Just how important is Led Zeppelin, anyway?

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Aside from creating the backing music for the conception of many people my age ("Stairway To Heaven"), and directly inspiring a few of the grunge bands (Soundgarden, most notably), do they really have anything to offer?

paul cox (paul cox), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:19 (twenty-three years ago)

viking kittens.

jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:21 (twenty-three years ago)

immigrant song = greatest record evah made?*

mark s (mark s), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:22 (twenty-three years ago)

*note to self: remember to delete asterisk

mark s (mark s), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Yr absolutely right, jess. That really does justify their whole existence! I wonder if Plant's ever seen that...

paul cox (paul cox), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:25 (twenty-three years ago)

if the kittens are coming from the land of the ice and snow, why is their only goal the *western* shore?

mark s (mark s), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:27 (twenty-three years ago)

i updated my website*, i updated my website*, i updated my website*

*haha, is this a maura-induced-"indie guilt"-of-sorts?

david h (david h), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:27 (twenty-three years ago)

the kittens know newfoundland is the new ibiza obv

jones (actual), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:31 (twenty-three years ago)

How important are Ryan Adams?

david h (david h), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:33 (twenty-three years ago)

(OH! western um... *enrolls in geography class*)

jones (actual), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Ryan Adams' chief importance is providing fodder for idle blog chatter. Musically, eh...not so much.

paul cox (paul cox), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:38 (twenty-three years ago)

oh i just realised the phrase "western shore" completely uselessly ambiguous!! if you are at sea it means the shore to your west, but if you are on-land, it means the shore to your west!!

it's a cunning plan: on-land defenders will rush to *their* western shore, thus leaving the targeted beaches un[other twee beast]ed for the kitten invasion!!

mark s (mark s), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:39 (twenty-three years ago)

The point is, paul, how important are paul cox?

david h (david h), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:46 (twenty-three years ago)

An OUTSTANDING query! How important am I?

Well, let's see. I've been on the tv news a couple of times, most recently discussing my feelings about the new postal rates. I'm sure I struck a chord with the hearts and minds of the good people of this city.

paul cox (paul cox), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:50 (twenty-three years ago)

(oh and No Quarter is more important than anything ever)

jones (actual), Sunday, 20 October 2002 17:58 (twenty-three years ago)

They gave new meaning to red snapper....

brg30 (brg30), Sunday, 20 October 2002 20:33 (twenty-three years ago)

And III had that spinny disc thing so that you could change the cover..

brg30 (brg30), Sunday, 20 October 2002 20:34 (twenty-three years ago)

If Plant and Page would have nenver met. Albini wouldn't have produced them. Remember he turned down Depeche Mode....

*okay I'll stop now*

brg30 (brg30), Sunday, 20 October 2002 20:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Remember he turned down Depeche Mode....

Hm, that would have been interesting. Albini does know his drum machines. ;-)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 20 October 2002 20:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Zepp made major contributions to the face of rock n' roll, with their mix of old blues and heavy metal. However (and Im speaking as a huge fan) they were not as important as they were made out to be. In their late years, especially, they turned into a coked up, plaid out band, which is never what rock n' roll has been about. Their tremendous musicianship was great, but simpler rock music, like punk and shit like that, has always been the real deal. The most influential.

Oapie, Monday, 21 October 2002 02:13 (twenty-three years ago)

"plaid out band" = Screaming Trees?

paul cox (paul cox), Monday, 21 October 2002 02:54 (twenty-three years ago)

They provided the massive 'When the Levee Breaks' beat for hip-hop sampling purposes, for one.

Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 21 October 2002 03:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Speaking of which, does anyone know if Bjork's Army of One beat is made from this?

Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 21 October 2002 03:17 (twenty-three years ago)

"immigrant song = greatest record evah made?*"

I saw DJ Shadow at Brixton on Friday evening and one of the support acts (Too Many DJs) dropped the intro break from that in the middle of their set. The room went fucking NUTS but I doubt if half the teens/early 20-somethings knew what it was.
They also managed to sneak in the whole of Van Halen's 'Eruption'.
I would have died a happy man there and then.
Respect is definitely due.

BTW - Bjork's 'Army of Me' not made from Zep sample. Great track tho'.

Android (Android Elvis), Monday, 21 October 2002 09:58 (twenty-three years ago)

i demand that mark s reinstitute the asterisk inst, viz.:-

* apart from all other ones.

Marcello Carlin, Monday, 21 October 2002 10:01 (twenty-three years ago)

bonham's drum playing.
man, he was an animal! and "rock'n'roll" is such a great great song.

joan vich (joan vich), Monday, 21 October 2002 11:03 (twenty-three years ago)

i like "carouselambra" on their ".. out door" album, an attempt at a dicso crossover, ridiculous as it sounds (not unlike "brick in wall #2") as it's overblown, grandiose (essentially a jones song -- great bass playing) and gloomy (you can't do gloomy disco, blues-disco, whatever, even in 1978)

it was the first zep song i'd heard (after ".. heaven", which doesn't count) and for me it's been all downhill since then, except "kashmir", disputed, but preferable to ".. ice and snow .."

george gosset (gegoss), Monday, 21 October 2002 11:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Ahhhhh - how important are Zep? Quite. Fairly. Rather. Very. Mr Bonham is actually the finest rock drummer of all time. OK, so Page can play the odd catchy hook but its Bonzo's textures and patterns which keep me coming back to these boys. And the fact that they fucking rock.

