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Re: BBE vs. STH/Popularity




Brad, Re:

> I thought that saying BBE was a greater
> song than STH was possibly true, but saying morever that STH was
> absolutely ridiculous and pathetic showed that the poster had blinders
> on.

and Re:

> However, to then claim that STH is
> ridiculous, and that Led Zep made fools of themselves... well, that's
> just crazy.

Brad, don't get me wrong.  I didn't write that STH was `absolutely' ridiculous.
If you say that it's a great song, I'll agree with you insofar as it really is
a great pop/soft rock/music for the masses song.  However, it's not what I
expect to hear from the blues and rock band I consider Zep to be.

IMHO, STH isn't honest, and it doesn't convince me at all.  It was a great
publicity trick:  Look, we have the perfect radio airplay song, but we won't
release it as a single - you'll have to buy our album to get it, and then
you'll get used to the other songs that represent the music we really like to
play.

Personally, I like every song of the first four Zep albums except for STH.  Ok,
when I listened to STH for the first time, I considered it as a decent and
remarkable song.  But from the second time on, I became more and more impatient
during the `melodic' part, nervously waiting for the short blood and thunder
sequence to come.  (No, that's usually not my style - I have no problems in
waiting for the harder part of BBE or the first bass riff of PW)  I think I
haven't listened to STH more than 10 times altogether (yes, as mentioned
before, I rarely listen to the radio...), and I'm not in a hurry to do so
again.  Hm, maybe, being a rock fan, I'm just too impatient for that particular
song - perhaps I should take some tranquilizers before listening to STH
again...? :-)

> BTW, Jimmy Page thinks Kashmir was the best Zep song ever.  Plant
> thinks Stairway.

I give my nod to JP.  From an artistic point of view, RP might be right:  The
vocal track is great, and so is the arrangement of the instruments.  But to me,
STH a) isn't convincing as a honest song of a rock band, b) doesn't rock
enough.

> Maybe it's stupid to continue to arguing BBE vs. STH, but I think it
> is interesting to see how/why people think songs are better than
> others.

Controversial discussions are always interesting, even if one is called `crazy'
and having `blinders on' :-).

Cheers,

Bernd   ---   `No one knows what it's like to be the bad man...'

Obligatory disclaimer:  I don't support drug abuse, and I don't use any drugs
by myself.