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Speechless
Remember that first time when you’ve heard Child in Time and it left you speechless? Here is one of ’em reaction videos, and while the girls are about as coherent as could be expected from giggling teenagers, their sheer youthful exuberance is kind of endearing.
Bonus: getting goosebumps to Stargazer
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Child in Time was pretty much the only DP song chicks ever dug. But it’s only 10 minutes long. Couple that with adolescent inexperience and you had to have a Cat Stevens album too to get anywhere, even if you were the very excitable type.
Rainbow was a complete turn-off for the fairer sex. Ronnie was asexual on stage, JLT only THOUGHT he was hot – big difference! Bonnet had some laddish macho charm going for him, but the habit of exposing yourself on stage and thus giving the term assault attack new meaning was an acquired taste for not only a female audience. I would assume.
It always bugged the hell out of me that Led Zep had much more female appeal. Plant and his inane hippie lyrics (which you could never understand in the first place) and senseless ooohs and aaahs. Plus his mom’s wardrobe he used to wear.
March 14th, 2021 at 05:25Well that brightened up my Sunday morning! Incredible the goosebumps Child in Time and Stargazer still generate after all these decades, even through tinny laptop speakers. Imagine being young nowadays and thinking the garbage that passes for pop music is actually as good as it gets. (Absolutely not a dig at current DP – Whoosh! is the best new music I’ve heard in ages.)
March 14th, 2021 at 11:53Uwe @ 1.
You hit the nail on the head. The secret to Zeppelin’s success was Robert Plant’s feminine attire, especially the way he used to tie up the bottom of his blouses. Long flowing, curly, flaxen locks; and crotch hugging jeans helped too. Zeppelin on a good day, was a reasonably decent band with some gargantuan riffs lain over the tried & true blues formula (much of it appropriated from others, but that’s a whole other story), sprinkled with Tolkienesque lyrics and the odd Celtic lilt added in for good measure; and Bingo!!- we have a winner. Add a wild party boy and/or stoner image to inject just that right level of “bad boy” ethos into the mix….and yes, Zeppelin wins the crown for rock band of the eons. (Back onto an earlier stream with Mr. MacGregor…..read in Ozzy here too).
The rock music industry/media now trots them out monthly, weekly, sometimes daily (read their fan-boy mag rag Louder especially), as THE template for what a true rock band was, is and always & forever will be. Amen.
It all comes down to HYPE, clever marketing and revisionist history. Same thing applies to Ozzy. Both Zeppelin and Ozzy have been the beneficiaries of that particular approach. Not for nothing that it took Deep Purple ( a far superior band in terms of musicianship, virtuosity, versatility, etc, etc) decades longer to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Woe. They were not, are not, and never will be the darlings of the rock music industry / media for a number of reasons – too long to list here right now (that will be for another epistle).
Don’t get me wrong, I like much of Zeppelin’s music, I have several of their albums. Same with Sabbath, I have all their albums. Two truly legendary bands who do not need to apologize to anyone – they were innovators, wrote some classic music and created images for themselves which are permanently etched into pop culture. But, listen to any “Classic Rock” format radio / satellite station and you will be pummeled to death everyday by Zeppelin and Ozzy-based Sabbath “classic” songs on rotation. Played to death is the apt term.
Meanwhile, Deep Purple remains the red-headed step-child locked up in the attic and rarely let out to poison the minds of the consumer ( maybe “Smoke” or “Tokyo” might get the very occasional spin). Same for Dio-led Sabbath – ignored by all.
This all brings to mind the many Blackmore interviews I have read through the years about his disdain for the music business. It is tripe.
March 14th, 2021 at 15:21Buuuuurrrrrnnnn!!!
They like this one too:
https://youtu.be/AE3TIXAoY2U
They’re Dad is a drummer, so they dig what the old man has been listening to for their entire lives. Great kids!.
