Led Zeppelin bigger in America than UK?

[rm2551]

I wasn't alive in the 70s but I get the impression that Zeppelin somehow managed to be quietly massive in their homeland. They didn't get the media attention of other bands such as Stones, The Who etc but looking at album charts and concert attendances it's quite easy to see they had a very large following of fans in the UK that easily rivalled or even bettered other big bands of the time.

Here's some British chart stats of their first four albums just to demonstrate how they compared to two other big bands of the time:

Led Zeppelin - Chart Peak = 6 Weeks in chart = 79

Led Zeppelin II - Chart Peak = 1 Weeks in chart = 138

Led Zeppeliin III - Chart Peak = 1 Weeks in chart = 40

Led Zeppelin IV - Chart Peak = 1 Weeks in chart = 77

The Rolling Stones:

Beggars Banquet - Chart Peak = 3 Weeks in chart = 12

Let It Bleed - Chart Peak = 1 Weeks in chart = 29

Sticky Fingers - Chart Peak = 1 Weeks in chart = 25

Exile In main Street - Chart Peak = 1 Weeks in chart = 16

The Who:

Tommy - Chart Peak = 2 Weeks in chart = 9

Live At Leeds - Chart Peak = 3 Weeks in chart = 21

Who's Next - Chart peak = 1 Weeks in chart = 13

Quadrophenia - Chart Peak = 2 Weeks in chart = 13

http://www.officialc...led%20zeppelin/

Having said all that they probably are bigger in America. Their sales rival Beatles and Elvis in the States.

Thats interesting!

What it tells me...

The chart peaks of #1 - they were very popular with a LARGE core fanbase after the success of the first album - which while only peaked at #6, remained in the charts for a long time (word of mouth?)

The big numbers for weeks in the charts comparative to other bands listed - The other bands had either a lot of marketing/hype/spin that was not backed up by the strength of their albums (may have released a few cracking good singles, but overall albums were meh...) or they just did not have the breadth of fans that Zep had, while Zeppelin seem to have word of mouth and probably all the touring to keep in the charts a LOT longer.

Also, Zeppelin albums, there is almost no track you ever want to skip. I admittedly have not heard full albums of the others, but Zep, man, there is just NO filler.

[Mithril46]

Interesting about how the three "biggies" charted at home . The final word though; Zep, NO filler.

And Annie, actually I was fully aware of all the offshoots you mentioned and actually saw the Clash twice, in 81' and opening for the Who

in 82'. I thought they were fantastic and so did the crowd, even opening for the Who. The Clash stand apart as well, because they were

far better musicians than the generation coming 'round. Back then, unless you lived in a large metro city, there was no real "cliche"

punk stereotype, simply because in the area I lived in there were no punks. And for a short while I lived in Boston(Massachusetts,U.S.).

This was 1982, and because it was a huge college town, many awesome radio stations . I heard a lot of amazing stuff from who knows

where but much was punk or punk-inflected and in fact I did hear some amazing musicians. Of course college radio stations often don't

cite what they just played, and anyway, back in 82' they would play independent releases which are hard to find anyway.

[anniemouse]

M : I hope I did not offend you. Interesting that you saw The Clash live. Also never knew that on college radio the broadcaster rarely cited what they had just played.

Looking at figures for the LP placing's, Some of those LP's must have overlapped due to release dates so they must have been a constant presence in the UK charts for years.

[JTM]

What does it matter, why would anyone care. This like a bunch of ten year olds arguing about who's got the best dad.

[Mithril46]

Right, just statistics. I have actually never been offended (maybe slightly nudged) by anything anybody has said on the net. For me

the net is a parallel universe, not as real as the woods, beaches, nature or just direct person to person contact. The college DJ's

in fact did mention more often then not what was played. But sometimes (remember, they have much more freedom than commercial

stations)the bands were mentioned beforehand, or you would have to listen for a long time, sometimes an hour or more, before the

DJ would reappear.

One thing about the Zep U.K. thing....It is pretty well established that the Knebworth attendance figures for the 2nd show were

really exaggerated. At the time Peter Grant moved heaven and earth to "manufacture" a tremendous turnout.

[NealR2000]

UK culture has always been narrower than American culture. By that, I mean Brits tend to go en masse into whatever the new hairstyle, new clothing fashion, new slang, and whatevernew music is suddenly in vogue. It can get to the point of ridicule or even violence if you step out of such trends. It's not quite as ridged as it used to be, but it most definitely was between the fifties and the eighties. American culture has always been looser. I recall the punk era in the UK when the old music guard was laughed out of town. Some never recovered but the quality acts made it through, albeit a little nervously. ITTOD and Knebworth was all about this issue.

