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Led Zeppelin vs The Who


McSeven

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Don't get me wrong Zeppelin is the best. But don't underestimate the Who...they kept on their high standaards for twice as long as zeppelin

Even their reuninions were consistent.

All in alltheir their a complete different brand.

The Ox is the oposite of Jonesy ( although John is equaly fluent and fast on bass. Listen to heartbreaker on the Berkley sept 1971 recordings)...Mooney is a drum orchestra, whereas Bonzo is all about groove and weight.

I love the Who dearly, I love Little Feat, the Talking heads, the Temptations, Beatles, ...

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Zeppelin for me, hands down, I like the music of The Who, but there is something about them smashing guitars on stage smiling the whole time which really rubs me the wrong way, I sort of wish someone from the audience would have gotten up and slapped them in the face for smashing guitars like that. Jimmy Page in particular gets how important his music was for not only his fans but music in general, and seems to have always treated the audience with respect and I'm not sure that Page has ever smashed one of his Gibson's to bits, but I could be wrong.

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I love both bands but The Who have one advantage over Zeppelin that matters to me: most of their songs are singable. Trying humming along to a Zep song. I suppose you could hum the guitar riffs from Kashmir or Whole Lotta Love but, as great as they are, these aren't songs you can sing along to.

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I love both bands but The Who have one advantage over Zeppelin that matters to me: most of their songs are singable. Trying humming along to a Zep song. I suppose you could hum the guitar riffs from Kashmir or Whole Lotta Love but, as great as they are, these aren't songs you can sing along to.

That is a very good point, for some people that "hum factor" is really important, I guess it would depend on the mood your in at a particular time. Some bands are the experts at the hum factor where as other bands are not. Never thought of that before

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The Who are the closest in talent to Zeppelin. They are an amazing band live (just listen to Live at Leeds). I still think Zep is better though.

not thread hijacking and i know this is an older post but when i read this i kinda thought... ahem.. Queen?

... in terms of The Who vs Zep... musician to musician... Zep wins... The Who may have genre jumped a bit but their pop/commmercial appeal in some circles puts them below a band like zep who were churning out juggernauts like Achilles, Kashmir, or No Quarter ...

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I love both bands but the measure of a great band to me is how many great albums they made, Led Zeppelin made seven in the studio & in my humble opinion The Who only made one, Who's Next.

Live at Leeds was their pinnacle though & stands comparison with any live album out there.

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I'm not having a go at The Who, I just feel the only truly great album they made in the studio was Who's Next.

Strong arguments could be made for Sell Out, Tommy & Quadrophenia but it's just my opinion.

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Led Zeppelin by a long way. i find that some of the Who's songs date easily, and Zeppelin had a larger range of Musical Ability.

I think I also read somewhere that compared to other bands of the time, Led Zeppelin had more creative control in their career. Not sure if That's true.

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Having been a massive Who fan when I was younger and now a massive Zep fan, I'm in quite a good place to be able to analyse the two. I think Zep are much better musicians, generally. Their songs are a hell of a lot more complex and intricate and well written. The Who are more rough and ready, which was always their style I guess. They both kick ass live. I think something like Who's Next is most similar to some of Zeppelin's work....that was a pretty well written album.

Also, the intro of Song Remains The Same really reminds me of something Who-esque.

Similarities: Blonde curly haired singer who can rock out...wild drummer who knows how to pound the skins....intricate, excellent bass player holding the band together.

I'm not even gonna go down the road of comparing Townshend to Page because they're not even in the same league. (As in, JP is a million times better).

Also, a lot of people compare Bonzo and Moon...whilst I think they're both very excellent and unique drummers, I've got to say that Bonzo does cut it slightly higher for me, simply because he can do everything that Moon can on only one bass drum and three toms...whereas Moon had double bass drums and a shit load of toms. So, to me that means he's a better drummer. It's more impressive.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I had to register on this site because Led Zepplin fans always provide me with a laugh. This non-stop comparing between the stodgy Led Zepplin and The Who is unbelievable. Why do Led Zep fans feel in so much competition with The Who?

