My Favorite British Rock Bands (with videos), Part II- Zeppelin, Queen, the Who, and the Stones

If you were to name off a list of 10 or 20 or more bands that you thought were the best rock bands of all time, how many on your list would be British rock bands?  No doubt most lists would include some of the best British rock acts. 

This is my second installment of my favorite British rock bands.  I hope you’ll visit my other hub, My Favorite British Rock Bands (with videos), Part I-  The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Black Sabbath. 

This time I have shared my stories of my personal musings on Led Zeppelin, Queen, the Who, and the Rolling Stones.  There are more than one or two concert stories here.  Read on for more on the best British rock. 

The British rock band Led Zeppelin formed in 1968. Who hasn’t heard of their iconic mega hit Stairway to Heaven? The song was released on their 4^th album, untitled and referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, in 1971. Did you know that Stairway was never released as a single in the U.S., yet was the most requested radio play song throughout the 70s? Unquestionably one of the best rock songs of all time, it has made many top lists, and considered by many audiophiles as the song of the century.

The song was written by Jimmy Page, the guitarist, and Robert Plant, the vocalist. Much has been speculated about what the song means. You can read more about Stairway to Heaven.

I saw Robert Plant in Columbia, S.C. in the early 80s. What a performer! His mannerisms seemed to me a little effeminate, which I chalked up to his “Englishness”. Yet I thought he exuded sex appeal. I couldn’t take my binoculars off of him. He was sending out some body language that was screaming at me!

His band played a couple of notes of Stairway as a big giant tease, and that was it. Probably some contractual thing that he couldn’t sing that song. I had tickets to see him again in Charlotte, N.C. in 1990. We got to the coliseum and the parking lot was empty. Concert cancelled. Guess I should have listened to the radio before I left. No personal computer or internet then.

Of course I chose a video of Stairway to Heaven. I also picked Whole Lotta Love.

My 3^rd pick is Rock and Roll, but in a twist, I chose Heart’s version. It’s hard for me to like many re-makes, or covers of popular songs. I don’t think I’m alone in this. I think we tend to remain loyal to the first version of a song we heard and came to love. This is a rare exception.

I saw Heart around 2004. Ann Wilson is still an amazing vocalist, one of relatively few female singers I really like.

The British rock band Queen formed in 1970. They brought something different to the 70s. Those operatic vocals were great, but laid down in multiple tracks in the studio by the band members. Did it translate in concert? I had a boyfriend (the guitarist from my British Rock Bands Part I) who saw Queen live, and was disappointed. The piped in operatic vocals were okay for MTV, but for him just seemed like a giant hole in the concert. But he’s an audiophile. I probably would have been okay with it.

I was on temporary duty at a continuing education conference in Germany when singer Freddie Mercury died in 1991. I remember being in our hotel room watching hours of concert footage that was played in tribute that week.

Bohemian Rhapsody is bound to be on the short list of favorites for anyone who is familiar with Queen, am I right? I included a video clip of Rhapsody from the movie Wayne’s World. As a special treat, I included a video of Lucia Micarelli playing what would be the vocal part, on violin. I saw her do this with Josh Groban around 2005. Made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

The final video clip is We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions. It was really hard to limit myself. So many great songs.

I saw The Who in St. Louis around 1990. It was the first time a concert had been held at the Cardinals’ Busch Stadium in many, many years. I was not a huge Who fan, but sometimes you gotta do something for the history of it all.

This was before the days of getting tickets online. It was my only wait-in-line, spend-the-night-on-the-sidewalk-with-strangers experience. I waited in line 19 hours to buy these tickets at one of the ticket outlets in one of the major stores in the mall. There was no “you got anything in the first risers” sort of deal. I wanted 6 tickets, they gave me 6 tickets.

I had a friend from OT school and her boyfriend, and my cousin and a girlfriend, fly in from S.C. for the concert. Our seats were in the 14^th row on the floor. We were way out to the right, and had a screen, but could not see the stage at all! Have you been to concerts where the entire floor stands all night long? We stood in the chairs all night long.

I chose videos of Pinball Wizard and Teenage Wasteland. Most listeners will immediately identify the opening guitar on Pinball Wizard. Wasteland has uniquely Who opening music as well.

The Rolling Stones came to Busch Stadium in St. Louis a few months after The Who. There was no way I wanted to spend the night in line again. Especially for lousy tickets! Besides, I wasn’t a huge Stones fan either.

A couple days before the concert, the radio announced some last minute, partially obstructed tickets had been released. I’m surprised at myself that we went for this (my guitarist and I). The seats turned out to be great! They were on the back side of the stadium, but straight in front of the stage! We could see the entire stage, and all 3 movie screens. The sound tower was maybe half way between us and the stage. When Mick Jagger ran from one side of the stage to the other, we couldn’t see him for about 2 seconds.

I had read about this time that Jagger ran 6 miles several days a week. Must have been true, because he not only ran from one side of the stage to the other, but they had long ramp extensions on each side. He wore these black spandex-like pants, and his butt looked surprisingly good.

When they played Honky Tonk Women, these huge blow up dolls started emerging and expanding from boxes on the side of the stadium. Naturally I picked a video of this song.

I picked Angie, because I have loved this song since it came out in 1973, on Goat’s Head Soup. I also picked Wild Horses, released in 1971. I don’t know that I had heard Horses before my guitarist introduced me to the song in the early 80s. I really like Susan Boyle, but her version of the song is too grocery store for me.

I also threw in You Can’t Always Get What You Want, for all the Big Chill fans. The clip is of Alex’s funeral, but the song is definitely Stones.

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My Favorite British Rock Bands (with videos), Part I- The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Black Sabbath

My Favorite British Rock Bands (with videos), Part II- Zeppelin, Queen, the Who, and the Stones

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