[Little Robert Anthony II]

I definitely feel like LZ was bigger in the US than the UK or anywhere else for that matter. Not that the band wasn't popular in the UK or many other places, but they were the band in the US for much of the 70s. I can't tell you exactly what it was, or that it was any one thing, but they were perfectly suited to the US market. Different markets, different tastes. Genres like glam rock and punk were bigger in the UK than in the US. I also think US radio was much more album oriented than the UK, which gave them much more of a chance to be heard in the US than the UK in that regard. I also feel like you have to "play the game" a bit more in the UK, whereas the US is a bit more freeform and less rigid. LZ never really tried to "play the game" like the Beatles, Stones, Queen, etc. were willing to and that's why those groups were relatively bigger in the UK.

[Mithril46]

Last two posts, excellent observations about the large differences in the U.S. and UK markets. While there are certainly areas in the U.S.

which can be vaguely UKish, you could never say the opposite. Of course the huge vastness of the U.S. makes the UK seem so sameish.

At the same time it was fascinating to watch from the states how virtually overnight the terrible UK economy spearheaded the punk

movement and others and created a horrible loathing for all the rich "musician" bands. However looking back most of the punk musicians

had really limited playing ability. Even the Ramones, who I saw in 80' and 95', really started sounding labored after 30-40 minutes.

And apparently later on it was revealed that many punks who had actually spoke out publicly against Zep were backstage at Knebworth

or had learned many of their songs !!!

[NealR2000]

Although not punk, The Police came out during the whole punk and new wave era. I recall Stng years later saying how they had to be careful with their musical ability, as it could have potentially runied them if it was too obvious. Most new bands of that time were doing three chord songs. i also recall Bonzo getting drunk and upset, wondering if his talent still measured up to Stewart Copeland, who I also consider to be a very talented drummer.

[Mithril46]

Again interesting stuff. If anyone remembers, the last Police tour(2008??)the band just went bananas and there were some really amazing

anything goes jams going on. The thing with Copeland was that he was jazzy but the main talent was his polyrhythmic ability, where he

would play a few independent rhythms at once, like a African drummer. I heard the Bonzo story, but I'm certain had he tried he would have

eventually acquired Copeland's skills, to an large degree anyway. Remember, many critics praised Bonzo for his "samba" playing in

FITR. A funny story about the punks as well is that after Mick Jones left the Clash, Joe Strummer immediately ejected a tryout after

he started playing Steve Howe licks while tuning up. True Story !!

[Disco Duck]

...However looking back most of the punk musicians had really limited playing ability. Even the Ramones, who I saw in 80' and 95', really started sounding labored after 30-40 minutes...

So true. It's probably why I couldn't get into punk rock even though it was in its heyday during my teen years. The punk bands just sounded too loud and grating, imo. No catchy melodies, no good singing, and few interesting lyrics.

[NealR2000]

So true. It's probably why I couldn't get into punk rock even though it was in its heyday during my teen years. The punk bands just sounded too loud and grating, imo. No catchy melodies, no good singing, and few interesting lyrics.

For the most part, Punk was a classic case of form over substance. Musical ability was rare. For every one song that had a catchy riff, there were a thousand others that were uncoordinated dirges.

[Azapro911]

I realise that this is now an old topic, but since it's had occasional additions relatively recently, I thought I'd throw my little two pennies in. Speaking as a 'new generation' Zeppelin fan (I came into existence eight years after they went out of it), the band does seem to have a greater overall popularity in Britain now than it did in the '70s, sales of recent 'hits' compilations, reissues and live albums here and in continental Europe are comparably closer to American numbers than their original albums were. 

From what I've read, seen and heard, Zeppelin's immense popularity in the States during their heyday was such that their back catalogue continued to sell very strongly throughout the '80s, whereas in Britain they sort of subconsciously faded into the background, in fact the only Zeppelin-related exception to that rule was Robert Plant's hit 'Big Log', which climbed to #11 on the singles charts. 

During my lifetime LZ appeared to have a major resurgence here somewhere around the mid-to-late '90s. A couple of key things happened around that time: in 1997, Atlantic actually released Zeppelin's first ever official retail single in their homeland, an edit of 'Whole Lotta Love'. The songs main riff had been used (in one form or another) on British TV shows such as Top of the Pops over the years and I believe it was one of the VERY few songs that Zeppelin actually shot an early TV promo for, so it was probably the song that had remained on the fringes of the British subconscious after 1980. Also, this release occurred in the afterglow of mass Beatles nostalgia following their Anthology project and at a time when 'Britpop' bands such as Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene were openly acknowledging their heroes from the '60s and '70s rock scene. Regardless of whether or not Led Zeppelin were seen in quite the same light as other legendary British rock bands, a younger generation categorised them as classic rockers to be treasured and admired. The single got to #21, high enough for significant residual attention  in the years after that, particularly for its renewed use on the Top of the Pops 2 archival programme. The 1969 promo video also got some good rotation on classic hits channels; Zeppelin may have been fiercely anti-singles, but there is something to be said for releasing them, particularly when trying to attract a new audience. Hey, it worked big time for Pink Floyd with 'Another Brick in the Wall part 2'! 

