I'm weird in that I liked these guys way more than any Boomers I ever knew. But I also thought they got considerably better as they went. Physical Graffiti, Houses of the Holy, and, no, I'm not kidding, In Through the Out Door, are my favorite albums by them. It was a shame they called it quits so early, but I have to give them credit for knowing it would never be the same without these four specific guys. They are just that kind of band.
Never quite got the hate beyond hipster rock haters who think "stealing" isn't how Blues got off the ground in the first place. If you think they stole you need to listen to more plagiarized songs. They're far more egregious than anything these guys did.
I agree that Zeppelin got better. I’m with you—I even like In Through the Out Door. Hell, by the third album, they’d already proved they were multi-dimensional, and while the 4th album was a return to more bone-crunching rock (with plenty of acoustic stuff), all bets were off with Houses of the Holy, which was essentially an experimental prog album, or as prog as Zeppelin ever got (a few songs on Presence and In Through the Out Door aside).
You also make a good point about “stealing.” Zeppelin’s crime, which I agree is bad, was just not crediting the original artists. Just give credit and no one will be upset.
Your point about Zeppelin quitting when Bonham died is also spot on. There’s no way this band could have continued absent any one of its members. As good as the individual parts were, the band was truly greater than the sum of its parts. To be fair, the 2007 reunion with Jason Bonham on drums was shockingly good, much better than it had any right to be.
I'm probably much less a Zep fan than most people who love classic rock as much as I do, beyond Stairway and When the Levee Breaks a lot of it just doesn't speak to me. But Led Zeppelin I is a special album to me, I found it for sale in a little record shop in Italy when I was in high school. Amazing, heavy, psychedelic blues.
Psychedelic blues is a good way of putting it. This and parts of the second album are as psychedelic as Zeppelin ever got. You’re not the first person I’ve heard say that this first album is, in their opinion, Zeppelin’s best.
A side note: Led Zeppelin is the one rock band many people I know who don’t otherwise like rock music love. I always found that interesting and kind of strange.
A lot of actual blues acts attempted psychedelic blues albums in the late 60s that tend to be considered their low points, it took young Brits to pull it off. Very different band, but Spacemen 3 has some awesome stoned blues songs from early in their career.
That's funny, I always say U2 is the favorite band of people who don't listen to music and the big concert for people who don't go to concerts. No offense to U2.
I'm weird in that I liked these guys way more than any Boomers I ever knew. But I also thought they got considerably better as they went. Physical Graffiti, Houses of the Holy, and, no, I'm not kidding, In Through the Out Door, are my favorite albums by them. It was a shame they called it quits so early, but I have to give them credit for knowing it would never be the same without these four specific guys. They are just that kind of band.
Never quite got the hate beyond hipster rock haters who think "stealing" isn't how Blues got off the ground in the first place. If you think they stole you need to listen to more plagiarized songs. They're far more egregious than anything these guys did.
I agree that Zeppelin got better. I’m with you—I even like In Through the Out Door. Hell, by the third album, they’d already proved they were multi-dimensional, and while the 4th album was a return to more bone-crunching rock (with plenty of acoustic stuff), all bets were off with Houses of the Holy, which was essentially an experimental prog album, or as prog as Zeppelin ever got (a few songs on Presence and In Through the Out Door aside).
You also make a good point about “stealing.” Zeppelin’s crime, which I agree is bad, was just not crediting the original artists. Just give credit and no one will be upset.
Your point about Zeppelin quitting when Bonham died is also spot on. There’s no way this band could have continued absent any one of its members. As good as the individual parts were, the band was truly greater than the sum of its parts. To be fair, the 2007 reunion with Jason Bonham on drums was shockingly good, much better than it had any right to be.
I'm probably much less a Zep fan than most people who love classic rock as much as I do, beyond Stairway and When the Levee Breaks a lot of it just doesn't speak to me. But Led Zeppelin I is a special album to me, I found it for sale in a little record shop in Italy when I was in high school. Amazing, heavy, psychedelic blues.
Psychedelic blues is a good way of putting it. This and parts of the second album are as psychedelic as Zeppelin ever got. You’re not the first person I’ve heard say that this first album is, in their opinion, Zeppelin’s best.
A side note: Led Zeppelin is the one rock band many people I know who don’t otherwise like rock music love. I always found that interesting and kind of strange.
A lot of actual blues acts attempted psychedelic blues albums in the late 60s that tend to be considered their low points, it took young Brits to pull it off. Very different band, but Spacemen 3 has some awesome stoned blues songs from early in their career.
That's funny, I always say U2 is the favorite band of people who don't listen to music and the big concert for people who don't go to concerts. No offense to U2.
Hah! I can see that re: U2. They have a universal appeal. No knock against them!