Poll: Is Led Zeppelin Metal?

[wastedyouth89]

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.

 

[NeutralDrow]

I've always associated them with classic metal, kinda like Queen.

 

[Catalyst6]

That's like asking if Elvis is rock when compared to the modern day bands. They were lighter, yes, but that's because bands have grown heavier and heavier off of them.

 

[Helios_(DEL)]

no sorry, they are just rock they have never entered my mind as metal not for a second everything just seems rock to me.

 

[Telumektar]

They could be hard rock at times, but they are by no means Metal.

 

[FLAMINGPINECONE]

Depends on the album or song really. The later in the career the more mellow they are but you cannot tell me 'Communication Breakdown" isn't metal. That song is metal as all fuck.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

No, they are not metal, and calling them metal would be like calling Jazz "rock music". Sure, Jazz created rock, but it is not rock, and just because Led Zeppelin created metal doesn't make it metal. They're classic hard rock.

 

[DanielBrown]

I've always considered them being a rock/hard rock band. Led Zeppelin had a great influence, but Black Sabbath was closer to what I'd call metal back in those days.

 

[FLAMINGPINECONE]

Does it really matter? I enjoy their music, metal or not.

Being metal or not doesn't make Led Zeppelin any less awesome, and any metal fan really should give them a try if they haven't already.

PS: No stairway. Denied.

 

[Unesh52]

you cannot tell me 'Communication Breakdown" isn't metal. That song is metal as all fuck.

You got me there. I agree.

Somebody already mentioned Sabbath, but I think that they are a lot closer to what we think of as "metal" today. If the categorization is to have any meaning, it would certainly have to exclude a lot of the Zeppelin stuff.

 

[sir.rutthed]

I've always thought of them more as stoner rock, along the lines of Hendrix. I think of early metal, I think of Sabbath, Metallica, that kind of thing that doesn't really sound anything like Zep.

 

[Randvek]

Of course Led Zeppelin is metal. They made metal. But like so many other pioneers of so many other genres (even non-musical ones), bands that came later would be the ones who more clearly defined what they played. I mean, the Beatles were one of the great early pioneers of rock, but if they came out today they would be dismissed as a cheap pop music band.

 

[Smooth Operator]

When console wars are just not enough to keep you warm at night...

They are a band with their own style, and the classifications change nothing about it.

 

[acosn]

Well technically they thought they were a blues band or something if I recall.

Classifying their music is fairly useless, and most musicians when a genre is started sound different from what's made later in the genre's life. Rock started sounding different when black people got replaced by white people, pop has always been changing with every decade or so, and metal at it's roots sounds utterly different from what comes later.

In any case they're not really the blues they thought they were, nor were they rock. I guess if you really wanted to get technical you'd have to call them a rock / blues / metal / trance fusion.

 

[RagnorakTres]

I would argue that yes, they are indeed a metal band. Metal, in my mind, is a broad range of music, but what defines it at its core is not any particular riff or backbeat, but a sense of scale. Metal is grand in its scope, both musically and lyrically. Metal songs and albums tell epic tales of adventure and use an almost Tolkien-esque grasp of myth and legend to create a feeling of connection to the past while venturing forth into the future.