Credit: Far Out / Andrew Smith

‘Oh Well’: The legendary Fleetwood Mac song that inspired Led Zeppelin

Tue 7 January 2025 18:23, UK

In the late 1960s and ‘70s, the world of music was changing and changing fast. Looking back, it might be easy to label those groups under the banner of ‘classic rock’. But the truth is, very few of those groups would have labelled themselves as such. The Beatles were a pop group if you asked anyone but John Lennon. Pink Floyd were acid rock. Black Sabbath were usually too drunk to ask, and Eric Clapton was a strict blues enthusiast. Led Zeppelin were a group that perhaps defines the words “rock band”.

Not only did they become one of the archetypal visions of such an outfit, complete with long hair, bare chests and a penchant for parties, all while delivering stadium-sized performances and the kind of albums that one could only dream of—but, as a unit, they were unbeatable. Taking the mic, they had the wailing talent of Robert Plant; on guitar, Jimmy Page can rarely be beaten; their drummer, John Bonham, is often considered the finest rock drummer of all time, and their bassist was arguably the finest around.

John Paul Jones is perhaps one of the most underrated musicians of the era, but he really showed up for one of the band’s best tracks. ‘Black Dog’ is a song that will live long in the minds of Zeppelin fans. It might not be the band’s favourite song, but arguably, this is Led Zeppelin at their magical best. While Robert Plant delivers vocal licks that would make a Nun shudder, Bonham pounds out his kit like a furious butcher; John Paul Jones brings the groove, and Jimmy Page weaves a delicate tapestry of steel that intertwines them all. And that’s just the first 30 seconds of 1971’s ‘Black Dog’.

The song’s beginning sounds are of Page warming up his guitar, which he calls “Waking up the army of guitars.” The fact that Page waits until the end of the song to deliver his crescendoing guitar solo shows his expert eye for song construction. The solo didn’t come directly from the mind of Jimmy Page and was instead constructed by John Paul Jones. Jones sees the riff change time signatures on a few occasions and confirms the track as one of their most complicated. But it wasn’t until Led Zeppelin took inspiration from another group that the song finally came together.

Fleetwood Mac had long been inspiring Jimmy Page before he turned to the Peter Green-led outfit for inspiration. Fleetwood Mac are now well known for their soft rock sounds, drenched in the sunshine that so neatly glistens upon the coastal waters their tunes were built for. But, before Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the group, they were a hard and fast blues band. Like much of London’s swinging scene, the outfit were focused on making their sound as grimy as possible, and they were highly regarded by all who witnessed their explosion. Peter Green, for this reason, can often be seen as perhaps the ultimate pivotal musician in the decade’s growth.

Page was at the epicentre of the British blues movement, first as a session musician but then as part of The Yardbirds. During these years, he became infatuated with Green and Mick Fleetwood’s group, but it stretched on and into his time with Led Zeppelin. Page would turn to their song ‘Oh Well’ as a source of inspiration to help complete ‘Black Dog’, “I suggested that we build a song similar in structure to Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Oh Well,’” noted Page in Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page.

Page was a big fan of the group’s early work: “The original Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green performed the music of people like Elmore James really well,” Page said in Light and Shade. “Peter had such a beautiful touch on things like ‘Stop Messing Around.’ Just fabulous in the vein of BB King.” To align Green with such masters of their craft and two musicians whom Page likened to the best there ever was is perhaps the highest compliment he could have paid.

“I don’t think you’re going to find a better example of British blues than the original Fleetwood Mac, with Jeremy Spencer and Peter Green,” confirmed Page of his love for the group and their ramshackle determination to share the blues with a new audience. It’s easy to see how the unique structure of ‘Oh Well’ provided a solid footing for the leap of faith that ‘Black Dog’ was. It just goes to show that, no matter if you’re regarded as one of the greatest bands of all time, you can still find inspiration in the music around you.