Led Zeppelin is one of the worst rock bands in history.

[arnold layne]

I can't get into Led Zepellin. I'm aware of the fact they're really skilled musicians but their music is so dull, IMO. It's like they're always trying to sound fancy and complex and demonstrate how superior they are with every single song. I get the feeling they were like a 70's Radiohead. They go with The Who, The Cult and Deep Purple in my "Huge bands I can't really get into" list.

Try out their first two albums, along with Presence. No complexity or technical superiority there, just very straight forward Rock N' Roll.

[oxocubeingravy]

Haven't seen much love for Ramble On in this thread?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKVp-atyiVA

Love the middle section with Jimmy's chorused/dubbed guitar parts...

[Use Your Delusion 1]

Not only are their songs tuneless and dull, they also plagiarized half of their catalog. Fact.

[DizzyReedsexmachine]

i prefer GNR,Metallica,Aerosmith,Black Sabbath,Alice in chains but LZ are good :xmasssanta:

[dalsh327]

It was never a thing of, OK, i hear elements of possibly this and this and this and the result is a kind of new...sound, it was just like, oh look, they're aware of such and such so they did a take on it, that sort of smacks of willy measuring to me.

In hindsight perhaps,when you have the internet at your disposal to use as a measuring stick.

Zep tapping reggae on the shoulders in the early 70's was quite uncommon,for a rock band.

So,in a sense,it might not have been groundbreaking but it was innovative on their part.

And for that matter,the masses at that time had no fuckin clue anyway,they just dug it for it was.

There was no internet to tear down and point out six degrees of seperation shit.

At some point it comes down to personal taste.

I dig it.

Few people even knew what reggae even was when LZ did "D'yer Ma'ker". Hell, they barely had time to breathe in 1972, they were touring like mad.

[Guest Len B'stard]

It was never a thing of, OK, i hear elements of possibly this and this and this and the result is a kind of new...sound, it was just like, oh look, they're aware of such and such so they did a take on it, that sort of smacks of willy measuring to me.

In hindsight perhaps,when you have the internet at your disposal to use as a measuring stick.

Zep tapping reggae on the shoulders in the early 70's was quite uncommon,for a rock band.

So,in a sense,it might not have been groundbreaking but it was innovative on their part.

And for that matter,the masses at that time had no fuckin clue anyway,they just dug it for it was.

There was no internet to tear down and point out six degrees of seperation shit.

At some point it comes down to personal taste.

I dig it.

Few people even knew what reggae even was when LZ did "D'yer Ma'ker". Hell, they barely had time to breathe in 1972, they were touring like mad.

Speak for yourself man, reggae was huge in England in the 60s with Ska and all the skinheads and that, even mods listened to reggae, by 72 reggae was the true sound of the streets of London. That was coming up to reggaes peak.

Edited August 1, 2012 by sugaraylen

[WhazUp]

Haven't seen much love for Ramble On in this thread?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKVp-atyiVA

Love the middle section with Jimmy's chorused/dubbed guitar parts...

Love this tune, it is a shame Zeppelin never busted it out in their heyday. Page and Plant played it in the 90's when they toured as well as the London gig in 2007 but Plant could never reach the high notes. I could only imagine how awesome it could have sounded live back in 1973!

[HB3]

I love Pink Floyd. I even enjoy Syd's work. But it's hard to imagine you liking GN'R if you truly can't stand Zeppelin. Lots of inspiration there.

[Dan H.]

Zeppelin is OK.

Massively overrated.

[dalsh327]

Zeppelin is OK.

Massively overrated.

At their peak, they were able to have well produced albums and put on a phenomenal live show. It raised the bar for a lot of people. Sometimes a band can sound great in the studio, and not really deliver live, or their live shows were incredible, but the albums sounded flat or poorly produced.

I think with classic rock, the amount of Led Zep they played over the years also worked against Robert Plant in some ways, but for him to be able to have a successful solo career that wasn't dependent on the back catalog is impressive to me. He had his cheesy moments, the changes in his voice led to him doing songs a different way, and a lot of it is stuff Page would've fought him on and led to a breakup anyway. But I think one of the best careers for any solo artist is the one Robert Plant had. He gets way more critical acclaim than he ever did with Led Zep. Pretty prolific songwriter, even he does write some cringeworthy lyrics.

And if Jimmy Page is such a genius, why hasn't he done much in the past 30 years? He used all his tricks in the 70s, and as a producer would be laughed out of a studio today. But you watch him on "It Might Get Loud", even though he's old and has white hair, he hasn't changed all that much. The hype made him out to be some devil worshipping freak, and maybe he believed a lot of imaginary shit when he was completely out of it. Glad to see he survived, that's all.

[Guest Len B'stard]

I actually wish i'd heard Zeppelin earlier in life, i think i might've liked them. I used to want to too, i remember considering stealing Houses of the Holy from our local library, back then i was like 10/11, i didn't have a lot of reference point for albums so i used to just like, y'know, if you hear the name of an album, remember it and try and get your hands on it when the oppertunity arises. Quite a good method really because you end up listening to weird shit and it sort of expands your...range of music that you like. Tragically enough, i think i knew of Houses of the Holy cuz it's mentioned in Bill & Teds but i remember going in the shop and seeing it and, y'know, being a young kid and that, looking at the front cover i thought maybe it was some joke in Bill & Teds that i didn't get cuz it didn't LOOK like a rock n roll album so i just left it. Looked a bit airy fairy.

