Funny, I was listening to LZ's albums (first time in a while) all of last week and reached exactly the opposite conclusion ("Whoa! I'm sincerely amazed at how much I still love hearing this 20 years later!"). Now if you had said The Wall...
― Joe, Thursday, 28 February 2008 17:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Matt, good point about the blues-rock stuff on the first few records -- ironically, the worst offender IMO ('Since I've Been Loving You') is still in the live set list. The one exception is 'Levee', which is so far out there by itself that it really doesn't count.
Disagree about 'Stairway' -- it's hard to evaluate objectively now because of the (over)exposure level but I still think it's right up there.
The satellite single-artist streams probably deserve a thread for themselves. I listen to a lot less XM than Sirius, but the XM Led has held up pretty well so far -- I think a lot of this is due to Plant's solo stuff, where he was making a conscious effort to not Zep it up too much. I will say that the Who channel (Sirius) never quit on me in three months, and that's even with all the recent live shows they were working in.
― Jeff Wright, Thursday, 28 February 2008 17:49 (sixteen years ago) link
Without reading the thread:
no.
― sonderangerbot, Thursday, 28 February 2008 17:51 (sixteen years ago) link
yep that was the consensus.
― Thomas, Thursday, 28 February 2008 17:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Beck hasn't even held up well to now so I don't see how he's going to hold up well in 30 years. i don't see any reason to think it is a linear process. tastes change ins cycles and different ways. in 30 years he could be considered the greatest musician of all time, for all we know.
― mizzell, Thursday, 28 February 2008 17:53 (sixteen years ago) link
If anything, recorded Led Zeppelin to today's ears is surprisingly flat and two-dimensional.
Today, you'd be hard-pressed to even put that song AMONG the greatest songs in Zeppelin's catalog, much less the history of rock.
I can translate these as "... to MY ears..." and "... I'D be hard-pressed ...", right?
And if a sound has become so normalized that we take it for granted, wouldn't that make it less dated?
I really disagree about "How Many More Times?", esp considering how much truly workmanlike blues-rock there was from that era. It's quite distinctive in its structure and sounds.
― Sundar, Thursday, 28 February 2008 17:56 (sixteen years ago) link
Sorry, Thomas -- didn't mean to bludgeon you as a moron, but to brand someone as a Nazi is a pretty serious charge. Killing Joke are very assuredly not Nazis.
http://www.anirrationaldomain.net/images/memo/memo34.JPG
― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 28 February 2008 17:57 (sixteen years ago) link
(That said, I think they became more interesting when they started doing fewer blues semi-covers.)
xpost
― Sundar, Thursday, 28 February 2008 17:57 (sixteen years ago) link
I agree with Dan about Beyoncé, mainly because she can sing better than anyone else on that list. I think good singing and good pipes tend to last longer, as various fashions and modes of "bad" singing lose the context that once made them urgent+key.
Incidentally, Plant's horrendous live singing voice is why I can't really deal with LZ bootlegs, no matter how great the rest of the sound is.
Beyoncé's got a longer list of catchy songs than anybody else mentioned on this thread, too!
In general, though, I don't think LZ's dated poorly at all. Moving forward, they probably just need to boost the bass a bit more in the inevitable next remastering project and they'll be good to go for another 20 years or so. Like Star Wars or something.
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:00 (sixteen years ago) link
('Cause, like "Stairway" was voted #2 song of all-time in the local classic rock station's poll last year. Which suggests that not everyone today finds them flat and 2-dimensional.)
xpost Tracer, you don't think there's ENOUGH bass?
― Sundar, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Beyoncé, mainly because she can sing better than anyone else on that list.
I'll give ya this: Robert Plant stopped being able to truly sing about two decades ago, but do you REALLY believe that Beyonce's voice is that great?? Come on, now.
― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:04 (sixteen years ago) link
xpost Alex: I know, I was being facetious in reference to both "poorly-reasoned baiting" upthread & the controversy over that there pic of yours ... no harm intended. god I'm crap at trolling :D
(ps I actually quite like Killing Joke)
― Thomas, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:04 (sixteen years ago) link
KJ are goths, not nazis.
― dell, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:04 (sixteen years ago) link
No I don't!
I haven't knowingly heard any of the remasters, though, just the original LPs.
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:04 (sixteen years ago) link
i don't think pamela des barres qualifies as dating poorly.
― bb, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:05 (sixteen years ago) link
Alex, listen to "Get Me Bodied" some time.
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:05 (sixteen years ago) link
Looking at the fabled "infront of our starship" photo above, John Paul Jones should really have kept his shirt buttoned. Nobody wants to see that.
― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:05 (sixteen years ago) link
I kind of like that aspect of 70s rock culture, seriously. Stick it to the beauty myth!
― Sundar, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:07 (sixteen years ago) link
also Page is staring at bonzo's cock.
― Thomas, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:07 (sixteen years ago) link
haha I just noticed that.
No.
― ablaeser, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:24 (sixteen years ago) link
The one I always listen to is Houses of the Holy, and it still sounds fantastic. I wonder if it's just an overexposure-on-the-radio problem for Stairway et al. Also, the version of Kashmir that my baby boy listens to (rearranged for xylophones and bells) still outrocks the baby Ramones stuff.
― dlp9001, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:46 (sixteen years ago) link
Also, the version of Kashmir that my baby boy listens to (rearranged for xylophones and bells)
lolz we got this too. LZ better than the Rolling Stones one too
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:51 (sixteen years ago) link
I was more of a Pink Floyd guy during my 15 year old "hey guys 70's rock with mystical symbols etc..." phase. Most of it has "dated", I guess, but that's more my taste than because of the music itself.
