Does Zeppelin Rock?

singemonkey

Trick question. The only real question is do they rock harder than anything else on earth? This reporter thinks they do.

Watching them live at the R.A. Hall in '69.

Why do we not have statues? Why do we not have national holidays?

Damn.

Led F&*^ing Zeppelin.

Heath

Silly question , zep defined rock . Any rocker who thinks otherwise needs professional help

Rob-dos

one thing i dont get is that alot of people associate zep with only rocking out.. i would say that about 7 - 10 of their songs are rock
while the rest fall under so many categories.. when talking about a rock band, talk about AC/DC, thats what they do, they rock
zeppelin have some of the greatest acoustic songs i have heard in my life no to mention that a good half of their songs are blues
and the rest being folk, celtic, asian and a couple of other odd ones thrown in

their rock was immaculate, but i feel that its the music in between that is beyond that, they have that other factor..
sabbath, deep purple, hendrix and the the rest were doing their blues rock thing, zeppelin was just greater because while they matched/beat them at rock
they had a depth and a range of other musical talents that lead to sooo many great songs that they could be number one singles for so many genres

its songs like black country woman, trampled under food, all of my love, bron-yr-aur stomp, going to california etc etc etc etc that makes zeppelin the greatest band that ever existed

anyone who thinks otherwise does need professional help ?

IceCreamMan

Thank You

Rob-dos

Isnt there a month dedicated to them? Zeptember ?

govendl3

Zeppelin rocked and still do

Bob-Dubery

Yes they do. Well did.

But the key for me is that they didn't JUST rock. They had this acoustic/hippy edge to what they did as well, its's the flower-power stuff juxtaposed with a real heaviness that made them so good and gave them a richness, a pallette that most of their successors and the wanna-bes haven't had.

Banditman

X-rated Bob wrote: its's the flower-power stuff juxtaposed with a real heaviness that made them so good and gave them a richness, a pallette that most of their successors and the wanna-bes haven't had.

Perfectly put.

Jack-Flash-Jr

Rob dos wrote: one thing i dont get is that alot of people associate zep with only rocking out.. i would say that about 7 - 10 of their songs are rock
while the rest fall under so many categories.. when talking about a rock band, talk about AC/DC, thats what they do, they rock
zeppelin have some of the greatest acoustic songs i have heard in my life no to mention that a good half of their songs are blues
and the rest being folk, celtic, asian and a couple of other odd ones thrown in

their rock was immaculate, but i feel that its the music in between that is beyond that, they have that other factor..
sabbath, deep purple, hendrix and the the rest were doing their blues rock thing, zeppelin was just greater because while they matched/beat them at rock
they had a depth and a range of other musical talents that lead to sooo many great songs that they could be number one singles for so many genres

its songs like black country woman, trampled under food, all of my love, bron-yr-aur stomp, going to california etc etc etc etc that makes zeppelin the greatest band that ever existed

anyone who thinks otherwise does need professional help ?

Yes.
Plus a vote for Zeptember ?
Albert Hall is second only to Jimi Plays Monterey for me... (second time this has come up in 5 minutes!)

3ight8all

I've listened to their stuff thoroughly and all four of them IMO are of the best musicians to walk the earth. Bonham with his insane beats(even by todays standards), JPJ the jack of all trades and master of bass, Plant with his awesome vocal ability and unique voice. Then there is Page whom I'm pretty sure I don't need to comment on ? So yeah, I'd say they definately ROCK!

By the way, if you havent heard "How Many More Times" give it listen.

Cheers
J

Lacuna-ZA

Zeppelin was the greatest band that ever walked the earth (yes yes... all relative... everyone own taste opinion, yadda yadda).

I finished reading the book When Giants Walked The Earth. Highly recommended if you are a fan. I honestly can't think of a more versatile, more rocking, more artistic band. Those 4 guys together was just completely something else. On their own they were great. Together...... e.p.i.c

singemonkey

The thing about Zeppelin though, is that even when they were being all quiet like, their drum gorilla would still take them straight to rocksville. Black Country Woman is a great example of that.

Ho ho. Was watching more last night. There are all these late '60s clips and my girlfriend is commenting unfavourably on JPJ's rather shapeless velvet pants. Then, in the "Tous en Scene" performance, he comes out in tight white pants. "Ah. I see the problem," she says. "It's his butt. He has a woman's butt." ?

BMU

They rock, always.

X-Rated Bob makes an excellent point. There's a 'cosmicness' to their music even in the early albums, it's so much more than just blues-derived rock.

IceCreamMan

i am going to go a lil against the grain here. I dont think the 4 were the greatest muscicians to walk the earth but i do think the 4 were the greatest muso;s to be in the Zep (does it make sense)\

def a case of the total is great than the sum of the parts

3ight8all

I didn't say "are the best to walk the earth", I said "are of the best musicians to walk the earth".