Also during the '90s a lot of films aimed at the 18-29 age bracket (ie. Wayne's World) often poked affectionate jabs at the monolithic 'Stairway To Heaven', which also eventually got youngsters such as myself thinking: "I've got to see what all the fuss is about." I'm VERY glad I did. Something else happened for 'Stairway' as well: when digital downloads became eligible for our singles chart, 'S.T.H.' got to #37 through that medium alone in 2007, which has subsequently made it eligible for hit radio stations here!  

The British music press also has a much more positive assessment of Led Zeppelin these days, which means that I've only ever really known them to be held in high regard as iconic rock Gods, though I'm aware things were once VERY different in some publications.

The net result is that these days, compilations like 'Mothership' have sold 2 million copies in America and close to a million in Blighty, the live reunion 'Celebration Day' has sold around 150,000 units in Britain and...well it hasn't gone gold yet and record companies are pretty good at keeping track of total sales these days, so I'd guesstimate somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 U.S. albums and the 2014-15 remasters generally sold 35,000 copies in America during their first week on sale and 10-12,000 in the UK. In other words, much closer pound-for-dollar (so to speak) than things used to be. 

Has Zeppelin's popularity declined in the United States? I doubt it, the chances are that since Zeppelin never really went away on radio in America and several generations bought truckloads of their albums during the '70s and '80s, inevitably the youth of America today don't feel as compelled to 'rediscover' them like Brits have.

[Walter]

Nice dig, in your 3rd hour!  

6 hours ago, Azapro911 said:

I realise that this is now an old topic, but since it's had occasional additions relatively recently, I thought I'd throw my little two pennies in. Speaking as a 'new generation' Zeppelin fan (I came into existence eight years after they went out of it), the band does seem to have a greater overall popularity in Britain now than it did in the '70s, sales of recent 'hits' compilations, reissues and live albums here and in continental Europe are comparably closer to American numbers than their original albums were. 

From what I've read, seen and heard, Zeppelin's immense popularity in the States during their heyday was such that their back catalogue continued to sell very strongly throughout the '80s, whereas in Britain they sort of subconsciously faded into the background, in fact the only Zeppelin-related exception to that rule was Robert Plant's hit 'Big Log', which climbed to #11 on the singles charts. 

During my lifetime LZ appeared to have a major resurgence here somewhere around the mid-to-late '90s. A couple of key things happened around that time: in 1997, Atlantic actually released Zeppelin's first ever official retail single in their homeland, an edit of 'Whole Lotta Love'. The songs main riff had been used (in one form or another) on British TV shows such as Top of the Pops over the years and I believe it was one of the VERY few songs that Zeppelin actually shot an early TV promo for, so it was probably the song that had remained on the fringes of the British subconscious after 1980. Also, this release occurred in the afterglow of mass Beatles nostalgia following their Anthology project and at a time when 'Britpop' bands such as Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene were openly acknowledging their heroes from the '60s and '70s rock scene. Regardless of whether or not Led Zeppelin were seen in quite the same light as other legendary British rock bands, a younger generation categorised them as classic rockers to be treasured and admired. The single got to #21, high enough for significant residual attention  in the years after that, particularly for its renewed use on the Top of the Pops 2 archival programme. The 1969 promo video also got some good rotation on classic hits channels; Zeppelin may have been fiercely anti-singles, but there is something to be said for releasing them, particularly when trying to attract a new audience. Hey, it worked big time for Pink Floyd with 'Another Brick in the Wall part 2'! 

Also during the '90s a lot of films aimed at the 18-29 age bracket (ie. Wayne's World) often poked affectionate jabs at the monolithic 'Stairway To Heaven', which also eventually got youngsters such as myself thinking: "I've got to see what all the fuss is about." I'm VERY glad I did. Something else happened for 'Stairway' as well: when digital downloads became eligible for our singles chart, 'S.T.H.' got to #37 through that medium alone in 2007, which has subsequently made it eligible for hit radio stations here!  

The British music press also has a much more positive assessment of Led Zeppelin these days, which means that I've only ever really known them to be held in high regard as iconic rock Gods, though I'm aware things were once VERY different in some publications.

The net result is that these days, compilations like 'Mothership' have sold 2 million copies in America and close to a million in Blighty, the live reunion 'Celebration Day' has sold around 150,000 units in Britain and...well it hasn't gone gold yet and record companies are pretty good at keeping track of total sales these days, so I'd guesstimate somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 U.S. albums and the 2014-15 remasters generally sold 35,000 copies in America during their first week on sale and 10-12,000 in the UK. In other words, much closer pound-for-dollar (so to speak) than things used to be. 

Has Zeppelin's popularity declined in the United States? I doubt it, the chances are that since Zeppelin never really went away on radio in America and several generations bought truckloads of their albums during the '70s and '80s, inevitably the youth of America today don't feel as compelled to 'rediscover' them like Brits have.