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Do you consider Led Zeppelin a METAL band?

#81
Linnin said:
Go back to 1970. Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath were it. There was no such thing as classic rock, and the term 'Heavy Metal' was brand new.
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Yup, back in their hey day they were Heavy Metal. They were credited with inventing the genre, according to my peers and what I heard. Along with Led Zep and Black Sabbath was Deep Purple and Robin Trower, I think both now considered to be strongly in the "hard rock" category.

So for me there is a definite distinction between "Heavy Metal" and "Metal". Frankly I don't consider Black Sabbath to be "Metal" either although most people I suppose do. The first metal bands I became aware of were probably Judas Priest or Metallica. That was all around 1983 to 1985 for me.
 
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#83
gfen said:
He was't openly gay for years, but yet he still managed to translate a certain subset of homosexual clothing fetishists into de rigueur heavy metal fashion, so much so that when he did come out, most of us couldn't see the forest through the trees.

I think it's funny that no one ever thought to put together before he made his announcement. Hindsight is 20/20, I guess.
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Halford himself seemed pretty surprised by this. I remember him saying something along the lines of "I was going out there every night dressed like Glenn from the Village People, and NOBODY got it."
 
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#85
yodedude2 said:
speaking of different stories:

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Well, there's progression and there's selling out... ;)
Cheap shot, I know, but since I'm not intimately familiar with the Brothers Gibb and their changing sound, I'm offering my stupid layman's opinion.
The only early material from them I know is "I Started a Joke", which is of course radically different from the glossy disco that made their fortunes.

So... do you consider Bee Gees a folk band? :woot:
 
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#86
Charlzm said:
Well, there's progression and there's selling out... ;)
Cheap shot, I know, but since I'm not intimately familiar with the Brothers Gibb and their changing sound, I'm offering my stupid layman's opinion.
The only early material from them I know is "I Started a Joke", which is of course radically different form the glossy disco that made their fortunes.
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even disco Bee Gees is amazing...they only reached sell out point with this

sgtpeppers.jpg
 
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#91
I'm younger than most here (20's) and I had never heard Led Zeppelin described as metal. I've always considered them hard rock. I could see why some people my age or younger would call them classic rock, but that's a function of time more than it is a function of style.
 
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#93
Labels can and do shift. I'm old enough to remember when Soundgarden and Alice in Chains were "metal"––like, played on The Headbangers Ball...then the label "grunge" came along and the exact same videos were getting played on Alternative Nation and 120 Minutes...and I think Alice in Chains has lasted long enough to get called "metal" again
 
#94
Led Zeppelin is:

  • Blues Rock
  • Hard Rock
  • Prog Rock
  • Psychedelic Rock
  • Folk Rock
  • Proto-Metal Rock (Heavy Metal)
  • Rock Rock (one of those words starts with a different letter)
  • Rock Rock (actual rock rock)
They touched upon so many genres, and did it so well, and basically, you have my permission not to love them, and you also have my permission to enjoy spoiled meat.
 
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#96
If anything, I think this thread simply shows how the definition of heavy metal has simply evolved with the passage of time.

If I recall correctly, I read somewhere that the "original trio" of British Heavy Metal bands were Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin. By today's standards, that might seem quite a stretch. However, without these so-called progenitors, there would be no reason to call bands like Iron Maiden the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal."

Honestly, because of constant artistic experimentation, developments in musical technology, and social evolution, metal itself is always a shifting landscape. People like to parse things into neat little boxes with clear black-and-white divisions. The reality is that world is pretty gray...

Just my $0.02.

~Nick "Klaus" G.
 
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#97
Honch said:
I didn't come up with that label. It was a term used by most people back then, when labelling Zep and others. Long and way before anything metal, heavy or light metal, life metal or death metal. It's not something I got out of the blue.

I wouldn't think it would be worthwhile to call any band today that plays "Zeppelin" style music, and then show up and all you play was "Friends" and "That's the Way" and "Tangerine" and their totally acoustic folk stuff... ONLY. What a snorefest it would turn out. People would go "but hey, that's not Zeppelin". Well it is to me, just as equally as their heavier/louder stuff. I knew a lot of friends even back then who thought Zeppelin was boring, in spite of they playing heavier stuff. I generally didn't.
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I know you didn't come up with the label. ;) Thanks for the definition though. It's just amazing to me how many genres, subgenres, labels, definitions, styles, and names we as a society can put on music. I like @Spidey2112 response of good or bad.
 
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#99
If they were a heavy metal in 1968, I don't see why they aren't in 2017. The question would be, in this context, are bands like Cradle of Filth "heavy metal"? Bands don't stop being designated to a genre just because the genre evolved into something ENTIRELY different.

If you'll humor me, I once had had someone rave about how much they love country. What did I do? I put on some Merle Haggard, of course. The "country fan" laughed and asked if I had anything from within the last decade. So, who's the real impostor?
 
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#100
MAJOR METAL said:
Howdy Friends,

I've often heard Led Zeppelin referred to as one of the first metal bands, but do you consider them a metal band?

Personally, although they have some hard rockin "metal" songs, I think the label "alternative" is more fitting, even if they were 20 years prior to the official "alternative genre". They drew heavily from the blues and folk, but I don't think their catalog is comprehensively METAL.
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I'd never call them "Alternative". Feels kind of like an insult and isn't terribly accurate anyway. They're not an "alternative" to anything. If anything they're a "Standard" by which other bands can be judged. I also don't view Alternative as generally connotating the very strong blues influence on which so much of their music rests.

I'd just call them a Rock and Roll band. Possibly a "Hard Rock" or "Classic Rock" band, though those terms still discounts a significant part of their rather wide catalog.

They're simply a very good rock band that started from a blues background, proceeded to bring in a wide variety of influences and produced songs that to day we'd classify as Folk, Rock, Blues Rock, Classic Rock, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.
 

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