Could it be that Keith Moon and John Entwhistle came up with the name Led Zepplin, when Page approached them about forming a band in 1968?

Led Zepplin are essentially a blue-based band whose albums are full of filler. Some of the comments I have seen on here about Led Zep being great song writers can only come from people who have no knowledge of the obscure sources that Led Zep stole most of their songs from without giving due credit or royalties to the originators of most of their songs.

It is a well-known fact that Led Zep purloined most of their songs from Howlin Wolf, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters etc. However, Led Zep fans either do not know their musical history or choose to ignore this fact.

Arguably Led Zep’s greatest song Stairway to Heaven’s guitar intro was stolen from Spirit’s, Taurus. Led Zep toured with them in 1968 and Jimmy Page lifted the guitar riff without any acknowledgment of the source. Have a listen to Jack Jake Holmes’s Dazed and Confused and you would have to be deaf to not hear what Led Zep have done here. Jack Jake Holmes filed a lawsuit against Led Zep along with countless others over the years about Led Zep’s plagiarism.

This has never happened to The Who. The Who are originators and never sounded like they wanted to be a pseudo American blues based band. Pete Townshend was one of the most thoughtful, insightful and provocative songwriters of his time. Tommy and Quadrophenia for example, were concepts albums with a linear narrative that were eventually transferred to the big screen.

The Who released arguably the greatest live album of them all, Live at Leeds. Led Zep fans even have to compare John Bonham with Keith Moon and not surprisingly in their biased opinion Bonham comes out on top. Was Bonham really that good? The only argument Led Zep fans can put up is that he was a heavy hitter on the skins. But really he was a solid drummer and no more than that. You seriously can’t put him in the same league as brilliantly original drummers in the rock canon like Keith Moon, Mitch Mitchell and Ginger Baker.

Anyway that is enough from me. As soon as I have posted my thoughts I will close my account on this Led Zep site.

Oh just one more thing.

Led Zep’ so called classic Whole Lotta Love opening lyrics are as follows

You need coolin', baby, I'm not foolin',

I'm gonna send you back to schoolin',

Way down inside honey, you need it,

I'm gonna give you my love,

I'm gonna give you my love.

Haha, such thoughtful and insightful lyrics these.

The Who and Pete Townshend meanwhile.

We'll be fighting in the streets

With our children at our feet

And the morals that they worship will be gone

And the men who spurred us on

Sit in judgement of all wrong

They decide and the shotgun sings the song.

Won't Get Fooled Again.

The Who will always be more culturally significant than Led Zepplin for many reasons, including the fact that Pete Townshend was a brilliant songwriter, who tapped into a peculiarly British sensibility. Townshend was one of the most intriguing and original writers of the 60s and 70s. Townshend had a relentless stream of ideas, and was able to pick a towering guitar riff out of the air at will. Townshend gave voice to teenage angst with a myriad of great songs in which Led Zep or rather Jimmy Page could only dream about writing. Led Zep songs sang at you and The Who's songs sang to you and about you.

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^^^^ Well hello and goodbye. I love both bands equally so I'm not going to go down the "Who's Better Who's Best" road. Except to say that PT's lyrics are far and above anything that Planty an crew could come up with, so Mr Cut and Run that is something that you are definitely right about.

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I have not cut and run yet. Wanted to see what the response was. It is a good debate but I am not even sure why these 2 bands are compared to each other. It can only be because they were 2 colossal live acts but there the comparison ends.

Edited by John-McNally
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I had to register on this site because Led Zepplin fans always provide me with a laugh. This non-stop comparing between the stodgy Led Zepplin and The Who is unbelievable. Why do Led Zep fans feel in so much competition with The Who?

Could it be that Keith Moon and John Entwhistle came up with the name Led Zepplin, when Page approached them about forming a band in 1968?

