I'm reading the 33 1/3 book on Led Zeppelin IV.
I love this series of books.

Anyway, in the intro chapter, the author, Erik Davis, makes the most EA statement I've ever seen away from this board.

"They were a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, stuffed into a cock."

Bodes well for this book, that statement.

-A

connor wrote:The greatest rock drummer. Ever.

One of the greatest bass guitarists. Ever.

What he said.

Mayfair wrote:

connor wrote:The greatest rock drummer. Ever.

One of the greatest bass guitarists. Ever.

What he said.

Yep.

One of my best friends hates Led Zeppelin because she hates Robert Plant. We argue about this every few months.

The first phase of the argument is her list of reasons why Plant sucks. The second phase is when I say, "Yeah, but John Bonham." The third phase is mutual, considered nodding followed by going for another beer and talking about books.

bumble wrote:

Mayfair wrote:

connor wrote:The greatest rock drummer. Ever.

One of the greatest bass guitarists. Ever.

What he said.

Yep.

One of my best friends hates Led Zeppelin because she hates Robert Plant. We argue about this every few months.

The first phase of the argument is her list of reasons why Plant sucks. The second phase is when I say, "Yeah, but John Bonham." The third phase is mutual, considered nodding followed by going for another beer and talking about books.

Bonham is both correct and obvious.
However, I always considered JPJ the secret weapon. That guy is amazing.

-A

I don't feel they are crap, but they are also not not crap.

I agree... They are a band that did well because of the teenage dollar.

They are like Pink Floyd... A british band with mostly American blues influence... This was the key to making money on the radio in the 70's... THE BLUES.

And yes... The riffs go on and on... Take Kashmir, for example... It's an interesting riff with some non-rock instrumentation. But it just goes on and on with the same motif.

I feel the same way about Pink Floyd. They don't suck. I have a few of their albums. But to say they are the best band ever, well, that's not saying much. Yes, Dark Side of the Moon is the best selling rock album ever. Does that mean it is great? All of the songs sound kind of the same -- the plodding tempo, boring drums, and blue-cheese guitar solos that aren't really interesting at all. The keyboard parts are boring. I am one of those with the opinion that progressive rock should have top notch musicianship and composition... Crud... even Marillion took some Pink Floyd ideas and expanded on them in a better way. But they did not play the blues, and were far too British to become successful here. Same think with early Genesis. To be successful in the 70's, British bands exploited American music -- mostly the blues.

These were accessible bands. They played the blues.

ba ba ba bow!

Great post from yut and pretty much unanswerable in my opinion.

There is something bogus about Led Zeppelin's use of blues idioms. That said they were primarily a hard rock band. Jimmy Page came up with a lot of tasty licks and riffs and the rhythm section had great presence.

And the corner to the fore was Robert Plant whose vocals I dig not.

Cream were another heavy-handed group and they overestimated their own ability to improvise in a live setting.

Progressive rock bands usually had one major thing in common; they didn't play pop music.

I'll be the first to admit that Dragons, Faeries (note spelling), and D&D-centric lyrics aren't my thing.
I also have limited appreciation for the Blues.

But I think it would be presentist of me to put too much weight on that stuff when considering The Zep. It was almost 40 years ago, and that's what people wrote and sang about a lot of the time.

Almost every band in the late 60's were doing the Blues thing. Especially the British ones.
Also, it's impossible to fathom how much Tolkien was discussed in Britain, ca.1970, especially among stoners.

For me, it's gut thing. The whole thing just comes together somehow.
Plus, they grew past that stuff in many ways, some good (Kashmir) some bad (some of the disco moments on In Through the Out Door).

If I held a grudge against every whitey who ever played the Blues, I wouldn't listen to the Kinks, and the Beatles are out. Stones? Ha! Don't even talk about Hendrix.
They all were all thieves.

My patience runs out when you consider people like Clapton, who essentially *only* played the Blues.
Or Babyface inspired poop.


-A

My first exposure to heavier rock, such as it was, was my first Led Zeppelin CD, which was "BBC Sessions."

Great way to start. I just can't say they're crap, because dammit I like it when limeys wallop the blues, and because dammit, they rocked and wrote great songs. I realize I am surrendering part of my (nonexistent) hip quotient here, but I don't give a shit about being hip -

So, Not Crap.

alex maiolo wrote:If I held a grudge against every whitey who ever played the Blues, I wouldn't listen to the Kinks, and the Beatles are out. Stones? Ha! Don't even talk about Hendrix.

You can still listen to Hendrix. He's not a "whitey."

Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:

alex maiolo wrote:If I held a grudge against every whitey who ever played the Blues, I wouldn't listen to the Kinks, and the Beatles are out. Stones? Ha! Don't even talk about Hendrix.

You can still listen to Hendrix. He's not a "whitey."

Wow, I never noticed!
I just thought he had the world's best Cracker-'Fro and a great tan.

Hasty typing I guess. I isolated him from the rest for a reason.

Race nonwithstanding, I don't listen to much in the way of Blues. I like Josh White and some Leadbelly. That's really about it.

-A