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Is Deep Purple in the same league with Led Zeppelin?

Is Deep Purple in the same league with Led Zeppelin?

  • Total voters
    706
#361
LBS-bass said:
OK, I like both bands but I'm more in the Zep camp, and I'll tell you why. In spite of their tendency to borrow from the old blues masters, they were still incredibly creative songwriters. When I hear people talking about Deep Purple as great songwriters, this is what comes to mind. It's cued up right where I want it:



That's not to say that they weren't a great band. I think they were. But I don't put them on par with Zeppelin.
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Neither band was Dylan, but even when I was sixteen and Smoke On The Water came out I knew those were god awful lyrics.;)
 
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#363
Gluvhand said:
Was responding to something along the lines of Purple not being as "long term radio friendly" as Zeppelin. Not who had more hits. And Woman From Tokyo is from Who Do We Think We Are I believe. Not Machine Head. The cover of Hush, Perfect Strangers and Knocking On Your Back Door are also on a lot of classic rock radio station playlists. Neither band had a lot of chart "hits".
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In the UK DP had more single hits as it issued singles... Before the 1990s DP got quite a bit of airplay. I haven't really listened to music airplay since 1997 so I can't comment on now, but then when I have caught Radio 1 I have discovered there is nothing on it I'd consider to be music. Radio 2 doesn't play anything heavier than that[/] some by Aerosmith and Run DMC, so DP and LZ is right out. Actually I do listen to Radio 3, and the chances of DP turning up there is higher than on Radio 1 or 2.
 
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#365
swarfrat said:
I was referring to those challenging Mikewalker's analysis on statistical grounds. It's still just random idiot's opinions. It doesn't really matter how scientific you want to pretend your research is. It's not like you're polling them on their blood type. What you're asking them, is for each and every one of them a completely made up personal opinion. What you're sampling is itself somewhat arbitrary. By that measure - the only difference in Tiny Tim and Led Zeppelin as a 'serious artistic endeavor' is what people decide to make of them.
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I wasn’t challenging anyone on anything. I simply forgot to add the <humour> Tags<Humour\>. My point, if I had one, was that this thread is impossible and the only conclusion anyone can make is within the realm of their own experience and imagination. There is no definitive answer because everyone’s metrics are subjective.
 
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#366
I'll be honest, I did not read the entire thread but I am shocked at the poll results. How the heck are Deep Purple not considered in Led Zeppelin's league? I would agree the Zeppelin has been the bigger band commercially and socially. I get that one may prefer one or the other. But, to act like they are not both legends of rock is absurd.
 
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#367
jerry said:
Neither band was Dylan, but even when I was sixteen and Smoke On The Water came out I knew those were god awful lyrics.;)
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The only thing I (wrongly) got out of if was that Deep Purple used Frank Zappa's studio to record, because they had the best place around, but some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground. Reading them now it's just a straight forward account of something that happened set to music. Strikes me as unique, anyway.
 
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#368
DiabolusInMusic said:
I'll be honest, I did not read the entire thread but I am shocked at the poll results. How the heck are Deep Purple not considered in Led Zeppelin's league? I would agree the Zeppelin has been the bigger band commercially and socially. I get that one may prefer one or the other. But, to act like they are not both legends of rock is absurd.
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A voice of reason right here
 
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#369
DiabolusInMusic said:
I'll be honest, I did not read the entire thread but I am shocked at the poll results. How the heck are Deep Purple not considered in Led Zeppelin's league? I would agree the Zeppelin has been the bigger band commercially and socially. I get that one may prefer one or the other. But, to act like they are not both legends of rock is absurd.
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I believe the thread somehow morphed into a Zep Vs. DP thread. NOT an "are they in the same league" Thread.

i voted "Yes" that they were in the same league. That doesn't mean I think they are better......or worse....Just in the same league as each other.
 
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#371
jerry said:
Neither band was Dylan, but even when I was sixteen and Smoke On The Water came out I knew those were god awful lyrics.;)
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Obvious to everyone. But somehow, it didn't matter. That was the whole genius of it. DP had some great moments lyrically, and LZ had occasional stinkers (imho). It's all good.
 
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#376
MidnightRunner said:
Your thoughts? Are these two bands in the same league? If not, why?

I think the European and American perspective on DP vs. LZ are quite different.
In America Deep Purple are generally not considered to be the same tier as Zep, while in Europe Zep and Purple are considered the same tier, because in Europe Deep Purple generally have a much higher status than in the USA. In America Zep could have a status "the ultimate rock gods". That was always my impression. Maybe I'm wrong.

Let's discuss.
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I was always more of a Deep Purple fan. Not that I disliked Zep, just liked Purple more. I think the main difference (to me at least) was the heavy keyboards in DP. But generally I agree w your sense that Zep was much more popular in the US
 
#378
It's worth to note that on stage Deep Purple always kicked Led Zeppelin butts, even when Zeps were in their prime.
I saw Purple live many times post-2000 and they still rocked hard considering their age.
So kudos to Purple, always on the road with mastery.
BTW, they definitely didn't need to plea for the removal of their performance from live albums (Live8 anyone? :laugh: )
 

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