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How'd you get hooked on Led?


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I was around older people when the Live Aid concert took place in 1985 (in the US). I was a kid among adults, and we were all watching it on MTV (I think). On stage were these older guys. I didn't know who they were but I had the impression that they must have been important based on their distinguished look as well as the reaction from the fans as well as older people sitting on the couch near me. Before their set, an announcer (MTV VJ?) kept on talking about how he "couldn't wait for the Led Zeppelin reunion". When Led Zeppelin started playing I didn't recognize any of the songs but the people around me did. One of the women didn't seem to like the band and sang the chorus to "Whole Lotta Love" with a mocking tone in her voice. Other people around me seemed to have their eyes fixed on the screen. I don't recall being impressed by the quality of the performance but I do remember thinking that I had to find out who these guys were and why people had formulated such strong opinions of them.

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Most of you already read how I got into Led Zeppelin, so no need to rehash that old story.

No, what I am enjoying most about this thread and find fascinating is reading the experiences of those of you too young to experience the band first hand, or those who caught the band in mid-career mode.

Old timers like The Rover and myself...well, since we got on board from the beginning, we had no choice in approaching the band. There was Led Zeppelin and then there was Led Zeppelin II. Then the long wait for Led Zeppelin III. Another wait for Led Zeppelin IV. An even longer wait for Houses of the Holy. And so on. What was out was all there was available, save for the occasional bootleg if you were lucky to have an outlet that sold them in your town.

So, if you didn't like whatever the latest Led Zeppelin release was, you had to satisfy yourself with their previous albums and wait and hope the next one would be better. I remember liking Houses of the Holy alright when it came out, but it sort of paled in some respects following Led Zep IV. Then after seeing the 1973 concerts, the recorded versions of the Holy songs sounded anemic in comparison. So the wait between Houses and Physical Graffiti was excruciating.

Of course, if you were lucky, the band toured your town and you could sate your Zeppelin lust by going to a show. But it was a long 10 or so years for you to experience the entire Zeppelin catalogue, from Led Zeppelin to In Through the Out Door.

Contrast that to today, where a kid who gets turned on to Led Zeppelin can acquire the entire recorded output of the band within minutes and has access to hundreds of bootleg concerts...shows that were mere whispered rumours back in the 70s.

I find it intriguing that a person's first entree to Zeppelin could be Kashmir...or even stranger, ITTOD! And if you try an album and don't like it, you can try another one immediately, either one from before or one after. There's no waiting around for the next release.

I wonder what would have happened if I didn't hear of Led Zeppelin until high school...or until the 80s? Would I have been as big a fan as I became. Led Zeppelin was the key, the door that led me down the road to so many other bands. I heard Zep before there was an Aerosmith, a Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Van Halen, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and the like.

So what is it like to experience the reverse...to not hear Zeppelin until AFTER hearing all those late-70s- early 80s hard rock/metal bands? And what is it like to hear Led Zeppelin not among its natural peers of the time such as the Who, the Stones, Deep Purple, Yes, Black Sabbath, etc., but among the new wave and hair metal bands of the 80s or the techno, hip-hop and indie-rock of the 90s?

Like I said, The Rover and I had to live 10 years of our lives between hearing Led Zeppelin and ITTOD. Now you can listen to those first 9 albums in 10 hours all at once.

Is the impact of the band's music even stronger when listened to in such a concentrated burst?

Definitely the impact is magnified if you hear Zeppelin in a concentrated burst. I liked Zeppelin in the 70s but wasn't a huge fan. I owned LZ2 but it wasn't until I watched the DVD one Christmas Eve that it all fell in place. I had never realized how dynamic they were live. That was a night that changed my life.

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It was 1996 in Croatia.I started working as a electrician in a national company.We ware traveling to another city to work on a new high-power grid.

Black Dog came on the radio.Other guys (20+ years older) in the car probably never even heard of LZ,ware making a lot of noise and i could not tell them to shut up or turn it up.

I guessed it was Janis Joplin,the voice was there...

We did not have internet so, no forums or anything.

I just got into Jimy Hendrix.

Bought my first stereo from my first pay check. Philips 7 CD changer.

I don't really remember how I heard the name Led Zeppelin.

The war in Croatia stopped, and there was a demilitarized zone near my town, where you could buy pirate CD's from Bulgaria or some place.

I bought Led Zep remasters, 2nd part with 2 cd's.Black dog or Heartbreaker ware not there but the voice,the music and the whole energy was.

And the rest is history.

Edited by Vule69
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So what is it like to experience the reverse...to not hear Zeppelin until AFTER hearing all those late-70s- early 80s hard rock/metal bands? And what is it like to hear Led Zeppelin not among its natural peers of the time such as the Who, the Stones, Deep Purple, Yes, Black Sabbath, etc., but among the new wave and hair metal bands of the 80s or the techno, hip-hop and indie-rock of the 90s?

Like I said, The Rover and I had to live 10 years of our lives between hearing Led Zeppelin and ITTOD. Now you can listen to those first 9 albums in 10 hours all at once.

Is the impact of the band's music even stronger when listened to in such a concentrated burst?

One of my older brothers played Zeppelin all the time when I was a kid. But, it wasn't until the late 70's before I really started really listening when my brother played Zeppelin. Which was everyday. I wasn't even 10 years old. And with four older siblings I grew up hearing everything that came out from about 1965-1980.

By the time I was in high school in the late 80's I'd been listening to Zeppelin on my own for as long as I could remember. And forgive me but, I just could not get into 80's music. It musta been somethin about synthesized drums as opposed to the real thing that made it all seem flat for me.

I have always wanted to have gone to a Zeppelin concert. But, I grew up knowing John Bonham died and there was no more Led Zeppelin. In fact the day Led Zeppelin announced that they could not continue as they were.. was my 9th birthday. So, what I had was cassette tapes and stories. Being able to sit down and listen to them all at once is just fine with me. Although I prefer to listen to one album in it's entirety and then listen to another one later. What I've always understood about Led Zeppelin is that each album told a story. Not just each song on the album. So, I often go one album at a time not just listening but, taking in the music.

When I first started watching the DVD's they made me really sad. Sad because, I know that John Bonham died. And to see him there young and strong playing like a man creating an art and to know he's not doing that anymore made me sad. Not to mention how young he was. Or his family. It still makes me sad. But, for me growing up knowing there was no more Zeppelin when they're my favorite band is like being invited to a party that you run just a little bit too late for. And no matter how many times you hit rewind you never get to the party on time.

On an up note to read the books and hear the songs and the bootlegs ..especially, if they have any kind of talking on them makes me feel like a fly on the wall. It's almost like traveling back in time. Watching the DVD's got easier the more I did it. And I love watching them.

Listening to the music all at once though as you asked.. I want to say it hasn't lost any of the impact but, I can't compare it with not having heard it all at once. Even when I was a kid I was too young to notice how long between albums it was. But, I don't think it has lost it's impact. What is gone though is the experience of the excitement of waiting for the next album. Or the excitement of knowing you're going to a Led Zeppelin concert. But, the music gives me goosebumps. And I feel my emotions getting all twisted up in the songs. Like in Achilles Last Stand.. that riff that Jimmy has? It levels me every time. It's hilarious because, I have 2 kids who are young adults and they both know the rule.. no talking when Jimmy's riffs start. Weird I know.

And I just have to say that in my house it's always been "MOM turn the music down it's too loud!". I always respond the same way "Led Zeppelin ..can't ever be played too loud!".

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Back around 2007, after recently being to a Who concert, I was looking through my dad's iTunes trying to think of which band would put on the best show. Every band, Stones, Beatles, Hendrix, Clapton, Who..., had some great songs, but they always had some that I skipped to the next song. Going through Led Zeppelin, knowing some of their most famous songs but not a lot, I realized that they really didn't have a bad song. I have hooked since!

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Ah it's lovely to hear these stories.

Mine LZ doscovery was a slow burner. It was in the mid-1980s, where, as a young teenager, my sister - who was an anachronistic hippy rocker in Ireland - had a copy of Physical Graffiti. This was a magical album for a youngster to paw and wonder at the mysteries within. All those strange photos. So different from the relatively straightforward covers of my other early love, Queen. One of her talented friends had even written the song titles at the bottom of each side of the inner picture sleeves. Such was the quality of the printing that I thought, in my naivety, that it was part of the actual artwork. Perhaps I should upload those for y'all to see?

Anyway, in my early, hesitant rock music explorations, I singularly fell for side two of PG. Just loved it. Over and over again. It's a comfort zone thing - the kinda thing that only kids and teenagers can do with some music and films. HOTH, TUF, then Kashmir. Just magical. The drums! (I got into playing drums once puberty hit, btw, gladly giving up my previous instrument, the piano accordion!)

Then one day, I took the audacious step of flipping the record over and listened to side one. Hmm, now this was interesting. Custard Pie was kinda cool. The Rover had a nice melody. But when I heard In My Time Of Dying, I became obsessed with the track. The drums, the slide guitar - and just what the hell was Robert Plant saying? Didn't matter. It felt amazing and had a power anything I'd ever heard - before or since. Perhaps my burgeoning loins were smelling something that would take my brain years to catch up on.

Such was my love for IMTOD that it became The Song to listen to when my older brother and I would come home from school for lunch. Arrive at 1:15pm, and if both parents were out, I'd put on IMTOD at high volume while we made sandwiches. The 11-minute running time was perfect to prepare our lunch and get our afternoon schoolbooks ready. Then when it finished, we'd retire to the living room and watch - and here is where the tastes of a teenager can really fail in retrospect - Neighbours on BBC1. Maybe my loins were searching for something else... And then at 1:50pm we'd hop on our bikes and zoom back to school. It was a wonderful ritual, the memory unsullied even by Neighbours. "Aaawww Madge!"

We also had The Song Remains The Same on double vinyl, which some became a favourite, even though I couldn't handle side two with Dazed And Confused - it was too slow, too murky, even a bit too spooky. Time, of course, has changed that perception.

At aged 14 or so, a schoolbuddy lent me a tape of ITTOD and, apart from In The Evening, the album didn't really appeal to me. Again, time and changing perceptions...

Eventually, in 1990 the Box Set came out and I bought it, even though my family didn't even have a CD player! Thankfully, a friend did and the true unveiling of the Zeppelin canon began for me. The rest you can surely work out for yourselves...