Led Zepplin are essentially a blue-based band whose albums are full of filler. Some of the comments I have seen on here about Led Zep being great song writers can only come from people who have no knowledge of the obscure sources that Led Zep stole most of their songs from without giving due credit or royalties to the originators of most of their songs.

It is a well-known fact that Led Zep purloined most of their songs from Howlin Wolf, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters etc. However, Led Zep fans either do not know their musical history or choose to ignore this fact.

Arguably Led Zep’s greatest song Stairway to Heaven’s guitar intro was stolen from Spirit’s, Taurus. Led Zep toured with them in 1968 and Jimmy Page lifted the guitar riff without any acknowledgment of the source. Have a listen to Jack Jake Holmes’s Dazed and Confused and you would have to be deaf to not hear what Led Zep have done here. Jack Jake Holmes filed a lawsuit against Led Zep along with countless others over the years about Led Zep’s plagiarism.

This has never happened to The Who. The Who are originators and never sounded like they wanted to be a pseudo American blues based band. Pete Townshend was one of the most thoughtful, insightful and provocative songwriters of his time. Tommy and Quadrophenia for example, were concepts albums with a linear narrative that were eventually transferred to the big screen.

The Who released arguably the greatest live album of them all, Live at Leeds. Led Zep fans even have to compare John Bonham with Keith Moon and not surprisingly in their biased opinion Bonham comes out on top. Was Bonham really that good? The only argument Led Zep fans can put up is that he was a heavy hitter on the skins. But really he was a solid drummer and no more than that. You seriously can’t put him in the same league as brilliantly original drummers in the rock canon like Keith Moon, Mitch Mitchell and Ginger Baker.

Anyway that is enough from me. As soon as I have posted my thoughts I will close my account on this Led Zep site.

Oh just one more thing.

Led Zep’ so called classic Whole Lotta Love opening lyrics are as follows

You need coolin', baby, I'm not foolin',

I'm gonna send you back to schoolin',

Way down inside honey, you need it,

I'm gonna give you my love,

I'm gonna give you my love.

Haha, such thoughtful and insightful lyrics these.

The Who and Pete Townshend meanwhile.

We'll be fighting in the streets

With our children at our feet

And the morals that they worship will be gone

And the men who spurred us on

Sit in judgement of all wrong

They decide and the shotgun sings the song.

Won't Get Fooled Again.

The Who will always be more culturally significant than Led Zepplin for many reasons, including the fact that Pete Townshend was a brilliant songwriter, who tapped into a peculiarly British sensibility. Townshend was one of the most intriguing and original writers of the 60s and 70s. Townshend had a relentless stream of ideas, and was able to pick a towering guitar riff out of the air at will. Townshend gave voice to teenage angst with a myriad of great songs in which Led Zep or rather Jimmy Page could only dream about writing. Led Zep songs sang at you and The Who's songs sang to you and about you.

Agree to disagree. I only like a couple of Who songs, whereas Led Zeppelin there are only a couple of Songs I don't like.

Plus Page is a better Guitarist than Townsend

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Agree to disagree. I only like a couple of Who songs, whereas Led Zeppelin there are only a couple of Songs I don't like.

Plus Page is a better Guitarist than Townsend

Seeing as that you are only seventeen years old, for that "You Are Forgiven" (get it ?) You have a lot to listen to....May I ask how can there be ANY Led Zeppelin songs you don't like ?.

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I don't like Led Zepplin for many reasons. I have stated my opinion as to why. They have stolen a lot of songs from other people without acknowledgement.

If you really know about music then you would know this or perhaps you are burying your head in the sand. You say I am only 17 Wrong. You say I have a lot to listen too. Perhaps I do. I have spent nearly 30 years collecting records so think I can form an opinion on Led Zepplin.

Can I suggest that you have a lot to listen too. Have you heard Jake Holmes Dazed and Confused? I would argue that perhaps you had not even heard of him until I mentioned him. Have you heard Spirit's Taurus?

Listen to Howlin Wolf's The Killing Floor, which The Lemon Song was clearly lifted from. I have offered 3 examples out of a possible 20 songs that Led Zep have borrowed generously from.

