One Symbol Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 (edited) I still think the best Whitesnake line-up I saw live was the Coverdale, Murray, Sykes, Powell one - blinding! Unfortunately I was too young to see them with Marsden, Moody et al. By FAR the worst gig I saw them play was the 1987 touring line-up (Coverdale, Sarzo, Campbell, Vandenburg, "Old Man" Aldridge"). Just dire, absolutely awful. The most interesting thing to happen at the gig was someone having an epileptic fit behind us. Edited April 23, 2008 by One Symbol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zep73 Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Give The 'Snake a break! These guys can flat out play. If you haven't seen 'em lately, check out the "In The Still of The Night" DVD they released a couple of years ago, and give a listen to the new album.... Yeah, I know Dave caught some flak for the bad Plant imitation in the 80's, and he earned it. And his lyrics do tend to fall short, but both in the studio and live, these guys can flat out go and get it. Quality musicians, make no mistake, pros front to back. As for Hair bands being so despised, c'mon, it's a guilty pleasure. Maybe not "high art" as was stated earlier in this thread, but at it's best it sounded big and was upbeat and fun. Like it or not kids, a lot of it was an off-shoot of what our favorite band on this site created and inspired. Guitar oriented, big haired banshee frontman, big drums.... Yeah, yeah, we all know Zep was WAY,WAY more than that, but I'll take it all day over the "Grunge" and "Alternative" shit that replaced it in the early 90's. What a load of absolutely depressing garbage, sheer crap played by slam-bang garage bands and shoved down our throats by the corporates running the record companies.... I loved Coverdale/Page, it was a breath of fresh air in a dung heap when it came out, and I still listen to it. I have only one bad memory of it.... It was what I listened to on the way to the church the day I got married! (Shudder!) Hmmm.... Maybe I should have played it on the way to my divorce too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One Symbol Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Give The 'Snake a break! These guys can flat out play. If you haven't seen 'em lately, check out the "In The Still of The Night" DVD they released a couple of years ago, and give a listen to the new album.... Yeah, I know Dave caught some flak for the bad Plant imitation in the 80's, and he earned it. And his lyrics do tend to fall short, but both in the studio and live, these guys can flat out go and get it. Quality musicians, make no mistake, pros front to back. As for Hair bands being so despised, c'mon, it's a guilty pleasure. Maybe not "high art" as was stated earlier in this thread, but at it's best it sounded big and was upbeat and fun. Like it or not kids, a lot of it was an off-shoot of what our favorite band on this site created and inspired. Guitar oriented, big haired banshee frontman, big drums.... Yeah, yeah, we all know Zep was WAY,WAY more than that, but I'll take it all day over the "Grunge" and "Alternative" shit that replaced it in the early 90's. What a load of absolutely depressing garbage, sheer crap played by slam-bang garage bands and shoved down our throats by the corporates running the record companies.... I loved Coverdale/Page, it was a breath of fresh air in a dung heap when it came out, and I still listen to it. I have only one bad memory of it.... It was what I listened to on the way to the church the day I got married! (Shudder!) Hmmm.... Maybe I should have played it on the way to my divorce too. I know it's not "High art", as you put it. I genuinely used to like Whitesnake, but the gig I saw on the 1987 tour was just terrible. They bludgeoned their best songs into a messy pulp, and added a cover of ZZ Top's Tush (retitled "T*ts") to add insult to injury. What a mess... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knebby Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 ^ Classy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynxwizard Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 I never said it was high art, I was just pointing out how they're still ripping off other artists. Like others, I didn't mind the earlier versions of Whitesnake but never cared for the latter day hair metal version that stole so blatantly from Zeppelin. I always thought them ripping off Zep was a bit of a overblown in IMO, maybe the look, but not the music. I love Zep but it seems allot of people give them a free pass when it comes to ripping off others, I am not saying you are but too many people do. Its ok for Zep to do it, but not anyone else, double standard ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swede Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 There is nothing wrong with the musicians, but for me, In The Still Of The Night and the other tunes from that era belongs to that era. I might have liked it back in '87 when I was 14 years old, but I don't want to listen to it again, especially since I, even back then, prefered the early Whitesnake with