Rocking The Lord of the Rings

A few days ago I got talking with my friend from feralc4t about music inspired by the biggest fantasy saga The Lord of the Rings. Needless to say, I’m a die hard fan and, the nerd in me rejoicing, I had to make a research. I knew Led Zeppelin were big Tolkien heads but it appears they are not the only ones. This is what I found out. Enjoy!

Led Zeppelin
The 1969 classic “Ramble On”, that also happens to be my favorite Zeppelin song:

Two songs from 1971: “Misty Mountain Hop” which is named for the place where Bilbo Baggins and the dwarfs spend some time in The Hobbit and “The Battle of Evermore”:

There are subtle allusions in “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp” and the iconic “Stairway to heaven”:

 

Black Sabbath
Another classic rock band, Black Sabbath were also inspired by the epic fantasy novels and wrote “The Wizard” for their first album.

 

Genesis
The 70’s were great for LOTR-rock, as you can find in Genesis’ “Stagnation” and the reference for Gollum: “Will I wait forever, besides the silent mirror/And fish for bitter minnows amongst the weeds and slimy water.”

 

Rush

Neil Peart, Rush’s drummer and lyricist, wrote both “Rivendell” and “The Necromancer”:

 

Megadeth
Although “This Day We Fight!” takes its title from a line in The Return of the King that wasn’t in the books, I thought it should be on my list.

 

Pink Floyd
It’s not 100% clear what “The Gnome” is about, but you can see it’s at least partly Lord of the Rings-inspired.

 

Styx

The band has a song called “Lords of the Ring” on their Pieces of Eight album.

 

Leonard Nimoy
And the crown jewel is the Star Trek star’s nerd extravaganza “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.” Mr. Spock himself singing about The Hobbit…what more can you ask for.