Led Zeppelin

[lzzoso]

Okay. Let me ask a pretty hard question (at least for me). When you listen to a Led Zeppelin song, any song, who do you tend to listen to and focus on the most? Jimmy? Robert? Jonesy? Bonzo?

Seems hard to answer, doesn't it? Being that they are all the best in their respective roles.

I tend to focus and concentrate on the guitar of Mr. Jimmy Page. I think that Jimmy Page is the most talented and influential guitarist/musician of all-time. My opinion, of course.

Then again, alot of the times I love to focus on listen to the singing and lyrics of Mr. Robert Plant. Same with the bass and keyboards of Jonesy and the wicked and powerful drums of the late, great John Henry 'Bonzo' Bonham.

Simply put, that is what makes Led Zeppelin the very best at what they do (did). And that is that they made the BEST and most POWERFUL music in the history of rock and roll.

In conclusion, I still love to single out and listen to Jimmy's powerful riffs and solos, however, to me, that seems to change almost all the time. Tommorow I may post a topic that I think that John Bonham's drums is the only thing I focus on. Or Jonesy's great bass playing.

What do you think?

[kakdaddy]

I don't really prefer one instrument over the other when it comes to Zeppelin. There are tracks where a certain member shines above the rest like Bonham on "Levee" but Im still listening intently to what everyone else is doing throughout the song. Here's examples of songs where I do really focus on an idividual band member:

Plant: "Friends", "That's The Way", "Baby Come On Home", "Thank You", "I'm Gonna Crawl"

Page: "Ten Years Gone", "Heartbreaker", "Tea For One", "The Rover", "The Song Remains The Same"

Jones: "Caruoselambra", "In The Light", "All My Love", "The Crunge", "What Is And Should Never Be"

Bonham: "Black Country Woman", "Walters Walk", "Sick Again", "Misty Mountain Hop", "Fool In The Rain"

And then there are just songs where the whole band just works that you're constantly going back & forth between each member that you just cant focus on just one member for to long. Examples: "Good Times, Bad Times", "How Many More Times", "The Rain Song", "In My Time Of Dying", "Achilles Last Stand", "Kashmir", & to many others.

[Deborah J]

lzzoso- Loved the I'm sure, not sure...that what makes Zeppelin the best. All four were the best at what they did. Most of the time when I am listening to Moby Dick I think Bonzo (that's a given), when I listen to No Quarter I think JPJ,or D&C Jimmy, The Rain Song or IGC Robert,but it is the fact that when these four were together on stage there was/is IMHO no other band that can even come close to the magic they created.

While certain of their ballads show off one's talent, overall THEY TOGETHER to our delight created the most unbelievable soulful music. If you take one from the mix, it's not the same. Page, Plant and JPJ have all gone on to their own projects and they have created great music, but never as powerful of an impact as LZ!!

Just glad that these four men became The Mighty Zeppelin. I can't imagine not having them in my life (literally daily I will listen to something from them!! :-)

So like you, no way can I decide. I might think more of one according to what I am listening to, but to me THEY the four are what made it all happen and I am so grateful :-)

[ninelives]

The songs are the songs because of the four of them together, so I can't say I particularly favour one over the other.

[Otto Masson]

I think for me Led Zeppelin in this respect struck a certain balance that is very unusual. There can be no doubt that Jimmy was the band leader, not only because the band, in a sense, was his idea, and he recruited the members and came up with the initial musical ideas - but moreover he wrote most of their music until 1978, when they recorded ITTOD in Stockholm. He was also always the producer of their albums and developed quite distinctive ideas in that role. And he was of course the guitarist.

This special threefold role that Jimmy used to play - as songwriter, guitarist and producer - along with the fact that he would by all accounts usually have the last say in every vital matter concerning the band is something that has to be kept in mind. Very, very important, and a key component in their success, I believe.

