,Today's episode is another reaction to a Led Zeppelin song, this time Dazed and Confused, and boy it really blew a lot of minds lol. The song was the set piece of the album Led Zeppelin I and their live shows of the time, and to let all of you know, their first album is primarily a blues album. It hits harder and heavier than a lot of what was out at the time, but it's electric psychedelic blues at its finest. Again I've scoured youtube for the best (in my humble opinion, anyways) reaction videos, and I wasn't disappointed.

Kudos to those brave enough to embark on this journey, you guys are the greatest. Thank you for letting us share your reactions.

After the reactions there's some information on the song itself. Hope you enjoy the ride!

This guy's face though. I love seeing faces when Robert Plant's vocals slam into your eardrums when you're innocently enjoying the musical interlude. Uncle Bob didn't sing; he bludgeoned your ears and brain and possibly your face with bald power, in fact he sounds in danger of 'stripping a gear' to paraphrase some of my mom's brilliant sayings. You can tell this man can appreciate music of all kinds. Enjoy the rabbit hole you've been sucked into, sir.

That stank face is worth the price of admission, haha! Indeed, Bobby Plant don't play--he busts out the vocals like it's the apocalypse. Which right now it could very be, but I digress. This guy's observations are astute and funny, and you know he's got a point. The woman in the song sounds like bad news and with all that pain in Robert's voice, maybe he's fixin' to kill her. And you're right, the song has a disjointed, sinister vibe to it, which I guess goes along with the whole dazed and confused thing.

You said it right, you've gone down the rabbit hole. So he's not black but he's clearly enjoying himself too. "Robert's vocals are monstrous," he says. YOU RIGHT, SON.  His expressions when the song changes up just made my day, he's having such a good time so it's making me have a good time. He also offers a pretty good analysis of the song.

This was the funniest reaction to Dazed and Confused, and probably the craziest and funniest reaction to anything I've seen yet. WARNING: for language, but the antics of these two I couldn't pass up. Man oh man, they just had their brains exploded apparently and it's so amazing and fun to see.  "OOOOH!" You said it, all right. This kinda reaction to something 50 years old is surprising, but good is good no matter what year it is, Zeppelin be timeless. Yeah the middle part freakout kinda goes with the middle part freakout in the song, and makes me happy in my face.


Dazed and Confused was notoriously lifted from folk musician Jake Holmes, which had the familiar, dark and creepy sounding descending bass line. The lyrics were about paranoia and truly being dazed and confused, but Jimmy Page of the Yardbirds heard it and the band decided to incorporate the song into their live act, with some rewrites of the lyrics. The blues-based Yardbirds broke up not long after and Page formed another band which came to be known as Led Zeppelin, and he took the song with him. 

The band recorded their version of the song, complete with long breakdown and Jimmy Page using a cello bow on his Fender Telecaster for those unearthly sounds, but neglected to give Jake Holmes any credit. He didn't pursue the matter until decades later, which resulted in a lawsuit that was settled out of court and now the song is listed as "Inspired by Jake Holmes" which I think is still kinda crappy. Thing is, the song was reworked, rewritten and re-arranged until only the title words and descending bass line remained the same from the original (I guess the Song Didn't Remain the Same? Sorry, Zeppelin pun).  Still, some sort of acknowledgement is only fair. Anyway, I can't help but love what Led Zeppelin did with the song, and it's possible we'd have never heard any version of it it hadn't been for them.

The song was typical of the 'rave-ups' of the day, where bands would improvise and jam for long periods of time, hence the trippy middle section of the song. Some of the early Zeppelin catalog featured the call-and-return between Robert Plant's voice and and the guitar, which added to the trippy atmosphere. Voice and instrument would mimic each other, which gave Robert something to do during the instrumental sections when they played the song live. 

Here's the original song as performed by Jake Holmes.

Information sources:
https://www.songfacts.com/facts/led-zeppelin/dazed-and-confused
https://genius.com/Led-zeppelin-dazed-and-confused-lyrics
http://www.covermesongs.com/2019/01/the-story-behind-led-zeppelins-dazed-and-confused.html

I have found something online that has put a big smile on my face, and that is people unfamiliar with Led Zeppelin filming their reactions of hearing them for the first time. It seems that https://cash.app/$ShanaOQuinn Youtube has discovered Led Zeppelin and it's truly a fun and wholesome thing to see. Bringing people together, one Zep song at a time. In this era of global pandemic, I think cute things like this is what we need. So, for those of you who are not familiar with the mighty Zeppelin, be prepared to hear the first song I chose for this entry, When the Levee Breaks, over and over and over. It's totally worth it, though lol.

Shout out to all these lovely folks for being willing to try something different and listening with open ears, heart and mind. 

After the videos there's some information and discussion of the song itself.
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In this one, Robert Plant is wailing on the harmonica so hard he thinks it's an electric guitar. And yes, my friend, that long instrumental intro is indeed sick. Just watching you enjoy this made me happy in my face. You're an amazing human being, sir.

This is someone who you can tell loves music, just music of any kind, and he has one hell of a radio voice to boot lol. He is right if he detects that beat in hip hop music, as the drums in this song have been sampled probably more than any other in the history of music. And yes, that is a harmonica. 

 This dude was blown away hahaha. He's now a disciple of Led Zeppelin. Welcome to the club, buddy. There's so much material to work with, you're gonna be at it a while. This song is such a dirty, filthy, bluesy song you kinda wanna take a shower afterwards, but it's SO SO GOOD, AIN'T IT? Like you said, they don't even know how to do a bad song.

behiBy far the funniest and most entertaining reaction is this one. This little feller was hilarious and you can tell genuinely enjoying himself.  He said they were 'singing this song around the campfire telling scary stories and shit' and it cracked me up. For real I've had the biggest smile on my face watching him. Thanks, bro. Ol' boy John B. was bringing the drum game hard, for real.


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The basic song When the Levee Breaks is almost 100 years old, performed by Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie to talk about the Mississippi Flood in the 1920's which killed and displaced a lot of people, mostly poor black people, who then had to pick up and leave for other places to find work. Chicago was a popular destination, hence the phrase "going to Chicago." Unlike some of the speculation on some of the other reaction videos I watched (and I watched quite a lot. You're welcome, viewers, lol) this was not a symbolic or metaphorical song. It was literally about a traumatic, economically devastating event that happened in the Deep South and displaced a lot of folks.

​I think a lot of these people of color are reacting so positively to this song is because it first and foremost a blues song, and African Americans created the blues and were a driving force in the birth of rock and roll music. Essentially, this is electrified American blues and soul, reinterpreted by white British dudes, but packaged so well and with such passion and feeling that it's hard for anyone to not respond to it.

Everything comes together so perfectly: the monumental drum sound, the driving bass line, the dirty guitar, and the pained, powerful vocal delivery. That this happened at the beginning of the 1970's still blows my mind; the mix is both clear and muddy, the famous echo on the drums just one part of the awesomeness of the whole song. There were a few ingredients to this envied drum beat: the first was the insane drumming of John Bonham himself. The ambience was partly due to having the drums set up in the lobby of an old Victorian house known as Headley Grange.  Another factor was the microphone placement, which allowed the earth-shattering drums to breathe.  The other secret ingredient was the usage of an echo/delay machine called the Binson Echorec. They cranked up the delay and that's where the ghostly sound and what sounds like (but actually isn't) another bass drum beat behind the main kick beat comes from. It's FAT. The drums are absolutely beastly, and so recognizable to this day. 

Information sources: https://www.wired.com/2008/08/a-short-history/
https://genius.com/Led-zeppelin-when-the-levee-breaks-lyrics
https://www.stereogum.com/2028283/led-zeppelin-when-the-levee-breaks-samples/franchises/breaks-with-tradition/

And special thanks to Rick Beato digging deep: