Jump to content

Led Zeppelin and Classic Rock


McSeven

Recommended Posts

What do yo all think it is about Led Zeppelin and Classic Rock that is revered to this day? Why does British culture more than other cultures in the world seen as more hip than the USA when it comes to music.

I feel that todays pop music does not hold and will not stand the test of time like Zeppelin and Classic rock. What do you all think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

interesting post

two ways for me to answer...

1. Led Zeppelin occupy an unassailable place in all of recorded and live music performance across all genres and categories

I am a fan and musician with tastes that touch on nearly every genre of music especially native and indiginous traditional, that being said:

2. Looking only at the function of music in my life, rather than the structure or mechanics- music functions in my life as a record of the roads travelled by. Some people have referred to this as the soundtrack of their life.

For me, I grew up listening to old time Hank Willliams and Merle Haggard stuff on my dad's radio. Learned organ/piano to Burt Bacharach/Beetles all hits during '60s and early '70s. Classic rock from '73 forward while enjoying selections and artists in jazz, country, folk, blues, gospel, contemporary and classical.

From a functional aspect, Led Zeppelin is the sound track to some of the most lasting, impressional and personally shaping moments in my life. While others are important and have their place, they do not come close.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel that todays pop music does not hold and will not stand the test of time like Zeppelin and Classic rock. What do you all think?

Unless something drastic changes in today's music scene, the music of today will be forgotten as quickly as it came.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

speaking broadly, completely agree.

the instant that music became "content" is the instant it became disposable with a shelf life of yesterday.

My daughter loves riding in my truck because she gets to listen to Badfinger, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Elvis and she even loves the classical in the deck. The music she downloads from iTunes is all accessory. Listened to a few times and sits there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll let the other people answer the first part of your question. As to the second, "Why does British culture more than other cultures in the world seen as more hip than the USA when it comes to music." Here is my theory: American men repress their feelings more than British and European men (or men from practically any other culture, actually). This is probably due to historical factors, such as us being an immigrant nation, of people who left everything they knew behind--you have to repress your feelings to deal with that. Also, we are a large country with a spread-out population and a history of individualism rather than a history of strong nationalism and community as in Britain. For example, Britain developed their National Health Service after WWII, hardly a time when there was lots of money for government spending--it was a way to strengthen the sense of nationhood and community. Excess individualism can lead to paranoia and restriction of emotional expression. Consequently, Brits such as Led Zeppelin, the Stones, Eric Clapton etc. felt more comfortable expressing the raw emotions of the blues in their music than some American musicians and furthermore, the blues did not have the association for them of being the music of the supposedly inferior black people as it was seen in racist white America.

Did anyone notice Daniel Day-Lewis won yet another Academy Award and foreign actors are increasingly dominating the Oscars in recent years? The greater comfort with emotional expression shows up in acting too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It might have been the times. A very large American generation, raised in a mono-culture of only three TV networks, is suddenly awakened to "Black music" as reinterpreted by British art school students. There was a huge pool of talent on both sides of the pond and a giant demand for an identity separate from their war-time parents. This allowed for a consensus among the youth about music (and culture). Now there so many different niche genres and so much open access to music that there is not the demand for music that pleases so many people at one time. I remember that in the 60's, EVERYONE liked the Beatles, Hippies, little kids, even old ladies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What do yo all think it is about Led Zeppelin and Classic Rock that is revered to this day? Why does British culture more than other cultures in the world seen as more hip than the USA when it comes to music.

I feel that todays pop music does not hold and will not stand the test of time like Zeppelin and Classic rock. What do you all think?

Personally I believe that American-based music is purposely made to sound too similar, the 50's had many same sounding musical groups produced, the 60's and 70's had many of the same sounding "classic" rock sounding groups whether it was Southern-rock bands, west coast Country Rock, etc. then the 80's LA "Hair Metal" years and so on.

It just seems like English bands are able to create their own sound and find their own niche without a slew of others being sent out to sound just like them and suck up as much money as possible. Maybe there are and we just don't hear about them over here as much.

Pop Music has always been just that and there will always be a place for it. It's not necessarily "disposable" music, look at the pop music from the 50's and how popular that still is, to certain groups of people. Madonna, who had her pop music hey day in the 80's and 90's, mainly, just had a sold-out tour. So, who's to say what modern artists' longevity will be? Some on here just group it all together and say it's all shit, but time will tell if they have the staying power or not. At the end of the day, it's just music and entertainment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another angle is that when WW2 hit. The British were the first to react and go after the Axis forces. Not the Americans. I am Canadian by the way. I just feel that The British culture really gave a gift to the world. Late 60's to late 70's really produced a lot of great music. in Soul and in jazz as well. I rarely here of a great band coming out now a days. The Rival Sons are the only band right now that emulate the best of Led Zeppelin, in terms of music and quality. They play by their own rules.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is so interesting; I've been thinking about it. I agree with chef free that in the 60s there was, I think, more unity among youth, the Vietnam war etc. made young people unite in rebellion...Today young people are more individualistic...

I had another thought about US culture--the nation was originally founded by religious purists and the US remains a more religious country than the UK--adding to the repression in particular sexual repression...British men are more comfortable with androgyny/bisexuality and the "feminine" side that is often identified with emotionality and expressiveness.

It also occured to me that the band members have been asked these sorts of questions. Here is what Jimmy Page said in an interview with Rolling Stone last year:

"Bands today don't have the freedom we had. It was a time when you could envision forming a band and being in it for a long time, where you could really develop your music...[Today] There is more restriction. The bands that are creative and forward-thinking--I know there are more confines on them that wouldn't allow them to go into the areas we did." He elaborates a bit more on this in the interview.

