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Those elusive sales figures
For many years the band’s sales numbers have been a mystery — the record industry types like to keep their cards very close to their chests. The total worldwide sales number of 100 to 120 million records had been banged around at some time, without any supporting evidence.
An interesting article appeared on chartmasters.org in 2021 (the whole site is a bonanza for music lovers who happen to be numbers geeks). It gives both raw numbers for album sales and introduces the concept of Equivalent Album Sales. See a quick 2-minute intro video or read all the gory details.
This leads to some very interesting results. The raw numbers for album sales are as follows:
That leaves out a plethora of live releases, countless compilations, singles, offshoot bands, downloads, streaming, et cetera, et cetera. The Equivalent Album Sales (EAS) concept aims at addressing all that.
In short, 1 album = 1 full length music video (think Cal Jam) = 2 EPs = 3.33 physical singles = 6.67 digital singles = 1500 audio streams = 6,750 video streams. Yes, these coefficients are somewhat arbitrary, but they are what they are. You are invited refer to the original article and crunch the numbers with your favourite weights, if you’re inclined to do so.
Live albums and compilation sales are distributed to album sales proportional to how much each album contributes to the live album or compilation (e.g. streaming data suggests that Machine Head tracks account for 85% of Made in Japan listens, so 85% of MiJ numbers are counted towards MH album equivalent sales).
And the final result (drum roll):
Machine Head gets the largest boost — in addition to 9 million album sales, the final adjusted number gets closer to 35.5 million. That includes EAS of 24 million from live and compilations, 1.3 million from singles, and 750 thousand from streaming. It ends up as the best selling album of 1972.
Other albums with significant EAS boost:
- Shades of Deep Purple went from 1,625,000 purely album sales to 4,764,000 EAS;
- In Rock from 5,775,000 to 12,192,000;
- Burn from 4,060,000 to 7,921,000.
Once all is said and done, total worldwide for the whole career comes to 92.5 million equivalent album sales.
Notable records and achievements:
- At 23,630,000 EAS, Smoke on the Water is the most successful song from 1972.
- At 23,630,000 EAS, Smoke on the Water is one of the top 10 most successful songs from the 70s.
- At 23,630,000 EAS, Smoke on the Water is one of the top 25 most successful songs of all-time.
- At 8.6 million pure album sales, Deep Purple are among the best selling foreign artists of all-time in Japan.
- Deep Purple are one of the rare foreign acts to sell over 500,000 with both a single/EP and an album in USSR.
This is just a summary of a quite a long article. Check the source for full details.
One big caveat thought: the article does not give any sources for the raw sales numbers, and they are the foundation for all results and conclusions, so take everything with a grain of salt.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I read somewhere (?) once that Made in Japan sold 13-million copies in the United States in 1973, alone. The live version really took off, especially due to repetitious airplay of ‘Smoke on the Water.’ You can really see who rock and roll started to decline amongst the youth as the 1990s rolled around. The people who grew up in the late 1950s through the 1980s had the radio on almost all the time. They could listen to Neil Diamond and Led Zeppelin back-to-back and not blink. As long as it was melodic, or cranked out, people would listen. Thankfully, bands like Purple are keeping alive and being underground isn’t all bad.
September 3rd, 2022 at 05:09Interesting & more than a mouth full indeed. Not that I have taken much notice over the decades in regards to album sales. It is what I like that is more important. This is what we would ‘expect’ in many ways as Machine Head was the zenith as we know & Perfect Strangers the much hyped reunion of the definitive DP lineup. In Rock did well as the first album & Burn of course gets some decent ‘recognition’. Stormbringer was interesting although classic rock was still alive at that stage. Same as Come Taste The Band . The House Of Blue Light did well all things considered & even Deep Rainbow did ok. Anyway it is something to waffle on about I suppose. Thanks for posting the article. Cheers.
