Is Deep Purple in the same league with Led Zeppelin?

[sxaxsx]

If all you know of Purple is that one riff/trope, your opinion is kinda meaningless. Question: just because kids today don’t hear Lester Young in Marvel comics movies, does that mean he was not a giant of jazz?

I admitted my ignorance in my post. But whether or not my opinion is meaningless kind of depends on what the OP is really asking. You seem to only be interested in which band has the best "chops" but that doesn't mean that they are in the same league when it comes to song writing, innovation, popularity, staying power, mark in music etc.
Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums list has 5 Led Zeppelin albums on it. Guess how many Deep Purple albums. I'm not saying Rolling Stone is correct, I'm not saying Deep Purple didn't have chops, and I am giving Deep Purple the benefit of the doubt by admitting that if I grew up when they were making music I might feel differently, but it's pretty clear that the majority of people do not view them as being of equal musical significance. To me Led Zeppelin's music transcends the era they made music in, it still sounds unique and fresh, I personally don't feel that way about the admittedly limited amount of Deep Purple I have heard.

 

[bon viesta]

"Ian Paice, otoh, has Buddy Rich - level chops."

I was a drummer too, and Buddy Rich - level chops? No. But I respect your opinion. I sat 10 feet away from BR for a whole show. His chops were not even human. And you don't have to have big chops to groove.
I personally, thought DP was boring and unimaginative (from a compositional standpoint.) But then again, I was huge Yes fan, different worlds. I know this will ruffle feathers, but I'm just being honest.

as a drummer of 3 years, that dude was a MONSTER. ian paice was very much a jazz influenced drummer, and his jazz chops were everywhere especially in his solos. his cymbals were at 180 degrees, much like most jazz players, and he rolled and “rudimented” the crap out of those drums. fun fact, his drum set was probably the largest set of drums i have ever seen, maybe with exception of ringo starrs’ “hello goodbye” drum set you see in the promo video. his tom tom was 16 inches by 10 inches, usually a width attributed to only a floor tom, and his two floor toms were 18 by 16 inches and 20 by 18 inches. 20 inch drums were what ringo was using as a bass drum when he went on the ed sullivan show!!!! ian is an absolute roundhouse kicker of a drummer, but unfortunately wasn’t unique enough to cement himself like bonzo did.

btw, the difference in size between ringo’s hello goodbye kit and ian paices’ stage kit is a 1 inch difference in tom tom depth, and 2 inches of difference between bass drum height. so, when you see tiny ringo looking like a toy in comparison to this drum kit, keep in mind that with a little bit of difference this is what ian was using every night in the 70s to beat the crap out of.

 

[blacktocomm]

I would much rather listen to DP. Never liked Zeppelin beyond their rhythm section.

 

[john_g]

I like LZ's music more, but both are <heavy_reverb>Monsters of Rock!</heavy_reverb>

 

[deste]

Back in the ‘70’s, Zeppelin, Purple and Black Sabbath were referred to as the “Unholy Trinity of British Hard Rock”

While each band was distinctly different, they defined that style of music.

I love all three bands for different reasons, and I put them in the same league.
Depending on my mood, I will choose to listen to one over the others.

True, I think.

Purple morphed into Rainbow. Rainbow had some incredible works with different singers.

Led Zep morphed into a few kind of lame solo efforts.

Very very true, I think.

BUT...

On the desert island I'd take with me Led Zeppelin.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Would people's opinions be different if only the Blackmore-Gillian "MkII" DP had existed?

The 80s "MKIIb" albums were great (Perfect Strangers and The House of Blue Light), amazing that the lineup lasted long enough to make a second album.

 

[Gluvhand]

Burn has a lot of filler? I disagree. I think it's a consistent album.

Hey, I’ll take Purple filler over any Zeppelin. And I agree with your disagreement. I was being lazy and just lumped everything post MKII together. I greatly prefer MKII to MKIII but that’s a different poll.

 

[allen_m]

The Cleveland Browns are in the same league as the New England Patriots.

I’d say that every band/artist mentioned in the previous 9 pages of discussion are in different divisions of the same league…and they each have different records.

 

[coyote1]

I don't think that one is better than the other. However, I would rate "Machine Head" as the overall best album produced by either band. Highway Star is the perfect album opener, and it never lets up. Outrageous bass tone also. Ric, I believe.

Ain’t it funny how these threads go.

To some, the benchmark is composition and recording quality. To them, yes* Zep wins.

To me, live performance is the benchmark. So Purple wins.

That said, although a) Machine Head is indeed a great album and b) I’m a bigger Purple fan, I have to disagree. Machine Head’s overall sound quality comes up a bit ‘flat’ compared to Zep IV which was recorded that same year.

