Posted on 08/17/2006 8:20:27 PM PDT by Mr. Blonde
Thirty-seven years after Led Zeppelin's debut, their albums continue to sell in the millions, while their music inspires everyone from Aussie metalheads to Nashville punks
The studded leather bracelets and Napoleon Dynamite merchandise at Hot Topic target customers between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two—kids who weren't born when Led Zeppelin broke up in 1980. Nonetheless, the all-time top-selling band T-shirt at the chain's 700-plus mall stores is Zep's Swan Song tee—the one bearing the image of a naked, winged Apollo. "It's not like with the CBGB or Ramones T-shirts, where it was a fashion trend," says Cindy Levitt, vice president of music and marketing for Hot Topic. "Kids appreciate the music."
According to Nielsen Soundscan, Led Zeppelin have sold 20.2 million albums since 1990 alone. In the last four years, thirty-eight percent of all Zep sales were to fans under the age of twenty-five, according to the research firm NPD.
"There's almost a religious thing about Zeppelin—I got obsessed really badly when I was in high school," says Matthew Himes, a twenty-year-old college student from Los Angeles who has the four symbols from Led Zeppelin IV tattooed vertically along his right shoulder. "By my age, everyone has gone through their Zeppelin phase," adds twenty-one-year-old fan Dan Teicher, who credits the band with helping to lead him to major in music at Brown University.
Thirty-seven years after the release of Led Zeppelin I, the band also continues to inspire generations of musicians. "Led Zeppelin—I think that's the band we always looked toward," says Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament. The hot Australian trio Wolfmother draw on Seventies sources from Sabbath to the Stooges, but Andrew Stockdale's banshee vocals and the band's chordal riffs clearly pay tribute to Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.
At age thirteen, before Stockdale had even heard of the band, he used to wear a tie-dyed Zep T-shirt to junior-high dances to impress girls. Then, when he was eighteen, Stockdale got into Led Zeppelin III. "I said, 'If someone started a band now that was just like this, it would fucking go off,' " says the frontman, now twenty-eight. Stockdale, who sings about unicorns and carnivals on his band's debut, was especially intrigued by Plant's lyrical approach. "People go onstage and pour their hearts out and no one wants to hear it—why not sing about 'Gollum and his evil ways' instead?"
Even Nashville punks Be Your Own Pet, whose squawky teenage riot couldn't sound less like Houses of the Holy, credit Zep as a touchstone and titled a song on their debut album "Stairway to Heaven." "Everyone I know in music is into Zeppelin—they're just such a necessary band to know about," says eighteen-year-old BYOP guitarist Jonas Stein.
And while the original punks saw Zeppelin as irrelevant dinosaurs (Clash bassist Paul Simonon once said, "I don't have to hear Led Zeppelin—just looking at their record covers makes me want to throw up"), Stein finds that hard to understand. "If no one had told me otherwise, I would have thought that some of the punk stuff is sort of influenced by Zeppelin," he says. "They're solid, they're concrete. Zep's music will last forever."
It's a hard call. When I really want some good blues I pull out "Since I've Been Loving You".
I'm real partial to "Kashmir" on Graffiti though.
Frankly, there's only a few of their numbers I might not fully enjoy.
But then again I spent many hours at those late 70's midnight showings of "The Song Remains The Same" somewhat dazed and confused! lol
Because there's too many damn baby boomers!
I remember reading that the writer of Babe, I'm Going to Leave You had no idea Zeppelin had covered it. Many years later she played it for her family and they asked why she was singing a Zep song, and she said no, that was one of hers. I think she was rewarded quite well for the discovery. I think Willie Dixon ended up getting a piece of the pie too.
I don't think that is the only reason. 20 million records since 1990 is gaining a lot of new fans. I wish they would put their records on iTunes though. I have heard the reason is they think the albums should be heard as a whole, but that seems to be a cop out. Apple can certainly require you to buy the whole album. Seems like it would be worth it to Apple to cave in on that to add Zep, because unless they buy Apple Records they are never going to get The Beatles on the store.