September 3rd, 2022 at 08:00@ 1- you are not wrong here, back then when you looked at a top album or singles chart the artists that were there were so diverse in musical styles. I was watching a Jim Croce documentary last night & it flashed onto a top forty singles chart & it was scrolling towards the top & I thought I quickly noticed Smoke On The Water right up there at that time. Now days every genre is separated into each category, so as you said Neil Diamond vying for top spot with Pink Floyd or DP or anyone else was the way it was. Even Dolly Parton resting number one position from DP, sacrilegious at the time however these days we have learned to appreciate that. I don’t know if that scenario ever occurred as I was using it as an example. I will give Dolly her credit though, she did knock back the ‘mighty’ Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame with that induction nomination recently. She simply stated to the hierarchy, I am not rock ‘n roll, please remove me from the shackles, or words to that effect. Cheers
September 3rd, 2022 at 10:22Mehh…These numbers don’t take into account things like how many times “we’ve” all repurchased the same stuff over the years, & / or made copies for someone, since the record shop was sold-out of _______-(fill in blank yourself), & wouldn’t have any new copies for another 4-6-weeks…
* By repurchasing, I mean the move from records &/or tapes, into the CD digital world, followed by the newly remastered edition, followed by the 21st, 25th,30th,40th, & 50th editions / remasters, & now back into the 180-gram vinyl editions…
I’m not being negative here, just indicating how variable the numbers can be…
* I’d personally rather ask folks like Ron Hire, Tony Edwards or John Coletta myself…( RIP )…
September 3rd, 2022 at 10:39@1:
September 3rd, 2022 at 17:45totally off the mark — according to their numbers, MiJ sold just over 2 million stateside, over all its lifetime.
@4:
September 3rd, 2022 at 17:53sales numbers do take repurchases into the account. they don’t care if it’s your 1st or 12th copy – all they care that it was bought new from the store.
People just forgot the extensive worldwide touring that DP did from 1994 since the departure of Ritchie Blackmore.
Does the merchandise of CDs or vinyl before and after shows on the night from concert halls counts towards these figures.
Peace ✌️
September 3rd, 2022 at 21:06@6 I hear you sir, but if my memory serves me correctly, things like bar-codes & computer scanning didn’t come into effect until at least here in Australia until the early 1990’s…So accuracy is questionable at best imo…
Music, whether tape or record was quite expensive to buy in the 70’s & 80’s…If you were young & only earning $100:00 per-week as an apprentice, as 1 x CD would cost you 1/4 of your wages at $25:00 each, or $30:00 for a new release…Much better to re-record onto a tape, since your friend has what you wanted, & then he copies your stuff, etc etc. Thank god for AGFA & BASF chrome dioxide tapes lol !
And besides, its the music that matters, not the sales…
September 3rd, 2022 at 23:21@ 8 – I have been there done that also here in Oz. The TDK, BASF & Maxell cassettes chrome & all & recording music from albums to preserve the album also. They were expensive & how much money have we spent on records, cassettes, cd’s & now DVD’s. I probably should be living in a castle somewhere. Ho hum our elders did repeatedly say to us, all that money you are spending on that music, or whatever you call it. I was fortunate that my father managed a record store so we had ‘access’ to music from new, so listening to & then recording albums was an early experience for us. Mind you that made it worse in many ways because it wasn’t good enough to just have a copy on a cassette, I had to own the album. Sheesh, Deep Purple have made a fortune out of us & our musical addictions. No wonder they are the ones living in the castles. Cheers.
September 3rd, 2022 at 23:52@8 LOL !!! Yes indeed, life was tough back then…But it’s probably a lot tougher now to be quite honest, especially if you’re a young person, that I won’t allure to here, as politics is a dirty, nasty, & conflicting subject…That said, JLT’s “Belly of the Beast” is quite good at revealing the gist of it all…( All that’s needed is a little investigating, starting at Bohemian Grove, & or the Bilderberg group of sociopaths )…
That said, it’s interesting to note that the prices of CD’s hasn’t changed here in Oz in all that time…No doubt Record companies are feeling the pinch with the Digital World format…Even reading in here over the years, Mr.Gillan indicated many times that it was the “ticket sales” at concerts that kept the band going rather than Record sales…And don’t be too hard on the boys & their houses per-se, they only get a few pennies for their efforts with every sale made at the record store, & they work very hard, please countless people, & are still happy to “work” for us, their fans to this day…
Long live Deep Purple !
September 4th, 2022 at 04:43I always scoff at album sales numbers given that every band or singer seems to have “sold” a 100 million albums. I doubt we’ll never really know the exact number of records DP (or anyone else) has sold. All I know is that when I was at school when I bought an album I would then spend countless hours making copies onto TDK’s for mates. I can remember making 20 plus copies of Hot August Night for just about everyone in my class.
