Led Zeppelin

Is that a massive custom guitar or is that guy shorter than Sabrina Carpenter?
 
LZ gets a lot of grief for ripping of old blues guys...which they did. Page gets grief for his sloppy live playing...which he did. But even so, their contributions to rock n roll is substantial in so many ways that overwhelm those flaws. So I vote "no", they were not overrated.
 
As we all know, the real reason for the lasting appeal of Led Zeppelin is Robert Plant's tantalizing vocal ad-libs, or 'Plantations' as they're fondly known. Who can forget "does anyone remember laughter?", "PUSH! PUSH!", or - my favorite - "Oh Jimmy!"

 
There are 2 rock ‘n’ roll bands that come to mind for being hugely successful while plagiarizing a lot of their musical ideas, Led Zeppelin and Oasis. Of course, they aren’t the only bands who’ve stolen ideas, but they are 2 that became very popular while stealing ideas from a wide variety of artists.

Despite all the bad behavior from members of both those bands, I still enjoy their music. It takes talent to make music popular with listeners, even when you factor in plagiarism.

As Kirby Ferguson says in his YT videos, “Everything Is A Remix.” Nothing gets created in a vacuum. Ideas are built upon what came before. True innovation is stealing from multiple sources at once, and building upon it to create an amalgam that is something new. I think both bands did a fair amount of that as well.

Are they overrated? Maybe. Any band that gets big suffers from over saturation and backlash.
 
jrockbridge said:
There are 2 rock ‘n’ roll bands that come to mind for being hugely successful while plagiarizing a lot of their musical ideas, Led Zeppelin and Oasis. Of course, they aren’t the only bands who’ve stolen ideas, but they are 2 that became very popular while stealing ideas from a wide variety of artists.
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I agree that Led Zeppelin used, borrowed and stole a lot of their ideas from blues artists. They weren't the only ones. The majority of rock bands in that era did. They definitely highjacked the Stairway to Heaven riff. That said, no other bands sounded like Led Zeppelin in their hey day. The ideas they took sounded nothing like the originals after they had been 'Zeppified'. They had 8 records in a row with no filler tunes. To compare a band that 'Gretta Van Fleeted' The Beatles for all of their 2 hits is ludicrous. You may as well compare Oasis to Black Sabbath.
 
I like LZ a lot and always have, but that doesn't mean I think they're beyond reproach musically. and they are frequently silly and self-indulgent.
 
Andrew Sak said:
To compare a band that 'Gretta Van Fleeted' The Beatles for all of their 2 hits is ludicrous. You may as well compare Oasis to Black Sabbath.
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Oasis and Zeppelin are only similar in the way they plagiarized entire song ideas while coming up with new lyrics, all while becoming hugely popular worldwide. In Zep’s case, they even plagiarized lyrics in a few instances. Otherwise, they are not comparably similar. But, I never suggested that they were musically, nor lyrically, similar.

Greta Van Fleet stole riffs and the Zep aesthetic. They did not plagiarize entire musical ideas. They ripped fragments. The problem is that they relied too heavily on one source for their inspiration, so they ended up sounding like a cheap copy of the original. Now, that they’ve split off into other projects, perhaps they’ll get a wider variety influence in other directions and create some truly unique music.

Of course, other bands plagiarize and have plagiarized. I said as much. But, few bands have become popular throughout the world while doing it. As I mentioned, “Everything Is A Remix.” Every band stands on the shoulders of giants. All art and technology builds on what came before.

I like Zep better than Oasis. Yet, both bands stole entire musical song ideas from a variety of sources.

If we’re going to complain about bands who borrowed ideas from the Beatles, the list will get long. But, how many of them were a huge success?

Burt Bacharach took it as a compliment when Noel Gallagher ripped off the music from one of his songs to create an Oasis song. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Coca-Cola was not flattered and took legal action for Noel lifting from their jingle.
 
Would you admit in company - boast even - "I love Robert Plant's Big Log"?

