The Zeppelin Song formula

[McSeven]

If you had to describe the Zeppelin formula for structuring songs. What in your words would you say about thier songs.

To me after listening to a YouTube artist names Virtual Zeppelin. I can see the formula of Zep in action

For most of Zeps Songs, Zep seems to have an opening riff that is strong. Then it depends on the type of song, it seems like Zep structures thier songs like a play. They all interconnect at once. Who ever starts it off seems to dominate the song.

Plant dominates Black dog. Bonzo dominates WTLBreaks, Jonsey No Quarter, Page most of everything else in particular Stairway/Whole Lotta Love.

I see the Zep formula as Riff based with lyrics/groove/soundscape, for lift off. AcDc for example want to bash you in the head with thier riffs, while Zeps riffs are more slinky and sudductive. I love AcDc, but I wanted to make the distinction.

Mc7

[danelectro]

I don't hear a formula with Zep. In fact what made them a good band is that they were somewhat diverse and not formulaic. From You Shook Me to Hot Dog, everything in between is a mash of of styles, they approach each song differently IMO.

I wouldn't use the virtual zep clips as a indication of any formula for what Zep did. They tend to focus on the "rockers" because it's fun to play and I assume they think thats what people want to see and hear them do. They avoid the softer stuff like That's The Way.

[ninelives]

I don't hear a formula with Zep. In fact what made them a good band is that they were somewhat diverse and not formulaic. From You Shook Me to Hot Dog, everything in between is a mash of of styles, they approach each song differently IMO.

I wouldn't use the virtual zep clips as a indication of any formula for what Zep did. They tend to focus on the "rockers" because it's fun to play and I assume they think thats what people want to see and hear them do. They avoid the softer stuff like That's The Way.

Agreed - what made them different from so many others was the fact they weren't formulaic!

[Otto Masson]

Formulas is exactly what they didn't apply. They wanted each album to be different, and ignored pressure to make another WLL, or another STH.

That said, of course there are a few things that are quite characteristic for them, and that you find are repeated in different songs. Even when they did that, however, they would often change the framework entirely in other respects, so that you may not even notice the patterns. Some examples: Jimmy often forms the A chord (or part of the A chord) simply by barring with his index finger, leaving the other fingers free to pick notes as he strums; he does that very prominently on Celebration Day, Rock & Roll, Hey Hey What Can I Do, and Custard Pie. But do the songs sound the same? Not really. Another thing that you may notice is that he sometimes likes to experiment with a tuning. His use of DADGAD is famous, but there are other examples. When they stayed at Bron-Yr-Aur he was obviously experimenting with CACGCE a lot, cf. Friends, Poor Tom and Bron Yr Aur. And yet the songs are each quite distinct.

Jimmy wrote most of the music, so in that respect his tendencies and idiosyncrasies carry a lot of weight, but you could say the same thing about the other members, all of whom contributed a great deal also to the band's sound. They will tend to do certain things, and not do something another player would have opted to do, etc. But it's really the band's interest in bringing out the full character of each song individually that constitutes the greatness, as I see it. Bonzo was a great drummer, but it's what he didn't do on Kashmir that makes it so great.

[ninelives]

Formulas is exactly what they didn't apply. They wanted each album to be different, and ignored pressure to make another WLL, or another STH.

That said, of course there are a few things that are quite characteristic for them, and that you find are repeated in different songs. Even when they did that, however, they would often change the framework entirely in other respects, so that you may not even notice the patterns. Some examples: Jimmy often forms the A chord (or part of the A chord) simply by barring with his index finger, leaving the other fingers free to pick notes as he strums; he does that very prominently on Celebration Day, Rock & Roll, Hey Hey What Can I Do, and Custard Pie. But do the songs sound the same? Not really. Another thing that you may notice is that he sometimes likes to experiment with a tuning. His use of DADGAD is famous, but there are other examples. When they stayed at Bron-Yr-Aur he was obviously experimenting with CACGCE a lot, cf. Friends, Poor Tom and Bron Yr Aur. And yet the songs are each quite distinct.

Jimmy wrote most of the music, so in that respect his tendencies and idiosyncrasies carry a lot of weight, but you could say the same thing about the other members, all of whom contributed a great deal also to the band's sound. They will tend to do certain things, and not do something another player would have opted to do, etc. But it's really the band's interest in bringing out the full character of each song individually that constitutes the greatness, as I see it. Bonzo was a great drummer, but it's what he didn't do on Kashmir that makes it so great.

Most definitely there were characteristics and some idiosyncrasies that were apparent throughout their music but it was that anti-formula and desire to explore new ground, go in different directions that set them apart from others.

[Otto Masson]

Most definitely there were characteristics and some idiosyncrasies that were apparent throughout their music but it was that anti-formula and desire to explore new ground, go in different directions that set them apart from others.

To which I can only reply: