I’m gonna get so much hate for this, but I think Led Zeppelin is the most preposterously overrated band of all time. I get why Rolling Stone loves them, for their anthems to anal sex and whores, but I don’t get why non-perv, non-drug addicts like them so much. I’m not even saying the reason I don’t like them is because I disapprove of the lyrical content; I’m saying that’s the only reason I can imagine why anyone thinks they’re so great (besides Robert Plant’s incredible voice).
They have four great songs: Stairway, Immigrant Song, Kashmir and Rock’n’Roll. Besides that? Black Dog, a marching cadence with spastic guitar interludes? The simulated orgasm of Whole Lotta Love? A pile of mediocre roots plagiarisms?
Good Times, Bad Times has great drumming and starts off like it’s going to be totally kick ass, but the refrain fails to pay off. Going to California? When the Levee Breaks? Meh,
When the Levee Breaks is a cover of a 1920's (?) blues song. Many bands have covered that, and I love the song--probably because I like the blues.
Dread Zeppelin's version is pretty good.
Led Zeppelin controversy here.
When I was one of the biggest fans of Creem* I was crushed when they broke up and never accepted the recording industry’s replacement band Led Zeppelin.
As Eric Clapton said of them “I can’t really stand hearing all that high pitched singing.” He respected former bandmate in the Yardbirds, Jimmy Page, though. I also just listen for the guitar work in all those ubiquitous hits that are now classics of rock.
* I coordinated by vacation from work at the library to travel to NYC to see the first tour of the new band Creem.
Note: not the brief appearance on the long bill of groups like Mitch Ryder, the Young Rascals and Simon and Garfunkle on March 25, 1967, at the RKO Keith Theater on 58th and 3rd Ave in New York City, when Cream and The Who both made their live debut in America.
The first US tour as headliners.
Reporter to snarly drummer Ginger Baker: “How do you like the US so far?”
Baker: “That’s an idiotic question. We saw the airport and now we’re in here. What the f-— could we have an opinion about?”