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Do you consider Led Zeppelin a METAL band?

#101
Saying Led Zeppelin isn't metal is tantamount to saying Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone is irrelevant because Apple and Samsung don't have wires attached to them and a wall. Not saying Led Zeppelin invented metal but they're the REAL pioneers of the genre. Respect to the pioneers, grasshopper.
 
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#103
GManfromOz said:
No, not metal. They covered a lot of styles IMO. Same with Deep Purple, rocked hard but not what I think metal is. It's like calling Greenday a "punk" band, I just don't hear it in the music or the lyrics.
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I came here to bring up Deep Purple, always thought it was funny hearing them called a metal band. Especially with albums like Stormbringer where you would never even dream of considering it metal.

Uriah Heep is another funny example, they actually play some metal especially their later stuff as they slowly moved towards a more Iron Maiden like sound as apposed to classic rock. But their early stuff is like anti metal.
 
#104
Eilif said:
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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"Alternative," like "indie," is a meaningless term as a genre label. From what I saw, it came out in the 90s when the top 40 came to be dominated by hip hop and electro/dance type stuff, and maybe you still had some hair metal lingering on. Pretty much anybody (other than hair bands) who still played rock music on guitars was an "alternative" to that. "Indie" just meant "not on a major label." But musically, neither term defines much of anything, and as marketing terms (which is what they really are), they're irrelevant to the 70s.
 
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#105
No.
They were a hard rock band that did some things that would inspire metal later. Much like Rush, Tool, Soundgarden, etc they are a metal-adjacent that is often liked by metal fans, and is adopted into the metal family, but are not metal in of themselves.
Black Sabbath was the first metal band. Full stop.
 
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#106
socialleper said:
No.
They were a hard rock band that did some things that would inspire metal later. Much like Rush, Tool, Soundgarden, etc they are a metal-adjacent that is often liked by metal fans, and is adopted into the metal family, but are not metal in of themselves.
Black Sabbath was the first metal band. Full stop.
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There you have it. A guy on the internet finally ended this debate. LOL!
 
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#107
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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Not anymore , but then again like others have said , there probably wouldn't have been "Metal " without Deep Purple , Zep and Black Sabbath . Heck is Iron Maiden even "Metal" anymore ?
 
#117
gfen said:
Songs about wizards and dragons and whatnot? Just another reason Led Zepp was metal.

Coz they were. Maybe in hindsight they're not to metal, but they had enough weight and influence of other early metal bands they absolutely qualify. Does that make someone who's really into Led Zepp a "metalhead?" Nope, because as much as they were, they also weren't.

They were an important stepping stone on the path and helped to create the defination of a genre that hadn't been invented yet. "Proto-Metal" is a fine way to describe it, but that's just sort of a silly term without any real grounding.

I'd consider Led Zeppelin more metal than a lot of '80s "heavy metal" bands.



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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Whaaat? You say "no-one"? Maybe your "gay-dar " needs calibration, but I saw it from a mile away back in 1979. Now, I lived in a city with a healthy gay community so I was familiar with the tropes, but didn't you notice the motorcycle guy in the Village People (Glenn Martin Hughes)?

The only people who didn't get Halford's ruse were the ones that didn't _want_ to. I pointed it out to metalhead friends in the 80s and they were in total no way denial. These cats were people who wouldn't listen to Queen cuz of Mercury's vibe and Bowie's androgynous phase confused them.

Metal is a very machismo-oriented homophobic audience, and Halford always knew that. Remember, he was outed pretty much against his will. When he came out, it was cuz he had no choice, and it was years after he left JP.

Obligatory On Topic Aside: during the 80s, one of the things that turned metal heads off of Zep was that Plant was such a fop onstage. Nowadays times have changed and gay is cool but only because fans were on record as adoring Halford before they new his secret.
 
#118
rymiraflores said:
OK try to restore credibility ..I always thought the phrase "Heavy Metal" came from Born to Be Wild which must have been around 68 and predates most of the bands mentioned
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Yes and no. The Yes... Steppenwolf definitely were the first to use the term in a lyrical format. The No... Led Zeppelin formed in 1968.... As a supergroup of already well established musicians in the industry.

I won't sit here and debate for you to like them. I won't sit here and compare them to the likes of U2, let alone call one of the (quite literally) greatest bands of all time "overrated" either.
 
#119
To refer to Led Zeppelin as a "Heavy Metal" band would be a disparaging thing to say to a good band who though outside the box and were never afraid of trying to broaden their musical boundaries, even as far as almost being eclectic at times. They transcended any and all labels, with the exception of being a really good rock band. Metal.....really?
 

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