March 14th, 2021 at 21:59@3 totally agree!! Classic Rock format basically ignores DP, although yesterday I heard KAYBD and almost fell over LOL! Zep and Ozzy are still the pretty boys , even though Purple is basically the only one putting out relevant music! As far as women liking Deep Purple my “chick” of 40 years enjoys Purple music very much, really digging the Morse era, after we saw them on tour with orchestra in 2011 she went from a casual fan to a big fan!! ; )
March 15th, 2021 at 10:53YEAH!… i remember. Also to Gates of Babylon & Burn. @ 3… Robert Plants banana pants…chick’s dig.
March 15th, 2021 at 12:14My wife loves anything by Jon Lord (even Windows!) and Tommy Bolin (except the instrumental jazzy stuff), Hughes gives her “headaches”, Coverdale is a Paul Rodgers wannabe for her, Blackmore und Gillan leave her pretty much cold, Roger Glover is a nice man, Steve Morse needs a haircut badly and should stop wearing awful printed T-shirts, Don needs to do something about his teeth and Ian Paice is a brilliant drummer. That’s her comprehensive evaluation of DP and her favourite song is – you guessed it – Child in Time. Favorite albums from the DP family are Pictured Within, Private Eyes and PAL’s Malice in Wonderland. Candice is a good singer to her who sometimes overdoes it.
“They’re Dad is a drummer, so they dig what the old man has been listening to for their entire lives. Great kids!”
Which reminds me, Herr Richmore, a couple of years ago, I took my daughter Teresa, then in her mid-twenties, to a Judas Priest gig in Berlin, she was living there at the time. She found the gig “interesting from an anthropological studies point of view”, but really had me cracking up when she quipped afterwards: “You know what, Dad, I actually knew most of those songs from my childhood … parental abuse knows many shapes und forms …”. : – )
But she still wears the Redeemer of Souls Tour T-shirt (“that always causes a riot when I wear it in the office”)!
My son Leon, himself a guitarist, gives me great grief. He prefers Led Zep to DP (“Led Zep’s music is sexy and physical, DP have no sex appeal at all”) and Page (“sloppy, but gifted”) to Blackmore (“his playing is clever and sophisticated, but has no mojo”).
I will no doubt disinherit him.
But I had my sweet revenge last year. We were at a Marcus King (a young American blues guitarist) gig, shortly before Covid 19 froze everything. He had played King to me and I had said offhandedly: “He sounds a bit like Tommy Bolin.” My son was immediately up in arms: “Why must you always compare things to your DP stuff?!”
So we then stand at the gig, the (large) club is full, King plays well. My son is happy and so am I. Marcus King steps up to the mike: “We’re now gonna do a song by the late great Tommy Bolin, a suberb guitarist.” Only to then proceed to play a 10 minute version of “Quadrant Four” from Spectrum.
After the gig, my son laughingly described the look on my face when that happened as “positively gloating in the most unpleasant way imaginable” – LOL!
March 15th, 2021 at 14:27Re #7 Uwe: I have seen that story about your son and the Marcus King show before on these pages but could not remember who it was that told it. Now I should remember and enjoyed it as much this time as the first time it was read.
March 15th, 2021 at 16:20I have been reading THS for 20+ years now but do not post as often as some of the very regulars. Am I mistaken or are you a more recent addition to the pages? You may have been posting for ever but I don’t really remember you thorough/thoughtful comments that are always a pleasure to read until just a few (?) years ago.
Correction: It wasn’t Quadrant Four, it was Stratus!!!!!
March 16th, 2021 at 00:00Uwe, I’m in awe & struck dumb with laughter!. Sounds like you have a wonderful family & a great life in general. That is really pleasing for me know, because I’ve seen so many broken down toxic marriages in my time… Including my own!.
My son is mid 20’s, apparently called by a different first name than the one I blessed him with, is not remotely interested in anything like DP etc. (I thought Flight Facilities were something to do with airports!). Nor does he show the slightest interest in me (that I know of). Perhaps he’ll suffer a similar fate should he ever become a parent. Our pups have no idea how much we struggled for them.
You have to let go….
Now I’m old, have spinal issues, high BP joint pains, allergies, polyps, dental, hair loss… the list goes on. So I came up with a motto:
BE HAPPY.
That’s it, just try to remain positive & don’t dwell on the negative stuff.