Finally, it does bother me that in my love for Zeppelin that a lot of current rock/indie bands cannot even come close. Even critically acclaimed and popular artists who sell out gigs tend to leave me cold - too trapped in a machine-like 4/4 dance groove. Not enough organic swing. I do try to change my perception, but few bands have the swing and swagger that Zep had. My search continues (and I'll refrain from naming current artists who do impress me).

That's all for now, folks.

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We played the first album in my college dorm until it fell apart. Then we moved onto the second, etc. I still remember hearing Communication Breakdown the first time. We all sang it together.

Still love Zeppelin. I have all the CDs.

Ah it's lovely to hear these stories.

Mine LZ doscovery was a slow burner. It was in the mid-1980s, where, as a young teenager, my sister - who was an anachronistic hippy rocker in Ireland - had a copy of Physical Graffiti. This was a magical album for a youngster to paw and wonder at the mysteries within. All those strange photos. So different from the relatively straightforward covers of my other early love, Queen. One of her talented friends had even written the song titles at the bottom of each side of the inner picture sleeves. Such was the quality of the printing that I thought, in my naivety, that it was part of the actual artwork. Perhaps I should upload those for y'all to see?

Anyway, in my early, hesitant rock music explorations, I singularly fell for side two of PG. Just loved it. Over and over again. It's a comfort zone thing - the kinda thing that only kids and teenagers can do with some music and films. HOTH, TUF, then Kashmir. Just magical. The drums! (I got into playing drums once puberty hit, btw, gladly giving up my previous instrument, the piano accordion!)

Then one day, I took the audacious step of flipping the record over and listened to side one. Hmm, now this was interesting. Custard Pie was kinda cool. The Rover had a nice melody. But when I heard In My Time Of Dying, I became obsessed with the track. The drums, the slide guitar - and just what the hell was Robert Plant saying? Didn't matter. It felt amazing and had a power anything I'd ever heard - before or since. Perhaps my burgeoning loins were smelling something that would take my brain years to catch up on.

Such was my love for IMTOD that it became The Song to listen to when my older brother and I would come home from school for lunch. Arrive at 1:15pm, and if both parents were out, I'd put on IMTOD at high volume while we made sandwiches. The 11-minute running time was perfect to prepare our lunch and get our afternoon schoolbooks ready. Then when it finished, we'd retire to the living room and watch - and here is where the tastes of a teenager can really fail in retrospect - Neighbours on BBC1. Maybe my loins were searching for something else... And then at 1:50pm we'd hop on our bikes and zoom back to school. It was a wonderful ritual, the memory unsullied even by Neighbours. "Aaawww Madge!"

We also had The Song Remains The Same on double vinyl, which some became a favourite, even though I couldn't handle side two with Dazed And Confused - it was too slow, too murky, even a bit too spooky. Time, of course, has changed that perception.

At aged 14 or so, a schoolbuddy lent me a tape of ITTOD and, apart from In The Evening, the album didn't really appeal to me. Again, time and changing perceptions...

Eventually, in 1990 the Box Set came out and I bought it, even though my family didn't even have a CD player! Thankfully, a friend did and the true unveiling of the Zeppelin canon began for me. The rest you can surely work out for yourselves...

Finally, it does bother me that in my love for Zeppelin that a lot of current rock/indie bands cannot even come close. Even critically acclaimed and popular artists who sell out gigs tend to leave me cold - too trapped in a machine-like 4/4 dance groove. Not enough organic swing. I do try to change my perception, but few bands have the swing and swagger that Zep had. My search continues (and I'll refrain from naming current artists who do impress me).

That's all for now, folks.

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It was Summer 1978 (I was 12). I "borrowed" my sister's LZ4 record and never wanted to return it. Funny thing was that Stairway was NOT my favorite song on the album. It was "When the Levee Breaks". I would listen to that song 10-20 times in a row memorizing Bonham's drum track (I was an excellent "air" drummer...still am). When I won a $75 gift certificate to a record store about a month later I went straight there and bought all their albums at once. I listened to them in order over the course of the next two days and I've never looked back. Then "In Through the Out Door" came out. I loved the direction they were taking. Ever since "Fool in the Rain" has been my favorite LZ song.

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For me the 70's were Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band. They were the ones I would anxiously wait for the next album to drop. LZ was there but being a broke kid and living outside of a small city my choices for buying music were limited. Seger got the nod.

I slowly moved more towards LZ in the 80's and 90's as more and more of the bands I liked changed. Led Zeppelin was easily filling the void that the others were leaving. Like was mentioned earlier, they didn't have anything I wanted to skip over. I wanted to listen to it all.

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i was listening to my parents records, but from listening to the radiio, had requested zeppelin4 and got that for a bday or chirstmas...and obviously fucking loved it....but a year later, in regards to previous post, also got bob segar and silver bullet band, against the wind too, as a young kid and listened to that on record.

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On entering my Freshman year of High School, I overheard some other students, in class, talking about something fantastic that they had heard on a Led Zeppelin record. I had lost interest in music after The Beatles had stopped touring in 1965. I was ready to give another band, that was worthy, my heart & soul...