September 4th, 2022 at 10:31@11 Ah yes…Always nice to be needed LOL ! And a great service you provided too, whilst getting the most out of the stereo unit…It was one thing to get a copy of something, but when done on a solid stereo system with a record-level-control dial plus “VU” meters & onto a chrome tape, life was really, really good listening…The only bummer being no cover or credit-notes to read, & they’re always important !!!… So important, that that’s also a reason why once we grew up a little more & had some play money, we no doubt bought the genuine articles in due course !
September 4th, 2022 at 12:58@1 The figure I heard was that Purple sold 13 million albums in America in 1973, making them officially (according to Billboard) the biggest album selling artist in the U.S that year. The sales came mostly from Machine Head, Made In Japan, and Who Do We Think We Are.
September 5th, 2022 at 02:27Best sellers of 161 artists Deep Purple (57) in good company… neighbors are Creedence Clearwater Revival and Neil Young.
September 5th, 2022 at 06:04Why aren’t Whitesnake and Rainbow on the list? not even Jethro Tull !!!???(sold about 60 million)
Contradictory list
Very interesting. and certainly the most ccomprehensive “treatise” on Puple sales I have ever laid eyes upon.
The source article also reveals that in UK and Germany, In Rock outsold Machine Head (this is confirmed by my personal observations, In Rock was more prevalent in all households than MH and stayed in the German charts/would grace the window displays of German record stores forever). So there is a basis for what I always ‘felt’ to be true, that the success of In Rock was a European phenomenon while the success of Machine Head was more an American one.
Globally, the towering mega-success of MH (and its ‘live version’ MIJ) of course explains why the songs from that album have become live set staples. I always knew that it was the biggest commercial success in Purple’s canon, but I had no idea how much it dwarfs everything else.
September 5th, 2022 at 08:56Uwe, correct me if I’m wrong, but I remember reading somewhere that Deep Purple is the biggest rock band in Germany. When the band tours Europe, Germany seems to get at least a dozen shows in that country alone.
September 5th, 2022 at 10:21Right now Deep Purple is at number12 on the German album chart with Bombay calling.
September 5th, 2022 at 10:42Afterthought: I remember reading at one point that MH even in 1973, a year after its initial release (and with the Mk II line-up pretty much done for), was doing brisk business with 50.000 copies going over the counter PER WEEK in the US. The article went on to state: “That is more monthly sales than the Rolling Stones have with their new albums in a year.”
September 5th, 2022 at 11:51Sidroman: Purple doesn’t have the status of The Rolling Stones, Springsteen, Metallica, U2, Rammstein, Coldplay or RHCP to name a few even in Germany, they are not regarded as a “mega-band”, but they are in the next league of bands, a good placement for a heavy band though not as strong a ticket-seller as Iron Maiden or perhaps even the Scorpions (but stronger than say Judas Priest or Status Quo). Purple can comfortably sell out 5.000+ seater (or ‘stander’) venues in Germany, 10.000+ venues are however more touch and go (they simply tour too often here to fill those reliably, not that I miss those large venues, I prefer smaller ones).
Or put it this way: Except for the mighty Stones, there is no other band from the 60ies/early 70ies still existing (that rules out Pink Floyd and Genesis for instance) that is still as much of a draw in Germany as the Purps. Status Quo is probably close, bands like Wishbone Ash, UFO, Nazareth, Uriah Heep, Ten Years After etc are all in lower tiers and play club to small hall venues.
Yes, Germany is a happy hunting-ground for Purple (the only line-up that never toured here was Mk IV, they imploded just too fast), they were among the most popular rock bands in the early 70ies (and certainly the most popular hard rock one, surpassing even Led Zep), had good airplay (and not just SOTW, full length versions of Child In Time or the April suite were common on radio) and generally the music of Purple has “Teutonic” appeal because it is (i) neatly engineered (uncluttered), has (ii) classical influences plus (iii) shows improvisational skill and (iv) instrumental virtuosity (ja, us Krauts like all four!).
September 5th, 2022 at 13:40I also remember reading that Purple is the biggest band in
September 5th, 2022 at 14:53Germany and close to the top in Russia.
