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Do you think there will ever be another band to come out that's as good as Zeppelin?


Bonhamclone72

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I think part of the problem is that rock music has subdivided into a million little genres with very little cross-pollination among their fans. They're like warring clans in Game of Thrones. So collectively, there's probably more fans of rock and metal than there were back in the 70's and 80's, but they're split into such small groups with their favored niche style that no one band can ever amass a large enough following to catch the attention of the record industry. Opeth, for example, are huge within their niche, but yet they seem lucky to scare up a few hundred fans for a concert. It's like during the 80's when you had the metal heads at war with the hair bands, only now instead of two genres at war, it's two hundred genres at war. Back then we could still have Metallica or Guns n Roses drawing huge crowds, but today's "premier" rock and metal bands can barely fill a bar. And as long as that's the case, the recording industry will continue to ignore rock and metal.

So it's kind of a catch-22 there. Without demonstrating an ability to draw more than a few hundred fans, rock and metal bands are ignored by the industry; yet without the promotion and support of the industry, some excellent rock and metal bands go completely unnoticed by the mainstream audiences. It seems possible that a rock or metal band could break out of that trap and achieve big success, but there'd almost have to be a perfect storm of circumstances in order for that to happen. They'd need to have a style which is unique enough to not sound like a copycat of something else, but not so unique as to be inaccessible to the mainstream audience. A huge hit single would definitely help, as would at least one or two attractive members. Pop culture is shallow and fickle, and ugly bands seldom go anywhere. They'd need to have members that can actually work together, unlike the aforementioned Guns n Roses. When I think of all that would have to happen for a rock band to reach a Led Zeppelin level of success and influence in today's pop culture climate, it seems like a pretty tall order.

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On 2/26/2016 at 1:41 AM, Kiwi_Zep_Fan87 said:

The band that I am speaking of, remains pretty underrated even today and has been regarded as a cult band for quite a while because of its song themes (apart from other things) and has been declared by some to be an acquired taste

I'm a big Rush fan myself, at least of their older, better albums; but I think it's absurd to say Rush is underrated today. If anything Rush is somewhat overrated today. They're great musicians, no doubt about that. And they did have a string of excellent records. But that string ended with Moving Pictures, or arguably SIgnals, and they've been largely irrelevant ever since. Oh I'm sure there's a few fans who go to Rush concerts really hoping they'll rock some Time Stand Still, but the thousands of fans surrounding them are hoping for some 2112. Few other rock bands could release decades worth of mediocre albums and still be regarded as a premier rock band. Even the mighty Black Sabbath, who was indisputably more successful and influential during their heyday than Rush could ever dream of, is largely considered a second-tier band these days after a similar span of mediocre and irrelevant albums. While I wouldn't call Rush a cult band, their following is definitely a rabid one.

I will however suggest that Alex Lifeson is underrated. People always genuflect over Lee and Peart and don't seem to even know Lifeson's name. I think Alex Lifeson and John Paul Jones should start a band and call it The Forgotten Ones.

Edited by Balthazor
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3 hours ago, Balthazor said:

but I think it's absurd to say Rush is underrated today. 

 

By underrated, I meant that in some pockets of the world, people know who Rush is. But in other pockets of the world, Rush sadly, remains pretty unknown, even today. Ask Geddy Lee. He himself, stated this very very clearly, in an interview, fairly recently. Can you honestly tell me that the same can be said about bands like Led Zeppelin and The Beatles?! Even I did not know about Rush until June of last year, considering the fact that I have discovered so many other bands from the 60's and 70's (all thanks to my dad's and mom's music collection), through the decades like Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blind Faith, TrafficQueen, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Who, CSNY, The Rolling Stones, The Sonics, The Stooges, MC5, Uriah Heep, The Baker Gurvitz Army, Derek And The DominosThe Allman Brothers Band, Fleetwood Mac, Jethro TullYes and countless and virtually unknown 60's Garage Rock bands. Had you asked my dad at the beginning of last year, who Rush is, my dad would have blinked and said he doesn't have a clue! This is coming from a guy who has been a fan of Led ZeppelinThe Beatles and all those other bands that I have mentioned, for 30 odd years. 

Oh and I think it's absurd to dismiss all of Rush's albums, after Signals. But hey, we can agree to disagree. 

Edited by Kiwi_Zep_Fan87
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Can I add my thoughts to this discussion please.