So, I was curious. On a dark October night, a few days after turning 14 in 1969, I rode my bicycle up to the Department Store, and went to their record department. On display in the Led Zeppelin section were 15 new Led Zeppelin II albums. So, I bought one, and carefully rode home with it. I placed the record on the turntable, and put the headphones on. When I dropped the needle, and WLL began to play....it was so fantastic.... that I was hooked from the beginning. As you may, or may not already know.... those original US pressings of LZ II were very dynamic. I had one of those pressings (with RL in the groove stamp...) After listening to HB, I was fully down the rabbit hole, and deeply into the eye of the storm, that was Led Zeppelin.

So, I got hooked on LZ with a pair of Koss Headphones on. I had never heard Hard Rock before that. What a way to begin the journey into Blues-based Hard Rock, that was and is ... Led Zeppelin !!!

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For me it was about 9-10 years ago. Early 2002. I was a Freshman in high school and my musical tastes had been changing and expanding. I was growing tired of the same old effortless and souless rock and roll, and hip hop had nothing exciting to offer anymore it seemed. I had begun to hear songs here and there from Clapton, The Who, Rush, etc. I had also heard Zeppelin here and there (just didn't know it at the time). That stuff began to catch my attention more and more. I went out of my way to hear as much older stuff as I could.

My Dad had noticed my interest and shifting music taste. He told me that If I was liking the "classic rock" stuff, that he had an album for me to listen to. That album was Physical Graffiti. He told me that the last song on the first side was the best on the record and to pay close attention to it and tell him what I thought. That song, as we all know, is "Kashmir." The moment I heard the opening drum crash and riff to Kashmir, I was an instant Zep Head and I haven't looked back. That song didn't just wow me. It changed my musical tastes forever! I didn't listen to the whole album that day, but the "Zep seed" had been firmly planted. I couldn't beleive I hadn't been listening to this stiff all my life. It was such a refresher for my ears, and senses. Needless to say, my review of the song to my Dad was beyond glowing.

I then heard "Whole Lotta Love" and "Black Dog" on the radio the following week and I went out and purchsed Early and Latter Days that very day. That was the early inrtoduction to Led Zeppelin for me. After loving every song on there, I went out and began getting all the studio albums I could. I wanted to soak up all their music. It's the best decision I ever made. Their music is timeless, amazing, and still my absolute favorite to this day.

I now own all the albums, many live albums and compilations, and concerts. It's been a fun journey. I guess I owe my Dad a bit of thanks for handing me that masterpiece of an album.

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And what is it like to hear Led Zeppelin not among its natural peers of the time such as the Who, the Stones, Deep Purple, Yes, Black Sabbath, etc., but among the new wave and hair metal bands of the 80s

Cool question! And I had to register just to answer it. :-)

I was in 11th grade in 1982 when I first got into Zep. Growing up in the 70s and listening to FM radio I of course had heard all their hits, but at that time I was more into Peter Frampton, Fleetwood Mac and disco -- you know, the soft stuff.

In high school I got very into punk and new wave. The Clash were my main band, saw them play a bunch of times. I had an asymmetrical haircut and wore black all the time. Smoked cigarettes and hated the world. Total misfit.

One night I found myself hanging out with a few kids from school including one of the popular guys, a jock. The kind of person who normally wouldn't speak to a weirdo like me. But he turned out to be cool. We hung out on Riverside Drive in NYC, sat across from the river. It was also the night I smoked pot for the first time. Felt all funny and couldn't stop laughing. The night sky was beautiful.

Later, we all went back to the jock's apartment (his mom was asleep) and he put on Houses of the Holy. It was The Ocean that really got me. I couldn't believe how hard they played, how much they rocked! That incredible blues guitar, Plant's over-the-top voice. And Bonzo, oh my god! A bunch of us were sitting on the bed and when the end part came on, where the band is all doo-wopping, we were all singing along with the record. I knew I was hooked for life. Amidst my punk collection, which included The Clash, Sex Pistols, the Damned, Crass, etc., I added pretty much everything up through Physical Graffiti.

Like the punk bands I loved, Zep had energy. But more than that they could really play their instruments! And they were funky too. Coming from a soul background (I'm black so I grew up with Marvin Gaye, George Clinton, etc. around the house) that just made Zep the total package.

Still hooked, 30 years later. I've listened to em on vinyl, cassette, CD and now mp3.

Edited by alias
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Coming from a soul background (I'm black so I grew up with Marvin Gaye, George Clinton, etc. around the house) that just made Zep the total package.

I'm always interested to hear about bands and individuals with crossover appeal. I've read articles and interviews where George Clinton, Branford Marsalis, and Wyclef Jean have expressed their admiration for Led Zeppelin's music, and I think it's to Led Zeppelin's credit that they can appeal to fans who don't necessarily listen regularly to rock music. Led Zeppelin has been sampled extensively by hip hop artists (John Bonham's contribution to LZ's sound has to be the main reason), and I've noticed quite a few younger blacks (teens and early 20s) wearing "Led Zeppelin 1977 Tour" t-shirts, I wonder if most of these t-shirt wearers are fans, or if somehow Led Zeppelin t-shirts have become fashionable like New York Yankees apparel.