Life goes on.
https://youtu.be/pwYpqJVHHmo
& particularly this Gillan!:
https://youtu.be/VNvwJxid7pQ
Put simply, the only real difference between a good time & a bad time…. is time itself.
March 16th, 2021 at 01:40Love may not conquer all, but time gives you distance.
Maybe I’ll take another leap across the big wide pond one day & make a new camp somewhere else…
Que sera, sera.
https://youtu.be/VjEq-r2agqc
@Jerry: I’ve been a Purple fan since 1974/75, never saw them live around then, we lived in Kinshasa back then, a place only toured by Ali and Foreman (I wasn’t allowed to go see that fight, German Embassy had issued a warning that there might be riots if Ali lost against Foreman – widely perceived as an “Uncle Tom” figure -, they needn’t have worried!), not DP!
My first DP family live contact was Rainbow in 1976 (followed in quick succession by Gillan and Whitesnake, I could kick myself to this day that I missed a gig by the Ian Gillan Band which I really loved with their jazzy touch and John Gustafon’s immaculate bass playing).
I almost immediately started collecting everything that was available by DP musicians then, before and after their time with Purple, I’ve always been a collector and completist, Sigmund Freud would most likely have to say a few enlightening words on that!
Back then I also read a lot of NME and Melody Maker (Sounds wasn’t easy to get in Germany for whatever reason). It widened my musical horizons, one week I’d buy Judas Priest’s Sin After Sin, the next week something from Doctors of Madness or David Bowie or Be-Bop Deluxe and the week after that Televison, the Ramones or The Dictators. I really devoured it all. But my love for DP remained.
I joined the ranks of the DPAS eventually. Once this site was up, I would sometimes post here, but not very often, I’d be lurking a lot though. So your impression is right, I have been more active as of late. SOMEONE HAD TO TAKE A STAND FOR GLENN HUGHES HERE! It broke my heart that never ever did anyone consider his excellent bass playing worth a mention (and the influence it had on Ian Paice who peaked with Mk III/IV/PAL). Every flatulence by Ritchie and Jon is over-analyzed here; what the DP bassists contribute is by and large ignored. I’ve seen Mk II when Roger had surgery and Nick Fyffe stood in for him, the effect on DP’s sound was even more stark than I had expected, all that pulsating drive was gone. Fyffe is technically a better bassist than Roger, but he plays behind the beat which is great for Jamiroquai or The Temperance Movement, but horrible for Purple.
I don’t have facebook, twitter or instagram accounts, but have been running a forum for bassists with a couple of other people from Europe and the US for the last 12 years – search The Last Bass Outpost and you’ll find us. Of course, there I am notorious with driving everybody mad with my DP obsession and there is a saying there that “all threads lead to Ritchie Blackmore aka ‘he who may not be named’ “.
Herr Richmore: I’m a divorcee myself! My children are from my first marriage, my first wife and I separated in 2007 after nearly 25 years and I’ve been together with my second wife – whom I knew all the way back from school – for about half that time. She has a daughter pretty much the same age as my kids, they are all young adults now approaching 30. It took a while, it wasn’t always easy – no divorce is, there was hurt and there were setbacks, but we are now what we call a Patchwork Familie in German, a blended family in English. I’m good friends with my wife’s first husband (and we tend to agree on all things regarding her – which she finds disconcerting!) and my first and my second wife take vacations together – with the helpful comment: “It’s ok if you don’t come with us, Uwe.” So I have finally achieved full redundancy, who could ask for more (or less)? : – )
March 18th, 2021 at 04:47Interesting reactions. My brother and I used to play this when we were kids. Our story is that our grandmother once came into the room and had to leave, putting her hands to her head, doing some screaming of her own. She’d say the “music’s okay, but I can’t stand the screaming”. I took it as being impressed, seeing that she was in her early 70s.