What is fascinating about Led Zeppelin is that they achieved what they did without TV, very few radio interviews and only a few music paper interviews usually chatting to only one of the band.

That's an almost impossible model to follow now.  

Like mentioned preciously music has been fragmented for a while now through the specialist radio  to the internet sub genres formed for people who enjoy subgenres and nothing else.

The history of the UK industry bewilders me at times. Remember The Beatles were turned down. Guitar bands were seen as a passing fad(as was Rock n, Roll itself).  If you read about the birth of the UK music scene kids in their teens played illegal gigs in stinking shop cellars, fights happened a lot Police raids, venues becoming the go to places for the new and angry generation.

What I have noticed recently is that somehow music has been rebranded as a market force. The commercial being seen as the way forward. Actually what made the UK scene was the oddballs and the outsiders. Being different was they key. Zep, Bowie, The Beatles were the shock of the new, talented yet pushing the boundaries.

Radio in the UK has definitely overtaken TV in trying to introduce new acts to people.

I hope that people stay creative and musically curious. I hope that the industry wakes up and sees the talent in the outsiders rather than just wanting to maintain the profits as that will kill music.

 

 

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9 hours ago, Kiwi_Zep_Fan87 said:

By underrated, I meant that in some pockets of the world, people know who Rush is. But in other pockets of the world, Rush sadly, remains pretty unknown, even today. Ask Geddy Lee. He himself, stated this very very clearly, in an interview, fairly recently. Can you honestly tell me that the same can be said about bands like Led Zeppelin and The Beatles?! Even I did not know about Rush until June of last year, considering the fact that I have discovered so many other bands from the 60's and 70's (all thanks to my dad's and mom's music collection), through the decades like Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blind Faith, TrafficQueen, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Who, CSNY, The Rolling Stones, The Sonics, The Stooges, MC5, Uriah Heep, The Baker Gurvitz Army, Derek And The DominosThe Allman Brothers Band, Fleetwood Mac, Jethro TullYes and countless and virtually unknown 60's Garage Rock bands. Had you asked my dad at the beginning of last year, who Rush is, my dad would have blinked and said he doesn't have a clue! This is coming from a guy who has been a fan of Led ZeppelinThe Beatles and all those other bands that I have mentioned, for 30 odd years. 

Oh and I think it's absurd to dismiss all of Rush's albums, after Signals. But hey, we can agree to disagree. 

Ok, I understand what you're saying there. It's probably a factor of Rush's 70's albums not really seeing much commercial success until well after the 70's. As to the other thing, I'm sure there's people who love those albums, and even those who prefer them to the 70's hard rock sound. And maybe there's some really good stuff there, but I think it's fair to say that the majority of Rush fans...well let's just say that if they were asked to list their top 5 albums I doubt Roll the Bones or Test for Echo would appear on that list.

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On 2/26/2016 at 8:06 PM, Mithril46 said:
On 2/26/2016 at 10:09 PM, sk8rat said:

there have been plenty of bands that are just as talented; writing and playing wise as led zeppelin. the problem is that people basically want another band that is a mirror image of led zeppelin but then when a band comes out that sounds like them people just say they are a rip off of led zeppelin and if they dont sound like them, then people say they aren't as good as led zeppelin, so in a way, no matter what a rock band does, they will always be placed under led zeppelin. led zeppelin was also the first of their kind and no one else can change that.

I'm with him

On 2/26/2016 at 0:34 AM, The Dark Lord said:

There are many bands as good as Zeppelin, but they did not have the secret recipe of hits, deep cuts, accessibility, mystique, and personality as Zeppelin did. That is not to suggest that they weren't great bands. They just weren't as prolific as Zeppelin. 

I'm with him

On 2/26/2016 at 11:07 AM, SteveAJones said:

No, because rock music in general has run it's course and the music industry has become completely corporate.  

I disagree, the industry has not gone corporate, it was corporate, it no longer exists - the industry from a traditional perspective is dead - labels don't exist anymore, and the few still around have eliminated the overwhelming majority of their radio/tv promotion few if any exist on the ground working with any of the HMV's and so on 

I do believe that The Tea Party have done the best job of representing what Led Zeppelin was from the point of view of looking out towards the next horizon and moving the music beyond the standard public boundaries that the mass public seems to prefer. 

Edited by Charles J. White
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On 2/27/2016 at 2:09 PM, The Rover said:

DO YOU THINK THERE WILL EVER BE ANOTHER BAND TO COME OUT THAT'S AS GOOD AS ZEPPELIN?

 

For Blues-based hard rock, No, I do not think there will ever be another band to come out that is, as good as, LZ.

This post sums it up for me, perfectly. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

There is indeed a band that has become the next generation of Led Zeppelin.  Their sound is every bit as hard driving and guitar driven as Zep's.  They have a Metal/Blues mix where as Zep had a Blues/Metal mix.  Both of their music and sounds had/have an "other-Worldly" aspect to them.

 

What band you ask??   Godsmack

 

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The funny thing about the music industry is that it's always changing. From the massive Beatlesmania, to the over saturation of Hair Metal in the late 80s, to the pop based popularity of today's radio, it will always change depending on how the general population's tastes change. 

Who knows, in the next 20 years or so people might go back to the Blues based Rock sound again. And bands that have a similar vibe to Led Zeppelin might pop up again. Who knows what might happen.

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4 hours ago, borrowed time said:

There is indeed a band that has become the next generation of Led Zeppelin.  Their sound is every bit as hard driving and guitar driven as Zep's.  They have a Metal/Blues mix where as Zep had a Blues/Metal mix.  Both of their music and sounds had/have an "other-Worldly" aspect to them.

 

What band you ask??   Godsmack

 

They are indeed a very good band. One of the best live shows I've seen.  

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This is a great topic. One thing about Rush is that although they rate very high in musicianship and composition, there

was apart from the solos no live improv whatsoever. And , Geddy Lee's voice wasn't just odd or strange, some of the

irritation is actually him for a few seconds here and there not singing in key, and clashing with him on bass/keys and

Lifeson. Most even great rock singers may have this a bit, but not as overtly atonal. Having said that, Lee has over

the years become much better at containing this drawback. And Lee certainly has a very distinctive voice for sure.

Another Zep, no no. In the 60's and 70's IMO most rock bands were expected to write well AND solo well. In the 80's

in hard rock shredding and soloing IMO started becoming more important than great composition/writing. Then 

came Grunge in the 90's , some great stuff but not the double whammy of great writing and soloing/ stage presence

etc., that Zep was. On and on it goes, but as others have mentioned, it was a special time when very creative bands

amazingly actually got signed and promoted.

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On 3/19/2016 at 1:57 PM, borrowed time said:

There is indeed a band that has become the next generation of Led Zeppelin.  Their sound is every bit as hard driving and guitar driven as Zep's.  They have a Metal/Blues mix where as Zep had a Blues/Metal mix.  Both of their music and sounds had/have an "other-Worldly" aspect to them.

 

What band you ask??   Godsmack

 

Didn't see that coming.

Good band but.. everything I hear by Godsmack sounds pretty much the same. Sully Erna's solo project was interesting though.

When I'm in the mood for Led Zeppelin, there's nobody better.

When I'm in the mood for Yes, there's nobody better. 

When I'm in the mood for Pink Floyd, Queen, Rush, The Ramones, Radiohead, Black Sabbath, Tony Williams, Zappa, Kraftwerk, Eric Dolphy, etc... Yep nobody better... 

I'm usually in the mood for Zeppelin more than most other bands though. They just offer so many different options musically, more than most.

Like Dark Lord pointed out, their rare combination of chemistry, talent, charisma, freedom and opportunity put LZ in a position that not many band's get.

And as Steve pointed out, that door has pretty much closed. It's a whole different ballgame.

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Hmmm--Godsmack. Saw them live, opened for Ozzy in 99' ?? Each to his own, they had some power and energy,

but certainly were basically reproducing their studio material. This is one of my biggest problems with most

hard rock/ metal/ thrash bands. Zep were so advanced musically, they rarely played a song exactly the same way

from night to night. They would be improvising on even song parts, not just on the solos. That's one reason among

many why Zep was totally distinct from almost all other bands in hard rock, and very unlikely to be replaced

anytime soon.

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There's only 1 person you could ask who would have a definite answer for this... 

Kanye West! Which his answer would be himself, Kanye West. :huh:

Hahaha jk jk. There may be bands who can write a better song than Led Zeppelin has or even a better album than Led Zeppelin, but when you discover what Zeppelin did live (not even in person obviously, just on record or video) you discover just how much greater Zeppelin was compared to everyone else!! How the heck did these 4 guys synchronize with each other so damn well that any member could go off in any direction at any second and the rest would follow and create entirely new music at the spure of the moment and sound fantastic!! Think of all those live peformances of No Quarter that all have different solos by Jonsey and Page both backed up by Bonzo that were different every single show, yet all extremely enjoyable, and went from being a 7 minute song to a 30 minute song by 1977!! There's just no 3+ people who will ever be able to do anything like what Zeppelin did on stage!! I also don't think any band can ever write such a wide variety of different songs that all sound fantastic with so many great riffs and solos and lyrics with actual meaning plus songs with little meaning, but extremely fun. Kashmir will always separate Led Zeppelin from th rest in my opinion.

Iron Maiden is a band who I would compare with Led Zeppelin though, but the live aspect of Zeppelin compared to Maiden keeps Zeppelin above them to me. But Maiden has accomplished some excellent material throughout the years! For being a pretty low key, hard rock/metal band they sure can draw some massive crowds everywhere in the world as they are tonight in South America. Plus Empire Of The Clouds is one of the only songs that i rate up there with Stairway To Heaven.. It's quite the masterpiece IMHO.

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I can agree that Maiden is the successor to Led Zeppelin, no doubt. But the genre changed.

Harris and company where just so so good but it was Harris' band. The early albums all play off his "lead" bass. Personal changes didn't stop them, Harris' was more driven than any of his contemporaries and like Page he a vision and he succeeded .

 Bruce Dickinson was the new Robert Plant, although he came in after the sophomore release. But he could emote, scream and sing beautifully. No one trick pony. No one could sing like Plant in his prime but Dickinson was nearly every bit as good but the music didn't allow or call for that primal blues based element.

They did release five consecutive masterpieces and a classic live album. Sold out Radio City 13 consecutive nights in '85. Fell apart after Steve Harris' decided to use synth on Somewhere In Time. So eventually his vision killed the band. Now they attempt to recreate past glory. Sad.

 Never another Zeppelin. .

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20 hours ago, Jimmywalnutz said:

I can agree that Maiden is the successor to Led Zeppelin, no doubt. But the genre changed.

Harris and company where just so so good but it was Harris' band. The early albums all play off his "lead" bass. Personal changes didn't stop them, Harris' was more driven than any of his contemporaries and like Page he a vision and he succeeded .

 Bruce Dickinson was the new Robert Plant, although he came in after the sophomore release. But he could emote, scream and sing beautifully. No one trick pony. No one could sing like Plant in his prime but Dickinson was nearly every bit as good but the music didn't allow or call for that primal blues based element.

They did release five consecutive masterpieces and a classic live album. Sold out Radio City 13 consecutive nights in '85. Fell apart after Steve Harris' decided to use synth on Somewhere In Time. So eventually his vision killed the band. Now they attempt to recreate past glory. Sad.

 Never another Zeppelin. .

 

 

 

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Yeah, thanks. To this day, many fans( well, a sizable number) may not have

perceived that for better or worse(usually better) , Zep was creating live

music on the spot. Of course not every song(WIAWSNB, RNR,etc.). I have to

add that from 77' included and later, Zep did start playing quite a few songs

close to the same from night to night. IMO the main engine here was

Bonzo, In my view Page was kind of the leader, but as Zep went on Bonzo

seemed to be the one most adjusted to in the band. Bonzo also usually

was almost supernationly intuitive in following Jimmy or Jonesy.

Forget about it----Zep was "rock" band, but their jams/improvs approached

jazz complexity at times, again Bonzo being the spark mainly responsible.

 

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4 hours ago, Mithril46 said:

Yeah, thanks. To this day, many fans( well, a sizable number) may not have

perceived that for better or worse(usually better) , Zep was creating live

music on the spot. Of course not every song(WIAWSNB, RNR,etc.). I have to

add that from 77' included and later, Zep did start playing quite a few songs

close to the same from night to night. IMO the main engine here was

Bonzo, In my view Page was kind of the leader, but as Zep went on Bonzo

seemed to be the one most adjusted to in the band. Bonzo also usually

was almost supernationly intuitive in following Jimmy or Jonesy.

Forget about it----Zep was "rock" band, but their jams/improvs approached

jazz complexity at times, again Bonzo being the spark mainly responsible.

 

I can't really think of anyone that comes close. Of course, there are/were plenty of bands that improvised, but Zep just added so many interesting, quality parts to songs over time. 

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On 2/29/2016 at 0:44 AM, Kiwi_Zep_Fan87 said:

By underrated, I meant that in some pockets of the world, people know who Rush is. But in other pockets of the world, Rush sadly, remains pretty unknown, even today. Ask Geddy Lee. He himself, stated this very very clearly, in an interview, fairly recently. Can you honestly tell me that the same can be said about bands like Led Zeppelin and The Beatles?! Even I did not know about Rush until June of last year, considering the fact that I have discovered so many other bands from the 60's and 70's (all thanks to my dad's and mom's music collection), through the decades like Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blind Faith, TrafficQueen, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Who, CSNY, The Rolling Stones, The Sonics, The Stooges, MC5, Uriah Heep, The Baker Gurvitz Army, Derek And The DominosThe Allman Brothers Band, Fleetwood Mac, Jethro TullYes and countless and virtually unknown 60's Garage Rock bands. Had you asked my dad at the beginning of last year, who Rush is, my dad would have blinked and said he doesn't have a clue! This is coming from a guy who has been a fan of Led ZeppelinThe Beatles and all those other bands that I have mentioned, for 30 odd years. 

Oh and I think it's absurd to dismiss all of Rush's albums, after Signals. But hey, we can agree to disagree. 

And sadly, even Rush have run their course. 

Most bands who have held the potential to eclipse Zep after their demise have also gone the way of the dinosaurs.

Has Rock died?

Embrace the BEIBER!

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  • 2 weeks later...

In my opinion, there will never be another Led Zeppelin again in our lifetimes; in terms of sheer unequaled innovation, quality, and vision... and certainly not in mystique, not in this Youtube/Twitter/Facebook-dominated social media age.  Zeppelin were a perfect storm of personality, experience, influences, and era that captured something so alchemical that it simply cannot ever be repeated, it just couldn't.

In terms of sheer chemistry between band members making the collective band more than the sum of their parts, the only rock band to come close to Zeppelin is the Appetite For Destruction/Lies line-up of Guns N' Roses, but they imploded in a few years, so never achieved their full potential in my opinion.

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On 3/29/2016 at 3:33 AM, Jimmywalnutz said:

I can agree that Maiden is the successor to Led Zeppelin, no doubt. But the genre changed.

Harris and company where just so so good but it was Harris' band. The early albums all play off his "lead" bass. Personal changes didn't stop them, Harris' was more driven than any of his contemporaries and like Page he a vision and he succeeded .

 Bruce Dickinson was the new Robert Plant, although he came in after the sophomore release. But he could emote, scream and sing beautifully. No one trick pony. No one could sing like Plant in his prime but Dickinson was nearly every bit as good but the music didn't allow or call for that primal blues based element.

They did release five consecutive masterpieces and a classic live album. Sold out Radio City 13 consecutive nights in '85. Fell apart after Steve Harris' decided to use synth on Somewhere In Time. So eventually his vision killed the band. Now they attempt to recreate past glory. Sad.

 Never another Zeppelin. .

I think you committed an Edgar Allan Poe and "prematurely buried" IM there.  "Fell apart," a bit harsh.  "Killed the band"? Nah.  You needn't cremate the band to bolster the credibility of the pro-Zep comments in your argument IMO.  

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  • 4 years later...

I realise it's pretty old topic, but I (want to) hope there might be. We just cannot predict when.

Never say never. As you see no one could imagine corona coming in 2020 and here we are now, no one knows what will follow later this year, next year, next decade. I think nowadays culture is over the top in everywhere: in music that is popular, in movies, in beauty standards and fashion, in way people act and react. We cannot remain that plastic and unnaturally sleek forever, I guess one day the whole industry and standard of perfect beauty with safe stuff will burst. We cannot live in one big fake-happy bubble forever, there must be someone who will stand out imho just like Nirvana or Zep or Bowie with his androgynous crazy style, there must come someone who will say loud 'fuck this shit, I wanna be ugly and crazy and do whatever I feel, not what these fed up with plastic roses idiots want to hear'. And I think we can help it, we shall support independent artists who cares for real music/filmmaking/writing/arts, we shall invest our money in them, help to spread their names, educate ourselves and people around us to help real art rise again imho. 

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