I probably just don't like them because of all the wannabes that populate every bar in town down here. "Dude, we were jamming today and we stopped to watched some LZ. In the middle, we just had to get up and Jam, we were so inspired..." lol college kids.
― Gukbe, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:55 (sixteen years ago) link
Their albums still sell legions to kids who weren't born back when the band existed. I think that speaks for itself although I am no huge fan of them.
― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 28 February 2008 18:58 (sixteen years ago) link
When I was growing up in the 80s, it seemed like the popular and/or "significant" music acts in my day weren't considered in the same league with "70s rock giants," like Led Zepplin, Boston, Yes, and others (in terms of their "GREAT HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE," delivered in a low baritone). Now that so many years have passed, I wonder if any of those acts I grew up with are considered equal to those earlier groups. I mean, just limiting myself to rock acts from the 80s to present that are "big acts" or those held in particularly high-esteem, would people say that The Cure, R.E.M., Radiohead, U2, Bauhaus, Joy Division and New Order are equal to, say, Led Zepplin, Boston, Yes and big acts of that era? Define "equal to" any way that seems sensible.
I'm curious, so I am tossing the question out, but I admit I haven't had much chance to carefully craft this post (work intervenes). So if the question is stupid, my apologies.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:14 (sixteen years ago) link
"would people say that The Cure, R.E.M., Radiohead, U2, Bauhaus, Joy Division and New Order are equal to, say, Led Zepplin, Boston, Yes and big acts of that era?"
I wouldn't say it's even close, but that's a purely subjective viewpoint. I can't stand the former bands, with the exception of Radiohead.
― Bill Magill, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:19 (sixteen years ago) link
lolz Radiohead as an "80s band". Actually I think REM, the Cure, and especially Joy Division/New Order are heavily canonized for being "influential" at this point.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:20 (sixteen years ago) link
U2 as well, but I can't stand them.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:21 (sixteen years ago) link
zeppelin fucking rules
― kamerad, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:21 (sixteen years ago) link
Shakey: I thought I said "80s to present." If not, it should say that.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:21 (sixteen years ago) link
I know Radiohead isn't an 80s band.
oh haha sorry
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:26 (sixteen years ago) link
in that case the "elephant in the room" re: your list is Nirvana
Them, too. I wasn't trying to give an exhaustive list, but I should have mentioned them.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:28 (sixteen years ago) link
Robert Plant stopped being able to truly sing about two decades ago
he can't scream anymore, but he sounds good on the alison krauss record.
― Jordan, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:28 (sixteen years ago) link
dude you need to hear the album with alison krauss, it's seriously great
ghaaa xp
― gff, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:28 (sixteen years ago) link
The tendency to make grand sweeping generalizations based on your own beliefs is one that we all must fight, I know.
But while I can't get on board with this whole ". . . little more than a workman-like mish-mash of riffs and blues cliches" thing, this might be a good place to share the idea that for my lovely girlfriend and I, "Kashmir" is a dumb joke.
It's a wonderful injoke for us, we find it absolutely hilarious whenever we hear it, like if some ballplayer or the other uses it as his song, if we hear it at some bar or some restaurant, or God forbid at somebody's house, it's a kind of shorthand for us for "these people are stupid AND stoned."
I remember when I was in junior high, I ran into my buddy Jose at a park somewhere, maybe in Coconut Grove, he was carrying this monstrous boom box he'd just bought, had steel handles welded onto the sides it looked like, and my bud was all stoked coz he had "Kashmir" loaded up onto the thing, at a time when all of it was still new to us. He pressed play and I still remember how bombastic the drums seemed.
But in retrospect, "Kashmir" seems plodding, moronic, pretentious, and just plain silly.
I still believe that Zeppelin never made an album that wasn't great. I love "Over the Hills and Far Away" like I love anything. There's stuff on III that has never been duplicated, and "Carouselambra" is mighty.
But man, "Kashmir." It's embarassing almost.
― SecondBassman, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:32 (sixteen years ago) link
LZ is great but tbh i don't like "black dog" at all. everything else is pretty awesome though.
― omar little, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:33 (sixteen years ago) link
SecondBassman is another Miami ILX'or (current or former)! All good.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:34 (sixteen years ago) link
I guess this is a decent rule of thumb but I don't know that I 100% agree with it, particularly when you consider people like Bob Dylan.
On a fundamental level, I can't fathom how any could possibly dislike Led Zepplin. Everything about them is pretty much 100% on at all times for me.
― HI DERE, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:36 (sixteen years ago) link
alls i knows is that you still see 10-year olds in Led Zeppelin t-shirts. you won't see anyone in Beyonce shirts ten years from now.
― latebloomer, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:37 (sixteen years ago) link
O RLY?
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:38 (sixteen years ago) link
i've been to the future. everyone there wears Huey Lewis shirts
― latebloomer, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:39 (sixteen years ago) link
That's because Beyonce fans aren't going to become irritating dads that dress their kids in Beyonce t-shirts and make them go to R&B camp.
― Hurting 2, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:42 (sixteen years ago) link
That's actually gonna start happening circa '09. The great music wars afterwards will result in Huey Lewis reclaiming his rightful crown as the king of music.
― latebloomer, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:45 (sixteen years ago) link
bow down to the phallic majesty of ROCK
― latebloomer, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:46 (sixteen years ago) link
Doc, we gotta get back!
― Hurting 2, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:46 (sixteen years ago) link
that's the power of love
― latebloomer, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:49 (sixteen years ago) link
dude thanks for the link! what a jam! they must have amazing live back in the day
― kamerad, Thursday, 28 February 2008 19:50 (sixteen years ago) link