Purple were perhaps the biggest band in Gernany from 1970 to 1974 (if you ignore Beatles and Stones), they had a short popularity revival during the early years of the Mk II reunion, but since then I would call them “well-established”. Just look at the German sales according to the article:
Shades of: 160k
Taliesyn: 225k
April (the 3rd alb. is often referred to as April in Germany): 330k
(I was surprised about how good the Mk I sales were, Mk II fans began going back)
In Rock: 935k
Fireball: 515k
Machine Head: 635k
WDWTWA: 265k
Burn: 450k
Stormbringer: 265k
CTTB: 185k
(their ‘first half of the 70ies heydays’, In Rock overshadowed everything; Burn was probably the last Purple album in Germany deemed as an extraordinary seller in the 70ies)
Perfect Strangers: 390k
THOBL: 290k
S&M. 130k
TBRO: 120k
(back with a bang, Purple were filling 10.000+ halls back then, but interest waned – already under Blackmore’s tenure! – after the reunion craze gradually subsided)
Purpendicular: 125k
Abandon: 70k
Bananas: 65k
ROTD: 50k
(interest continued to wane)
Now What?!: 115k
Infinite: 85k
Whoosh!: 80k
(a mild resurgence of sorts)
Mind you, those are all respectable figures (especially compared to all other European countries, even if of similar size/population) in the age of individual song streaming and with a baby boomer audience gradually leaving this planet. If I’m not mistaken, then 50k sold albums meant gold status in Germany in the mid 70ies, todays numbers are less, meaning that every DP studio album has at the very least gone gold in Germany for the last half-century., not bad at all. Purple have thus always been a consistent seller, especially for having never been a singles band. German fans also tend to be the faithful type, if we like something, we tend to stick with it, jawohl!
Or to put it another way: When I mention to anyone in Germany in the age bracket of 20-75 that I’m a Deep Purple fan, then I as good as never get a “Deep Who?” reply, but comparatively often a “Oh, Smoke On The Water!” or “Do they still exist?!” from people that do not follow music. In German public perception, Purple are firmly planted in the first half of the 70ies (which is – given their cultural and musical relevance back then – where they belong), but they’re not forgotten. Old friends sozusagen.
September 5th, 2022 at 17:41Uwe, thanks for the info. Are The Who big in Germany? Purple and The Who are my 2 favorite bands, just curious. Thanks!
September 6th, 2022 at 00:06These guys have similar figures …
https://www.metalcastle.net/the-top-5-highest-selling-deep-puple-albums-of-all-time/
September 6th, 2022 at 02:08The Who are recognized in Germany as one of the great Brit bands to come unscathed out of the 60ies (along with the Stones and the Kinks) and Tommy, Who’s next and Quadrophenia are all popular of course, but much like Led Zep they never really toured as much as DP in Deutschland (rather concentrating on the US), hence were never as established.
DP were so huge in Germany for a time because after their initial breakthrough with In Rock they really concentrated on Germany as a touring market. They were always present, but retained their Brit mystique (largely thanks to Blackmore it has to be said). They quickly became a household name and each new album release a major event – DP was regarded as the epitome of a hard rock band, way ahead of Led Zep or Black Sabbath (both bands never toured much in Germany either). Uriah Heep, also very popular in Germany (with more singles hits than Purple ever had) during the first half of the 70ies and beyond, were regarded as only “little Deep Purple”, i.e. followers, not leaders.
The lasting relationship between Germany and DP (which I am a living testament to) was based on initial attraction and subsequent hard work on the side of the band. They really ploughed the German acres. Led Zep once released post-split better, more animated live recordings to compensate for the dreary ‘The Song Remains the Same’ live album and called them cheekily “How The West Was Won”. DP could have done the same and called it “How Germany Was Conquered”.
September 6th, 2022 at 11:49I am actually quite shocked that the total album sales of the Steve Morse DP time roughly equates to the total sales of ‘The house of blue light’ which is supposed to be the worst MK2 album.
September 6th, 2022 at 12:32Very strange but facts speaks louder than opinions.
Peace ✌️
To me, THOBL is one of the most interesting and daring DP albums, much more so than its predecessor which had two great tracks and otherwise played it safe (understandably so after such a long hiatus).
CD, tape and vinyl sales in the late 80ies and in the last ten years can also not reasonably be compared – it’s a different world.
September 6th, 2022 at 14:16Looking at the sales figures for ‘Who do we think we are’ I personally think it’s about time it’s receives more respect and appreciation.
September 6th, 2022 at 18:57It’s always painful to listen to it knowing that the sad sad end of MK2 associated to it. but it should be a celebration of their success rather than their demise.
