The one band who changed music forever, according to Howard Stern: “These riffs”
Howard Stern, lauded for his pioneering work in radio and television, has a relationship with music that has ultimately shaped his life. The outspoken shock jock has never been afraid to open his mouth about the music he loves and loathes, and it has made him one of the more listened-to curators of culture around.
While not gifted with the talents to create the type of music of those he now idolises, Stern was encouraged by his father to learn and master other elements of audio from a young age. Immediately drawn to the medium of radio, Stern was set up in the basement of his family home at the age of five, and his father equipped his son with a microphone, turntable, and tape machine. With this mawkish setup, Stern began a career that would make him one of the most famous DJs of all time.
The early foundations of what was to become The Howard Stern Show had been established and Stern was set on his journey to become the music personality that is so revered today. With a determination to understand the relationship between media, music, the arts and the development of technological advancements, Stern transformed himself from a relatively quiet and reserved character into one of the leading voices of contemporary culture.
Of course, now, as we reflect on his career so far, Stern’s accomplishments, from Sirius XM radio to America’s Got Talent, need no real introduction, but it is his commitment to the arts that allowed Stern the platform to thrive. Now, he can look back, having rubbed shoulders with the many greats of the entertainment world, feeding off their influence and passing on his wisdom in return. This knowledge has led Stern’s followers to dig deeper into his impulses.
Taking a caller as part of his now-famed radio broadcast, Stern entered a discussion about the three greatest rock bands of all time. Having cited The Beatles and The Rolling Stones as obvious choices, Stern would add a third to the podium of icons with a mention of Led Zeppelin: “When they came about,” Stern begins, “These riffs that Jimmy Page came up with, John ‘Bonzo’ Bonham on drums and Robert Plant’s vocal were insane.”
Detailing further, he and co-host Robin Quivers come to the conclusion: “You have to think of what happened to music after this. Music changed!” It’s a difficult assessment to argue with. Led Zeppelin’s impact as one of the foundational stones of heavy metal has rarely been questioned, but it wasn’t just the hard rock songs they released but the methods with which they made them that would make music a different beast. Page is routinely credited with popularising the distortion on guitars while Bonham’s thunderous drums were like nothing captured on tape before.
With these methods and the musicality the group had at hand, theybecame the most triumphant band of the 1970s and usurped The Beatles as the biggest band on the planet. For the rest of the decade, and beyond, Led Zeppelin became the by-words for magnetic, mammoth musical dominance. They would change the world with their headbanging brilliance and few groups can match their impact.
As part of the same call, Stern names the group that he considers to be the “number one band of all time”. Further, Stern explains, “If you’re talking about overall singular artists, then I can talk to you about James Brown, and I can talk to you about a lot of other people who were important,” Stern responded.
However, the true leanings of Stern’s all-time favourites were still to come: “And fuck all the bullshit with Buddy Holly and the Crickets all that crap, none of it matter until The Beatles, fuck Elvis, fuck Crickets, all that shit,” he added. Closing his argument, Stern revealed: “I tell you, The Beatles are the number one band of all time.”
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