March 19th, 2021 at 00:23I’ve written about this before, but when I played the In Rock record on the living room record player of my parents (I didn’t have an own one initially), my dad came in, sat down and read his newspaper. I had it turned up loud, he didn’t ask me to turn it down. So I hear all of side one, expecting him at any moment to either flee the living room or make some disparaging comment – born 1931, he was more the Glenn Miller, Neil Diamond and Johnny Cash type. But instead he tapped his foot during CiT’s shuffle part. After the last notes of that song hat rung out, he stood up, folded his newspaper and said: “Unlike some of the other stuff you listen to, that actually wasn’t half bad.” Or: How Purple convinced another sceptic ! : – )
March 19th, 2021 at 19:54Meh. Decent song. Very good vocal but the song itself is marginal. I won’t skip it, usually, when it gets in a stream I’m listening to but the song generally is very average. If not for the vocal it would be well below average.
March 19th, 2021 at 20:12“The secret to Zeppelin’s success was Robert Plant’s feminine attire,”. This may be the most ignorant music comment that has ever been uttered. And people think K-Pop is good music and say that so……. FFS, feminine attire was Zeppelins success secret. I mean, jesus.
March 19th, 2021 at 20:15Kevin at 15…….read the whole screed in context, not just one phrase…..it is about HYPE in general. Zeppelin was a decent band, but they were and still are the beneficiaries of much better marketing than Purple ever was. Even though Deep Purple are far better musicians all round. Even though Deep Purple’s catalogue overall is far more diverse than Zeppelin’s.
And on comment 14…..Blackmore’s guitar solo on Child in Time is one for the ages. Jimmy Page on a good day could only hope and pray that some day he could play as well as that.
March 19th, 2021 at 21:09DeeperPurps @ 3 -I am not getting into the this band is better than that band thing, that trio of British heavy rock bands stand on their own in so many different ways. However, “Zeppelin on a good day, was a reasonably decent band with some gargantuan riffs lain over the tried & true blues formula (much of it appropriated from others, but that’s a whole other story), sprinkled with Tolkienesque lyrics and the odd Celtic lilt added in for good measure”; I am trying to keep things in perspective here, there is a lot more to Led Zeppelin than that, much much more. “Not for nothing that it took Deep Purple (a far superior band in terms of musicianship, virtuosity, versatility, etc, etc) decades longer to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Woe”.
March 20th, 2021 at 02:09Regarding the musicianship, virtuosity & versatility comment. We have been here before I think & I am about to repeat myself, or maybe it was a similar rave from some time ago. Deep Purple never had a multi instrumentalist like John Paul Jones, a guitarist & composer who played all sorts of stringed instruments, some in different tunings at times, that also took in many different cultural influences from around this planet of ours. Purple were & are much more ‘streamlined’ than Zeppelin ever were. It is only the ‘virtuosity’ of Jon Lord’s classical influence & Blackmore’s finesse as a lead player that gets that comment over the line, so to speak. Zeppelin & Purple had great lead vocalists, (sure Plant annoys some people with his adolescence dribble at times) & both bands had extremely good drummers. Both bands had many great songs also. Zeppelin & Purple are poles apart & we may as well be talking about apples & oranges in many ways. It is all personal taste. It is also about musical diversity in my book. I don’t really care how a person looks, well I did in my arrogant youth at times, but that was more directed towards the cultural movement of certain fashions. I did enjoy Uwe’s ‘mums wardrobe’ comment though, classic. Cheers.
MacGregor @ 17 – I agree with much of what you say. Please refer to my entire commentary @3, further down wherein I remarked that – Zeppelin (and Sabbath) were: legendary, innovators, left their cultural imprint, etc; and both are also to my taste.
However, none of that was the main point of my comment in @3. The larger issue is about hype, marketing and the relationship with the rock music industry / rock music media who have somehow elevated Zeppelin to iconic god-like status, whereas Purple have been relegated to second tier status.
On the latter comment, I can attest that my local record shop owner was asking me recently about Deep Purple – basically was unable to name a song or two beyond what he knows of them from a greatest hits CD. Now how could that happen? That a man quite knowledgeable in all forms of music, who makes his livelihood selling it, could not know Deep Purple? He even asked me, if they were “in the second tier”!
I have heard similar comments from other people as well, not just him. Certain people I have spoken with are quizzical about Deep Purple, its past glories, and its ongoing presence in the music scene. Meanwhile, everybody knows, everybody loves Led Zeppelin. Why could that be? How could that be? Well, as I have explained here on this particular thread, as well as in previous exchanges….it is either a general ignorance and/or a deliberate dissing of Deep Purple by music industry / media types; OR it is an over-infatuation with the image, idolatry of, and mass-marketing of, for example: Led Zeppelin (there are as well, many, many less-deserving bands that get more attention than Purple – will save that one for another day).
Well, a lot of that falls at the feet of the music industry and its various forms of media. I have spoken of the RRHOF, of RollingStone Magazine and other publications, of Classic Rock-oriented radio / satellite stations / conglomerates with their focus-group targeted playlists, etc. Purple gets very little attention in any those compared to Zeppelin. It certainly can’t be just about the music! There are other ingredients involved.
A good example….Rolling Stone Magazine’s Album Guide Fourth Edition where within the over 900 pages of that tome, Deep Purple was not in evidence anywhere…..there was a Dee Lite and then a Def Leppard. Where’s the Deep!? Now what was going on there? Again, think about the cozy relationship between RS magazine and the RRHOF. There is the answer, or at least a partial answer to the larger question….why does Deep Purple not receive the attention other bands get?
So if we now all return to the original premise of the matter, and the reason I wrote….it was in response to Uwe @1’s statement about Led Zep having all that female appeal, the wardrobe, etc. That’s how we got to this point in the debate.
I won’t get into comparisons here right now, as you say, apples & oranges.
March 20th, 2021 at 13:43DeeperPurps @ 18 – Yes indeed, the media & executives at play, it happens with sport, tv & movies & even more cringe worthy, politicians. Two musical acts that are grossly over rated are Bob Dylan & The Rolling Stones. From the very early days & it continues. Television viewers & music fans are constantly being inundated with ‘this guy is the greatest etc’ or this ‘band is the greatest rock ‘n roll band in the world’ rubbish. It sure has worked for some artists to be the ‘darlings’ of the US entertainment industry. I guess it may be that embracing the American culture could possibly be a ‘motive’ for this obsession. Dylan is of course American & the Stones are always pushing that ‘American rock ‘n roll’ thing & Jagger with his American style vocals & attitude. Bruce Springsteen is another one they adore. Led Zeppelin certainly have always embraced the American Blues heritage & always push that, Plant still talks a lot about it & the country music influence, think Alison Krauss. He is still influenced by it with his solo material. I can only think that Ozzy was incredibly fortunate to be there at the right time when the hair metal, MTV era kicked off & of course his missus grabbed that opportunity by the throat big time. I genuinely think that Sabbath just happen to be caught up in that purely because of Osbourne, nothing else. Deep Purple were huge at a time in the early to mid 70’s in the US, however they are not that influenced by the American side of it. Gillan would probably be the most influenced by it, vocally. Their attitude at times to the media, also would not win any favours as the ‘darlings’. Especially after the California Jam. I still wonder if that really pissed them off big time over there & they have never forgotten it. When you think about Blackmore & his antics, that was a big ‘f//k you all’ if ever there was one! Cheers.
March 20th, 2021 at 22:18Hi MacGregor @19. My thoughts exactly. Blackmore et al didn’t play nicely enough in the American music industry/media sandbox. They said and did things which made them somewhat personna non grata. As you say, the “darlings”…the list is very long: Dylan, Rolling Stones, Springsteen, Ozzy, U2, Iggy Pop, Bowie, Sting, The Ramones, Nirvana – especially Cobain, and on and on – they played the game very well and hence still receive a goodly portion of coverage, accolades, fawning adoration, etc. Meanwhile the Purple men still toil in the trenches and to this day have been putting out relevant music which is largely ignored (more like very poorly marketed) in the USA. It is all somewhat frustrating to witness and abide.
March 20th, 2021 at 23:32I really like watching reaction videos, particularly when they are viewing Child in Time or Stargazer. I connect to seeing awe & wonder in their eyes and enjoy seeing their enjoyment.
