Led Zeppelin

[eduardoritos]

Nobody's clear of any influence, that's imposible, so, if you'll be influencied, better Queen or Zeppelin than other B class people

[Dargavel]

It's kind of funny to have a thread from so long ago be dredged up and still largely agree with my opinions from that time. I had a few less grey hairs back then, but was wise beyond my years. I still think that a lot of people's best solo compositions have massively benefited me, but I'm even closer to that solo writing style now.


A couple of years ago I recorded a solo for an indy rap artist as a fadeout to one of his songs. I wrote it by recording several improvisations over the entire song, then whittling away at it until instead of 5 minutes of pretty good it came out as a minute of really excellent. After that I looked at the structure to make sure it had a beginning, middle, and end (and am to this day quite happy with the result). This is some of the most direct influence that Jimmy Page's songwriting has effected me. Even though modern technology has made it far easier to review your "off the cuff" solos, there's still a sense of urgency and spontaneity in the finished product.


And even though you won't see me with a bow any time soon, I still like that sound so much I use volume pedals and delays to get as close as possible.

[Haffner]

I listen back to my music and notice that there are little, indirect influences from Zep, all filtered through the band I far preferred, Purple. In fact, my favorite bands have all mentioned a significant Zep influence: Priest, Rainbow, 70s Scorpions, Manowar. From that same list of big influences, only the Who (most specifically Townshend) never liked them...it bears mentioning that the Who (along with the Small Faces and Jeff Beck Group) had a significant influence on Zep (which might have coloured Townshend's overall opinion of them, not to mention possibly sour grapes at their superior popularity).

I think Zep was most influential in the 70s and 80s; however, there's no denying (even from a personal who's not particularly a Zep fan, like myself) that overall they have had a tremendously lasting influence and were truly phenomenal.

Graham Bonnet even threw in a Kashmir-ish "let me take you there" during his ad lib at the end of my "Beyond the Palace", of his own accord. I left it there because it seemed to fit really well.

[Dinosaur David B]

Zeppelin influence is kind of like a Hendrix influence. So pervasive and influential, that if you play electric guitar, it's in you (directly or indirectly) whether you know it or not, or like it or not. It's pretty much inescapable, unless you were a literal peer of theirs who was already a formed muso before they hit.

[Haffner]

Dinosaur David B said:


Zeppelin influence is kind of like a Hendrix influence. So pervasive and influential, that if you play electric guitar, it's in you (directly or indirectly) whether you know it or not, or like it or not. It's pretty much inescapable, unless you were a literal peer of theirs who was already a formed muso before they hit.



[/quote]


I agree, and find it amusing when so many players completely dismiss those two as even peripheral influences.

In regard to Hendrix, I can't count how many players who've played down Hendrix's contribution in my presence (at one point I was one of them). These days I have a hard time arguing with people that claim he was the greatest. His at times blatantly worshipful minions continue on...and continue recruiting (for mostly good reason imo). At times I'm convinced his more over the top sound might have been the original heavy metal tone (Voodoo Chile sounds one hell of a lot like classic heavy metal to me).

[Dinosaur David B]

Harking back to the alchemy profiles:


Hendrix:

Influence. He may be your favorite player, or you might not care for him at all, but if you play rock guitar, you've been influenced by Jimi Hendrix — whether you know it or not. . . .

How about you? Have you ever grabbed your whammy bar and played with feedback and dive bombs? How about a wah? No one uses Wah like Clapton anymore, but we still use it like Jimi did. Have you played melodies with octaves? Have you played an E7#9 chord outside the context of Purple Haze or quoted the Third Stonemelody? Used unison bends? Muted scratch rhythms? These things are so commonplace now that we often don't remember that they came (to rock) from Jimi Hendrix.


Page:

It wasn't just that his guitar style influenced our guitar style (though it did, later). More than that, he influenced our lives. Legions of us picked up a guitar for the first time because of Jimmy Page and that guitar hero image he created — because what he was doing just looked so damned cool! We grew our hair long because of Jimmy Page. We wanted Les Pauls because of Jimmy Page, and when we got them, we wore them too low because of Jimmy Page.


and


What's interesting though, is that many "stock hard rock licks" are in fact Jimmy Page licks — much the same way that many early rock and roll licks are Chuck Berry licks. Listen to the Zep I and II and you'll hear a lot of licks that are part of just about every hard rock guitarists arsenal. These licks — the way they are played now — came from Jimmy — whether you copped them from Jimmy himself, or from Michael Schenker, or Slash, or Zakk Wylde, or someone else who was copping Jimmy.



And none of that even addresses the songwriting influence that this thread was about.

[Haffner]

Iommi:

It wasn't just that his guitar style influenced our guitar style (though it did, later). More than that, he influenced our lives. Legions of us picked up a guitar for the first time because of Tony Iommi and that guitar hero image he created — because what he was doing just looked so damned cool! We grew our hair long because of Tony Iommi.


And none of that even addresses the songwriting influence that this thread was about.



[/quote]
Corrected from both mine and many other players' perspectives, but obviously Page was at LEAST as influential. After I completely went crazy hearing the debut Sabbath album I saw Iommi playing on "Night Flight", the Never Say Die footage, and was knocked out by his black threads, the guitar with the crosses, his whole Mephistophelian demeanor, the insanely feedback drenched solo before Electric Funeral. I worked my butt off on a Summer job until I could get my first guitar, then I learned how to play the vast majority of his solos and songs. He was and remains huge for me.


I'm still a fan of the classic Blackmore, but Iommi and Page were probably way more influential to players of classic heavy rock and Metal (and Metal in general).

[Dinosaur David B]

All true, but both Sabbath and Purple admit to being influenced by Zeppelin as well. At least in the area of picking a musical direction.

[Haffner]

Dinosaur David B said:


All true, but both Sabbath and Purple admit to being influenced by Zeppelin as well. At least in the area of picking a musical direction.


[/quote]


Oh yeah! Ozzy mentioned being at first turned off by "Paranoid" because it sounded too much like the post solo lick off of "Dazed and Confused". Even in some of the later Sabbath there's a little Zep, the main riff of "Computer God" doesn't sound entirely dissimilar to "Kashmir".

And as mentioned in the Alchemy profiles, the mighty "In Rock" came about partly due to Blackmore's being influenced by Zep II.

[TravisW]

And the verse section of Master of Insanity is pretty much the same thing as the Wanton Song. I don't know exactly how overt the Zeppelin influence is in my music. I certainly have to say that my tendency toward long songs with multiple sections probably is taken directly from them. When I was in my late teens and early 20's, I was very much a Page disciple. I guess to some degree I still am. I actually did pick up the bow and made some horrible noises for the solo album.