Can The Who ever be accused of such pilfering as that? Whether you like The Who or not they were original and came up with ideas of their own. Sometimes it has not always worked, however, they put the marker down and tried to at least connect with their audience on an intellectual level.

I do actually own Led Zep's first 5 albums, and they were bought because I thought they may have had some thought provoking songs apart from the lyrically dumb Whole Lotta Love. However, Led Zep had nothing really to say. Do you know that a lawsuit is currently being filed against Jimmy Page for stealing the opening guitar riff for Stairway to Heaven from Spirit's song 'Taurus'? They claim the late Randy California is due a song writing credit for that particular song, and Jimmy Page has refused to comment.

My argument is that a band's work stands the test of time due to originality and song writing craft. However, I am certainly not saying that Led Zep have not stood the test of time because they clearly have. However, it is for the wrong reasons and I am not the only one who thinks that Led zep's legacy and status as one of the 'greatest' bands of all time is just pure hyperbole.

I am not denying that Jimmy Page is an excellent producer and guitarist but the arguments being put forward on this forum as to the best band between The Who and Led Zep does not hold up. The only argument I have seen here is who was the heaviest band.

I would argue that the reason why Led Zep fans have no idea about the laundry list of songs stolen by Led Zep is because they have never heard of the artists or their music that Led Zep stole from. People like Howlin Wolf and Robert Johnson remained in relative obscurity at the time, while Led Zep became rich and famous on the back of other peoples ideas.

Led Zep were either careless about not giving credit where it is due or at worst down right thieves. Passing off songs as original and not acknowledging the source is deplorable. However, I realise this is an argument that will fall on deaf ears on this particular sight, which is fine by me.

It could be argued that Led Zep are one of the best cover bands in the world. However, I would not be so churlish as to suggest that, as they did write a handful of half decent songs that you could hum along to without thinking.

The only hope is that at least Led Zep did introduce their fans to some of those blues artist that they borrowed liberally from, and as a result and in a back handed way these blues greats have at least been given their due credit. One can only hope.

Edited by John-McNally
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I don't like Led Zepplin for many reasons. I have stated my opinion as to why. They have stolen a lot of songs from other people without acknowledgement.

If you really know about music then you would know this or perhaps you are burying your head in the sand. You say I am only 17 Wrong. You say I have a lot to listen too. Perhaps I do. I have spent nearly 30 years collecting records so think I can form an opinion on Led Zepplin.

Can I suggest that you have a lot to listen too. Have you heard Jake Holmes Dazed and Confused? I would argue that perhaps you had not even heard of him until I mentioned him. Have you heard Spirit's Taurus?

Listen to Howlin Wolf's The Killing Floor, which The Lemon Song was clearly lifted from. I have offered 3 examples out of a possible 20 songs that Led Zep have borrowed generously from.

Can The Who ever be accused of such pilfering as that? Whether you like The Who or not they were original and came up with ideas of their own. Sometimes it has not always worked, however, they put the marker down and tried to at least connect with their audience on an intellectual level.

I do actually own Led Zep's first 5 albums, and they were bought because I thought they may have had some thought provoking songs apart from the lyrically dumb Whole Lotta Love. However, Led Zep had nothing really to say. Do you know that a lawsuit is currently being filed against Jimmy Page for stealing the opening guitar riff for Stairway to Heaven from Spirit's song 'Taurus'? They claim the late Randy California is due a song writing credit for that particular song, and Jimmy Page has refused to comment.

My argument is that a band's work stands the test of time due to originality and song writing craft. However, I am certainly not saying that Led Zep have not stood the test of time because they clearly have. However, it is for the wrong reasons and I am not the only one who thinks that Led zep's legacy and status as one of the 'greatest' bands of all time is just pure hyperbole.

I am not denying that Jimmy Page is an excellent producer and guitarist but the arguments being put forward on this forum as to the best band between The Who and Led Zep does not hold up. The only argument I have seen here is who was the heaviest band.

