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How big were/are Led Zeppelin?


Jiri

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From a view from the United States (I'll play The Ugly American):

  • WTF is a Robbie Williams?!!
  • Oasis has a so-so following over here; their biggest hit was "Wonderwall" or whatever it was called. All we hear is that the Gallagher brothers fight each other.
  • Simply Red had a couple of hits (Holding Back the Years; If You Don't Blow Me Right Now)
  • Only one hit (and a good 'un) for Cliff Richard: "(She's Just a) Evil Woman (with evil on her mind)"
  • WTF is a Westlife?!!
  • WTF is a Shadows? Weren't they a band from the 1950s? The band name sounds like they were surf rockers or something similar. If so, kudos to them.

From the point of view of a Briton:

* Robbie Williams is a male singer. You couldn't gather that he was an artist, and not a band, from his name? Whilst relevant, he was hugely popular and successful. Both as a solo artist and as part of one of our biggest bands from the '90's.

* Oasis are massive over here, so whilst they aren't to the same degree in the US, that was never the point of the list, was it? And they don't fight each other.

* Simply Red, whilst not my cup of tea, were well-known and popular. They still are to their followers.

* Cliff Richard has had number one's in every decade since the 1950's. He's on par with Elvis.

* Westlife is an Irish boyband that pretty much took every number one spot with every single they did.

* The Shadows were an instrumental rock and roll band that, I dare say, influenced many later rock outfits (you're on their forum). Not only popular during the 1950's, '60's and '70's, their lead singer was also one of our most successful male singers - Cliff Richard.

You make me laugh. You're disputing a UK chart listing from an American point of view. Of course it's gonna go over your head. And what's with all the 'WTF is a...?' That's like me asking 'WTF is a Led Zeppelin?'

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From the point of view of a Briton:

* Robbie Williams is a male singer. You couldn't gather that he was an artist, and not a band, from his name? Whilst relevant, he was hugely popular and successful. Both as a solo artist and as part of one of our biggest bands from the '90's.

* Oasis are massive over here, so whilst they aren't to the same degree in the US, that was never the point of the list, was it? And they don't fight each other.

* Simply Red, whilst not my cup of tea, were well-known and popular. They still are to their followers.

* Cliff Richard has had number one's in every decade since the 1950's. He's on par with Elvis.

* Westlife is an Irish boyband that pretty much took every number one spot with every single they did.

* The Shadows were an instrumental rock and roll band that, I dare say, influenced many later rock outfits (you're on their forum). Not only popular during the 1950's, '60's and '70's, their lead singer was also one of our most successful male singers - Cliff Richard.

You make me laugh. You're disputing a UK chart listing from an American point of view. Of course it's gonna go over your head. And what's with all the 'WTF is a...?' That's like me asking 'WTF is a Led Zeppelin?'

Hi LongDistanceWinner,

My apologies; I was just trying to have a bit o' fun that evidently wasn't so evident! (I did write I was PLAYING the Ugly American; thought that was a hint).

But I'm like that sometimes ... I probably have should just wrote that Robbie Williams is almost completely unknown over here, etc., Cliff Richard only had one charted song (I knew he was a legend across the pond), and Westlife I heard a girl mention to me once in the 1990s.

It's just interesting how different the charts from one country to the next; how certain acts are HUGE in one place and unknown in another. I was just trying to point that out.

I meant no offense ...

All the best,

dpat

P.S.: The WTF bit was a take on how a certain ethnic group here in the States talks. That's what's a downer about writing: You don't hear the inflection in a person's voice to tell when he is serious or not. Of course, if I was a better writer we wouldn't have that problem...