Which hard rock bands have had the most "crossover" appeal to (1) fans of any ethnicity who otherwise don't like rock music, and (2) to black, latino, and non-white people in general? In terms of songs, I know that Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" (even before the video with Run-DMC), AC/DC's "Back In Black", and Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" all had crossover appeal, but I'm not sure which groups (if any) had strong crossover appeal.

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Like the punk bands I loved, Zep had energy. But more than that they could really play their instruments! And they were funky too. Coming from a soul background (I'm black so I grew up with Marvin Gaye, George Clinton, etc. around the house) that just made Zep the total package.

Exactly. This is one of the main attributes that set Led Zeppelin apart from their leadened peers. They could segue from the most dissonant avant-garde noise to a funky jam with effortless ease, as if it was in their blood.

From experience, I can tell you that Led Zeppelin drew a fair amount of bruthas and sistas to their concerts...more than other white hard rock/heavy metal bands of the time. Only Santana and the Rolling Stones drew a similar multicultural crowd

.

You can't fake the funk...you either got IT or you don't. Led Zeppelin most definitely HAD IT!

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God I'm just loving this thread!

I love hearing stories from all ages and groups as I can really identify with most of the things that have been said so far.

I was born 9 years after the group has disbanded so of course never got to see them in the 70's, let alone in any projects after that. I missed all the good stuff I guess^^ Anyways me and my daddy always used to listen to records on our player while I was growing up from all sorts of musical genres. Soul, Jazz, Rock, just about anything. Funnily enough Zeppelin wasn't amongst these things cause my dad, alhough having grown up in London, never got into Zeppelin. He would have had the right age as well to see em in concert, but he somehow just wasn't interested.

Fast forward to 2004: when I was 15 I was a pretty normal girl music-wise, listened to contemporary stuff just like everybody else. That was the time when I recall my first conscious encounter with Zeppelin which was the Immigrant Song. I rather liked the song, but never bothered to sit down and listen to it properly (BIG MISTAKE!!). So a few years passed by until 2008 when I heard the same song again and finally made my mind up that I would go on Youtube, search for the song and listen to it. So I did and I still liked it, but it didn't quite "hit" me if you know what I mean. At that time I was caught up in another passion (or obsession, call it whatever you like) with another group so maybe the time hadn't come yet.

On Youtube you always get these suggestions on the right hand side and the first was Black Dog and the second was Rock N Roll. I listened, rather liked them and put them on my iPod. And then came Since I've been loving you. Don't ask me how I found the song, but I did and slowly but surely the flame inside of me became bigger and bigger, but not quite hitting its pinnacle yet. That was my fav song so far and I listened to it quite a lot, got Led Zeppelin III on CD for Christmas 2010, but never did I dream that Zeppelin would ever explode into my life like it did. I even had a poster of them on my wall which I bought in 2010 while I was in England and still they didn't quite inflame like they did a few months later.

Fast forward again to April 2011: I was going through some turmoil in my life. I was unhappy with loads of things and people (mostly people who called themselves friends but weren't) and I knew that I had to change something but as I'm a little coward I waited a while until I finally did something. What was my incentive to do something you might ask. Well, it was Zeppelin.

One day in April I was still pondering over my next steps and tried to find answers to my questions to no avail so, as always, I put on some music (music is my elixir of life you know). I went on Youtube cause I couldn't be bothered to use my iPod and Since I've Been Loving You was my first choice. Amongst the suggestions was Going to California from the 2003 DVD (which I didn't know then) and, I don't really know how to say it else, I was totally drawn to this video. I'm a spiritual person and I believe in fate and something inside of me just told me to click on that video, so I did. You see the crowd at the beginning, then you see Robert and Jimmy and the Robert starts to sing "Spent my days with a woman unkind, smoked my stuff and drank all my wine"..I had never heard that song before and as Jimmy proceeded into his solo with Jonesy I was in tears. I had rarely in my life heard such a beautiful melody and such beautiful lyrics. Maybe it's because I'm a lost flower-power child born in the wrong decade that this song appealed to me. The final blow for me came when Robert sang "Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams, Telling myself it's not as hard, hard, hard as it seems"..That did it for me and I never looked back. This line provided all the answers I was looking for, it provided someone who told me not to worry and that it'll all fall into place. And it did. I'm playing the video right now as I'm writing this and it still gives me the same feeling as it did 5 months ago. The same feeling of safety and love.

Since that day I bought all the CDs and DVDs I could get my hands on, spent time trying to find my way through the huge Zeppelin universe. With every day that passed I came to appreciate Zeppelin more and more and with every new song I heard I came to fall in love more and more. There is something very special in their songs that cannot be put into words, a feeling of content and passion for what they do which is conveyed to the listeners. Same goes for their live performances.

There are absolutely no words for all the feelings I have when listening to them, let alone watching them, but I would say that it's a mixture of respect, appreciation and sheer amazement. Since Zeppelin entered my life I feel different, like I've found what I was looking for.

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I'm always interested to hear about bands and individuals with crossover appeal. I've read articles and interviews where George Clinton, Branford Marsalis, and Wyclef Jean have expressed their admiration for Led Zeppelin's music, and I think it's to Led Zeppelin's credit that they can appeal to fans who don't necessarily listen regularly to rock music. Led Zeppelin has been sampled extensively by hip hop artists (John Bonham's contribution to LZ's sound has to be the main reason), and I've noticed quite a few younger blacks (teens and early 20s) wearing "Led Zeppelin 1977 Tour" t-shirts, I wonder if most of these t-shirt wearers are fans, or if somehow Led Zeppelin t-shirts have become fashionable like New York Yankees apparel.

