
Claude Lemaire continues his series on records that transformed the pop and rock music landscape, organized by year of release.

Claude Lemaire thinks Led Zeppelin is so seminal to hard rock, he chooses them twice for Episode 3. King Crimson also makes the cut.

In this episode, writer and self-taught musicologist Claude Lemaire chooses Iron Butterfly, Jeff Beck, and even the Beatles as pioneering heavy rock influencers.

On January 12, 1969, a seismic shift occurred in the rock music landscape with the U.S. release of Led Zeppelinโs eponymous debut album, followed by its UK release on March 31. This groundbreaking record, recorded in a mere 36 hours at Olympic Studios in London, signified the birth of a new era in hard rock…

George Harrison championed them, Paul McCartney produced their debut hit, and Apple Records signed themโyet the Iveys (soon to be Badfinger) nearly vanished before they began, victims of internal rifts and corporate reshuffling.

MoFiโs 45rpm reissue of Jeff Beckโs Truth delivers seismic bass and analogue warmth that outshines many rock classics; released just before Zepโs debut, it remains a blues-rock benchmark for sound and influence.