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Without Whole Lotta Love would Led Zeppelin have been as successful?


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I believe the first album didn't really set Led Zeppelin on the map like the second did and the play of Whole Lotta Love got the second album to be as popular because think of it like this LZ II would never have reached the charts like it did without it. Therefore not making Led Zeppelin have so a big name after 1969 so my question is do you think this is the song that actually got Led Zeppelin to the heights they reached?

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But would the delayed success get them into a position where they would have been to record LZ IV?

Maybe but in those years the toured hard, and if you check the dates and setlist, you see that WLL was included in only one date in the Fillmore (24 april 69), and the rest of 69, they did not played until 1970.

And now when i think this, i doubt that, because the inspiration was there.

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I believe the first album didn't really set Led Zeppelin on the map like the second did and the play of Whole Lotta Love got the second album to be as popular because think of it like this LZ II would never have reached the charts like it did without it. Therefore not making Led Zeppelin have so a big name after 1969 so my question is do you think this is the song that actually got Led Zeppelin to the heights they reached?

I agree that LZII, the album in its entirety, opened the floodgates.

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Stairway yes but if Whole Lotta Love wasn't released as a single (even against the band's wishes) and got no airplay it could have turnt bad I believe anyway,

.

Not quite agree THAT bad, as previous as said LZ III and IV would have do the job.

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I was around in those days, and all I can say is that everybody I knew (literally) had the album, but I don't think I knew anybody who had the single. And the single version was truncated (without the middle section) for radio, anyway. It was the album as a whole that was so popular.

Short answer, yes. :D

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Led Zeppelin's popularity was and is still based around entire albums, not songs. Would II have been different without it, maybe. But even if II didn't to so well, I, IV, Houses of the Holy, and Physical Graffiti all have gone Diamond. And and III, Presence, and In through the Out Door are all multiplatinum.

You take Whole Lotta Love off of II, then Led Zeppelin would have had one less Diamond Record, and one more platinum record. So Led Zeppelin would maybe have sold three or four million records less, which is chump change considering that they've sold somewhere between 200 to 300 million albums worldwide.

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I believe the first album didn't really set Led Zeppelin on the map like the second did and the play of Whole Lotta Love got the second album to be as popular because think of it like this LZ II would never have reached the charts like it did without it. Therefore not making Led Zeppelin have so a big name after 1969 so my question is do you think this is the song that actually got Led Zeppelin to the heights they reached?

I think a band with the talent of Zeppelin was bound to be successful no matter what they did or didn't do. Their musical ability got them to where they were and how they are remembered now. I wouldn't attribute it to just one song doing well. I see where you're coming from with your question, though.

WLL helped I'm sure, airplay never really "hurts" a band. But overall, they would have broken through with something else or some other way. They were too good not to.

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It wasn't just one song that made Zep what they are. They're were so many elements involved. From their concerts, different musical styles, influences, mystique of the band, musicianship and plenty of other things.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Maybe in the history of Zeppelin singles didn't matter. Whole Lotta Love did though, it reached 4 on the U.S. singles charts and stayed there for 15 weeks. That was a big single for them and gained them enormous exposure that Led I never did.

Would they have made it without Whole Lotta Love? Probably but it sure didn't hurt that it was a huge radio hit.

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Zep would have been successful in any case....because UNlike many other artists out there......ESPECIALLY TODAY.....who state they take after LZ and don't try to be really influenced by them......LZ had TALENT!!!!!!.......top of the hit parade or not!!!! Don't people know how ro recognize true talent instead of seeing if the song(s) hit the top or not and judge them by that parameter???!

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Yes, of course Zep would. They had tons of talent and stood the test of time. We will see if other current successful artists can do the same and be judged upon that and not just personal opinions - as crazy as some are.

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