Re: Who vs. Zep sales

[Scott Swanson <swandwn@agora.rdrop.com>]

mleaman@sccoast.net (Mark Leaman) wrote:

> This brings up the point I made on the newsgroup, and I suppose I should
> repeat it here: album sales have nothing to do with who is the "better" 
> band (which is where this all started). If that were the case, M 
> Jackson and Hootie would be the greatest bands going right now...and 
> we know that isn't true.

That's true to a certain degree, but look at long-term album sales.  Both 
Zep and The Who continue to sell, but "Thriller" sold most of its 24 
million copies in the '80s (and his most recent albums have been 
disappointments, sales-wise), and Hootie will be lucky if their 2nd 
(actually 5th) album sells 1/3 as much as _Cracked Rear View_.

>I have to judge a band like this: performance (The Who knew no rivals here)

Disagreed.

>and innovation (a moot point in a Who VS Zep debate) 

Agreed.

> and finally influence
> (and here The Who scores big...with bands like Pearl Jam, The Sex Pistols,
> Green Day, The Clash, and so on and so forth...whereas Zepplin gave us a
> deluge of formula-Rock bands like Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, etc.).
> Therefore...

No, I'd have to disagree here.  A lot of those formula, "hair bands" were 
Led-Clones (to quote Gary Moore).  They weren't just *influenced* by Zep; 
they copied Zep (and even then they couldn't get it right). 

Besides, you left out some of the other artists who were influenced or
inspired by Led Zeppelin, including Aerosmith, Rush, Van Halen, Neil Young, 
Tori Amos, Heart, Dream Theater, Phish, etc.

Later,

Scott
(swandwn@agora.rdrop.com)