Poll: Is Led Zeppelin Metal?

[Aerduin]

No Zep no metal as we know it, but in themselves I dont regard them as a metal band, rock, blues, folk, certainly.

Any band that can pull off such variety as Ramble On, Four Sticks, Communication Breakdown and Black Country Woman can be described only one way.

As previous posting stated Pure Awesomeness ;0)

(PS . Highly recommend the BBC Sessions cd.)

(PPS Was lucky enough to see Robert and Jimmy on the No Quarter Tour in '95. Anyone who can get you to shake your head to a hurdy gurdy ROCKS......

 

[Panorama]

I think if you asked say 10 years ago, people would more likely to have said yes, compared to now which i think by today's 'metal' that makes it clasic Rock.

 

[Sejs Cube]

Rock yes, metal no.

 

[Communist partisan]

Is Led Zeppelin to be classified as heavy metal?

The genre metal didin't even exist before the 90's as a real genre, for example Ozzy Osbourne was classed as "alternative" in the 90's together with other metal bands and those who were a little softer was only classed as rock, but it's new times now so yes they are metal.

Even if my personal opinion is that they are all still alternative and rock.

 

[Togs]

no there not metal, their classic rock

 

[saruman31]

I don`t know/care but they have some damn good songs.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

Does it matter?

 

[Random berk]

They are classic rock, though metal can also trace its roots back to them. To be honest, when you go that far back, the rock/metal line is too narrow to care about. If they were a good band, they were a good band, and Zeppelin were one of the very best.

 

[evilother]

I take the Lemmy stance, it's all Rock and Roll.

There's little worth in ghettoising it into further genres.



Though the teenage metaller that I was probably wouldn't have agreed with me.

 

[That's Funny]

No, they are progressive rock, hence the different styles of rock they applied to their song. For example The immigrant song, is hard rock, and Stairway to heaven is more in line with classic rock (to begin with anyway).

 

[Rhymer]

Why on earth would you try to lable a band into a genre? Especially bands like Led Zeppelin, who have a very uniqe sound, can't and shouldn't wear that lable. Besides, it's only opinion, and the only way to know if you like them is to listen to their music.

Rather pointless topic, really.

 

[silasbufu]

They were pioneers of the heavy metal and hard rock genres back then, probably even giving birth to the first one, but heavy metal has changed and if the question is "were/are they a heavy metal band by today's standards?" then I say no.

 

[Jamash]

Is Led Zeppelin to be classified as heavy metal?

The genre metal didin't even exist before the 90's as a real genre, for example Ozzy Osbourne was classed as "alternative" in the 90's together with other metal bands and those who were a little softer was only classed as rock, but it's new times now so yes they are metal.

Even if my personal opinion is that they are all still alternative and rock.

If Heavy Metal didn't exist as a genre before the 90's, then how could the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal genre have existed in the 80's?

For bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon or Diamond Head to be considered the new wave of that genre, then that genre would have had to exist before their time, in the 70's with bands like Black Sabbath.

Heavy Metal definitely existed as a genre long before the 90's.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

They are in the genre of "Led".

Speaking of LZ, it's time to GET THE LED OUT. And listen to "Fool in the Rain" for about an hour straight. Just can't get enough of that song...

 

[L8NEYET]

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

Black Sabbath was even heavier, but still rock and Ozzy is the Prince of Darkness and still headlines over anyone no matter how HEAVY they are.

 

[Furious Styles]

I'd say they're proto-metal (which I think I may have just invented) so they serve as a genesis point without actually being fully metal. A bit like how Iggy and the Stooges, MC5 and the Modern Lovers are proto-punk.

In fact, if I had my say, I'd call them blues rock more than anything. Like I said earlier, their relationship to metal is just that: a relationship.

I'd say the first heavy metal band in the proper sense were Black Sabbath, or Deep Purple.

 

[L8NEYET]

Is Led Zeppelin to be classified as heavy metal?

The genre metal didin't even exist before the 90's as a real genre, for example Ozzy Osbourne was classed as "alternative" in the 90's together with other metal bands and those who were a little softer was only classed as rock, but it's new times now so yes they are metal.

Even if my personal opinion is that they are all still alternative and rock.

If Heavy Metal didn't exist as a genre before the 90's, then how could the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal genre have existed in the 80's?

For bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon or Diamond Head to be considered the new wave of that genre, then that genre would have had to exist before their time, in the 70's with bands like Black Sabbath.


Heavy Metal definitely existed as a genre long before the 90's.

Can you provide any proof of any band being called Heavy Metal in the 80's? I was there, hell I was at the shows and they were called Rock and even hard rock, but never metal. Metal was a term adopted in the 90's prolly to better categorize music in stores, when there was stores that solly sold albums. Hell, Nirvana pioneered grunge, but what are they filled under at your local store?

At the end of the day, you can call any band what you want to call them.

 

[fenrizz]

I've always considered Led Zeppelin to be hard rock, with a dash of heavy metal.

 

[TwitchierGuitar]

They're old fashioned rock, Duumpkoff...

 

[Jamash]

Is Led Zeppelin to be classified as heavy metal?

The genre metal didin't even exist before the 90's as a real genre, for example Ozzy Osbourne was classed as "alternative" in the 90's together with other metal bands and those who were a little softer was only classed as rock, but it's new times now so yes they are metal.

Even if my personal opinion is that they are all still alternative and rock.

If Heavy Metal didn't exist as a genre before the 90's, then how could the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal genre have existed in the 80's?

For bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon or Diamond Head to be considered the new wave of that genre, then that genre would have had to exist before their time, in the 70's with bands like Black Sabbath.


Heavy Metal definitely existed as a genre long before the 90's.

Can you provide any proof of any band being called Heavy Metal in the 80's? I was there, hell I was at the shows and they were called Rock and even hard rock, but never metal. Metal was a term adopted in the 90's prolly to better categorize music in stores, when there was stores that solly sold albums. Hell, Nirvana pioneered grunge, but what are they filled under at your local store?

At the end of the day, you can call any band what you want to call them.

Like I said before, there was the whole NWOBHM movement, in which bands were attributed to being the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, the term being coined by a music journalist in 1979:

During the first Metal Crusade Music Machine tour, Samson, Angel Witch and Iron Maiden - among others - played a gig in London on 8 May 1979. Geoff Barton reviewed the show in Sounds magazine using the term New Wave Of British Heavy Metal to coin a common stylistic element of the bands' music.

I think the term "Heavy Metal" itself was coined by a music journalist reviewing a Jimi Hendrix performance, saying something like "it sounded like heavy metal falling from the sky".

I'm of a similar age to you and have also been to a lot of Heavy Metal gigs (although I didn't go to any gigs when I was a young child or have much music awareness until after the 80's), and I've always known the genre as Heavy Metal, but maybe it's different in America.

Heavy Metal has existed in the UK before 1990, but I can't speak for other countries.

EDIT: Also, the Heavy Metal music magazine Metal Hammer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_hammer] was first published in 1986, so Heavy Metal as a genre must have been a fairy popular and accepted term for that magazine to have started.