Which hard rock bands have had the most "crossover" appeal to (1) fans of any ethnicity who otherwise don't like rock music, and (2) to black, latino, and non-white people in general? In terms of songs, I know that Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" (even before the video with Run-DMC), AC/DC's "Back In Black", and Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" all had crossover appeal, but I'm not sure which groups (if any) had strong crossover appeal.

I can't answer your question for everybody, just me and my little group of friends. Other than Santana and the Stones (which Strider just mentioned), I really can't think of any other hard rockers that black folks were into. I didn't even know anyone my age (who was black) who was into Hendrix. When I bought 'Are You Experienced' in 9th grade, the only people I could really talk about it with were the 3-4 kids in the small hippie group at my school. :-)

As far as white bands in general, folks liked the odd song here and there like 'Another Bites the Dust,' as you mentioned, and also stuff like the Average White Band song 'Pick Up the Pieces,' because it was funky. And Wild Cherry's 'Play that Funky Music.'

Steely Dan was the go-to rock group for black people who were mostly into R&B and soul, but they were more on the jazz tip. I recall things being pretty segregated as far as the fan base was concerned. I grew up in a black neighborhood but I went to a predominantly white private school, so I was immersed in both worlds. Back in the days before Run DMC covered Walk This Way, rap was strictly a black phenomenon. None of my white friends could understand why I liked "that music." Likewise, my black friends didn't get why I was into punk. I took some ribbing from both sides.

When you're talking about musicians though, they're mostly interested in musicality and don't care so much about race, so I'm not surprised for instance to hear about Branford Marsalis being into Zep. He also liked the Grateful Dead, as I recall. I was married to a jazz musician in my younger days, here was a guy who only listened to straight ahead music (Miles, Coltrane, etc.) but he thought Led Zeppelin were great.

You mentioned the younger generation. I know at my son's high school, the kids of all races are mostly into rap and pop. But there's really no concept of "oh that's black music, oh that's white music, why are you listening to that" like when I was young. They don't seem to really care about that stuff. My son says the only kids who are into the older groups, like Zep, are the stoners. I'm always amazed when I see kids in a Zep or Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt. That music was like 40 years ago. That would have been like me us 70s/80s teen walking around in a Benny Goodman shirt when we were that age. Just didn't happen.

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From experience, I can tell you that Led Zeppelin drew a fair amount of bruthas and sistas to their concerts...more than other white hard rock/heavy metal bands of the time. Only Santana and the Rolling Stones drew a similar multicultural crowd

So jealous you got to see all those bands back in the day. I did actually catch Santana (Carlos, solo) back in the late 80s in NYC, and like you said, the crowd was multi-cultural. Played his butt off as usual. That was a very good show. I saw the Stones twice in '81, but that was in France, so basically it was just a French crowd (and me!).

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God I'm just loving this thread!

I love hearing stories from all ages and groups as I can really identify with most of the things that have been said so far.

I was born 9 years after the group has disbanded so of course never got to see them in the 70's, let alone in any projects after that. I missed all the good stuff I guess^^ Anyways me and my daddy always used to listen to records on our player while I was growing up from all sorts of musical genres. Soul, Jazz, Rock, just about anything. Funnily enough Zeppelin wasn't amongst these things cause my dad, alhough having grown up in London, never got into Zeppelin. He would have had the right age as well to see em in concert, but he somehow just wasn't interested.

Fast forward to 2004: when I was 15 I was a pretty normal girl music-wise, listened to contemporary stuff just like everybody else. That was the time when I recall my first conscious encounter with Zeppelin which was the Immigrant Song. I rather liked the song, but never bothered to sit down and listen to it properly (BIG MISTAKE!!). So a few years passed by until 2008 when I heard the same song again and finally made my mind up that I would go on Youtube, search for the song and listen to it. So I did and I still liked it, but it didn't quite "hit" me if you know what I mean. At that time I was caught up in another passion (or obsession, call it whatever you like) with another group so maybe the time hadn't come yet.

On Youtube you always get these suggestions on the right hand side and the first was Black Dog and the second was Rock N Roll. I listened, rather liked them and put them on my iPod. And then came Since I've been loving you. Don't ask me how I found the song, but I did and slowly but surely the flame inside of me became bigger and bigger, but not quite hitting its pinnacle yet. That was my fav song so far and I listened to it quite a lot, got Led Zeppelin III on CD for Christmas 2010, but never did I dream that Zeppelin would ever explode into my life like it did. I even had a poster of them on my wall which I bought in 2010 while I was in England and still they didn't quite inflame like they did a few months later.

Fast forward again to April 2011: I was going through some turmoil in my life. I was unhappy with loads of things and people (mostly people who called themselves friends but weren't) and I knew that I had to change something but as I'm a little coward I waited a while until I finally did something. What was my incentive to do something you might ask. Well, it was Zeppelin.

