Bands that you're supposed to think are great, but who you don't like.

[Burney]

And of course, what we really want is good, sensible rock bands.

People who don't like Zeppelin tend to fall into two camps: complete ****s, and those with an axe to grind, such as the grumpy old **** I spoke to in a pub the other week who lectured me on Tom Waits and other unlistenable crap.

I don't like Pink Floyd after Syd. My main one is probably the Small Faces. I just don't get it at all.

Silly is fine. Taking yourselves painfully seriously while being utterly preposterous and thumping out souped-up blues numbers is a bit much, though.

[Peter]

Silly is fine. Taking yourselves painfully seriously while being utterly preposterous and thumping out souped-up blues numbers is a bit much, though.

They took themselves seriously (as did everyone else) because they were seriously ****ing good.

I don’t particularly like looking at them and would happily accept they may well have been a bunch of ****s (that said, Robert Plant these days seems a very nice chap). Its just inconvenient that the music is extraordinarily ****ing good. To write it off as souped up blues is ridiculous as anyone who has made it past Zep 2 will know.

Anyway….. each to their own and all that.

[Sir C]

They took themselves seriously (as did everyone else) because they were seriously ****ing good.

I don’t particularly like looking at them and would happily accept they may well have been a bunch of ****s (that said, Robert Plant these days seems a very nice chap). Its just inconvenient that the music is extraordinarily ****ing good. To write it off as souped up blues is ridiculous as anyone who has made it past Zep 2 will know.

Anyway….. each to their own and all that.

'Everyone' took them seriously because it was the received wisdom of the day.

I like and admire some of their work but a great deal of it is self-indulgent, bloated, posturing nonsnse.

[Burney]

'Everyone' took them seriously because it was the received wisdom of the day.

I like and admire some of their work but a great deal of it is self-indulgent, bloated, posturing nonsnse.

All that 'We don't release singles' böllocks, for instance. And that's before we get into absurdities like their occult symbols and Immigrant Song, ffs!

[Sir C]

All that 'We don't release singles' böllocks, for instance. And that's before we get into absurdities like their occult symbols and Immigrant Song, ffs!

It's all admirable stuff inasmuch as they behaved exactly how you want a rock n roll band to behave, right down to the drugs, *****philia and violence. It's taking it all so seriously that's the mistake.

[Ash]

Really? Actually, now you mention it, did you know that at the time? It's ringing a tiny bell. Nice pub, that was. By the end of the day I may have been a littler drunk.

My main problem is that 'Waterloo Sunset' brings me out in hives.

No, I don't think I knew then. Sorry to hear about your Waterloo Sunset allergy. I love that song.

[Peter]

All that 'We don't release singles' böllocks, for instance. And that's before we get into absurdities like their occult symbols and Immigrant Song, ffs!

They wrote Immigrant Song on a visit to Iceland. This is what happens when you give rock stars access to tales of Vikings, or Lord of the Rings. If you can ignore the lyrics its a great song.

[Peter]

'Everyone' took them seriously because it was the received wisdom of the day.

I like and admire some of their work but a great deal of it is self-indulgent, bloated, posturing nonsnse.

That is 70s rock for you. They still did bloated, self indulgent posturing much better than anybody else.

I mean, look at Greetings from Asbury Park. What a load of *******s.

[redgunamo]

They wrote Immigrant Song on a visit to Iceland. This is what happens when you give rock stars access to tales of Vikings, or Lord of the Rings. If you can ignore the lyrics its a great song.

Isn't that rather like saying, "If you can ignore the football, they're a great team,"?

Or is lyrics not so important, in the scheme of things?

[Peter]

Isn't that rather like saying, "If you can ignore the football, they're a great team,"?

Or is lyrics not so important, in the scheme of things?

With Zeppelin, they are not important. With Dylan, arguably more so.

The lyrics just give Plant an excuse to sing. They didn't set out to say anything.