Peace ✌️
Uwe @23:
September 6th, 2022 at 21:30the figures are similar because chartmasters.org article is their source, it is even linked at the end.
I never thought WDWTWA was a bad album, in terms of branching out and melodic sensibility it was Purple at their most “beatlish” and that is never a bad thing. IMHO there is not a weak track on that album. I prefer MH and WDWTWA to In Rock and Fireball, because the band had progressed as songwriters.
September 6th, 2022 at 21:44THOBL album is as some of us here have stated before, a strong album. Both the songwriting & playing sound alive to me, plenty of fire there & just because some band members & journalists say it isn’t will never deter me. Same with the WDWTWA album. It all sounds rather grand to my ears. Each to their own as we say. Regarding Purple being big in Germany that doesn’t surprise me at all. They had early connections there with Blackmore & also Paice being over there in their early musical careers. I don’t think it is a coincidence at all & many of those European countries appear to be more into certain ‘progressive’ & sophisticated forms of music & they tend to support those artists over time. Cheers.
September 6th, 2022 at 22:07Not that I lose much sleep over it but….
Isnt it weird that often is said DP were never really big and then to know they had the 2nd best Toursales in 1985 when they came to USA with Perfect Strangers under their belts?
Not too mention they were biggest sellers in USA around 1973? Or was that the whole world?
Americans are an enigma to me.
Even my own cousin in New Jersey cant be bothered to listen to anything after Ritchie left the band in the 70 s.
He very much likes BURN though. so that changing lineup did not freeze him in time.
September 6th, 2022 at 22:50Could not trigger him to see Glenn do the DP setlist in 2018.
He likes to see Van Halen tributebands though.
And even went to shows by theWHO, VanHalen(I m a Sammy Hagarfan but he only woke up when DLR returned.) and DP WITH MORSE in the last decade.
Hey,VanHalen, Werent they a band from later on?
Must have been his Dutch pride.
@26 & 27…THOBL displays a great band in-form once again…I’ve always thought it a better effort than Perfect Strangers, as it’s consistent from start to finish. I’ve never understood why folks see it as an indifferent album, though that’s likely imo to RB allowing Jon Lord to participate more within it perhaps (?)…*( The CD & tape included the tune “Not Responsible” which helped out Perfect Strangers a great deal imo, it’s a great tune ).
WDWTWA shows exactly how a world-class act, even when in dire-straights with it’s lead singers resignation coming into fruition, can still deliver a diamond…I’ll be honest & say that its the most played Mk-II album by far at my place. And out of all the first set of 1970’s Mk-II recordings, I think in time, that “In Rock” will maybe stand alone when compared to the others…The band has never been more “musical” imo, though regretfully, age & the fact that a number of studio’s were used kind-of go against it a little, as newer modern editions reveal the differences in sound quality even more-so, rather than blending them together. It also features RB’s nasty snarl out of his Gibson, as well as the new-found Stratocaster.It’s just a shame that Black Night couldn’t fit on it lol, but all of the studio Mk-II albums in the 1970’s only had 7-tunes-each on them…
Peace !
September 7th, 2022 at 00:50Just seen this article on Loudwire with the listing of top selling heavy metal and hard rock artists. Not sure how reliable their numbers are, but here we go.
https://loudwire.com/top-25-best-selling-rock-metal-artists/
The bad news is 100 million for DP it is not. The good news is that they are at a respectable #12 spot with 92.8 million albums. What to make of it is up to everybody.
I guess it is my glorious part of the world, Eastern Europe, that brings a lot of confusion. On the one hand, DP was immensely popular here, and still sells well. On the other hand, only God knows how many DP records sold here are legal and how many are not. Methinks the latter outnumber the former by far.
September 7th, 2022 at 07:17That is the danger with In Rock – the more you doctor it with today’s technology, the more you hear the inherent limitations of that relatively low budget and inconsistent recording. It’s a bit garage-y, but that is also part of its eternal charm.
September 7th, 2022 at 11:41Rock Voorne @31: Purple were huge in America ONCE, but their imprint there was never as massive and culturally longlasting as Led Zep’s (I went to an American school in the 70ies, I should know, DP were a hot band, but LZ were something mythological even back then). It might be due to Zep’s even more incessant touring there (they really concentrated on the US to the detriment of all other markets), Peter Grant’s svengali skills and general ruthlessness or the lasting mystique and handsome looks of Page and Plant. Americans are a visual people. And of course that mix in LZ’s music (British rock, pop and folk, American Blues and general ethno influences from all around the world) was singular, I’m not … (Uwe braces himself and takes a real deep breath …) denying that. (That was hard for me.)
