POLL LOTTA LOVE - ILM Artist Poll #6 - Led Zeppelin

Ugh no I hate "Friends" so much.

I stan for "Friends". Probably my #1. Also repping for "Carouselambra", "The Rain Song".

and YES, the BBC Sessions compliment/obliterate Led Zeppelin II

If we were voting for "best side" it'd be "Houses -> Trampled -> Kashmir", right?

I think Living Loving Maid is great. It's like a Guided By Voices song with a killer bass measure.

II is probably the casual fan's fav? The singles are Zep's massivest.

"What Is & What Should Never Be" is a good song, prob gonna make my ballot, but it has the best title of any Zep song.

Except if GBV had done it, the title would've been "Purple Umbrella and 50¢ Hat".

xp

I thought IV was the casual fan's go-to, what with it having "Stairway" and "Black Dog" and "Misty Mountain Hop" and "Going To California" and "Rock and Roll"

right now every track from IV is on my ballot, lol

Owen, I'm with you re. the best side.

I like III quite a lot, but the first two I've never warmed up to.

I'm definitely voting for "Tangerine" from III, and "Immigrant Song." At least. from "II" ... maybe just "Ramble On."

And I will not pretend not to love every second of "IV."

Even "Four Sticks"?

Hi,

Not voting, but I did play 2 and 4 recently.

Yr right, didn't like 2 much, 4 was OK.

I can't wait for these poll results, just to see everyone get pissed.

Even "Four Sticks"?

omg YES "Four Sticks"! That is a jam and a half!

Also repping for "Carouselambra", "The Rain Song".

I like these two a lot, but just can't feel any love for "Friends". I like folk-y Zep, just not twee Zep.

first album is f'in awesome; think I'm gonna pull a majority of my votes from there xp to wmc

(zomg what a surprise, Dan is a big fan of the song that alternates between 5/8 and 6/8)

Mark, do you have a formal no-voting-in-ilm-polls policy?

twee Zep is one of the best Zeps, expect "Battle of Evermore" to place highly on my ballot

2 is p bad, probably my least favorite Zep album

This is gonna be hard. "Travelling Riverside Blues" is worth it just for John Paul Jones's bass (which essentially does not repeat a lick over the course of the entire song). Still may not make my ballot though. Likewise. "Stairway ..." just does not compare to any of several lengthy epics from other records. I'm not going to vote for all of them, and "Ten Years Gone" and "The Rain Song" are just so much more important to me. Also, "Houses ..." and "Physical Graffiti" (minus 4 songs or so) can't really be praised enough IMO. The good shit is just so good on those records.

Am I the only one who has "Hey Hey What Can I Do" at #1?

man I should just get the box set

the only songs I remember from II are "Whole Lotta Love", "Ramble On" and "The Lemon Song" but those are three great, great songs

mailed my ballot off. will probably regret some part of it later, but i figure you gotta just not think these things through too hard.

xposts: lol dan "four sticks" made mine too.

also two of my least faves also made my proper ballot for various reasons. but that's just how zeppelin rolled.

Also, "Four Sticks" is one of the songs that has grown in stature for me over the years. Didn't like it when I was 12 but love it now.

twee Zep is one of the best Zeps, expect "Battle of Evermore" to place highly on my ballot

But see I don't think of "Evermore" as twee at all, just folksy fantasy epic!

"Four Sticks" drives me nuts. This is why I stay away from prog.

The riff is so good though

Am I the only one who has "Hey Hey What Can I Do" at #1?

My most hated.

btw I've never read Hammer Of The Gods; is this gonna be a fun read?

i don't even think my no. 1 has been mentioned on the thread yet!

xpost: YES.

xp Great read, but salt, grain, etc.

Not gonna vote for "Hey Hey ..." at all. "Hammer of the Gods" is ridiculous, and ridiculously entertaining.

"hammer of the gods" only second in the "gross tales of hard rock excess" stakes to "the dirt."

the difference being that all the members of zep (except for bonzo, who was already dead) repudiated "hammer" while the crue owned up to their own bullshit.

Love "Four Sticks." Title never clicked with me til I saw a cover band play it - drummer uses four sticks!

II improves greatly once you spend time with the BBC sessions. "Heartbreaker" is my favourite of their blues-rock jams

xpost I thought the Crue book was in the end almost life affirming in how the band owned up to its excess. They're almost reflective.

Hmm, my list is down to 25 ...

yeah i mean "the dirt" was official and "hammer" was unofficial. which doesn't mean the crue weren't aggrandizing their own stories any more than it means "hammer" was inventing stories for zep.

i figure they're both probably half-fictionalized. or maybe "lovingly mythologized."

If I could've voted for this version of D&C, I would've. My all-time favorite Zeppelin performance. This is the very first thing I would play for someone who asked, "What makes Led Zeppelin great?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFbVGMAxO4A

awesome, I love "gross tales of hard rock excess" (soft rock too; reading a bio of the Beach Boys right now that's cleared out my nostrils a few times)

Man, listening to "Celebration Day" right now and realize I love this song too. My list just keeps growing.

Also, does anyone else love "The Wanton Song" as much as I do? It's essentially the blueprint for half of the Jesus Lizard catalogue (which I love wholeheartedly).

xpost Yeah, everybody knows about the mudshark episode but that's not even the nastiest thing in the book iirc.

The Wanton Song and Sick Again basically save PG from sputtering out to nothing.

Also, for some reason I have always really dug "I'm Gonna Crawl", in regards to the slow-burning blues-as-blues numbers. Mainly for the solo, but also the ratcheted up drama of the vocals and the synths/keyboards. Might be my only version of this kinda thing on my ballot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64rhCDy1a7M

Hah! Used to put this on the jukebox at this pizza joint my friends and I went to all the time (along with "Xanadu" by Rush).

Mark, do you have a formal no-voting-in-ilm-polls policy?

Not at all, I ran the Beatles one, voted in the Prince one, the others I don't have enough of a breadth of experience to be able to suggest that my votes matter. (Beach Boys knowledge consists of about 3 albums, LedZep I do not care enough about, etc)

I'm Gonna Crawl might make it on my ballot. Love Plant's scream towards the end.