Good Times Bad Times

When one starts playing Good Times Bad Times, the first thing that catches the eye is the energy it unleashes from the very first second. It's the track that opens the debut album by Led Zeppelin, released in 1969, and right from the start, they give you a taste of what's to come. The main riff, said to be the most complicated for John Paul Jones to compose, comes from a Hammond organ and has a complexity that instantly captivates you. To record it, Jimmy Page used a Fender Telecaster guitar that Jeff Beck had gifted him, running it through a Tone Bender and a Supro amplifier. The guitar solo, moreover, features a swirling effect achieved with a Leslie speaker. And let's not forget John Bonham's drumming, with his rapid triplets on the bass drum, something even Jimi Hendrix acknowledged. Robert Plant's vocals, on the other hand, were largely double-tracked.

This song, besides being the first that Led Zeppelin released as a single in the United States, reaching the Billboard Hot 100, has an interesting story behind its creation. The songwriting process began before they entered the Atlantic Studios to record. Originally, it was called "A Man I Know". The recording of the entire album was done in just 30 hours at Olympic Studios in London in October 1968, with Glyn Johns as the recording engineer. The album, which blends British blues with a distinct hard rock sound and touches of folk and West Coast influences, was released in the United States on January 13, 1969, and in the United Kingdom on January 31, 1969, by Atlantic Records. Although Good Times Bad Times became a fundamental track, it was rarely played in its entirety live; it often served as an introduction to "Communication Breakdown" or was integrated into longer medleys in concerts such as those at the LA Forum in 1970 or at their reunion at the O2 Arena in London in 2007.