But there is another side to that, because one of the things that made Jimmy unusual as a band leader was the fact that he was never trying to let the others recede into minor roles - on the contrary: he made sure from the very beginning that Bonzo's drum sound came through on the albums, he would get input from Jonesy as not just a bass player but really skilled arranger and player of multiple instruments, and he left Robert the space to sing in a loose kind of way that mirrored his own approach to the guitar. All of them were prominent, and each one of them would shine at different points - but they always tried to make sure the songs got what they needed from all of them. And that's what matters the most in the end. The lineup became stabilized, and over time "Led Zeppelin" started to mean just the musical unity of the four members of the band - really inconceivable, totally meaningless in the absence of any one of them. And the thing was, the chemistry was incredible.

So, if I had to name one of them I would say Jimmy, but the reality is that all the others helped him immensely in achieving his goals - and sometimes perhaps altering these goals a little in the process.

[Otto Masson]

As a sort of postscript to the above, I should add that there is at least a partial similarity between Zeppelin and The Who with respect to the sort of balancing I was talking about, because Pete Townshend was always indisputably the band leader there, but in such a way as to allow both Entwhistle and Moon a lot of space to develop their own approach to the music, taking it to places that would have been inconceivable for Pete to visit on his own. And Roger added a lot of character to the music as well.

This stands in stark contrast to most other examples you could think of, however. Take The Rolling Stones: Mick and Keith have jointly led the group since at least the mid-sixties, but in a much bossier kind of way, telling the others what they should be doing, and really not being very encouraging for all we know, cf. Bill Wyman's description of how things used to work in the band. Also witness Goddard's film Sympathy for the Devil, and how Mick and Keith go about things in the studio.

[ledzepfvr]

I think to focus on one or the other depends on if the listener has any musical ability. A guitar player would focus on Jimmy or JPJ, a drummer on Bonham and since I have no musical ability I do tend to focus on Robert's singing, even tho I can't carry a tune to save my life. But Robert sounds so good because he has the others backing him.

[imPLANTed]

There are times when I listen to them and for a whole day, I instinctively just listen to one of them more than the others. Sometimes, listen to them as a whole. I honestly don't do that with any other band. They're just mezmerizing.

[ZeppFanForever]

There are times when I listen to them and for a whole day, I instinctively just listen to one of them more than the others. Sometimes, listen to them as a whole. I honestly don't do that with any other band. They're just mezmerizing.

I can definitely relate to you on this! I also feel the same way about THE BEATLES! ROF!

[BlackDog71]

The songs are the songs because of the four of them together, so I can't say I particularly favour one over the other.

I'd have to agree with the above statement. I do notice an influence of certain members on certain songs though. You'll hear it and just be amazed at how good all four of them were at what they did. Certain songs will highlight a member more, but all in all, the four of them just complimented each other perfectly.

[Resatka]

Hey guys, this is my first post ever on this site, and from what I've seen you guys seem extremely nice. I'm on a few other forums for other bands, but this is my all time favorite so I thought it was crazy I wasn't on the boards for this band I'm only a college student, but I've been listening to the band for years though. My parents actually had tickets to a show in Cleveland the year Bonzo passed, but obviously the show was canceled and they didn't have the chance to see them One of the the greatest bands that's ever lived.

Anyways, in relation to this thread, I really think it depends on what song I'm listening to for who I focus in on the most. Sometimes when they're jamming, with Page soloing, I might listen to (like on the Lemon Song for example) JPJ lay down his sweet bass lines, so I'll focus in on him the most. If it's something like a solid riff, or if Jimmy is soloing I'll probably focus in on Jimmy. Something like In My Time of Dying or obviously Moby Dick I'll obviously focus in on Bonzo. There's a fill close to the end of In My Time of Dying, that every time I hear it I go, "Damn!" It just gets me every single time. And as for Robert Plant, when he hits those high notes (those yells), like in Dazed and Confused, I'll focus in on him.

A lot of the time though I focus in on the whole band (or just nobody in particular) at once because they're just a tour de force of sound. A sonic revolution. So that's about all I got for this thread