Have those words ever passed your lips?
 
I never got to see Led Zeppelin live. One of my older brothers, and one of my older sisters, got to see them in concert. Both said the live show was disappointing. They were hit or miss as a live band.

I watched the Zep reunion on TV during the broadcast of Live Aid. The first two songs were rough with Page’s guitar out of tune, Plant’s voice off key, and Phil Collins fucking up on drums. Yet, they somewhat pulled it together for Stairway at the end of the performance.

I saw Page and Paul Rogers live with the Firm. Their performance was good, but the stadium in Phoenix had lousy acoustics.

I saw Plant tour with The Honey Drippers. It was a good show.

I got to see 2 tours of Page & Plant live. Both were very different and interesting. The 2nd tour, Plant messed up the lyrics to a Zep song during the live performance at Red Rocks. He stopped the band. He told the audience he messed up the words, but it felt like he was giving a performance in his living room, the venue feeling very intimate, so he would simply start again. They started over and nailed it.
 
jrockbridge said:
Oasis and Zeppelin are only similar in the way they plagiarized entire song ideas while coming up with new lyrics, all while becoming hugely popular worldwide. In Zep’s case, they even plagiarized lyrics in a few instances. Otherwise, they are not comparably similar. But, I never suggested that they were musically, nor lyrically, similar.

Greta Van Fleet stole riffs and the Zep aesthetic. They did not plagiarize entire musical ideas. They ripped fragments. The problem is that they relied too heavily on one source for their inspiration, so they ended up sounding like a cheap copy of the original. Now, that they’ve split off into other projects, perhaps they’ll get a wider variety influence in other directions and create some truly unique music.

Of course, other bands plagiarize and have plagiarized. I said as much. But, few bands have become popular throughout the world while doing it. As I mentioned, “Everything Is A Remix.” Every band stands on the shoulders of giants. All art and technology builds on what came before.

I like Zep better than Oasis. Yet, both bands stole entire musical song ideas from a variety of sources.

If we’re going to complain about bands who borrowed ideas from the Beatles, the list will get long. But, how many of them were a huge success?

Burt Bacharach took it as a compliment when Noel Gallagher ripped off the music from one of his songs to create an Oasis song. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Coca-Cola was not flattered and took legal action for Noel lifting from their jingle.
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I consider Led Zeppelin to be one on the biggest bands to ever exist. I'm not alone in this thought. There's no way they stole 8 records, or anywhere near that, worth of material. And yes, "they wrote half of the riffs ever". If you want to compare a band to them, even for negative purposes, please use a more worthy band than Oasis. They were a dime a dozen MTV band back in the day. If there was a huge, Led Zeppelin size phenomenon surrounding them, I missed that boat.
 
Andrew Sak said:
I consider Led Zeppelin to be one on the biggest bands to ever exist. I'm not alone in this thought. There's no way they stole 8 records, or anywhere near that, worth of material. And yes, "they wrote half of the riffs ever". If you want to compare a band to them, even for negative purposes, please use a more worthy band than Oasis. They were a dime a dozen MTV band back in the day. If there was a huge, Led Zeppelin size phenomenon surrounding them, I missed that boat.
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Your stanning of Zep is noted. Your distaste for Oasis is obvious.

Zep was a great band that created great music. Even their plagiarism songs brought those tunes to greater heights. I’m a fan. Yet, as @bsman posted, “…that doesn't mean I think they're beyond reproach musically. and they are frequently silly and self-indulgent.”
 
jrockbridge said:
Your stanning of Zep is noted. Your distaste for Oasis is obvious.

Zep was a great band that created great music. Even their plagiarism songs brought those tunes to greater heights. I’m a fan. Yet, as @bsman posted, “…that doesn't mean I think they're beyond reproach musically. and they are frequently silly and self-indulgent.”
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Silly and self-indulgent pretty much sums up the 70s.
 
shoeless said:
Silly and self-indulgent pretty much sums up the 70s.
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