They did wonders with some of those numbers.
Delta Blues, Gospel, Country and Appalachian folk are all the groundworks of rock and roll and later rock which Led Zepplin epitomizes
what you don't understand was that no one had done this before...Yardbirds and Cream touched on it but Zepplin really mastered the genre of medieval sounding trippy blues rock..like no one else
are they overplayed...hell yes
were they good live>...no...not to me..poor actually
Pink Floyd...a band one would think would have issues replicating their studio sounds actually recreated it live better than LZ
Best recreation I ever saw...was Jethro Tull's Aqualung tour in 1972 as well
and btw...I am hardly cool..I'm old...you can't be old and cool
Led Zeppelin, like all bands and artists, built on the works of others. Their music is at it’s core, rock and roll. But you’re right that they fused blues, jazz, and many other genres into every song. Fusion Rock is just better than pure rock and roll because it allows for sophisticated compositions that permit the fan to listen over and over again.
“and btw...I am hardly cool..I’m old...you can’t be old and cool”
The absolute truth. My 17 yr old niece once opined that I thought I was cool and I replied That I wouldn’t bother trying to be cool since no one over twenty CAN be cool PERIOD (and twentyfive is pushing it).
A short inside note on Jethro Tull’s Aqualung....
A friend of mine is a mastering engineer in LA and was contracted to re-master “Aqualung”. However, he could not locate the true original master tapes but kept searching.
His phone rang one morning at an early 4AM with Ian Anderson on the other end saying (in his best English accent)...”I found the master tapes in my garage and will send them to you straightaway.”
Well, it was funny when my friend told me and how a section of “Aqualung” master tape had stretched and required a splice from a 2nd gen tape.