One day in April I was still pondering over my next steps and tried to find answers to my questions to no avail so, as always, I put on some music (music is my elixir of life you know). I went on Youtube cause I couldn't be bothered to use my iPod and Since I've Been Loving You was my first choice. Amongst the suggestions was Going to California from the 2003 DVD (which I didn't know then) and, I don't really know how to say it else, I was totally drawn to this video. I'm a spiritual person and I believe in fate and something inside of me just told me to click on that video, so I did. You see the crowd at the beginning, then you see Robert and Jimmy and the Robert starts to sing "Spent my days with a woman unkind, smoked my stuff and drank all my wine"..I had never heard that song before and as Jimmy proceeded into his solo with Jonesy I was in tears. I had rarely in my life heard such a beautiful melody and such beautiful lyrics. Maybe it's because I'm a lost flower-power child born in the wrong decade that this song appealed to me. The final blow for me came when Robert sang "Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams, Telling myself it's not as hard, hard, hard as it seems"..That did it for me and I never looked back. This line provided all the answers I was looking for, it provided someone who told me not to worry and that it'll all fall into place. And it did. I'm playing the video right now as I'm writing this and it still gives me the same feeling as it did 5 months ago. The same feeling of safety and love.

Since that day I bought all the CDs and DVDs I could get my hands on, spent time trying to find my way through the huge Zeppelin universe. With every day that passed I came to appreciate Zeppelin more and more and with every new song I heard I came to fall in love more and more. There is something very special in their songs that cannot be put into words, a feeling of content and passion for what they do which is conveyed to the listeners. Same goes for their live performances.

There are absolutely no words for all the feelings I have when listening to them, let alone watching them, but I would say that it's a mixture of respect, appreciation and sheer amazement. Since Zeppelin entered my life I feel different, like I've found what I was looking for.

Beautiful...just beautiful! :thumbsup::goodpost:

alias, if that Stones concert was in France, then there were probably a fair share of GI's there. Any rock concert in Europe draws a contingent of American servicemen.

Just remembered another band that drew mixed crowds...War.

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Just remembered another band that drew mixed crowds...War.

Didn't know that. I just figured they'd attract the same people who were into P-Funk and Earth Wind & Fire. I was too young to see them live; but I remember hearing Cisco Kid on the radio a lot, also, my older sister had a couple of their albums. I believe they're still around.

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I have posted my story on how I got into Zep in the first place before and I am truly sorry if I am repeating myself but I just can't help it you know? ;) Zep's music got me through pretty much the darkest hours of my life. I was only 17 and the loss of a loved one can be pretty difficult to deal with. For all those, who are patient enough to read my post, I have just one thing to say : "Thank you for listening! It means a lot!" :)

Here is the original post I made :

I know that this may sound a tiny bit strange but Led Zep as a band has inspired me to become a better person, particularly to change how I deal with life's challenges...basically, my love for Zep began on a pretty sad note...

It was the month of January in the year 2006. I was all set to begin year 12 (the 12th grade). I was really excited about the prospect of graduating and pretty much getting the chance to go to college the next year. While in middle school, I met the love of my life, his name was Jake. We started out as good friends and our familes knew each other for 6 years.. We were interested in the same subjects (finance and economics), he and I hoped that we would eventually get to go to the same university after high school...I really felt that he was my best friend, since he could sense my every mood, thought, feeling and so on! He was (apart from my little sister) the only person who knew me inside out and I felt that I could read him like a book!

I thought I knew him inside out until he started to gradually fall into the wrong company...his grades started slipping...he would cut class and I wouldn't see him for days on end...and one day his mom found 2 vodkha bottles in his bag pack...I really couldn't understand what in the world was going on with him...When I confronted him about it, he denied everything!...also, he used to constantly ask me for money...I used to trust him enough and I used to give it to him, but he used to come back and ask me for more and used to give all sorts of vague answers as to what he spent it on! Then, my best friend Lynn told me that Jake was trying to join this club consisting of a bunch of really "cool, hip and happening" college guys, who used to make potential members go through all kinds of initiations, including go on drinking binges and try to drive a car, while being completely smashed! And since those jerks were above the legal age, I.Ds weren't a problem! Long story short, I lost Jake, all thanks to that club...he and 4 other guys from my high school were involved in an initiation where each guy was required to try to drive while drunk...none of them survived...This even to this day, makes me sick to my stomach...When I heard the news from my parents that morning on 12th of February 2006, I felt too numb and mentally exhausted to be sad...I somehow felt responsible for this and I do carry that guilt with me even to this day...

The months that followed were pretty dark and I used to be in my room constantly wondering what if Jake had actually lived? I remember listening to the radio to basically just get away from it all....I remember tunning into this really cool Classic Rock station going by the name Vega and I have always been fond of 60s and 70s rock 'n' roll...I heard Jimi Hendrix's song "Purple Haze" at the tender age of 6 and from then on, there was no turning back for me! I suprisingly, hadn't tried out Led Zep yet...I was really obsessed with "The Who", "Jimi Hendrix", "The Doors" and "Cream"...The song "Achilles Last Stand" started playing...it was breathtaking from the word go! The beautiful opening guitar riff...and Robert's amazing voice and the lyrics!