Rob-dos

IceCreamMan wrote: i am going to go a lil against the grain here. I dont think the 4 were the greatest muscicians to walk the earth but i do think the 4 were the greatest muso;s to be in the Zep (does it make sense)\

def a case of the total is great than the sum of the parts

hey thats not against the grain, alot of people think that and its a valid point.. its very possible to argue that and counter argue it

if you take time to listen to each one, i think its very hard to dismiss the statement that each one isnt one of the greatest in his fields ever

Bob-Dubery

Rob dos wrote: if you take time to listen to each one, i think its very hard to dismiss the statement that each one isnt one of the greatest in his fields ever

That's a big statement.

I think that John Paul Jones is severely under-valued as a bass player, but the best in his field? Well.. if his field is "bass players who played with Led Zeppelin" then certainly. If his field is "bass players who played in prototypical heavy bands with blues and folk-rock roots" then that's a good bet. But thereafter he's up against Jack Bruce, Macca, Jaco Pastorius, Dave Pegg (another under rated bassist), Chuck Rainey, Jerry Sheff, etc, etc, etc...

These days I find the whole "best" thing impossible to get into. Nobody is the best. I'm not sure that anybody is even the best in their field, unless the field is very small and very new. Some players may be the "best" at a particular element of playing - Alan recently wrote that Jerry Donohue is THE best behind-the-nut bender around.

Bonzo was also underestimated because, I think, of his agricultural/neanderthal image. He was totally unique (though as time goes by I think that a lot of his magical drum sound was down to Page), but that doesn't make him the "best".

singemonkey

X-rated Bob wrote:
Rob dos wrote: if you take time to listen to each one, i think its very hard to dismiss the statement that each one isnt one of the greatest in his fields ever
Bonzo was also underestimated because, I think, of his agricultural/neanderthal image. He was totally unique (though as time goes by I think that a lot of his magical drum sound was down to Page), but that doesn't make him the "best".

I think Bonzo made a bigger impact on drummers than any of the others made on their respective fields. He is the template of a rock drummer, as far as I can see. I sometimes ask drummers randomly, "Play 'when the levee breaks'" - and they almost always do. Superb, and heavy as f^%k. I'm not sure about that, "down to Page," statement, because you hear him live, in any context, and his sound was monstrous.

He'd be picked as the drummer for 9 out of 10 fantasy rock super-groups. I'd bet on it.

Rob-dos

X-rated Bob wrote:
Rob dos wrote: if you take time to listen to each one, i think its very hard to dismiss the statement that each one isnt one of the greatest in his fields ever
That's a big statement.

I think that John Paul Jones is severely under-valued as a bass player, but the best in his field? Well.. if his field is "bass players who played with Led Zeppelin" then certainly. If his field is "bass players who played in prototypical heavy bands with blues and folk-rock roots" then that's a good bet. But thereafter he's up against Jack Bruce, Macca, Jaco Pastorius, Dave Pegg (another under rated bassist), Chuck Rainey, Jerry Sheff, etc, etc, etc...

well i suppose its just a perspective thing, because in my opinion, and theres the problem, it is my opinion, he is..

and here is the other problem, how much of jpj's solo work have we all sat down and listened to? im supposing a cd or so? well thats simply not enough
He is a thunderous musician.. jpj is clouded by zeppelin as the 'bassplayer who played with zeppelin' thats what people SEE and have heard

Page was the head of zeppelin, he lead and JPJ followed and on the odd occaission Page would begrudgingly allow him to share or have some of his limelight.. cuz
you know Plant wasnt giving any away for free
The ppl you listed are known for being bassists.. jpj on the other hand is known as a member of the greatest rock band ever so he gets judged
into the mould he was placed as the 'bass player who played in a prototypical (arent we all) heavy band with blues and folk-rock roots'

listen to him as JPJ, the guy who did 7/15 time signatures and 5/4 beats and yet made them sound amazing...

did i just hear someone say he plays slide on his bass? wow im not laughing cuz thats funny im just impressed...

and to be honest, why we even talking about him as a bass player, this man was a monster of music, i think he is a better musician than all 3 others, imo (again)
the man behind Black Dog, Trampled Under Foot, the raging running bass of Achilles Last Stand, All of My Move, No Quarter, Kashmir, the mandolin of Going to Cali and Thats The Way..
THESE are the songs that made zeppelin different from your prototypical blues based 70's rock band, those are the songs that made zeppelin the mammoth they are
JPJ is the reason why there is nothing typical about zeppelin

man JPJ is zeppelin, without him page was just jeff beck with an amazing singer and the craziest coolest drummer around

Lacuna-ZA

<Insert Personal opinion disclaimer>

Anyway.

Bonza is a complete and utter legend in every sense of the word. I think he is to drummers what Hendrix is too guitarist. Also, I think he does get overlooked as a muso, because of his background and off stage antics (someone else said the same thing, I'm agreeing with them)

As for JPJ, I didn't know much about him before reading the book. He is the most versatile and gifted musician of the lot. But his influence wasn't as catchy as the awesome riffs Page and Bonzo created. Even the members of LZ said they believe JPJ was the best musician of th bunch. He has worked on tons of other stuff after LZ. Page on the other hand kinda went bust after LZ. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big of of Page, but he was never as good as he was with LZ.

I think those guys just brought the best out of each other. Find all those great musicians AND a one of kind vocalist... in a time where people were experimenting musicaly. It's like the stars aligned and gave us 1 greatest band of all time.