88. Led Zeppelin

 

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic200/drp100/p142/p14284lbt4c.jpg

 

The Greatest Heavy Rock Band of All-Time. Period.

 

ALL MUSIC GUIDE BIOGRAPHY

 

Key Studio Album: Led Zeppelin IV "Four Symbols" (1971)

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov75/drf900/f993/f99368bif16.jpg

 

Key Compilation: Mothership (2007)

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov75/drj100/j154/j15469oix91.jpg

 

Career Defining Song:

Stairway To Heaven (1971, 2007 after being released digitally for the first time UK#37 & USA#30)

Some Other Key Songs (Again impossible to name just four):

 

Whole Lotta Love (1969 USA#4, 1997 UK#21, 2007 UK#64)

 

Immigrant Song (1970 USA#16, 2007 USA#71)

 

Black Dog (1971 USA#15, 2007 USA#66)

 

Kashmir (1975, 2007 USA#42)

 

Do you regard Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones & the late great John Bonham the greatest Heavy Rock act and/or the Greatest Live Act in the history of rock'n'roll or do you think they were dinosaur music?

 

The first four albums are peerless. Genius from start to finish.

 

Then came Houses of the Holy and they seemed to really lose something after that. (Apart from Kashmir that is.)

 

 

The first four albums are peerless. Genius from start to finish.

 

Then came Houses of the Holy and they seemed to really lose something after that. (Apart from Kashmir that is.)

 

Personally I think they only really lost it to a degree on their last two albums. I think their 1975 double album Physical Graffiti is stunning. I'd certainly rate it ahead of other classic 1960s/70s double albums like The White Album; Blonde On Blonde; Electric Ladyland; Tommy & The Wall even if I don't think it is quite as good as Exile On Main Street.

 

If I had to rate Led Zep's studio albums out of 10 they would score:

 

I: 9

II: 8

III: 8

Four Symbols: 10

Houses Of The Holy: 8

Physical Graffiti: 10

Presence: 6

In Through The Outdoor: 7

 

Even on their last album, recorded at Abba's Polar Studios they came up IMHO with a beautiful heartfelt ballad superior and more moving to anything the most overrated British act in the history of pop music Queen & Freddie Mercury have ever managed.

 

All (of) My Love (1979)

When I was younger I liked Queen better because, it was they who were played on the radio and on Tv not Led Zeppelin. Therefore my appreciation of them was restricted to the odd track like "Whole lotta love" mainly due to being the TOTP theme. Therefore it was Queen albums I bought back then not Led Zep, but as I got older i definately have changed my opinion and I am not afraid to admit it. Although I would take issue with Richard's statement that Queen were the most overated in music history, I can think of a few more deserving cases :lol: they were usually referred to as the poor man's LED Zep, and in a way they were.

 

In some circles you can't like both, well I do like both, but then I have forgotten more music I like than most of todays generation will ever know or appreciate ;) .

 

The songs you highlight were some of their most famous and I would say I like them all. Not a dinosaur band in my eyes, just one of the best live acts ever and a great legacy to British rock music.

Nothing will ever beat my disappointment the first time I ever put on Houses.

After listening to the first 4 albums (I even bought them and listened to them in order in the mid 80s) Houses was a serious let-down and tainted everything else I heard by them afterwards.

 

As for Physical Graffiti being better than The White Album and Electric Ladyland - nope don't buy it.

tbh they were too heavy for me.... i always thought they were being heavy for the sake of it.

 

but

 

ill not say anything against them, personal taste aside, no one can deny their influence on rock... the greatest rock act ever?... probabally!

tbh they were too heavy for me.... i always thought they were being heavy for the sake of it.

 

but

 

ill not say anything against them, personal taste aside, no one can deny their influence on rock... the greatest rock act ever?... probabally!

Most definitely! To this day, there hasn't been one rock act that have pushed out material like Led Zepp did..

I don't rate them as highly as some people do, as I think they released a fair deal of self-indulgent nonsense alongside some classics, but I will say this - Led Zeppelin IV is the greatest classic-rock album of all-time by a huge margin. The Rolling Stones, The Who, Queen, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton...all superb acts, but I don't think any of them released an album as virtually perfect as IV.

 

Favourite tracks: Rock N' Roll, Black Dog, Stairway To Heaven, Good Times Bad Times, Communication Breakdown, Achilles Last Stand, Nobody's Fault But Mine, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Immigrant Song, The Rover

, as I think they released a fair deal of self-indulgent nonsense

 

that was pretty much the fashion though in the early 70's, self indulgance...

 

Actually one of the best bands during 80's includes Led Zeppelin. Their song Stairway to Heaven is one of my favorite song, this make me look back at my life and relive all of my best, funniest, and happiest moments.

that was pretty much the fashion though in the early 70's, self indulgance...

 

Exactly.... Criticising Led Zep for being "excessive" is a bit like criticising Mozart for using "too many notes".... :lol: :lol:

 

Zep were experimenting with sounds, with techniques, with guitar music, with the blues... They were taking Rock music to its natural extremities in my view..... Zep stands the test of time without a doubt, and they really ARE as good as my parents said they were when they saw Zep live in '74..... Zep did at least five truly astonishing, ground-breaking albums, which is five more truly astonishing, groundbreaking albums than about 99.9999999999% of artists these days will ever get a sniff at.....

 

They were genius, end of..... And I agree with Rich, "Physical Grafitti" is as good, if not better, an album as "White Album" (which, come on mate, has a fair amount of utter CHAFF on it.... :P ), and deffo on a par with "Electric Ladyland"......

 

I still think The White Album is better, despite having a selection of poor tracks. Haven't heard Electric Ladyland.

 

If you want to talk 'utter chaff', then what about 'Boogie With Stu'?

Can't argue with there being some right rubbish on The White Album (which would probably have been better as a single album) but I lived and breathed Electric Ladyland for quuite a while and that seemed to come from a completely other place and utterly astonished me when I first heard it. The guitar playing was so fluid and Hendrix was a waaaay better guitarist than Page.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the First 4 albums but .... PG just does not do it for me.

 

I wouldn't criticise any band for self-indulgent nonsense seeing as I like The Cult way too much.

Listen to this! it's from 14 March 1966

 

 

who was Plant's BIG inspiration?

wee man never got the credit he deserved....

If you want to talk 'utter chaff', then what about 'Boogie With Stu'?

 

I'd still rather listen to that than the toe-curling "Oh Blah Di Oh Blah Dah"....... :rolleyes: :P