Re lasting cultural impact of Led Zep in the US of A … listen to this here and say no more!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n863q6VHrVc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86_vnQc1oBE
There are simply no bands in the US – past or present – that have ever emulated Purple as much. You hear bits of Purple’s influence in bands as diverse as Legs Diamond, Styx, Kansas and, yes, Bon Jovi, but I can’t think of any US band trying to actually recreate DP’s sound.
More than any other band I can think of – Beatles perhaps excepted – Zep really did make the US their own in a lasting way. Peter Grant was right in his choice to have his protégés concentrate on cracking the market wide open there. Win the West indeed.
September 7th, 2022 at 12:37I suppose the more classical leanings by DP and early Rainbow were more acceptable in Europan countries.
Btw, KINGDOM COME was from Germany? Or was it just the singer Lenny Wolf? Ow, there it is…… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Wolf
September 8th, 2022 at 19:47The American rock music audiences & record buying aficionados were really into classical inspired rock bands during the 1970’s especially. ELP were huge there & they (Emerson) did include ‘modern’ day composers Bernstein, Copeland & Mancini etc, so that may have also endeared them to the fans. Yes & Jethro Tull were huge also in the States & even Focus were quite big back then in the earlier 70’s. I do agree though that the European side of it is more loyal perhaps over time as the roots of all that classical music run much deeper there. Cheers.
September 8th, 2022 at 22:32Rock Voorne @36, we can be blamed for confiscating your fietsen, but not for Kingdom Come, please!!!
Well, in reality it seems like we can. I knew that Lenny Wolf had mof roots, but thought that he had spent most of his life in America, apparently not.
September 9th, 2022 at 09:07Unlike certain other people overhere, who strive for excuses and of course “compensations” because they think they re still traumatised by Dutch slavetrade, we Dutch did not take long to get over this “Moffenbullshit” I think.
Think it took us about 4 or 5 decades to move on.
Same with our history of war with the English. Their language is filled with dirty sayings about us since, in Dutch language I dont recall such a thing.
I noticed that tradeconnections between Rotterdam and Germany were already quite strong just after the war.
It was very awkward though to hear one my cousins, his mother is Lebanese, say around 85 : “They suppressed us!”
I think Lenny & co did quite a great job but I kinda skipped them way back because why go for 2nd best?
Ofcourse Zepp had disbanded and some felt inclined to step in.
I do recall many screaming blashfemy , Led Z. was indeed holy ground, but at the same I felt they exaggerated.
Espescially Percy seemed to be pissed off regarding the ” clones” but he was always the one to AND play LZ tracks himself AND frustrating Pagey when he called for reunions.
“I m not my brothers keeper” he in recent years said. Ouch!
Not really a group of friends like many think. To think how they disregarded Jonesey was very weird. Like Bonham a crucial pillar of the bands sound.
That being said I wonder how they would have done in the 80s , displacing JB with Cozy, Bobby Rondinelli. Michael Derosier or Carmine Appice.
September 9th, 2022 at 22:11@39…Yes, it was a strange thing to have a Page & Plant show, & not include JPJ…I’d suggest that the boys ( JP & RP ) simply missed playing together, had a jam or two, & one-thing led to another…*All the while NOT wanting to have a LZ reunion at that time…Their solo projects by all accounts were quite popular.
And we did get a LZ show with JPJ eventually, which was great, & I think much needed for closure, for fans & band-members alike !
Peace.
September 14th, 2022 at 06:16“Their solo projects by all accounts were quite popular.”
Dont know about that.
I think Plant has been the one to really pull true the decades since but Page?
Although I really love Rodgers(I saw him with QUEEN what was really weird)The Firm did not do much for me.
Outrider and Coverdale/Page had its moments but ….again….
Maybe if they all had shown up here I d have changed my mind.
Times are achanging, I have missed out on DP family related bands regularly in the last decade . not knowing of the existence of a gig.
In the early 80 s I had similair stuff going on and missed out on MSG with Cozy, GILLAN solo, Whitesnake in the Marsden/Moody years….
Did see LZ on Rotterdam though.
