I've been in rock and roll all my life, and I'm well aware that The Rolling Stones have been called
best rock and roll band. Don't get me wrong because I love Mick and Stones, and Beatles were my major musical influence, but here's why I think that Led Zeppelin is best rock and roll band of all time:1. BEST PLAYERS
First of all, John Bonham was best rock and roll drummer ever to walk face of this planet, and that's an informed opinion coming from a former professional drummer. John played drums unlike anyone else ever did, still does, or ever will, and that fact is continually demonstrated in astounding breadth and depth of his recorded work. He had complete independence in all four limbs, he slammed his drums harder than anyone else, and he did it with speed and total precision, never once dropping beat. His beats were were innovative and creative. John was never stuck in simple grooves. His fills were also innovative, creative, complex, and technically brilliant. He knew when to keep it relatively simple (i.e. Kashmir), but he was always simply in stratosphere of drumming. And to top that all off, John created a giant drum sound which is unique. It inspired a host of immitators who could only approach sound of his snare drum, but just with a simple backbeat. But not one of them can begin to touch his creativity, speed, precision, or technical brilliance. At time that Led Zep was formed, Jimmy Page could have gotten any drummer in world to play with him, and he chose John. I've heard that Jimmy still feels same way about John as I do.
Secondly, Jimmy Page has always been one of best rock guitarists ever, right from his earliest days as a session player and beginning of his real public stardom in Yardbirds. I believe that Jimmy is most brilliantly prolific of all rock and roll guitarists. I suspect that Jimmy would agree with me that Jimi Hendrix was genius because he came from another galaxy in terms of his sound and his use of feedback. But unfortunately, Jimi died and we will never know how much further he would have progressed. When I listen to Jimmy's solos using violin bow, I get urge to put him on same pedestal as Hendrix and wonder which galaxy they both came from. As a songwriter, Jimmy used his superior ability to play lead guitar to create actual song structure. Led Zep's songs use not one or two of Jimmy's incredibly powerful, complicated and unbelievably SEXY riffs in each song, but there are four, five or more riffs in some songs. Jimmy's riffs differ from each other within each song, and also from song to song. His lead guitar playing can be HARD and sexy, he can be sensitive and beautiful, and he can be technically brilliant - all in very same song.
Thirdly, John Paul Jones is a bass player who attained a level of brilliance comparable to Paul McCartney. Just like McCartney, John could play beautiful "melodic" bass (i.e. "Ramble On"), he could play as fast as it gets, but he also knew when to keep it simple and just hold down bottom, although I think he was incapable of simply doing that without utter sophistication. No one at all can touch those two on bass, and John also played consistently brilliant keyboards - piano, organ and synthesizer. The intricate way in which he wove his bass guitar playing into, through, and underneath Jimmy's guitar playing is nothing short of perfection iteslf.
And last but not at all least, Robert Plant had an incredibly high vocal range, emotionally as well as in terms of octaves. Just like Dylan was for his own music, Robert's voice was perfect for Led Zep's music and there's no other singer who could possibly have fit in. Personally, and also as a professional singer, Robert knocks me out both technically and emotionally. He also understood concept of using his voice like a musical instrument, creating fascinating sounds without using lyrics. And Robert co-wrote with Jimmy too. A lot of time you can't understand his lyrics and I've heard that was Robert's intent because just like Mick Jagger, all he cared about at that time was that you connect with emotion and energy in totality of music. But when you can get lyrics (like in Stairway to Heaven, their tribute to Janis Joplin), you find a great piece of poetry. And on top of all that, Robert had best "oooh yeahs" in business.
2. CREATIVE SONGWRITING
Hardly anybody has ever covered Led Zep songs for very good reasons. Their song structure is based on their vastly superior playing abilities and there's no one who can actually play what they played. I'm talking about songs that are not based on simple chords like all other rock and roll is. Jimmy and Robert based their songs on Jimi's riffs and on his chordal tonalities that to this day stand alone as being unique. I'm also talking about length of songs that maintain a constant and intense high, up to 11 minutes in length without resorting to an overly repetitive chorus. I know from Robert's solo work after Led Zep that he also uses unusual tonalities in his writing, but even without actually knowing this I would have to assume that due to Jimmy Page being an erupting fountain of brilliant guitar work, majority of non-vocal music creation came from Jimmy. The Beatles certainly deserve abject worship for John and Paul's creative songwriting ability, no question about that. Certainly Mick and Keith wrote a slew of classic, historic and truly memorable rock songs, but very nature of their comparatively simple rock and roll structure and basic similarity to each other in terms of using major and minor chord progressions, simple and basic rock and roll rhythms, and verse/chorus/bridge approach defines them as being less innovative when compared to Robert and Jimmy.