I think the high water mark on Machine Head is ‘Lazy’. A fantastic swinging jazzy blues, with stellar playing. Blackmore plays waaaay outside the blues boxes in which nearly all rock guitarists in those days were locked, and Lord clearly paid his Jimmy Smith dues on Hammond and it shows here. As for bass? Roger Glover is underrated. So solid. Mostly not a complex player, but always in the pocket and always great note choices.

*Yes was mentioned by another poster. To me, loving Yes does not preclude loving Purple. They had different styles, but comparable talent and conceptualization. I see Zep, Purple, Yes, ELP, Tull in the same league.

just a bit more about Purple, focusing on the keys and guitar: the last song on InRock, recorded in 1969, is called Hard Lovin’ Man. Listen to the solos. Lord is playing this way, pushing the limits of the Hammond, at the same moment he’s writing the Concerto for Group and Orchestra - a very ‘prog’ thing, and doing it even before ELP. And Blackmore? No guitarist in rock, not even Hendrix who was still alive at that point, was playing anything like that.

 

[bolophonic]

I came of age listening to Zepplin, but I appreciated DP more as an adult.

Black Sabbath is just boring to me. I understand that a lot of people believe the sun shines out of Ozzy’s behind, but I am not one of them.

 

[Moon Fetus]

To stir the pot (and reveal my age, probably) I'll say they're in the same league to me as I've never heard them beyond what I catch on the radio.

 

[Savage_Dreams]

I voted no because for me deep purple are far above zep

I’m sure you posted this assuming most people think zep are the tops for everyone. That amuses me.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Pop band???? What are you smoking?
You do know deep purple is credited with starting a genre along with black sabbath, right?????

You do realize I grew up in the 60s and what I may (or may not) have smoked back then may have effected my memory? As a working musician back then, I always thought of them, like KISS when they came along, as rather light weight musically but commercially successful, and no where near the caliber of bands such as The Who, Zeplin.

History may have have shown the line you are talking about, but there were others less commercial derivative band of that era, like Blue Cheer for instance. What I mean is there more bands than influenced that genre than 2 bands and that the line you speak off is really a lot wider. JMO.

 

[tangentmusic]

Purple’s excellent “Pictures of Home” from the Machine Head LP is one of their best efforts.

Each member really shines on this particular track. There’s even a bass solo in it!

 

[Thumpin6string]

To me, they are both popular bands that received massive air time when I was a teen. There were only a few Zepplin tunes that I could stand while there were a bunch of Purple tunes that I thought were great. So if I had to have a choice of who I'd want to listen to, I'd pick Purple all day long. That said, we all have different tastes in music, so no right answer.

 

[fhm555]

Sorry, DP can’t hold a candle to Zeppelin.

That really depends on the context. If you are talking recordings, LZ is hard to beat, with it’s huge sound achieved through layers and layers of sound created mostly by Page and Jones, but live they cannot bring the same physical assault because they insisted on not bringing in other players to better reproduce their recorded efforts.
DP on the other hand could not just give you their equally exciting album in a live setting, they could make it even more intense.
So who is the best really depends on if you are talking studio wizardry or in your face live performance, at least for me.

 

[Jack Butler]

They are both pretty great in my book. I'd personally give the edge to Zeppelin because I think they had more hits. I think general public wise though Zep is way above DP. I mean whether they like them or not, everyone has heard of LZ. Lots of folks that don't know DP.

 

[Timmy Liam]

Yes. One reason being, Deep Purple actually wrote the majority of their own songs. Zep were serial plagiarists.

You beat me to it lol

 

[coyote1]

You do realize I grew up in the 60s and what I may (or may not) have smoked back then may have effected my memory? As a working musician back then, I always thought of them, like KISS when they came along, as rather light weight musically but commercially successful, and no where near the caliber of bands such as The Who, Zeplin.

History may have have shown the line you are talking about, but there were others less commercial derivative band of that era, like Blue Cheer for instance. What I mean is there more bands than influenced that genre than 2 bands and that the line you speak off is really a lot wider. JMO.

Who? I don’t know…. Third Base? Sorry, just showing my own age here.

Aside from the brilliant Entwistle, the instrumental talent of The Who was not even close to many of the bands mentioned so far. Pete is a good rhythm player but did not become a good lead player until well after Moon had passed. Speaking of which, even Pete acknowledged that Moon was not a great drummer.

But here again, there are different tastes for different people - and different strengths within every band. Despite their shortcomings, they were a great live act… and Townshend was a very good writer and song craftsman. And Daltrey one of the best singers and live frontmen of (ahem) his generation.

The magic is that all those different combos create different appeals. Different things for different people. That’s what happiness is!

 

[Hot Rats]

Yes. One reason being, Deep Purple actually wrote the majority of their own songs. Zep were serial plagiarists.

Finally someone said it.