I have seen it at the bookstore and considered it. However, I kind of like sticking to the rumors and myths surrounding the band. Especially after hearing Joe Perry's induction of them into the R&R HOF "Everything you have ever heard about Led Zeppeling is true. Mad, bad and dangerous to know."
LedZep is awesome...anytime they come on the radio, I play it loud. However, they were not the band that got me hooked. Rush gets the honors.
I can soo relate to that!
I wrote a song about Bilbo, Dr. Smith, and Elvis.
My latest one is about Cap-N-Crunch!
You think that people would have had enough of silly love songs!
Enjoy
Seven Dead Monkeys Page O Tunes
Cap-N-Crunch on myspace http://www.myspace.com/sevendeadmonkeys
Good article. I've thought a lot about what exactly is responsible for the incredible appeal of Zeppelin. I'm one of the under-25's who discovered them one day and got hooked. For starters, they just reek of rock and roll. So many other "rock" acts have descriptors in front. Punk rock, alternative, metal, southern rock, progressive rock, arena rock, grunge rock, blues rock, etc. If you had to explain the concept of "rock" to an extraterrestrial by playing one album, what album would be more appropriate than one by Led Zeppelin? (I'd choose II)
They have an aura of authenticity about them. They weren't commercial. Their albums have no "filler". I can identify a Zeppelin song instantly, even if I've never heard it before. It's heavy. It sounds like its being played live.
I guess it is hard to put my finger on it, but no other act even approaches Led Zeppelin.
I love When the Leevee Breaks. It is one those songs that demands to be played loud. And speaking of it, it is about to come on. Me and my buddies are playing pool, listening to Zep and drinking beer it is hard for life to get much better.
Led Zeppelin is one of the few bands that can be recognized immediately even if you haven't heard the song before. Very few bands have that today. Red Hot Chili Peppers do, and Audioslave do but not many others do.
They are one of the few hard rock/heavy metal bands that are listenable to those of us who normally don't listen to it. I grew up listening to stuff like the Smiths, the Cure and REM. It was only after I became an adult that I came to enjoy Zeppelin and early Metallica. And though I now mostly listen to bands that are even more alternative than what passes for Alternative these days, I still enjoy some Zep or Metallica (and now I hate the Smiths and the Cure, though early REM is still good). I have not been able to enjoy any other metal bands due to the singing (either balls-in-a-vise high, or puke-yer-guts-out grunting).
I remember some of the guys from Deep Purple saying that Led Zeppelin is the band that showed that heavy metal and hard rock wasn't how loud you played it is the attitude you played with.
Let's not forget the mindless screaming+better bunch.
It's not even rythmic screaming anymore. It's just ..... screaming.
I'm convinced that most of 'em get their inspiration by eating several jars of sliced jalepenos and wait until they have to answer nature's call.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!
(knock on the bathroom door) Dude! That was great! Let's put it on the next album!
Amen. And may I say, what a great profile. I thank you for your service to this great country.
I recall working as chief roadie at the Monsters of Rock festival in Sri Lanka. Ozzy Osborne refused to go on stage unless a brandy glass filled with green M&Ms was placed in his dressing room.
I left to find the only candy store on the island. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page came along for $h!ts and giggles. We get there and the place is locked! The only candy store on the island and locked. Robert Plant gets this crazy look in his eyes and smashes the glass door in with a dust bin and we quickly entered the store.
Suddenly we were confronted by the guard animal, which just happened to be a freakin Tiger! Can you imagine? A freakin Watch Tiger! We took out the Tiger with a can of mace. But the owner and his two sons...they were a different story. Jimmy Page beat them to death...with their own shoes.
Kashmir. I first heard this in Santa Barbara, Sao Paulo, Brasil.
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