Poll: Is Led Zeppelin Metal?

[Ham_authority95]

A simple question, but one that has split metal fans forever. Is Led Zeppelin to be classified as heavy metal? I've heard some say they just weren't "metal enough" and others say that they were the start of heavy metal. So what do you think?

Personally, I think they are. Metal is a LARGE genre and Led Zeppelin was the basis of the heavy metal sound in my opinion.

Their riff-based songs where early metal, in my opinion. The Immigrant Song, Rock and Roll, etc etc. None of that woodstock acoustic stuff, though. They laid a foundation for metal music, but not one as big as Black Sabbath laid down.

Black Sabbath, to me, are more influential to metal as a whole with their use of the tritone, the "chug-chug" riffs, and down-tuned guitars.

 

[Floppertje]

who gives a shit if it's metal or not? It's awesome, just enjoy it!

why does everyone need to put things in boxes anyway? cause the only reason I can think of is that pretentious metalheads can listen to it without feeling guilty because they're listening to 'just rock'...

 

[instantbenz]

progressive .....................

genres! like the spices of life!

ppl say coheed is the zep of our time. i agree

 

[jonyboy13]

Wait wut? Why is there a "No" option. It's a fact.

^Agree about the Sabbath part.

 

[MisterGobbles]

They were extremely influential to metal, but they aren't truely metal. People are right if they consider them hard rock, or if they consider them early metal. It's hard to draw the distinction with bands from that time.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Yes and no.

They were the first band ever to be described using the term 'heavy metal', so yes, they are literally the first ever heavy metal band.

However, since then the term has undergone a change to mean something entirely different, so no, by today's standards of what defines heavy metal they are not heavy metal, they are blues rock at best.

The real problem is defining the genre. A lot of the heaviest of heavy metal bands have elements of neoclassical rock to them, a style basically invented by Ritchie Blackmore, a classic rocker, and then popularised by Eddie Van Halen, about as close as you can get to glam rock while retaining a shred of dignity. The melodic solos of a lot of Metallica could have been taken from any place or time in music, including classical guitar, and so apparently the only thing that makes them metal is the fact that they have loud distorted amps, in which case Jimi Hendrix was metal because he had loud distorted amps.

Also, the genre of 'metal' has become too big to be sensibly applied anymore, a lot like the genre of 'rock' or 'pop.' There's just too much that fits into it.

Rock and Roll, Blues Rock, Heavy Rock, Soft Rock, Adult Oriented Rock, Pop Rock, Pomp Rock, Classic Rock, Glam Rock, Neoclassical Rock, Boulder, Pop, Power-Pop, Nineties Pop, British Pop, American Pop, Pop Idol, Soda Pop, Popular Music (the broadest term of all), Metal, Hair Metal, Heavy Metal, Death Metal, Screamo Metal, Speed Metal, Iron ore composite.

Basically the terms are meaningless because of how much overlap almost every band has nowadays. The Beatles' Helter Skelter actually has a lot of the hallmarks we'd associate with heavy metal today, while bands like Aerosmith cover everything from heavy metal to blues rock to pop rock depending on what sort of mood they're in. Just enjoy the music, don't try and label it.

 

[Naheal]

That's a stupid question, wit-

Without them there wouldn't BE metal. They are among the originals of heavy metal, if not the original.

Well, then. To add a comparison, it'd be like saying that Blue Oyster Cult isn't real metal.

 

[Yopaz]

I made the poll 50/50! I am a god! Zepplin is metal but maybe not by our standards. Just like those boring old comedies that no youngs like are still comedies.

 

[brunothepig]

In my opinion Black Sabbath were the first Heavy Metal band. Led Zeppelin are amazing, but I class them as Progressive Rock, or Hard Rock. Depends on the song, they had very varied songs.
That doesn't mean I don't love them, or that they weren't a huge influence on Metal. I just don't think they are a Metal band.