Marsden, Moody, Murray, Lord, Paice. Bad Boys doesn't hold a candle to Medecine Man or any of the other songs from Love Hunter for example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Give The 'Snake a break! These guys can flat out play. If you haven't seen 'em lately, check out the "In The Still of The Night" DVD they released a couple of years ago, and give a listen to the new album.... Yeah, I know Dave caught some flak for the bad Plant imitation in the 80's, and he earned it. And his lyrics do tend to fall short, but both in the studio and live, these guys can flat out go and get it. Quality musicians, make no mistake, pros front to back. As for Hair bands being so despised, c'mon, it's a guilty pleasure. Maybe not "high art" as was stated earlier in this thread, but at it's best it sounded big and was upbeat and fun. Like it or not kids, a lot of it was an off-shoot of what our favorite band on this site created and inspired. Guitar oriented, big haired banshee frontman, big drums.... Yeah, yeah, we all know Zep was WAY,WAY more than that, but I'll take it all day over the "Grunge" and "Alternative" shit that replaced it in the early 90's. What a load of absolutely depressing garbage, sheer crap played by slam-bang garage bands and shoved down our throats by the corporates running the record companies.... I loved Coverdale/Page, it was a breath of fresh air in a dung heap when it came out, and I still listen to it. I have only one bad memory of it.... It was what I listened to on the way to the church the day I got married! (Shudder!) Hmmm.... Maybe I should have played it on the way to my divorce too. For one, Led Zeppelin is not my favorite band. One of my favorites, yes but not my very favorite (that would be the Beatles). I post on several music boards and e-mail lists, that doesn't mean the artist they're devoted to is my favorite. As for "grunge" and "alternative" being "shoved down out throats by the corporates" nothing could be further from the truth. Most of those artists all rose to prominence via independent labels and by traveling the country playing clubs. The record companies didn't have anything to do with it. Like any other popular music form, once they got their hands on it so they could exploit it, that's when all that changed. Suddenly there was a search for the "next Seattle" and the labels started churning out cookie cutter bands. It's no wonder the vast majority of them had disappeared by the mid to late 90s. That's what happens when the industry tries to capitalize on whatever's popular at the moment. I love the hard rock bands I grew up on in the 70s and 80s but never cared for what came to be known as "hair metal". By the mid-80s I was heavily into what would later be referred to as "alternative" via artists like the Alarm, U2, R.E.M., the Cure, Guadalcanal Diary, 10,000 Maniacs, the Replacements, etc. The big poofy hair, spandex and recycled riffs of hair metal never did anything for me. I was never the biggest fan of Nirvana but I am a huge fan of Pearl Jam. Thank goodness they came along and wiped that godawful hair metal off of the musical map. If Whitesnake wants to continue to ply their trade by stealing from Zep and "copping" riffs from Kansas (who in the hell wants to hear Carry On My Wayward Son again anyway?) more power to them but I won't be listening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 I always thought them ripping off Zep was a bit of a overblown in IMO, maybe the look, but not the music. Maybe you haven't heard Still of the Night but I have. The airwaves were ripe with Led Zeppelin clones back then, Whitesnake were only one of them. Gary Moore and Ozzy didn't do Led Clones just for shits n' grins, there was actually some reasoning behind it. I love Zep but it seems allot of people give them a free pass when it comes to ripping off others, I am not saying you are but too many people do. Its ok for Zep to do it, but not anyone else, double standard ? Big difference between Zep and Whitesnake (who shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence). Zep didn't come out with a press release touting how their debut record stole from Howlin' Wolf and other artists. The article above tries the sell the new Whitesnake album based on the fact that it contains riffs stolen from Zep and Kansas (the latter alone should be enough to deter sales of the record). Zeppelin appropriated several old songs by other artists and later went to court for it, now those songs credit the proper artists so they receive royalties. Will Kansas and Zeppelin receive co-writing credits on the new Whitesnake album? I very highly doubt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 hey, hey, my, my rock and roll will never die hang your hair down in your eye you'll make a million dollars well i was in this band goin' nowhere fast we sent out demos but everybody passed so one day we finally took the plunge moved out to seattle to play some grunge washington state that is space needle eddie vedder mudhoney now to fit in fast we wear flannel shirts we turn our amps up until it hurts we've got bad attitudes and what's more when we play we stare straight down