I would argue that the reason why Led Zep fans have no idea about the laundry list of songs stolen by Led Zep is because they have never heard of the artists or their music that Led Zep stole from. People like Howlin Wolf and Robert Johnson remained in relative obscurity at the time, while Led Zep became rich and famous on the back of other peoples ideas.

Led Zep were either careless about not giving credit where it is due or at worst down right thieves. Passing off songs as original and not acknowledging the source is deplorable. However, I realise this is an argument that will fall on deaf ears on this particular sight, which is fine by me.

It could be argued that Led Zep are one of the best cover bands in the world. However, I would not be so churlish as to suggest that, as they did write a handful of half decent songs that you could hum along to without thinking.

The only hope is that at least Led Zep did introduce their fans to some of those blues artist that they borrowed liberally from, and as a result and in a back handed way these blues greats have at least been given their due credit. One can only hope.

Well thanks for coming here to tell us we're all idiots with bad taste, and telling us stuff we already know! Good riddance!

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I don't like (1) Led Zepplin for many reasons. I have stated my opinion as to why. They have stolen a lot of songs from other people without acknowledgement.

If you really know about music then you would know this or perhaps you are burying your head in the sand. (2) You say I am only 17 Wrong. You say I have a lot to listen too. Perhaps I do. I have spent nearly 30 years collecting records so think I can form an opinion on Led Zepplin.

Can I suggest that you have a lot to listen too. Have you heard Jake Holmes Dazed and Confused? I would argue that perhaps you had not even heard of him until I mentioned him. Have you heard Spirit's Taurus?

Listen to Howlin Wolf's The Killing Floor, which The Lemon Song was clearly lifted from. I have offered 3 examples out of a possible 20 songs that Led Zep have borrowed generously from.

Can The Who ever be accused of such pilfering as that? Whether you like The Who or not they were original and came up with ideas of their own. Sometimes it has not always worked, however, they put the marker down and tried to at least connect with their audience on an intellectual level.

I do actually own Led Zep's first 5 albums, and they were bought because I thought they may have had some thought provoking songs apart from the lyrically dumb Whole Lotta Love. However, Led Zep had nothing really to say. Do you know that a lawsuit is currently being filed against Jimmy Page for stealing the opening guitar riff for Stairway to Heaven from Spirit's song 'Taurus'? They claim the late Randy California is due a song writing credit for that particular song, and Jimmy Page has refused to comment.

My argument is that a band's work stands the test of time due to originality and song writing craft. However, I am certainly not saying that Led Zep have not stood the test of time because they clearly have. However, it is for the wrong reasons and I am not the only one who thinks that Led zep's legacy and status as one of the 'greatest' bands of all time is just pure hyperbole.

I am not denying that Jimmy Page is an excellent producer and guitarist but the arguments being put forward on this forum as to the best band between The Who and Led Zep does not hold up. The only argument I have seen here is who was the heaviest band.

I would argue that the reason why Led Zep fans have no idea about the laundry list of songs stolen by Led Zep is because they have never heard of the artists or their music that Led Zep stole from. People like Howlin Wolf and Robert Johnson remained in relative obscurity at the time, while Led Zep became rich and famous on the back of other peoples ideas.

Led Zep were either careless about not giving credit where it is due or at worst down right thieves. Passing off songs as original and not acknowledging the source is deplorable. However, I realise this is an argument that will fall on deaf ears on this particular (3) sight, which is fine by me.

It could be argued that Led Zep are one of the best cover bands in the world. However, I would not be so churlish as to suggest that, as they did write a handful of half decent songs that you could hum along to without thinking.

The only hope is that at least Led Zep did introduce their fans to some of those blues artist that they borrowed liberally from, and as a result and in a back handed way these blues greats have at least been given their due credit. One can only hope.

1. It's spelled Led Zeppelin, not Led Zepplin.

2. JTM wasn't talking to you, he was talking to Stairway is NOT stolen.

3. Sight? As in Webs-i-t-e?

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