There's also the fact that Napster, illegal downloads etc. cut into the profits of the music business in the past decade and what isn't going to be profitable doesn't get financial backing...then there's the long term effect of music videos; that started in the 80s and didn't seem to be a minus at first, but did overall put more of an emphasis on what performers looked like...and then there's American Idol which I never watch, but I have the impression puts forward the idea music is all about singing and not playing instruments.

In short, many reasons why music has declined since the 70s and why the Brits may have had more of a sense of freedom musically in the 60s...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is so interesting; I've been thinking about it. I agree with chef free that in the 60s there was, I think, more unity among youth, the Vietnam war etc. made young people unite in rebellion...Today young people are more individualistic...

I had another thought about US culture--the nation was originally founded by religious purists and the US remains a more religious country than the UK--adding to the repression in particular sexual repression...British men are more comfortable with androgyny/bisexuality and the "feminine" side that is often identified with emotionality and expressiveness.

It also occured to me that the band members have been asked these sorts of questions. Here is what Jimmy Page said in an interview with Rolling Stone last year:

"Bands today don't have the freedom we had. It was a time when you could envision forming a band and being in it for a long time, where you could really develop your music...[Today] There is more restriction. The bands that are creative and forward-thinking--I know there are more confines on them that wouldn't allow them to go into the areas we did." He elaborates a bit more on this in the interview.

There's also the fact that Napster, illegal downloads etc. cut into the profits of the music business in the past decade and what isn't going to be profitable doesn't get financial backing...then there's the long term effect of music videos; that started in the 80s and didn't seem to be a minus at first, but did overall put more of an emphasis on what performers looked like...and then there's American Idol which I never watch, but I have the impression puts forward the idea music is all about singing and not playing instruments.

In short, many reasons why music has declined since the 70s and why the Brits may have had more of a sense of freedom musically in the 60s...

American Idol may not be the cause as much as it is a symptom. American public schools have cut back on music education during the past 25 years and as a result, fewer kids are exposed to instrumental music. The elementary schools I attended back in the 1960s and early 1970s had school orchestras. These were public schools in inner-city neighborhoods; not posh private schools. A lot of kids started taking private music lessons because they wanted to be in the orchestra. Somehow their parents scraped together the money to pay for the lessons and instruments. The public high schools in my city all had marching bands and most also had orchestras. Again, a lot of kids started taking private music lessons because they wanted to be in the band. For most of them, band or orchestra were just fun activities but a few developed a real passion for music. Today most public high schools in my native city don't have orchestras and two of them don't even have a marching band. Any talented kid who comes out of one of these schools and aspires to a musical career would be a singer or rapper by default.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

American Idol may not be the cause as much as it is a symptom. American public schools have cut back on music education during the past 25 years and as a result, fewer kids are exposed to instrumental music. The elementary schools I attended back in the 1960s and early 1970s had school orchestras. These were public schools in inner-city neighborhoods; not posh private schools. A lot of kids started taking private music lessons because they wanted to be in the orchestra. Somehow their parents scraped together the money to pay for the lessons and instruments. The public high schools in my city all had marching bands and most also had orchestras. Again, a lot of kids started taking private music lessons because they wanted to be in the band. For most of them, band or orchestra were just fun activities but a few developed a real passion for music. Today most public high schools in my native city don't have orchestras and two of them don't even have a marching band. Any talented kid who comes out of one of these schools and aspires to a musical career would be a singer or rapper by default.

That is so sad. It parallels how sports and gym class and recess have all been cut too, possibly contributing to the obesity epidemic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Another thought: A lot of rock bands who were successful in the 80s and 90s did things that ultimately make them less memorable: Punk rock was mostly about attitude and that only goes so far. Guns and Roses in the 80s relied too much on Axl Rose's singing IMO; sometimes you can barely hear the guitar (an exception being "November Rain," easily their most memorable song). In the 90s, grunge rock featured "singers" such as Kurt Cobain who couldn't really sing and relied too much on a combination of pop melodies and loudness and attitude. Perhaps the success of these bands led some younger musicians to mistakenly think that they didn't need either a really good singer or guitar solos to be successful--and maybe they were right in terms of transient success, but in the long run, the music that lasts is music that displays virtuosity and complexity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think a lot of that music is still loved to this day because it's timeless and the music has managed to gain a whole new audience all these years later. Especially Zeppelin. Their music is just timeless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting discussion and this point has been a common sense all the time this discussion arises: The sixties and seventies have produce an amazing generation of Rock Bands that will never be overcame... BUT since then little (or none, in some opinions) progress or something new was made in rock, no other REAL rock bands have "been born", with very small exceptions.

Here´s my question: "Which band(s) from the 90's and 00's will be timeless?"

My answer: "Nirvana" from the 90's and i cant think of a recent name to add, honestly....

Love to hear other opinions, cause maybe im just missing something here....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting discussion and this point has been a common sense all the time this discussion arises: The sixties and seventies have produce an amazing generation of Rock Bands that will never be overcame... BUT since then little (or none, in some opinions) progress or something new was made in rock, no other REAL rock bands have "been born", with very small exceptions.

Here´s my question: "Which band(s) from the 90's and 00's will be timeless?"

My answer: "Nirvana" from the 90's and i cant think of a recent name to add, honestly....

Love to hear other opinions, cause maybe im just missing something here....

Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, the big 4 of grunge will be remembered, or at least I'll remember them for sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...