at the floor wowee pretty scary how pensive how totally alternative now to fit in on the seattle scene you've gotta do somethin' they ain't never seen so thinkin' up a gimmick one day we decided to be the only band that wouldn't play a note under any circumstances silence music's original alternative roots grunge well we spread the word through the underground that we were the hottest new thing in town the record guy came out to see us one day and just like always we didn't play it knocked him out he said he loved our work he said he loved our work but he wasn't sure if he could sell a record with nothing on it i said tell 'em we're from seattle he advanced us two and a half million dollars hey, hey, my, my rock and roll will never die hang your hair down in your eye you'll make a million dollar well they made us do a video but that wasn't tough 'cuz we just filmed ourselves smashin' stuff it was kinda weird 'cuz there was no music but mtv said they'd love to use it the kids went wild, the kids went nuts rolling stone gave us a five-star review said we played with guts we're scorin' chicks, takin' drugs then we got asked to play mtv unplugged you should have seen it we went right out there and refused to do acoustical versions of the electrical songs we had refused to record in the first place then we smashed our shit well we blew 'em away at the grammy's show by refusing to play and refusing to go and then just when we thought fame would last forever along come this band that wasn't even together now that's alternative now that's alternative to alternative i feel stupid and contagious well our band got dropped and that ain't funny 'cuz we're all hooked on drugs but we're outta money so the other day i called up the band i said boys i've taken all i can shave off your goatees pack the van we're goin' back to athens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynxwizard Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Maybe you haven't heard Still of the Night but I have. The airwaves were ripe with Led Zeppelin clones back then, Whitesnake were only one of them. Gary Moore and Ozzy didn't do Led Clones just for shits n' grins, there was actually some reasoning behind it. Big difference between Zep and Whitesnake (who shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence). Zep didn't come out with a press release touting how their debut record stole from Howlin' Wolf and other artists. The article above tries the sell the new Whitesnake album based on the fact that it contains riffs stolen from Zep and Kansas (the latter alone should be enough to deter sales of the record). Zeppelin appropriated several old songs by other artists and later went to court for it, now those songs credit the proper artists so they receive royalties. Will Kansas and Zeppelin receive co-writing credits on the new Whitesnake album? I very highly doubt it. FYI I have heard Still of the Night, who has not ? please tell me what Zep song that song copied ? Are you talking about the AP write up by Wayne Perry ? is this not just his opinion ? how is this a press release from the band ? And Zep only payed up because they were sued, do you think they would have otherwise ? So lets see then, I would think Zep and Kansas then would sue Whitesnake, bet it never happens. I wonder why ? I have not heard the new WS record so I cannot comment on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 FYI I have heard Still of the Night, who has not ? please tell me what Zep song that song copied ? It was really a stylistic thing. Same as Kingdom Come. For instance, the use of octaves was very Wanton Song / Immigrant Song. The riffing with the stopping and starting over held chords is very Black Dog. There were a lot of other songs that were "Zeppish" during that time, especially the power ballads. Every hair band had their "stairway" and doublenecks were ubiquitous, like Tesla with "Love Song". The vacuum left from Zep not being around was filled by these acts. You could call it kind of a mourning period for Zeppelin that ended during the generation shift towards Grunge, the moment when Page decided to collaborate with Coverdale in a case of bad timing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knebby Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 FYI I have heard Still of the Night, who has not ? please tell me what Zep song that song copied ? Are you kidding????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternal light Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 FYI I have heard Still of the Night, who has not ? please tell me what Zep song that song copied ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynxwizard Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Are you kidding????? If it was not kidding I would not have asked ............................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynxwizard Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Are you kidding????? If I was kidding I would not have asked................