September 14th, 2022 at 20:54Always remembered it as sloppy and awfully sounding.
Tonight I found this recording which does not sound all that bad!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvAlAEsddwY&t=809s&ab_channel=LedZeppelinBoots
Zep were good at crafting these soundscapes in the studio, but live it was often hit and miss. I’ve heard that from so many people who saw them (especially in the mid-70ies era). They could be really sloppy, Jimmy Page isn’t Mr Accurate (part of his charm). In contrast, Ritchie was a precision machine (though he could bring in a ‘just right’ amount of sloppiness as well).
I never saw Zep live in the day (nor would I’ve been inclined to see them, Robert Plant does nothing for me as a Zep frontman – I like his solo stuff though – and I’m not a fan of Bonham’s heavy-handed drumming either), but I saw Page/Plant on that Walking Into Clarksdale tour and it wasn’t a bad gig (apologies, but I cannot turn up my excitement level any higher, I got the ticket for free so I went after work still in my business suit, the hall was close to our then office).
September 15th, 2022 at 13:46@ 42 – “but I saw Page/Plant on that Walking Into Clarksdale tour and it wasn’t a bad gig (apologies, but I cannot turn up my excitement level any higher, I got the ticket for free so I went after work still in my business suit, the hall was close to our then office)’. I am still in shock, bemused, possibly hallucinating or experiencing a surreal moment. Uwe attending a quasi Led Zeppelin (Page & Plant) concert????
September 16th, 2022 at 07:28I think in my suspicious mind that whoever the individual was that presented Uwe a free ticket was up to something? Either that or someone has hacked into THS site & commented under the name of Uwe. Whatever it is I simply cannot believe it. Did the earth tilt on it’s axis at that point in time? When I read his comment this morning upon rising to face another day, I thought I might be dreaming, so I quickly went back to bed hoping to fall asleep & then awake & not see that comment. Alas it IS there, something just isn’t right. Maybe Uwe felt sorry for the Zep guys & decided to help make up the numbers, I don’t know. Anyway at least he supported them in some way & I sincerely hope that Plant kept his shirt buttoned up & didn’t strut too much. It is all good & the closest I have to a “Zep” concert was Plant & his band back in 1983, The Principle of Moments album tour. No Zep songs at that & I was aware there wouldn’t be & it was a rather good gig & he kept his shirt buttoned & didn’t strut very much at all. Cheers.
Herr McGregor, I have a habit of defeating expectations! ; – )
I’ve even been to a more recent Robert Plant gig as well and liked it – the few Zep songs he did were rearranged beyond recognition and all the better for it. His voice has aged gracefully so he spared me with overt Zeppelinisms.
Worse still, I’m a closet fan of those Plant/Krauss collaborations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YVRxAX6fwg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3Xi5gvZ7Kk
But trust that Page/Plant gig I mentioned to stll be responsible for a negative experience. I’ve been to countless heavy metal and rock gigs in a business suit and tie, simply because I work late and didn’t have the time or feel like changing. Yet the only time I heard an audible “What’s this guy doing here?” was by a bunch of mock-hippies (way too young to be real ones) at that Zep gig. I just turned to them and remarked: “I already listened to those albums when they came out.”
September 16th, 2022 at 22:02I don’t mind Plant collaborating with a few different artists. The initial Krauss one was ok for a few songs however this latest ‘reunion’ isn’t my cup of tea. He has aged gracefully & yes the Zeppelin songs rearranged have always been good to hear. I do like the band Saving Grace, that works well for me as well as The Sensational Space Shifters, Band of Joy & Strange Sensation, listening online & streaming live performances.. I listened to the Principle of Moments album yesterday for the first time in many decades, apart from the dated 1980’s production etc, it has some very good songs on it as does his debut album. I owned both of them back in the day, but that is as far as I went following Plant regarding buying albums etc. I do respect him for continually changing & moving forward, it must be a drag at times to have the Zeppelin behemoth lurking over him. Your comment to the ‘young hippies’ back then should have worked well, I can just imagine the look on their faces. Cheers.
September 16th, 2022 at 23:41@ 45
I saw him for a second time in The Hague where the then free festival PARKPOP also gave us Plant and his Fate of Nations band. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9oz9stlKBw&ab_channel=MartinvanLoon
He looked at the big mass and said bemused : ” Look at you, you re wearing your parents clothes!” 🙂
September 17th, 2022 at 19:24