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Were Led Zeppelin a heavy rock band or were they in fact a pioneer of heavy metal (along with Black Sabbath)?

There appears to be some division over whether this band was a heavy, blues influenced Rock and Roll band or whether they along with others were at the forefront of a new genre later dubbed heavy metal.


Your thoughts? Also let's dicuss your favourite tunes released by this highly influential band.

I consider them to have been a blues based, heavy rock band, at least in the early days. Now Black Sabbath was, to me, a prototypical metal band.

jps wrote:I consider them to have been a blues based, heavy rock band, at least in the early days. Now Black Sabbath was, to me, a prototypical metal band.

That mirrors my thoughts as well.

Have to go with everyone else. Zeppelin was a blues based, hard rock band.

phlemmy wrote:

jps wrote:I consider them to have been a blues based, heavy rock band, at least in the early days. Now Black Sabbath was, to me, a prototypical metal band.

That mirrors my thoughts as well.

Ditto. There's also the acoustic side of Zep that doesn't really fit the "Metal" tag. One of my favorite Rock recordings is Led Zeppelin III with tracks like "Friends", "That's The Way" and "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" and I really like "Boogie With Stu" and "Black Country Woman" from Physical Graffiti; can't really see a true Metal band going in that direction.

However, for my money there's never been a better Hard Rock riff ever recorded than "Black Dog" from Zoso! To this day, it still makes the hair stand up on my neck and gives me an adrenaline rush.....and I've heard that riff maybe 10,000 times.

I never was much of a Robert Plant fan - always thought of him as a male Janis Joplin wanna-be - but the thing that made that band what it was was the ryhthm section of Bonham/Jones. Without Bonham, I don't believe they would have been as revered but still would have been a very good band. John Henry Bonham was a freak of nature and one of the most powerful and distinctive drummers in all of Rock history, IMHO. The influence that man had on an entire generation is mind boggling; the only other guy that I can think of in the same sphere of influence was Keith Moon.

JP Jones...well, what can you say about that guy that probably hasn't already been said? A Musician's musician if there ever was one. Jimmy Page was certainly a master craftsman in the studio but his live work was a little hit or miss; some nights he was absolutely brilliant and on others, the most sloppy guitarist alive. That's the appeal of Jimmy Page - a guy who let it all hang out and played from the heart. He epitomized what a Hard Rock guitarist should look like and sound like during the '70s, IMHO.

Led Zeppelin was the band of my teenage years and probably provided the soundtrack to countless numbers of other's lives during their heyday. However, their swan song for me was when the band released In Through The Out Door; should have called it In Through The Out House. Next to Coda though, it sounded like a masterpiece.

I also say Blues based, Hard Rock Band - but as mentioned, there was alot of acoustic stuff that to me is certainly worth another listen for those who haven't play it in a while.
I admit I played their stuff to death in the 70's and loved every minute of it

I remember late nights at parties listening to cuts like "No Quarter" ...we played pretty extensively back in those days at our High School parties and much of it was Led Zepplin by request. Mike I completely understand what you are saying about "Black Dog"

OK,

So we appear to have a concensus. They are a blues based heavy rock band. Great to hear that now I feel like I can talk about them without stepping on anyones toes

Some of my favourite songs are (not in any particular order):


You Shook Me
Good Times Bad Times
Going to California
Black Dog
Ramble On
Stairway to Heaven
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
How Many More Times
Whole Lotta Love
Heartbreaker
Ramble On
What Is And What Never Should Be
Misty Mountain Hop
D'yer Mak'er

Just to name a few. Yes It's true..........I like this band, particularly their early material.

What about that obscure band called Black Zep who penned that incredible tune Warpigs On A Stairway To Hell ?

I was never a huge Led Zeppelin fan. When everyone I knew was into listening to Zep, I was discovering bands like Grand Funk Railroad, Alice Cooper, CCR and the James Gang. I didn't really have an appreciation for the Blues at that time. Led Zeppelin was a Hard Rock band with roots in, and influenced by the Blues. As they progressed, they lost most of the bluesy quality of their music (some of their harder edge, also). My favorite Led Zeppelin albums would have to be IV and Houses of the Holy.

I agree that Zeppelin was a blues based, hard rock band, however, back in the day, they were very much categorized in the same music genre as Black Sabbath. The same for bands like Aerosmith. Led Zeppelin was referred to as a heavy metal band many times. Though they were not a metal band, they pretty heavy much of the time and were a big influence on metal bands to come.

As great a band that Led Zeppelin was, how much I loved their music and JPJ was a great influence on my bass playing, I can't think of band that I am more burnt out on and tired of hearing. A very close second would be the Rolling Stones.

No way that Led Zep was a heavy metal band at all. I was really into them in high school and was crushed when John Bonham died. I absolutely loved "Since I've Been Loving You", "The Rain Song", and "Kashmir" and the bass line to "Black Dog" used to (and still) gives me fits. Having said that, their later stuff (from Presence on) just doesn't interest me at all. When I saw Page and Plant at Live Aid in Philly, I thought Jimmy was going to fall off the stage during "Stairway to Heaven" because he was staggering so much. Kinda disappointing.

Tough question. They were never faves of mine and this didn't help. I knew Page changed one word and put his name on Willie Dixon's song (changed You Need Love into Whole Lotta Love, and in so doing just totally swiped someone else's song. And I've heard the original version of Dazed And Confused, which is exactly the same as Zep's, musta been a mistake when he put his name down on that one, too, eh?):
http://www.furious.com/perfect/jimmypage.html

I've always wondered why Led Zeppelin is always seen as the "first" to do heavy metal when so many others were cranking up the amps before that band was even formed. It's not like Hendrix was strumming a folk guitar... And however we decide to define "heavy metal", it's hard to compare the music of a metal band to that of Led Zeppelin.

Led Zeppelin's strategy and their sound was admittedly based on the success of The Jeff Beck Group (Jeff Beck, Ron Wood, Carmen Appice and Rod Stewart) on their stadium tour of the USA. Jimmy Page and Peter Grant followed along with that tour, watching how Beck's new group played blues-based songs that were written and performed to appeal to a stadium setting. They were to be The New Yardbirds, but the name change came about because of the drastic difference in the sound they now had. And of course it was Keith Moon who said something about "going over like a lead zeppelin".

studiotwosession wrote:Tough question. They were never faves of mine and this didn't help. I knew Page changed one word and put his name on Willie Dixon's song (changed You Need Love into Whole Lotta Love, and in so doing just totally swiped someone else's song. And I've heard the original version of Dazed And Confused, which is exactly the same as Zep's, musta been a mistake when he put his name down on that one, too, eh?):
http://www.furious.com/perfect/jimmypage.html

And when they did acknowledge Dixon, they put his name last. All you youngsters can nitpick the metal thing, but WE called them metal in the early seventies. Just because the tone and style of the genre changed, doesn't mean they weren't a part of it.

charlyg wrote:All you youngsters can nitpick the metal thing, but WE called them metal in the early seventies.

Back then I just called it rock music.