"Rock and Roll" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, released as the second track on their fourth studio album in 1971. The song contains a guest performance by original Rolling Stones' pianist and co-founder Ian Stewart. In 1972, American music critic and journalist Robert Christgau called it "simply the most dynamic hard-rock song in the music."[5]
According to guitarist Jimmy Page, "Rock and Roll" developed from a spontaneous jam session, while the band were trying to finish recording "Four Sticks", at the Headley Grange mansion they had rented in Hampshire, England.[6]John Bonham began playing the drum intro to the 1957 song "Keep A-Knockin'" by Little Richard, to which Page added a Chuck Berry-style guitar riff.[7][8] The tapes were rolling and fifteen minutes later the basis of the song was completed.[9] The song is performed in the keyofA at a relatively fast tempo of 170 beats per minute.[10]
Cash Box described it as a "rip-apart performance of one of best r&r revivalist tunes ever."[11] In 2019, Rolling Stone ranked the song number 9 on its list of the 40 greatest Led Zeppelin songs.[12]
"Rock and Roll" was a key component of the band's setlist at Led Zeppelin concerts from 1971 on. Initially, Plant referred to it on stage as "It's Been A Long Time", which is the opening lyric line of the song.[8] In 1972, it was elevated to the opening number of all concert performances and it retained this status until 1975. For the band's 1977 North American tour, it became part of a medley encore with "Whole Lotta Love", and during 1979 and 1980 it became an encore in its own right.[8]
In 2001, "Rock and Roll" became the first Led Zeppelin song to be licensed for commercial use, when American car maker Cadillac featured it in television advertising.[13] Plant commented:
I think that's appropriate... I don't know how people view it, but as far as a young generation goes, if you hear that music in as many possible places as you can outside of the normal home for it, then it can only be a good thing.[13]
As well as earning Led Zeppelin a large licensing fee, the advertising campaign increased Cadillac sales by 16 percent in 2002.[13]
^Bashe, Philip (1985). Heavy Metal Thunder: The Music, Its History, Its Heroes. Doubleday. ISBN978-0-385-19797-7. Besides his inspired phrasing and his extemporaneous howls and asides, Plant could convincingly convey slow blues ("You Shook Me"), gutbucket rock & roll ("Rock and Roll"), and even folk ballads ("Going to California"), in a strong, cutting voice
^ abSchuman, Michael A. (2009). Led Zeppelin: Legendary Rock Band. Enslow Publishers. ISBN978-0-7660-3026-8. The fourth album also has its share of hard rock tracks. Three that received a lot of radio airplay are "Black Dog," "Misty Mountain Hop," and the appropriately named "Rock and Roll."