Roger Fascist (Roger Fascist), Monday, 21 October 2002 15:27 (twenty-three years ago)

''Mr Bonham is actually the finest rock drummer of all time.''

no canonization now or you'll pay fascist.

Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 21 October 2002 18:34 (twenty-three years ago)

My $.02 ...

(Zeppelin II and III are actually really good. No, I mean it. They are. Really. When I was about 18 and fiercely Punke Rocke i.e. denying any and all music recorded before 1975 that was not the Stooges, my classic rock loving friend got me very drunk, sat me down and played me Zeppelin II and III without telling me what they were. Of course, I loved them. And was terribly embarrassed when she let me in on the secret.)

But, erm, yeah. There's a slight cusp at the beginning where they really were quite psychedelic and wonderful and bombastic without being cliched yet. Or maybe they were the originators of the cliches, and that's what makes them great.

kate, Monday, 21 October 2002 18:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Zeppelin fukking rokkkkkkkkkkedddd!

Plus a Zappa joke that outdoes Zappa.

James Blount (James Blount), Monday, 21 October 2002 18:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Does anybody remember Lather?

James Blount (James Blount), Monday, 21 October 2002 18:39 (twenty-three years ago)

A lot of times with music I've heard over and over and over (and over) again, I don't listen to the whole thing anymore; I just listen to parts of it. Especially the rhythm section. So now, when I listen to my old Stax tapes I made for car trips, I just listen to Al Jackson and Duck Dunn (and/or whomever) and what they're doing--usually that's plenty. Same thing with Led Zep. Greatest rock rhythm section evah? Basic and brutal while still getting kinda fancy now and then--what's not to love. If you ask me, that's plenty right there.

Lee G (Lee G), Monday, 21 October 2002 18:45 (twenty-three years ago)

''Does anybody remember Lather?''

and what does it sound like james?

Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 21 October 2002 19:10 (twenty-three years ago)

I like their hippy-folk stuff best, which, the first time you hear it, totally confounds yr expectations abt them being the hardest, the heaviest, the loudest, etc.

And the cover to 'Presence' is profound.


Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 21 October 2002 19:22 (twenty-three years ago)

If I didn't have a pounding headache right now, I'd blather on about how Page is arguably more important as Zep's producer than as Zep's guitarist. Physical Graffitti is one hell of a record - always dug Jones' syncopated bass lines on that.

Chris Barrus (xibalba), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 19:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Physical Graffiti is loaded with classics for me: "In My Time of Dying" (my high school chums and I were particularly obsessed with this one; arguably the finest song climax in their catalog), "Sick Again", "Down By the Seaside", "In the Light", "Boogie with Stu" are all ferocious.

Also III. III is magnificent.

Joe (Joe), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 02:20 (twenty-three years ago)

Decry them though some might, they are the wellspring from which pretty much every band of the last ten years, be it pro or contra, drinks from.

Also, I'm a longtime sucker for "Fool in the Rain." Don't cry for me, I'm already dead.

TMFTML
http://intonation.blogspot.com

TMFTML (TMFTML), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 03:23 (twenty-three years ago)

three weeks pass...
When The Levee Breaks!

man, Tuesday, 19 November 2002 00:17 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah man

original bgm, Tuesday, 19 November 2002 00:19 (twenty-three years ago)

Ok, how important is Zep? This is easy. Just about every rock guitar riff ever that wasn't written by Chuck Berry, or some nu-metal downtuners, was written by Jimmy Page. All the Rage Against the Machine riffs? Led Zep riffs. Clutch songs? All Led Zep riffs. Dread Zepplin songs? Still all Led Zep riffs.

I know, there are guys out there playing guitar that don't directly rip off Page (the Tool guy is a pretty good example, and Eddie Van Halen did some different stuff, and all those korn-ish bands with the chugga-chugga are ripping off people besides J.P.), but whenever I get a wild hair up my ass to try and come up with the next grea guitar lick, I play it, then I listen to it, and then I think to myself, "Fuck. That was a god damn Led Zeppelin riff."

So in that case they're pretty important because Jimmy Page took all the cool-yet-easy blues scale licks so no one else can make them up.

On the other hand, like, if you only listen to Paul Oakenfarts, or Ludacris, or Waylon Jennings, or all of those terrible nu-metal bands I guess you might not give two hairy rat shits about Led Zep. And that's o.k. too. I guess.

Hey, I just found some bubblewrap!

Helltime Producto (Pavlik), Tuesday, 19 November 2002 04:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Fair 'nuff.

jm, Tuesday, 19 November 2002 05:10 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...
In my favorite record store the other day, III on the speakers. I had to stay for the whole thing, which surprised me! I haven't listened to them since the very beginning of college -- I've been steadily discovering and discovering since then, and really haven't gone back to the 'classics' or to what I used to listen to (which is weird because I didn't even discover Zep until the end of high school anyway, but I digress...) -- but yeah, they're great. And the one thing that hit me the hardest was how great Page's production sounded. I never used to notice that, but the past few years of tireless listening and searching -- learning how to listen, really -- have led me to the point where I can appreciate the feast for the ears that Zep's albums provide.

III is probably my favorite; "Immigrant Song", "Celebration Day", "Tangerine", "That's the Way" -- not as suffocatingly epic as IV (besides, isn't "When the Levee Breaks kinda tedious??), not 'lectric blues-y like the first two -- just beautiful songs.

Clarke B., Monday, 6 January 2003 10:02 (twenty-three years ago)


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