Edited by dpat
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This is an interesting thread and I'll take the liberty of chipping in.Make no mistake about it,Led Zeppelin were massive during the seventies in Britain.I was seventeen in 1975 and I can remember those Earls Court shows,and the later Knebworth events selling out very quickly.But I've got to add the fact that the band had a strange relationship with the U.K during this time.The reasons,I think,were many for this.Believe it or not,but the band were never on the television.EVER.I can remember one interview with Robert Plant and an in house video being run over a playback of 'Trampled Underfoot' from 'Physical Graffiti' during 1975 and that was that.Now I know that someone is going to reply,'...well what about Jimmy Page's appearance on the Julie Felix Show or the Late Night Line Up appearance,etc', but I never saw them and I was there.You virtually never saw the band.They rarely gave press interviews also,during this time.Any news of them was devoured by fans and a lot of it concerned some of the mega tours that the band were making of the U.S. during this period.They well may have in the States,Australia,Japan or anywhere else,but they never released a single in the U.K.That meant that they were very rarely on the radio at the time and as,especially during the time we are talking about,most radio stations were singles orientated,Led Zeppelin simply were not heard on that medium.They also seldom toured the U.K. After the twenty one date tour of the U.K. that started on November 30th,'72 through to January 30th,'73,the band only played in Britain a further seven times before they broke up (five nights at Earls Court and two at Knebworth).On that tour the band were playing venues like Sheffield City Hall,the Preston Guild Hall and Southampton University!This was a band who had previously played at Madison Square Gardens,The Inglewood Forum and The Coliseum in Seattle.The truth was the Led Zeppelin couldn't play in Britain during the early seventies because there was nowhere for them to play,the U.K. simply did not have the venues that could have coped with the demand to see the group.Take into account as well the dreadful tax laws in operation at the time,and to a degree still in use,whereby successful people were only allowed to reside in Britain for a very limited amount of time during any given financial year before being eligible for a real clobbering by the British Inland Revenue and I think you have a good picture of why the band were scarce on the ground in there home country.There popularity,at least here,was down to old fashioned word of mouth.You knew someone who had there latest album,or any older brother/sister might have it and you snuck it on when they weren't about.They were never hyped,at least not in Britain.They had an incredible mystique,and every album release was an event but don't think that just because the Carpenters or whoever may have sold more albums than them in Britain that they were not popular.Among rock fans,they were monstrous.

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  • 6 years later...

Are you kidding?  Huge beyond imagination!   Some Led Zeppelin cover band is playing here at the Lilac festival towards the end of the festival.  A yearly festival in Rochester, NY called the 'Lilac Festival" in the Flower city which Rochester has as it nickname.  I think its "Get the Led Out".   I will likely not attend as its not the real thing.

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At the height and prime of Led Zeppelin's career, between 1971-1975, Led Zeppelin was the Biggest Band on the Planet Earth. 

45 years later and Led Zeppelin is still the Biggest Band on the Planet Earth. 

How is that for a simple, correct and accurate answer? 

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Here in the US, Led Zeppelin was HUGE!  Easily the most popular band of the early and mid seventies.  You could hear them on the radio many times each day, and they were on every jukebox in the country.  Some bands were bigger sellers like Fleetwood Mac, and  The Eagles but they didn't inspire the same kind of fanatical fan base.  It's hard to convey the level of stardom that Led Zeppelin had back then, the modern music scene is much more fragmented and niche market driven.  Their influence was huge in the music industry too, they had total control over their records, which was unusual at the time, so many bands based their sound and style on LZ in the seventies, they continued to influence, many rap groups sampled their music in the eighties too!,

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  • 4 years later...
On 6/13/2008 at 12:05 PM, Mr E said:

 

I was going to say that's actually quite impressive. A lot of those artists are a lot more mainstream compared to Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin are very big in the UK they've just always managed to remain slightly more undergound by not appearing on TV or releasing singles which is cool I think. Where is that list from by the way?

View from the UK: During Zeppelin's hey day the singles market determined people's favourite bands and singers so they weren't a household name. But I witnessed the mass appeal of the group by the time of the Page and Plant concerts which were very well attended and received. 

 There isn't the reverence for Zeppelin here in the way there is in the States and Canada. They gained such popularity by relentless touring there which didn't happen here. And we all know that Zeppelin are a band, the perception of which changes dramatically, if you see them live. 

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