 

[erto101]

No, they play in the genre "Pure Awesomeness"

 

[justnotcricket]

According to my sources (partner = metal fan), if you absolutely *must* apply a label, they are classic rock, like Guns and Roses =)

 

[Knusper]

I would say that they are hard rock, although perhaps did form a basis of metal in their music, as you can see in certain songs such as 'Stairway to Heaven'.

 

[phantasmalWordsmith]

No it's not metal, it's classic rock. Just my opinion.

 

[Yarkaz]

A while ago someone mentioned that jazz isn't rock even though it helped lay the foundations for it, and I think that guy is on the ball.

Personally, I think the term "metal" is used way too loosely to be used to classify any one type of music anymore. Modern metal is nearly indistinguishable from the music that started the genre, sharing in common only the attributes it inherited from it's predecessor "rock," and since metal is really just a subgenre of rock, I don't even know if that counts.

It's as if metal fans are taking anything they happen to like and labeling it as "metal" so as to claim it as their own. I don't think it's happening consciously, of course, but I think it's about time we stopped calling everything with electric guitars and power chords (a bit of an exaggeration, but the point still stands) "metal." We're about due for a new label, given how much modern music has changed since metal was first classified and named.

...

Black metal is a subgenre of metal is a subgenre or rock. MUSICEPTION.

 

[Sprinal]

A simple question, but one that has split metal fans forever. Is Led Zeppelin to be classified as heavy metal? I've heard some say they just weren't "metal enough" and others say that they were the start of heavy metal. So what do you think?

Personally, I think they are. Metal is a LARGE genre and Led Zeppelin was the basis of the heavy metal sound in my opinion.

They're not metal by todays standards but back in the day they were

 

[CoachZ]

Now, I'm seeing a lot of responses in the vein of "well, they pioneered a heavy sound, so yes they are metal because metal wouldn't exist without them". To me, that's missing the question. The question is "IS Led Zepplin metal", implying current definitions apply. And by current definitions, Zepplin is no longer metal. They are now classic rock. Music genre definitions change over time, especially in the rock/metal categories, and the genreization of bands must also shift to meet modern definitions.

tl;dr, No, i don't think Led Zepplin is metal by modern standards, which the question implies. Yes, they did pioneer a heavy sound from which modern metal is derived.

 

[adrian_exec]

Nevermind. Mr. CoachZ is probably right.

 

[UFOROMANTIC]

I'm not going to make any fans here, but I DESPISE Zep. Robert Plant sounds like he's riding the white horse perpetually, the instrumentation is incredibly overwrought (and not terribly interesting, seriously, what the fuck is up with that 3 minute noise/drum solo in Whole Lotta Love?), the lyrics seem like overgrown bluesy fever dreams, and worst of all, people have built them up to a level where if they had done anything short of making me want to base an entire religion off of their music, it would have been an immense disappointment. I vastly prefer REAL blues to this (I grew up listening to old blues and bebop, not some white boy psuedo-hippie 70's revivalist shit), and if I'm going to listen to old school metal, I'm going to listen to Sabbath. I don't rightly give a damn if they were pioneers, I hate what they did.
Playing no small part in this was that I was in a band that collapsed over a Led Zepplin song, and neither I or the guitar player could stay awake during this garbage. The drummer wanted me to channel Plant and do this stupid repetitive bass riff over and over (the song was Whole Lotta Love, by the way). I could do it, but the more I did it, the more I becan to hate that harsh, nasally sound and the baleful riffs that were sludging out of that song.
I agree with what one above poster said about Sabbath binging in more of what we know as metal with the tri-chords and low tuned instruments, heavy distortion, dark lyrics with cavernous meanings, ect.
Lastly, I digress that I like two songs and two songs only by them: Houses of The Holy and Stairway to Heaven, because those are classics. Everything else can fuck right off. I've tried and I've tried hard to like them, but I feel really only passionate hate for them.

 

[UFOROMANTIC]

And no, they are not metal.
Not by current standards, at any rate.

 

[SenorNemo]

I'm no expert on Led Zeppelin or metal in general, but it'd vary a lot from song to song I'd think. A song can be metal, a band only performs. Some songs might fit the definition of metal, some might not. It's all on the Moh's Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness]