I’ve been listening to Led Zeppelin on the treadmill and I’ve come to the realization that they might actually be underrated at this point in time? Those first like five albums go incredibly hard
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Hey man ABBA’s great, but this is also getting at their strength - JPJ and Bingham could have been *in* ABBA if they wanted to. They’re incredibly versatile players who grew up listening to soul records so they can swing when they need to. Far from the stereotype of hard rock guys.
I stand by my statement that ABBA was as important to the disco genre as the Bee Gees, Gloria Gaynor, The Village People, Olivia Newton John, Bonney M, Isaac Hayes, etc.
Outside of America, ABBA is one of the most successful and top selling bands of all time
It’s fine if you don’t like them, but they’re not some shitty band. They’ve inspired countless other artists and have been sampled and remixed thousands of times
I suppose you’re a Coldplay fan? Making out Zeppelin were almost good enough to be in ABBA was the biggest load of cack I’ve ever read. ABBA are vastly overrated.
They were unique, great harmonists, interesting and catchy melodies. Musical geniuses? Benny was (is) clever and gifted but I’ll draw the line at genius.
Led Zeppelin on the treadmill?
Plant would probably do the most distance. Although Bonham would be a force to be reckoned with in his prime. Page would be the straggler.
As the story goes, album IV was in response to some-nobody complaining that album III was decidedly lacking compared to albums I and II; they claimed Led Zep had run out of great music to offer.
Try Them Crooked Vultures. Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, and John Paul Jones of Zep. You might dig them. Recently rediscovered them and they are rocking my world at the moment.
Perhaps people that have only heard their most popular songs and haven't listened to the records, especially a lot of the material on the ones after IV?
Exactly what happened with a friend, 12yrs younger than I, when I introduced her to the less popular, "wasn't really played on radio" cuts. She's a fan now.
I will evangelize about Led Zeppelin til the end of my days. 💜
I was only relating my experience with early LZ music& exposure smoking weed in 1984 with my friends, hiding deep in the woods with a boom box wearing grooves into III and IV tapes.
It was only as an adult that I discovered the "B-sides" like "In The Light", then I truly saw the light!
In my early teens, I loved ‘Going to California’, I was on the east coast and part of a huge family. It seemed like it would be heaven to just go to CA by myself and get away from them all! I’ve been listening to LZ for over 50 years and I never get tired of the music.
I knew some of their music as a teenager, but really only came to love their stuff in my forties. (Except STH, which was the last song of the night at every high school dance.
"This incredibly popular band with decades of cultural reach and fame is such a hidden gem" is one of those takes that is so ludicrously bizarre that I genuinely have to wonder about the guy who tweeted it.
And the fact that he has no clue about all the musicians they stole their music from. This guy is why history keeps repeating itself. Typical of his demographic.
As a teen I thought the liner sleeve that changed colors with a little water on ITtOD was soooo cool! I had II, III, IV and didn't mind the shift, it was something fresh at the time and made all the hard core fans apoplectic!
They certainly didn’t get the publicity of earlier groups like the Beatles or even the Stones. By the time they came up, hard rock was headed toward niche FM listenership so it may have appeared underrated but they took American blues to places never seen before or since.
I used to hate Led Zep, largely because of Plant's vocals. I'm still not a Robert Plant fan, and I'm not that big on Jimmy Page either, but I've come to the conclusion that John Bonham is the greatest rock drummer of all time. He was the backbone of those first 5 albums.
Disagree. JPJ is the underrated genius. He kept that base in perfect sync with Page’s impetuous guitar tantrums—the guy was the carpet that Page could float on top of effortlessly
They definitely were not underrated when I was in college, which was…um, a “short” time ago…But everyone knew them. Now I work at a college, and my students either love them Led Zeppelin or have never heard of them. So yes, sadly underrated now
I'm a major Zep fan, but today I am listening to a playlist of curated Phish JAM SONGS as I down coffee and work to have folks call their Senators to oppose Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard and JFK Jr...
During HS/college and my first dibblings w/pot, when Led Zeppelin played, I would get so paranoid. I mean, wanting to hide in a dark corner and speak to no one paranoid. To this day, when certain Zeppelin songs play, I go straight to flashback horror! Good times! Ha
to be fair..I haven't read the books..seen the movies and I am very much aware the books are better. They alway are in any movie based on them. I'm sure those books are the only place ever to have written that sentence down on paper.