March 20th, 2021 at 23:37LOL – I will not tolerate in a Purple forum of all places that Bonzo and Lil’ Ian are qualified as “extremely good drummers” side by side. If Ozzy is a vocal stylist, then Bonham is a drums stylist. But Ian’s chops and his ease of swing are in another universe for Bonham.
I once asked a drummer (who liked both drummers) about the general obsession with Bonzo and he said tellingly:
“It’s easier to nick something off Bonzo’s style because what he plays is often simple, yet hugely effective and ear-catching. Emulating Ian Paice is incredibly hard und frustrating, he has that whole Buddy Rich big band school in him, he’s fast and precise, he has an intricate bass drum work, his rolls are dangerous and creative. Plus he swings all the time, he’s never heavy-handed, yet incredibly forceful. What Ian does in Burn is outside of the capabilities of 90% of all drummers – Bonzo included -, but anybody who sets his mind to it can do the Kashmir drum part and be recognized for that.”
Saying that Bonzo is as good as Ian is like saying that Rick Parfitt – bless his soul und I loved the man, he was a groove powerhouse – and Ritchie are in the same league.
Zeppelinites might think so – they think all kinds of things and never really mind that their heroes more often than not could not reproduce their studio aural landscapes live (something Purple never had issues with, in fact more of the opposite!) -, but let’s stick to the facts in a Purple forum.
What’s next? That Jimmy was a more precise lead guitarist than Ritchie und Plant a better lyricist than Gillan? That the Spitfire had a better rate of climb and better dive performance than the Bf 109 and that Panzer III and IV were superior to the T-34? ; – )
Rant over.
March 21st, 2021 at 02:29DeeperPurps @ 18 – Continuing on, I think I mentioned this a few years ago. I also allude to the fact that Purple may be judged as a ‘one hit wonder’ so to speak. How long were they a major act in the US. Probably about 3 years or so, not that long where as Zeppelin & Sabbath were around much longer, all be it not as active during the later 70’s. More successful albums & touring also. A solid original lineup also could be the case, no band member changes etc. The Bolin & Hughes disrespect for Purple back then also could have attributed to peoples negative attitude towards Purple. Tony Iommi found out about those scenarios during the 80’s & early 90’s, where the Sabbath ‘brand’ was trashed by so many, media & promoters especially. This was of course after the initial Dio Sabbath albums, which at the time were popular & also kept the Sabbath name in the spotlight for a little longer until the Osbourne circus rolled into town. The Purple dilemma reminds me of Uriah Heep. They were only about 3 years or so at their peak, commercially & creativity wise. They dropped away quickly also. Many people lose interest quickly with things in this world. That & certain radio & television personalities & executives deliberately not caring to follow anything but the more popular, for longer scenario. Until something else pops up & then off they go again! It is to most of them all about the cash & celebrity status. Cheers.
March 21st, 2021 at 04:51Oh dear oh dear, Uwe @ 22 seems to have tossed his toys out of the pram. Some of these comments, well here I go again, it’s the same old story……….remember those lyrics?
March 21st, 2021 at 11:41” LOL – I will not tolerate in a Purple forum of all places that Bonzo and Lil’ Ian are qualified as “extremely good drummers” side by side. If Ozzy is a vocal stylist, then Bonham is a drums stylist. But Ian’s chops and his ease of swing are in another universe for Bonham”.
It isn’t up to you to tolerate it, it isn’t your forum. Qualified??? who used that word?? Opinions again on who does what better or who is not as good as someone else, well we know what the opinion line is, they are like…………….everyone has one.
“I once asked a drummer (who liked both drummers) about the general obsession with Bonzo and he said tellingly: See @ 22 for this opinion from one drummer. The next drummer will tell you another opinion….& on & on & on we go….
“Saying that Bonzo is as good as Ian is like saying that Rick Parfitt – bless his soul und I loved the man, he was a groove powerhouse – and Ritchie are in the same league”. Who said Bonzo is as good as Ian Paice? He is a totally different drummer in many ways. This comparing is ridiculous. I am better than you, you are better than me, that guy over there is better than both of us………..And there is the problem, right there.
