'70s rock gods on Netflix

'BECOMING LED ZEPPELIN': SELLS AN ESTIMATED 200M TO 300M ALBUMS

- Hein Kaiser

When anyone hears the opening riff of Whole Lotta Love, there is no amount of willpower that can stop you rocking along.

That's the power of pure rock and roll, and that's the influence that 1970s rockers Led Zeppelin had on popular culture over the past five decades or so.

Formed in London in 1968 from the ashes of the Yardbirds, the band saw guitarist Jimmy Page, vocalist Robert Plant, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham come together through a series of events. It almost looks, based on the narrative of the Netflix documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin, like it was destiny.

The foursome created a sound had its roots in blues and folk, but they delivered it with a punch and guitar assault that shaped hard rock and heavy metal as we know it. Atlantic Records, who signed the band after only a month or so of being together, gave Page and company absolute creative freedom.

In an interview on the show, Page said that the intent of Zeppelin was not to be a singles band, but to create albums that tell stories.