They got SOOOOO OVERPLAYED on "classic rock" stations in the 80s and early 90s. I think people got sick of hearing them for a while. The hubs and I were just enjoying "The Rain Song" on the weekend.
You’re both right. Lennon told Page the problem with the band was that they had no ballads. So, they wrote The Rain Song AND took those first few chords as a “fuck you” to the Beatles.
I’m still convinced that they also said a special FU to the Allman Brothers with Ramble On. Listen to Page’s little riffs in the middle of the song—he can play that shit too, and then some.
Robert Plant considers it their best example of musicianship.
I love the rhythm....you can "see" the elephants and camels walking thru canyon passages.
The lyrics are other worldly.
Classic Rock stations played LZ in high rotation because the LISTENERS wanted to hear them. For decades, Stairway and Kashmir were amongst the most in-demand tracks on FM request lines across the nation.
You shoulda been there.. FM radio was fairly new in a lot of places, but WLS out of Chicago could be picked up after dark. Incredible zeitgeist. I still have the vinyl (-;
I was all over - USAF brat.. SC, OK, TN, NC, TX - remember begging for a ‘real’ radio instead of the 4” transistor (you know, the one Van Morrison sang about) in the 9th grade..
Sorry, digression is my super power.
Huh. I've always felt that they were way overrated. Other than stairway to heaven, and lonely night, there's not a single one of their songs I would request given the chance. My judgement was massively impacted by the live, "The song remains the same" show. That grossed me out at 14y.🤮
Is this a "joke"? One of the all time greatest bands in rock and Roll history is only "underrated" by a moron who thinks the Patridge Family is cutting edge.
I was obsessed as a teenager (thanks to my dad, who was obsessed and saw them live as a teenager) and have largely forgotten them as an adult but... maybe I needed this reminder
I loved one through four. I saw them on their first tour after the release of their first album. They were tight, entertaining, and timely. They played the second album live. Jimmy Page and his guitar bow. Quite loud.
Underrated? You’re being sarcastic, yes? They are still regarded as one of the best rock bands of all time. @rollingstone.com just rated Jimmy Page in the top 5 best guitarists of all time.
I'm not trying to be critical of the band, but I would be happy to never hear another Zeppelin song ever again. They're just too overplayed, even to this day, which argues against the notion that they could possibly be underrated.
Nj. We get Philly and New York radio. 94.1 Krock or Philly 93.3 WMMR. They used to both be rock stations but honestly I'm having a brain fart as to which one it was on.. I still live in New Jersey and fun fact I work for a company that our division is based out of Rochester.
I loved them back in the day. I saw them at a day on the green in Oakland CA. I vaguely recall. But the second time I went to see them it was a total bust. Robert Plant was so drunk he couldn’t stand up and fell down trying to sing, they shut it down and left the stage. 25k pissed off people!
Not my cup of tea, but no one can reasonably say that they were a bad band, or even a mediocre one.
There’s just that thing about them - ahem - “borrowing” other people’s work without giving proper credit.
Also, they’re a perfect case for the whole “great art made by horrible people” conversation.
Still underrated, and under-appreciated. I mean, we should be hearing "No Quarter" or "Tangerine" five hundred times each for every minute of, say, Aerosmith or ZZ Top that gets played anywhere. And those bands are pretty good!
Depends what city you're in and what station you're listening to. Robert plant said stairway to heaven was flogged to death on American radio and he was right. Physical graffiti, presence, live stuff is the only thing not played to death daily on fm radio
That's as may be, but I'm speaking theoretically -- I probably do need to hear plenty of bad songs every day so as to appreciate the good. But there are a LOT of Zeppelin songs in the first five albums that are not played much.
And, purely objectively, "Stairway to Heaven" is literally 1,000 times more awesome than even the second-best thing that gets played regularly. "Iron Man"? "Aqualung"?
It is but it's such a ...... journey, that song. Your mean play it 1000 times so other people can discover it? That I'm down with but in the course of my life I've heard so many times it takes some of the greatness out of it somehow
Always authentic. No click tracks, no pro tools, no auto tune, no samples, no background tracks, no elaborate stage show etc. They came out and gave everything they had for three hours, took huge risks. Music is too antiseptic now.
It’s amazing how many nominally liberal men are willing to overlook the abuse perpetrated by their idols. It gives them zero credibility as a serious person and as an ally.
This definitely needs proof if you’re going to say something like that. Not that I’m saying you’re making it up at all….just put an article or something to back it up.
Robert Plant is one of the best vocalists of all time. I am a huge fan of his. He has continued to change and grow, dabbling in various genres and collaborations. I’ve seen him three times now!
Dazed and Confused is highly overrated. It just drones on and on. The rest is as good as it gets. Remember the first time listening to LZ II and Whole Lotta Love. Still moves me to this day.
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They were on the cutting edge of a new musical genre/style. If you don’t like disco I get it, but if you listen to their stuff it’s fuckin tight
Rock has been on the ‘pop’ charts.
Has no one told you that ‘pop’ is an ever shifting umbrella term to describe what’s hot at the moment? It’s not a concrete name for a specific genre.
1/2
It’s fine if you don’t like them, but they’re not some shitty band. They’ve inspired countless other artists and have been sampled and remixed thousands of times
Plant would probably do the most distance. Although Bonham would be a force to be reckoned with in his prime. Page would be the straggler.
Welcome.
Absolute masterpieces of music
😁
Fucking suits.
As the story goes, album IV was in response to some-nobody complaining that album III was decidedly lacking compared to albums I and II; they claimed Led Zep had run out of great music to offer.
😂
Answering that nonsense with Black Dog!! 🤘🏼😆
Some-nobody had no idea!
The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom and walked the night alone🎶
Sing to the morning light
...and justice for all. Every song hits home right now.
I will evangelize about Led Zeppelin til the end of my days. 💜
It was only as an adult that I discovered the "B-sides" like "In The Light", then I truly saw the light!
😆🤘
https://youtu.be/8P09rxVaQAM?si=LSSX6eVqVoqOCSlO
https://youtu.be/w772GXG5LnE?si=AeKzPUuTlGRE0yXX
What? What does this sentence mean?
https://youtu.be/12KbOAc8vmk?si=ryEfgEze6yqQC_DD
JB was incredible in his own right.
Page was genius
Plant was simply hot. Timelessly so.
Best of all time? No sir, that's Neil Peart, and It ain't even close to ANYONE
Obviously the Beatles are the greatest band of that era.
This song right here has so many "mood swings."
https://youtu.be/jdQneLqL5JU?si=QpHkRbacQrmkgkLT
I’ll pass.
Ramble On is the worst, but they say Stairway was about Hobbits too.
The first line in the song is a reference to the line "all that is gold does not glitter" which is in a famous poem about Elves.
Enjoy listening to teenagers singing about Hobbits.
also I found this..con't..
And damn, so good. Glad you mentioned it. ✌🏼
And that the first two chords were more a sly tribute than an FU.
Guess there are a bunch of variations to the story. Cool which ever way it happened. Great song.
I love the rhythm....you can "see" the elephants and camels walking thru canyon passages.
The lyrics are other worldly.
I know. I was there.
As CR benchmarks go, you picked 2 of the best.
If anybody ever watched it beyond the Queen scene.
Presence is underrated, though.
The kids they do not ramble.
Sorry, digression is my super power.
STILL AMAZING
Vinyls I can’t wait to keep for my kids and grankids so we can go through a musical bonding experience
https://archive.org/details/led-zeppelin-immigrant-song-official-audio
I hadn't checked this site out yet.
Led Zep 1 Magnificant
Led Zep 2 Terrific
…..and so on
It's strangely cathartic as well as a good leg workout
Led Zeppelin is amazing to this day.
Def the spiritual successor of Zep imo
Got to see them live and was expecting the great music but the whole show was magnificent 10/10
To build a dream for me and you
They choose the path where no one goes....
Zep is the real.
There’s just that thing about them - ahem - “borrowing” other people’s work without giving proper credit.
Also, they’re a perfect case for the whole “great art made by horrible people” conversation.
Is that the way it ought to stay?" That song was ahead of it's time.