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynxwizard Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 I will say when I heard Kingdom Comes 'Get it on', (think that was it) I thought that really did have a Zep sound to it, much more than Whitesnake. the main riff really sounded like Page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 The vacuum left from Zep not being around was filled by these acts. You could call it kind of a mourning period for Zeppelin that ended during the generation shift towards Grunge, the moment when Page decided to collaborate with Coverdale in a case of bad timing. Everyone from Pearl Jam to Soundgarden have cited Zeppelin as an influence. Hell, Stone Temple Pilots (among others) even covered them on the Encomium tribute album. Thing is, none of these artists were ever accused of being Led Clones, that's what makes the majority of those "hair metal" bands that ripped 'em off so fucking laughable. That said, Great White did a pretty remarkable job of covering their stuff back in the day but there's a huge difference between that and stealing riffs from their records. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Ozzy Osbourne with Gary Moore "Led Clones" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swede Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 In all fairness, I can understand the comparation between Whitesnake and Led Zeppelin, but I really don't think they are "led-clones". Led Zeppelin was a huge influence for bands like Whitesnake, but the sound is different and Whitesnake never had that folk sound that one could hear in Zeppelin. Zeppelin is much broader in their style and songwriting. Whitesnake is kind of a product of it's time, which Zeppelin was in the beginning too, but they evolved to be a pioneering band. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 In all fairness, I can understand the comparation between Whitesnake and Led Zeppelin, but I really don't think they are "led-clones". Led Zeppelin was a huge influence for bands like Whitesnake, but the sound is different and Whitesnake never had that folk sound that one could hear in Zeppelin. Zeppelin is much broader in their style and songwriting. Whitesnake is kind of a product of it's time, which Zeppelin was in the beginning too, but they evolved to be a pioneering band. I don't hear the folk aspect but I was never really addressing that, I was referring to the blatant lifts from Zep like the instrumental passage from Still of the Night. Not to even mention Coverdale's fashion changeover to try to look like Plant. I mean, Plant didn't refer to him as "David Coverversion" for no reason at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One Symbol Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 ^ Classy! Wasn't it just? I wonder how long it took old Cov to come up with that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swede Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 I don't hear the folk aspect but I was never really addressing that, I was referring to the blatant lifts from Zep like the instrumental passage from Still of the Night. Not to even mention Coverdale's fashion changeover to try to look like Plant. I mean, Plant didn't refer to him as "David Coverversion" for no reason at all. Yes, but I still think dismissing Whitesnake/Coverdale as Zep-clones because of the similarities between In The Still Of The Night and Black Dog and Coverdale's stage manners is a bit off mark. It's more to Whitsnake than that. Looking at Plant, Rogers and Daltrey you can find very similar stage manners between them as well, and I don't think Coverdale is trying to look like Plant alone or anything. He's probably been influenced of all those mentioned above. He was quite young when he got recruited to Deep Purple and that was when Zeppelin, Free/Bad Company and Who was huge. Anyway, that's my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swede Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Fuck, I'm coming off like the greatest Whitsnake defender, don't I..? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knebby Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Fuck, I'm coming off like the greatest Whitsnake defender, don't I..? Yeah your cards are marked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynxwizard Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Yes, but I still think dismissing Whitesnake/Coverdale as Zep-clones because of the similarities between In The Still Of The Night and Black Dog and Coverdale's stage manners is a bit off mark. It's more to Whitsnake than that. Looking at Plant, Rogers and Daltrey you can find very similar stage manners between them as well, and I don't think Coverdale is trying to look like Plant alone or anything. He's probably been influenced of all those mentioned above. He was quite young when he got recruited to Deep Purple and that was when Zeppelin, Free/Bad Company and Who was huge. Anyway, that's my opinion. I could not agree more with what you said, and when Coverdale joined Purple they were every bit as huge as Zep, and the Who at that time, I believe Purple sold more records than anyone that year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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