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Originally Posted by evollove

Yep.

I've been giving a lot of classic rock a spin lately, and I'm really starting to resent how damn near everyone was doing some version of the blues at one point. Even Black Sabbath is basically blues slowed down and distorted. Nothing against the blues. Just gets tired after awhile.

well yes. classic rock is blues-based rock and it gets superfuckingtiredrepetitive. especially after DECADES of cultural stagnation.

it's kinda like eating pepper on *everything*. ufffff!

but still it's not without intrinsic merit or even greatness. you just need some distance & fresh ears.

Originally Posted by evollove

Funnily enough I got a Zep compilation because I've never liked them as much as it seems I should. I've been trying, but I keep hitting the same snags:

yes they have their defects no question. part their own part a product of their era. what music doesn't.

Originally Posted by evollove

I don't like Plant's voice. Not saying it's "bad," just saying it's not to my taste. His lyrics are bad, however. His dick or some trippy bullshit--that's all he had to write about. And barely, since Willie Dixon successfully sued him for plagiarism.

ha ha ha ha. yes the lyrics ARE bad. besides his dick he wrote about hobbits and vikings and other teenage shit. i'm lucky being a non-native speaker that this doesn't stand out so much. for me they're all about a certain SOUND.

willie dixon sued them for ripping off some lyrics. he got money-- good for him. the least relevant thing about them in any case.

Originally Posted by evollove

-The drums are cool and huge but could you bring it down a notch, just once? For a measure at least? No? THUD THUD THUD THUD

okay-- here i have to say-- your speakers need reconing

Originally Posted by evollove

-The occasional endless blues solo. Seriously, after Hendrix why the hell did anyone bother?

i really don't know why anyone bothered. das clone accused page of "guitar noodling". there's some of that in them of course but guitar noodling lives on. what would marquee moon would be without a little guitar noodling? okay maybe that's not a "blues solo" but still, noodling. i hear a guy trying to play like jimi page.

Originally Posted by evollove

But I still want to ask: what's their absolute best album? It's not IV, is it?

i wouldn't know about absolutes. my favorite is their first one because it's the first one i heard at the recommendation of one of my older cousins. i had never heard anything like that and they blew my mind. just like evol did for me with sonic youth-- there are arguably better SY albums but i got imprinted by evol and that's that.

and yes the early 70s was the era of whole concept albums and zep sort of ask to be judged that way, but instead i've grown to listen to certain features of their music. details like the buzzing guitar in "how many more times" or the the guitar wailing in dazed and confused or the famous bass line in "the lemon song" or the whole thing in "when the levee breaks" and bonham's drum solos and things like that. they give me an intense feeling in the chest like neil young said analog music should.

i really abhor the whole "classic rock" ideology that has encrusted around this genre though-- radio stations playing the same things over & over for 60 years with no end in sight. there are several of those stations around where i live. it becomes an intolerable audio prison. i generally can't stand this music much but i occasionally return to it because there's some inalienable good in it.

so i try to listen to this without prejudice and with open ears. can't always pull that off. e.g. i can't listen to stairway to heaven ha ha ha.

Originally Posted by Severian

I'm also morally opposed to swingin' dick music that uses the lyrics "Hey baby" and "pretty baby" and "oooh mama" and "pretty mama" and "oooh baby hey baby hey baby ooh mama hey mama pretty mama ooh baby baby oooh baby baby."

i hear that. i have the same moral quandary with bitchez-and-money music and the glorification of brand names, crime, etc.

Originally Posted by Severian

You seriously don't think I've heard Led Zeppelin's debut album? Come on, man. Everyone goes through a Zeppelin phase, even if it only lasts a minute. I'm no different.

But I think a solid argument could be made that Pink Floyd defined the 70s. They were not without their own flaws, but they were always vastly more interesting than Zeppelin. Hell, so was the Who. Oh, and the Dead. Jimi Hendrix Experience. Dylan. I'd take Springsteen & the E Street Band over Zeppelin any day, and I am not even a fan. Neil Young. Hey, even Fleetwood Mac. Way better than Zeppelin.

i love most of those bands actually. some pink floyd is fantastic, some is kind of terrible. i have no love for fleetwood mac really nor springsteen-- i have tried but they didn't stick. the who was kind of entertaining but they never did much for me-- though moon & entwistle were great, i wish i could isolate their tracks. springsteen sounds to me like the band from some nightly talk show, and fleetwood mac is some sweet old pop and the lady had a nice voice but i can't hear much more in them-- am i wrong and if so what should i listen for? well, good drummer too but the stuff around it hmmm nah.