I appreciate em somewhat even now, i just don't think they're legendary but i think like, at that age, if i'd've discovered Zep instead of GnR the evolution of my musical taste might've been quite different. Would've been better too because being a fan of GnR at that fuckin' time was a crock of shit, no releases, no fuckin' nothing, at that age where a week felt like a year and that, would've been great being a zep fan, 5 or 6 studio albums if i'm not mistaken, tons of books out there on em, i would've been a little Zep Boy.

If i'd've heard Black Dog or Rock n Roll as a kid that would've been amazing.

[moreblack]

Len, you've come a long way from your first all-out-hate post in a Zeppelin thread, I gotta give you props for that.

Dy'er Mak'er came on the radio this morning, I couldn't help but smile. Bonzo tears thru that song with all the subtlety of brain surgery with a chainsaw. I love it!

Edited August 2, 2012 by moreblack

[Rovim]

Len, you've come a long way from your first all-out-hate post in a Zeppelin thread, I gotta give you props for that.

Dy'er Mak'er came on the radio this morning, I couldn't help but smile. Bonzo tears thru that song with all the subtlety of brain surgery with a chainsaw. I love it!

He ain't subtle, but fuck he was too amazing of a drummer for me to even want to change his drumming even a little.

[Cosmo]

I have just heard D'yer Maker for the first time ever. This is completely under Zep's permission, right?

[maynard]

never got into LZ and yes, they are overrated as hell. robert plant's voice is annoys me. i like john's drumming tho.

[moreblack]

Everyone who's huge is overrated to somebody somewhere.

[Dan H.]

Yes but they are MASSIVELY overrated on a scale that Pink Floyd is. Sorry Arnold, it's true.

[moreblack]

Well yeah, the bigger the artist is, the more overrated they are to somebody somewhere.

[arnold layne]

The difference between Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin is that Pink Floyd actually wrote decent music.

[Guest Len B'stard]

Pink Floyd is patronising music for disabled people. "drop acid and listen to it", fuckin' Nickelodeon jingles sound good when you're whizzin' on acid, Pink Floyd is just so utterly utterly boring because the intent is immediately apparent and there's nothing wrong with that but the execution attempts subtlety and just ends up being ham-fisted and insulting.

I mean REALLY, a song like Comfortably Numb, it's just disgraceful, it's just so corny and so very very obvious in it's intent to appeal to people that are off their tits but like, trying to make out like it's something deep and esoteric and for intelligent people...when it's not, it's just shite. And obvious without trying to be, which is the kiss of death for any piece of music.

It literally is so insulting, i remember listening to it once thinking like, God, even under the influence this'd be insulting. i don't mind the idea of listening to or enjoying tunes when you're under the influence but it should come as a happy accident, i don't like the idea of artists making music for people licked off their fuckin' tits to listen to, it just feels like such a...a stitch up is the best phrase i can think of to describe it. It's kind of like watching a film for the 40th time on first listen, you know whats gonna happen, you know what the intent of it is, it really takes away from any quality the music could've had.

I have the same problem with metal, it's just all so obvious and heavy handed and patronising and if there's one thing i could never abide in my music, it's being patronised.

Zeppelin would fuckin' piss over a band like Floyd, Zeppelin had heart, you can feel it when you listen to a song like Rock n Roll, compared to Zeppelin Pink Floyd are a fuckin' embarassment.

"you won't get Dark Side of the Moon until you hear it on acid" Yeah, and y'know why? Cuz it's a load of fuckin' cack.

Edited August 3, 2012 by sugaraylen

[sweetness]

arnold you kind of make me ashamed to be a Pink Floyd fan, arrogant douches like you give us a bad name

[Dan H.]

Lenny, you have to admit they're in the same vein of overratedness. Not neccisarily for the same reasons, but there you go.

Zeppelin has heart and energy, sure. But their energy still bores me for some reason. I think it's just because I can name ten bands off the top of my head that do Zeppelin better than Zeppelin does.

[sweetness]

I think it's just because I can name ten bands off the top of my head that do Zeppelin better than Zeppelin does.

go on...

[Guest Len B'stard]

Lenny, you have to admit they're in the same vein of overratedness. Not neccisarily for the same reasons, but there you go.

Zeppelin has heart and energy, sure. But their energy still bores me for some reason. I think it's just because I can name ten bands off the top of my head that do Zeppelin better than Zeppelin does.

Yeah i could agree with you on that actually although i dunno about bands doing Zeppelin better than Zeppelin, Zeppelin are a band to me that give me the impression that they could really rip it up if they wanted to. I think the best description of my personal position on Zeppelin is that they're a great band of great players that got out the blocks in a genre i really love but then kinda ended up making music that didn't interest me much, i don't like their music but i see how they play it very very well and when they want to do a Lennyish song, like Dazed and Confused or Heartbreaker, fuck me they could knock you on your arse with it. So yeah, thats kinda the difference, Zep to me are a band of good players that ended up making music i didn't care for whereas Floyd are just shit all round so yeah, i guess you're right in your assertion that they are in the same vein of overratedness.

Gotta give Zep their fuckin' dues though man, bands like that don't grow on trees, just a shame they went off into a direction i'm not much interested in, all them accousticey pickey songs about something that you can't quite figure out what the fuck they're about and...i dunno, they just didn't explore the qualities of theirs that, if i was in their position, i'd choose to explore. But then again, they're a huge fuckin' rock band and i'm some opinionated yahoo on an internet forum so, y'know, they're millionaires and i've only got the train fare home, i certainly can't fault em for their choices

But generally speaking, yeah i agree with you.

[moreblack]

It's very difficult to develop the kind of chemistry Zeppelin had right out of the gate. Not every band can go from a dragon to a butterfly, and back to dragon within the same song. And they had that from pretty much the first time they got together.

Edited August 3, 2012 by moreblack