“Zeppelinites might think so – they think all kinds of things and never really mind that their heroes more often than not could not reproduce their studio aural landscapes live (something Purple never had issues with, in fact more of the opposite!) -, but let’s stick to the facts in a Purple forum”.
Is the Zeppelinites comment a put down for anyone who likes Led Zeppelin,to make yourself feel better or to justify your position in the ‘us versus them’ scenario. There are no heroes in musicians simply playing an instrument, just human beings enjoying themselves, creating something & if some people like it or not, it is what it is.
I thought you are a musician as you have stated. I am a little surprised that you would think that bands go out to reproduce ‘their studio aural landscape’ each night. How many don’t deliberately do that, for different reasons, whether subtle of not so subtle. The ‘let’s stick to the facts’ comment is, well facts, which facts are you talking about? Other peoples opinions, your opinions, my opinions? Facts???
“What’s next? That Jimmy was a more precise lead guitarist than Ritchie und Plant a better lyricist than Gillan?” Here we again, same old same old, comparing something that is the total opposite end of the spectrum, utterly irrelevant. I have deliberately left out the final comment, nobody wants to or needs to go there & I am sure the moderators here do not want to either. Disappointing comments from Uwe. The way he has worded his comments that is, we do see the ‘us versus them’ comment at times though from some ‘fans’ of certain artists, I have probably said things similar in times past, but I really try to not engage in the ‘they are better than them’ type of comments. It is what people like or do not like. No one is better than anyone else. Horses for courses.
Uwe doesn’t like or think much of the Led Zeppelin. We knew that already though. I for one will not lose any sleep over that though & I dare say, either will many many others. Cheers.
Hi MacGregor #23. Yes I am sure the lack of continuity in the band’s line-up was also factor in people possibly losing interest. And I also think it has to do with the “blues-based” style of music that seems to appeal to the American market. Zeppelin cornered that aspect, along with the Stones, Cream, etc, etc, Purple and bands like Yes (another group playing more intricate music, with a revolving door line-up who also took far too many decades to get inducted into RRHOF), never did the blues game all that much. And neither have they tethered themselves to the huge rock and roll HYPE machine that prevails in the states. I recall reading a Blackmore interview back in Trouser Press in 1978, seems he was still trying to get his head around how to make it big in the USA – at that point he still seemed confounded as to how to crack that egg. It was at that point that he started making more deliberate attempts to bring in a commercial aspect to his music. That happened with his next album in 1979, Down to Earth. That still didn’t really achieve what he was after. The pseudo-Foreigner style of the Joe Lynn Turner years brought relatively higher exposure in the states, but they never hit the big time. I can’t imagine Ritchie’s jump back to Mark II reunion in 1984 was all that hard a decision to make for him. The rock media machine was all over that event back them, but somehow it all waned again within a year or so. I can’t understand why Purple and its management didn’t think of participating in Live Aid 85…..they could have stolen the show. Their lot might have been much different after that.
March 21st, 2021 at 15:15MacGregor, bitte, bitte, settle down, it was in jest! As you might have noticed, irony, sarcasm and caustic one-liners are not entirely beyond me.
I have all Led Zep albums – Physical Graffiti and In Through The Out Door are my faves – and all Robert Plant ones as well plus stuff by The Firm, Them Crooked Vultures, Page w The Black Crowes etc. Been to Page/Plant und Plant solo gigs. I very much respect Plant’s decision not to be part of a Zep reunion, his solo work is ambitious and eschews the obvious.
Zep versus Purple is a running gag with me, I can appreciate their music though I think it’s overrated, but so is U2’s, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ and Coldplay’s. They are all mass phenomena.
I believe that the difference in public appreciation between Purple and Zep comes down to the fact that Zep created a lasting mystique with their image Purple never had, all Blackmore seances couldn’t change that. That esoteric image of Zep was never my cup of tea.
And live Zep suffered for either missing a keyboarder or a bassist because JPJ couldn’t do both. When he played bass parts on the keyboard – because he had to – it sounded plain lame, forgive me you Zeppelineers!
