I just watched a special on the seventies where they were comparing LZ to the Beatles and basically say the LZ was the better band, mostly because it was so popular in the seventies. Now, I have been a fan of LZ even before they were LZ, I was listening to The Yardbirds way back in 1964, they eventually morphed into LZ under Page's influence. Paige is an excellent guitarist, but if you look at the previous incarnations of the Yardbirds, his tenure was not nearly as good. The first two LZ albums were the best the band ever put out and were really good, but they consistently went downhill after those two. Their later stuff became really bogged down by Plant's overextending his vocals, and Page overdoing some of his solos in my view. They are really just an average band, excepting Pages work. Just compare them to the highly layered Jefferson Airplane/Starship, the spartan work of The Doors, and the incomparable instrumentation, studio work, lyrics, and originality of the Beatles. While I love the early LZ, I skip over most of their songs on my hard drive now. (Well, okay they're far above average!.)
I fucking HATE Led Zeppelin! I know that is an unpopular opinion to have, but to me their music is some of the most boring, overplayed, and completely overrated shit I've ever heard. Cock-rock at its finest AND worst. Almost every song of theirs has been played to death on the radio, and each time I am forced to hear one of their songs it elicits a most unfavorable response bordering on visceral.
In terms of the musical skill each member of the band possessed, I'd probably compare them favorably to the Beatles as well. However, in regards to What I guess I might call intangibles, like artistic vision, depth, creativity, I think The Beatles were substantially more gifted in those qualities. I love Led Zeppelin but one thing that I find weird is that aside from their BBC sessions, I don't like most of the live stuff I've heard from them.
Riverside Blues on that session is up there in my favorite Zeppelin songs, great sound from them on this album no doubt.
Well I never really cared listening to the radio unless it's NPR or Comedy. So no song has been overplayed aside from my own doing. Led zepplin has a lot of songs I'd rather skip than play imo, but then they also have a solid amount of masterpieces that virtually defined the 70s to me. Comparing Beatles to Zepplin is a little funny to me. Maybe in British and American culture it's a comparable greatness. But the beatles played their songs in german, spanish, french, and english and truly conquered the world in a way that no band has yet to repeat.
Hmmm... The Beatles also didn't tour for half their career, which I think world tours are generally the operative phrase when I think of a band "conquering the world." I think with Zeppelin's large, sprawling tours, they conquered the world in a way that had not been achieved at the time either. Whether or not there is any point to it, Comparing bands, albums, songs, legacy, etc. is just something music critics and fans alike do.
I just got thier 2 record set of that concert they did in 1973 for thier movie "THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME" -- It is fantastic!! The song 'DAZED AND CONFUSED' is 26 minutes long! (The only song on side 2 ) and the last song on side 4 'Whole lotta lovin'' is 14 Minutes!! Wow.... Ya cant find such good stuff anymore........ Nothing is pure anymore and thats sad..........
