetious. If you look through the archives, you'll see a thread i presented on the very subject of ALS and why so many were fascinated by it. I never thought it one of their better songs and remember passing it by when playing the album "Presence" on my stereo. Needless to say, I was challenged by many who tried in vain to convince me otherwise. Someone (can't remember who) hit the nail on the head for me though, by simply explaining that ALS was for 12 year olds. Works for me.

Different strokes for different folks. I love Achilles Last Stand and I'm not 12 years old.

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Interesting to hear his take on those songs... some unexpected choices too.

Love this:

7."Misty Mountain Hop" 1971

I've heard it a million times, it's supercatchy, and I have no idea what any of the words are. :lol:

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me too, Mangani. I was just being facetious. If you look through the archives, you'll see a thread i presented on the very subject of ALS and why so many were fascinated by it. I never thought it one of their better songs and remember passing it by when playing the album "Presence" on my stereo. Needless to say, I was challenged by many who tried in vain to convince me otherwise. Someone (can't remember who) hit the nail on the head for me though, by simply explaining that ALS was for 12 year olds. Works for me.

Ah I think I must have missed that thread. I'll have a look. With me, I feel that on the last 2 Zep albums they did tend to do a fair amount of stuff that goes on too long and to draw stuff out for no real reason. A fair amount of those songs outstay their welcome. Good, even great, in places but overall I'm not a huge fan of them.

I always prefered The Song Remains The Same to ACL. It's got a similar kind of vibe/feel to it (complex fast paced exploratory wandering rocker) but it just 'works' moreso for me. Of course being written and recorded at a time when Zep were in much more of a peak creatively also helps.

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  • 3 weeks later...

A great list. I never see the need to "agree" or "disagree" with someone's Top anything when it comes to Zeppelin. Even if my list would be different, I understand that certain songs do it for me and not others and vice versa. So, I thought he had a good list and I enjoyed his take on Zeppelin.

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ya, especially since it's Jimmy Page's favorite Zepp song!

Perhaps but this isn't a list of Page's favorite songs, it's Rick Rubin's.

Even though I may not agree with all of this guy's points, I read a very interesting article recently about lists called Top 10 Reasons I Hate Year-End Top Ten Lists by John Roderick of the band The Long Winters. Very worthwhile reading, if I do say so myself.

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