"Whole Lotta Love" is a song by the Englishrock bandLed Zeppelin. It is the opening track on the band's second album,Led Zeppelin II, and was released as a single in 1969 in several countries; as with other Led Zeppelin songs, no single was released in the United Kingdom. In the United States, it became their first hit and was certifiedgold.[8] Parts of the song's lyrics were adapted fromWillie Dixon's "You Need Love", recorded byMuddy Waters in 1962; originally uncredited to Dixon, a lawsuit in 1985 was settled with a payment to Dixon and credit on subsequent releases.
In 2004, the song was ranked number 75 onRolling Stone magazine's list ofthe 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and in March 2005,Q placed "Whole Lotta Love" at number three in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. It was placed 11 on a similar list byRolling Stone. In 2009 it was named the third greatest hard rock song of all time byVH1.[2] In 2014, listeners toBBC Radio 2 voted "Whole Lotta Love" as containing the greatest guitarriff of all time.[9]
Jimmy Page came up with the guitar riff for "Whole Lotta Love" in the summer of 1968, on his houseboat on the River Thames atPangbourne,Berkshire, England.[1] However,John Paul Jones stated that it probably was developed from a live improvisation during performances of "Dazed and Confused".[10] Page denied that the song originated onstage and that he had the riff and the rest took it from there.[11] The chugging riff sounds like twin guitars because Page is playing two guitar strings in unison, whilebending one of them to slightly change the pitch. At the same time,John Paul Jones is using the same technique onbass guitar, doubling the guitar part in a lower octave. Page recorded his part while playing through asolid-state amplifier.[12]
During the two day mix of theLed Zeppelin II album, audio engineerEddie Kramer discovered what he thought was some magnetic tapebleedthrough on Plant's vocals on the "Whole Lotta Love" track, which could not be removed, so he put some echo on it, and Page liked the sound.[15] Page also employed abackwards echo production technique.[16] Years later, engineerJ. J. Blair analyzed the multi-track tape and found that the second guitar track contained traces of an earlier vocal track by Plant caused bymicrophonic induction of the guitar pickup. This thin-sounding vocal preceded the main vocal track in a manner similar to bleedthrough.[12]
On 7 November 1969, "Whole Lotta Love" was released as a single in several countries, with "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)" as the B-side.[17] In the US, Atlantic provided an edited 3:12 version as the flipside for radio stations.[16][18]Billboard described the single as a "powerful, commercial swinger that should have no trouble putting [Led Zeppelin] up the Hot 100."[19][20]Cash Box described it as "a mixture of rock andblues with special production touches and a rousing lead vocal performance."[21] In the UK, Atlantic Records expected to issue an edited version, and pressed initial copies for release on 5 December 1969, but this was cancelled by request of managerPeter Grant.[16]
In 1962, American singer-songwriterMuddy Waters recorded a blues vocal, "You Need Love", forChess Records.[22] As he had done with "You Shook Me", Waters overdubbed vocals on an instrumental track previously recorded by blues guitaristEarl Hooker and his band.[22]Willie Dixon wrote the lyrics, which Dixon biographer Mitsutoshi Inaba describes as being "about the necessity of love":
You've got yearnin' and I got burnin' Baby you look so, ho, sweet and cunnin' Baby way down inside, woman you need love Woman you need love, you've got to have some love I'm gon' give you some love, I know you need love[22]
In 1966, the British bandSmall Faces recorded the song as "You Need Loving" for theireponymous debut Decca album. According toSteve Marriott, the group's vocalist and guitarist, Page and Plant attended several Small Faces gigs, where they expressed their interest in the song.[23] Plant's phrasing is particularly similar to that of Marriott's, who added "he [Plant] sang it the same, phrased it the same, even the stops at the end were the same".[23] Similarities with "You Need Love" led to a lawsuit against Led Zeppelin in 1985, settled out of court in favour of Dixon for an undisclosed amount.[16] On subsequent releases, Dixon's name is included on the credits for "Whole Lotta Love".[24] Plant explained in an interview withMusician:
Page's riff was Page's riff. It was there before anything else. I just thought, 'well, what am I going to sing?' That was it, a nick. Now happily paid for. At the time, there was a lot of conversation about what to do. It was decided that it was so far away in time and influence that... well, you only get caught when you're successful. That's the game.[25]
The single entered theBillboard Hot 100 chart on 22 November 1969. It remained on the chart for 15 weeks, peaking at number four and becoming the band's only top-10 single in the US.[36]
In 2008, a reworked version by Jimmy Page on guitar, withLeona Lewis on vocals, was performed in the "London 2012" presentation during theclosing ceremony of the2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Both Lewis and the organisers requested that some of the lyrics be changed, notably "I'm gonna give you every inch of my love". Lewis felt that the line made little sense coming from a female singer.[81]
"Whole Lotta Love" has been recorded by several artists. Versions that reached the record charts include:
1970 – CCS (or C.C.S.) recorded a mainly instrumental rendition with a flute playing the melody.[82]Billboard described their version as a "blockbuster instrumental treatment of the Led Zeppelin hit",[83] while Nick Coleman ofThe Independent thought that the cover "succeeded in ameliorating the tune's sexual specificity without stripping it of its rutty throb".[82] Released as a single on theRAK label, it reached number 13 on the UK singles chart in November 1970;[84] number 26 in Belgium (Flanders);[85] number 37 on theRPM 100 Singles in Canada;[86] number 58 on the USBillboard Hot 100;[87] and number 58 on the USCash Box Top 100 Singles.[88] The UK music variety television programmeTop of the Pops used brief versions by CCS members and others as its intro theme music at different times over the years.[23][89]
1971 – King Curtis and the Kingpins recorded an instrumental version with the melody line performed on saxophone.Atco Records released it as a single in the US, where it reached number 64 on the Hot 100 and number 43 on the R&B chart.[90] A live version, recorded at theFillmore West, is included on Curtis' 1971 live albumLive at Fillmore West.[91]
1996 – British bandGoldbug, including a sample of "Asteroid" (thePearl & Dean advertising music).[94] It reached number three in the UK singles chart and number one on the Indie chart.[95][96] number 24 in Ireland,[97] and number 9 in the Netherlands.[98] In 2000, band member Richard Walmsley sued his former labelAcid Jazz over unpaidroyalties relating to the song.[99] Walmsley received thousands of pounds following the battle.[100]
^Breihan, Tom (15 November 2022). "Bon Jovi - "You Give Love a Bad Name".The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music. New York:Hachette Book Group. p. 175.
^"Whole Lotta Love" / "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)" (Single notes).Led Zeppelin. New York City:Atlantic Records. 1969. A-side label. 45-2690.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^"Whole Lotta Love" Long version / "Whole Lotta Love" Short version (Single notes).Led Zeppelin. New York City:Atlantic Records. 1969. Labels. 45-2690.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Creswell, Toby (2005). "Whole Lotta Love".1001 Songs: the Great Songs of All Time (1st ed.). Prahran: Hardie Grant Books. p. 303.ISBN978-1-74066-458-5.
^Pennanen, Timo (2006).Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi.ISBN978-951-1-21053-5.
^Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005).Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE.ISBN84-8048-639-2.
^Hallberg, Eric; Henningsson, Ulf (1998).Eric Hallberg, Ulf Henningsson presenterar Tio i topp med de utslagna på försök: 1961 - 74. Premium Publishing.ISBN919727125X.
