Re: BBE vs. STH/Popularity

[mleaman@sccoast.net (Mark Leaman)]

>Sustained sales are more representative though.  How many copies of
>Frampton sell today, or 10 years from now?  Led Zeppelin still sell very
>well, as would the Who if they were marketed better.  LZ have the best
>selling box set made which came out 10 years after they broke up and
>almost 20 years after their peak. 

Shane:

I can see this is going to become another Who VS Zep, after all.
To me, as set out in my scale in the earlier note, it doesn't matter how
well it sells. That's only half the picture. As influence goes, LZ gave us
Whitesnake, Kingdom Come, etc etc.

>To say LZ only influenced HM is ridiculous.  Most rock musicians who came
>after them were influenced by Zep to one degree or another.  Maybe not in
>as blatant a way as some of the formula HM, but in their time they were
>the ultimate rock band and have the influence that goes along with that. 

The Who were the only ultimate Rock band ever, as they invented the genre
while Page was still a session player and sustained it throughout their
career. Page extended the Blues, but Townshend literally invented a new form.
And I'd like to see what non-HM bands you think were influenced by Zep. I
can't think of any, offhand.

>Much of the LZ influence is not as obvious as Who influences since no one
>else sounds like the Who did.  There are plenty of bands that sounded and
>sound a lot like Led Zeppelin, Zep were just the best at it.  You didn't
>have to think to get it, it was pure balls to the wall rawk. 

Actually, Zep was just The Yardbirds; the next generation. And when I think
of "balls to the wall," I think of The Who live in `67 - `75. Zep live, if
you've heard any, never approached that standard.

>Thaag from the hills banging 2 rocks together influenced all music in the
>past few millenia (including the Who, Zep & Milli Vanilli) therefore he is
>the best. 

Well, if you wanna go back THAT far...

>> The Who only play 2nd fiddle to Zep to those who know little about Rock
>> music, and merely listen to music for entertainment.
>
>You say that as if there's something wrong with just listening for 
>entertainment.  I'd be willing to bet the majority of the masses that 
>went to Who concerts in the 70s were merely going for entertainment 
>(their loss) and there's nothing wrong with that.  What does it matter 
>how much you know about rock music?  Do we need to write a test to be 
>worthy of listening to the Who?

I say that in a lofty manner, sure. I put time and effort into listening to
music, and I'm proud of that. I always hated the girls in High School that
used to say: "I love (insert name of band). They're so CUTE!" I feel the
same way about people who listen to music with one ear. If one is going to
claim some band is the best, they should (at least) know music in depth.
Otherwise, the statement should be: "They are my favorite band."
So I'm a music elitist. I can live with that.
And of course you're right about the masses. But hopefully, WE are not the
masses here.

>You don't like him, I don't like him, does that mean everything he does is
>garbage?  He's had influence huge in his particular genre. 

Given that genre, I would say Prince is the one who's had the influence.

>I have all the Zep albums and used to listen to them a lot.  Right now I 
>listen to a lot more Who because I find Zep tends to get boring after a 
>while, but when I want to hear Living Loving Maid or Rock and Roll or How 
>Many More Times really loud, NOTHING else will do (not even the Who).

I have all of the Zep music, and many hours of their bootlegs, too. I also
have 1700 albums, over 800 CDs (not counting the 4000+ in my store), and
over 500 cassettes. I listen to a LOT of music, and am familiar with a lot
of bands. Stairway doesn't impress me because I heard the same thing from
Donovan in `68: Atlantis. LZ I doesn't impress me because I've heard The
Yardbirds live in 1968. LZ II has a damned familiar sound, as in: The Who.
LZ III impresses the Hell out of me because it's a fantastic album, very
creative and innovative. LZ IV is half great, the other half being a bit too
much like other things they'd done. HOTH is another fantastic album, except
for The Crunge...and PG would have been a fantastic single album, but
unfortunately it's a double. The rest just sink into the morass of "Gee,
they used to be great."
I really like Zep, but they're not in the same league as The Who. The Kinks
were for a while (`66-`72), but aside from that...



                   Cheers                   ML

"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."  L. Long