But there are also things that Zep did exceedingly well, incorporating world music aspects early on for instance. Page is a more adventurous rhythm guitarist than Ritchie. Zep’s music also has more layers than Purple – that layered approach was hard to recreate live with just one guitarist, a drummer and a guy jumping been bass and keyboards.
Purple’s music in comparison is much more cleanly engineered, form follows function. There is no real secret recipe to Purple arrangements. Zep aren’t even – as Plant has repeatedly emphasized – a true hard rock band, they just had a few hard rock tracks in their set.
Another idiosyncrasy with Zep was that Plant used his voice not so much to transport lyric content, but as a melody instrument. Those Steve Morse albums where he covers Zep tunes instrumentally are really eye- and ear-opening because a lot of Plant’s vocal melodies sound like they were written for guitar in the first place. Lyrics audibility otoh never rated high on Zep albums; I’m not a native speaker, but I always understood Gillan a whole lot better than Plant.
There used to be a saying in Germany about Purple being “Maschinenbaustudentenrock” – rock for mechanical engineering students. It was intended to be dismissive, but in fact it had more than a grain of truth in it, it captured a certain essence of Purple’s music, the roles of the instruments are more clear-cut with Purple than with Zep. I could understand what people meant by it. Zep is more artsy, less of a clear structure, more like a watercolor/acquarelle painting.
I guess that also explains why Purple was always more popular in Germany than Zep – we’re an engineering nation, I myself am the son of an engineer.
Is that a more balanced appraisal of the two – very different – bands, Herr MacGregor? ; – ) And will you now explain the meaning of the Stairway to Heaven lyrics to me; they always made me wo-wo-wonder and I didn’t remember laughter either. (Oh, the pretentiousness of it all … that is another thing why I root for Purple, Zep were sourpuss pretentious while Purple were hilariously selfdeprecating.)
March 21st, 2021 at 20:15Uwe, all good here, I had just finished watching Pythons Holy Grail movie & commenced a reply to your rant as you called it. I was in a jolly mood, just honing in on a few things. I guess the big difference between Zeppelin & Purple is that one was a drinking straighter band, the other a drug influenced (among other things) band. Hence the occult & mystical fantasy story telling type of lyric of Zeppelin, to Gillan’s modern day approach to issues of today, life in general sort of lyrics. Also, as Gillan always said, Purple are a instrumental band, first & foremost. They don’t write longer layered music, like Stairway, No Quarter, The Rain Song. no folk or blues either. Poles apart in other words. I always like the escapism lyrics of those sort of songs, also Yes, Hawkwind, early Crimson & Uriah Heep, Dio with Rainbow. It takes me back in a way to days of wonderment, dreaming, trippy, historical, mythical & magic & a little innocent in many ways, sort of. Can I explain Stairways lyrics, I would have to have a look at them again complete. I wouldn’t call them pretentious, just fantasy, folky, etc. I don’t listen to Stairway these days, haven’t in many decades as I heard it too much back in the day. It is interesting that Tony Iommi was asked if he could write one song what would it be, I think he said Stairway from memory. Blackmore was influenced by Kashmir & that eastern approach of Zeppelin. Page really gets deeper than most in his approach to songwriting with those sort of songs. I will have to check out that Steve Morse album you mentioned, I don’t know about that release at all. There is no doubt about it as you said, Purple are a much more streamlined sleeker band in many ways, but for me not as interesting over all, & I consider myself a huge Purple fan, especially the early 70’s. A few friends of mine, a little older than me liked Sabbath more, I guess it is the songs, a more typical straight ahead style, They used to say to me, Purple & Zep are great bands, excellent musicians, but a hit & miss sort of thing with them as they only liked a few songs here & there, not the full albums. I suppose Purple & Zeppelin were too adventurous for them perhaps, although saying that, they were both huge Tull fans. Work that one out. Cheers.
March 22nd, 2021 at 08:39Wow, some scribblers here really know how to write long comments.
Interesting, hilarious,but also a bit too much too take in in a short moment.
March 27th, 2021 at 18:47@28 rock voorne, yep!.
March 28th, 2021 at 23:22