This one line caught my attention :

"With all the fun to have, to live the dreams we always had"

Reminded me of all my memories with Jake and the life that we had pretty much planned ahead for ourselves...I was just so fascinated by this song...I usually remember a song for its guitar riffs and stuff..but this, I remembered for its lyrics! It in a weird way captured what I was feeling at the time...Then, a couple of hours later, I went down stairs for lunch and I casually asked my dad about the song "Achilles Last Stand"...he is really into classic rock and he was glad to see that I was occupied with something else other than Jake's death...My dad then proceeded to tell me about Led Zeppelin (about Robert, Jimmy, JPJ and Bonzo) and then he told me something which I still can't get over even today...he told me how Robert was in a wheel chair (after that terrible accident in Greece) while recording "Achilles Last Stand" and pretty much the entire album "Presence"...I was shocked! I quitely retreated to my room and began to ponder...I looked up "Achilles" on the net just to make sure that my dad was being accurate...These thoughts struck my mind (about Robert) : "Through all that physical pain of being in a wheel chair and having gone through something so horrific, this guy manages to co-write such a beautiful song...he is pretty much at his creative best and here I am, this 17 year old kid who is moaning and groaning about her loss!"....I told myself to stop being so childish and just toughen up, stay strong and be brave! I told myself that this was the only way that I was ever going to have the upper hand in the game of life! My family could see the change in me...I refused to go see my grief counsellor...I dealt with it by just confiding in the people closest to me and also, Zep's music pretty much helped too! B) I'm in my honours year now and next year, I hope to pursue a Master's degree in Eco and Finance.

Jake will always be in my heart...I just tend to keep thinking about the good old days and I try not to think about the sad turn of events...I still haven't "moved on completely"...but I have learnt to stay strong and focussed and I guess that its these eventualities in life which pretty much makes all of us grow as human beings!

"Achilles Last Stand" is a song which is pretty dear to me because it was that song and the history behind it which literally saved me from going into a very dark and disturbing place and never returning!

Anyway, sorry for rambling but I just had to share my thoughts with you guys!

Cheers!

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I was eleven years old, 1971 and one of best friends older brothers played the first four albums over & over. It was Whole Lotta Love and of course Stairway that first caught my attention; I've been a fan ever since. Since then they have always been my #1, #2 changes frequently with the times from Aerosmith to Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper to Pink Floyd, later to DEVO, The Fall etc. The best thing about growing up in the 70's was the music (certainly not the clothes though I had a pair of killer bell bottoms). When you think about the number of rock bands releasing albums it was crazy. The 60's were great but when it came to hard rock there was nothing like Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper....oh wait Pink Floyd, The Stones, Van Halen etc., etc. After cutting your teeth on music like that the 80's were boring.

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Cool question! And I had to register just to answer it. :-)

I was in 11th grade in 1982 when I first got into Zep. Growing up in the 70s and listening to FM radio I of course had heard all their hits, but at that time I was more into Peter Frampton, Fleetwood Mac and disco -- you know, the soft stuff.

In high school I got very into punk and new wave. The Clash were my main band, saw them play a bunch of times. I had an asymmetrical haircut and wore black all the time. Smoked cigarettes and hated the world. Total misfit.

One night I found myself hanging out with a few kids from school including one of the popular guys, a jock. The kind of person who normally wouldn't speak to a weirdo like me. But he turned out to be cool. We hung out on Riverside Drive in NYC, sat across from the river. It was also the night I smoked pot for the first time. Felt all funny and couldn't stop laughing. The night sky was beautiful.

Later, we all went back to the jock's apartment (his mom was asleep) and he put on Houses of the Holy. It was The Ocean that really got me. I couldn't believe how hard they played, how much they rocked! That incredible blues guitar, Plant's over-the-top voice. And Bonzo, oh my god! A bunch of us were sitting on the bed and when the end part came on, where the band is all doo-wopping, we were all singing along with the record. I knew I was hooked for life. Amidst my punk collection, which included The Clash, Sex Pistols, the Damned, Crass, etc., I added pretty much everything up through Physical Graffiti.

Like the punk bands I loved, Zep had energy. But more than that they could really play their instruments! And they were funky too. Coming from a soul background (I'm black so I grew up with Marvin Gaye, George Clinton, etc. around the house) that just made Zep the total package.

Still hooked, 30 years later. I've listened to em on vinyl, cassette, CD and now mp3.

Dayum! We're we separated at birth? :)

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I was eleven years old, back in 2004, and my aunt bought me a Led Zeppelin t-shirt for my birthday. I was already listening to Bowie, Guns N' Roses and Aerosmith (since very early childhood). So naturally, I asked my mum to buy me a CD, so I could listen to the music that related to said shirt. She bought me 'Early Days and Latter Days', which I thought was an appropriate starter, and I got hooked on 'Good Times, Bad Times'.

I bought all their albums on vinyl and CD with my 'pocket money' that I saved up for months at a time. The best birthday present I ever received was standing tickets for me and my mum to watch Led Zeppelin at the O2 - I was just fourteen. Ever since I was bought that first compilation album, they've been my favourite band; some days it just feels wrong to listen to anything else. I fell in love with Robert's voice, Jimmy's wailing guitar, JPJ's tight bass playing and Bonzo's animalistic and unique drumming.

Edited by Lëah Lilith Eleida
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