Sabbath or Zeppelin? Go!

[Shawn@PRS]

Which band do you prefer and why?

 

[drdoom8793]

I'll probably be in the minority, but I gotta go with Sabbath. They pretty much single-handedly created the Metal genre.

I love Zeppelin but their track record for "being inspired" by older blues tunes is enough to take them down a peg in my book.

 

[alantig]

Sabbath. Easy call for me. I get why people like Zeppelin, but they never connected that way for me. I like some of the material, but that's about as far as it goes.

The Sabbath connection for me is much stronger. Two classic eras, w/Ozzy and Dio. Not to mention pioneering the genre, as drdoom said.

As great as those two eras are, and admittedly they contain most of Sabbath's most classic material, my favorite Sabbath album is this overlooked gem:

Ian Gillan on lead vocals. I have a couple bootlegs from this tour - reading the accounts, it was like a real-life Spinal Tap. The album's mix is not perfect (I have an alternate mix of it that improves a couple songs), but there's some great material here.

 

[Ovibos]

Zeppelin.

More range, more emotion, alternate tunings and time signatures, expanded instrumentation, waaaaaay more LotR references.

 

[Huggy Love]

Musicianship wise I gotta go with the mighty Zep and their songwriting is steps above what Sabbath did, but in recent years the local classic rock stations have been playing more songs like Sweet Leaf and War Pigs lately over the Zep classics.

I never got much from doing the Iommi riffs, they always seemed too basic and got easily bored with it, while I enjoyed and learned a lot more from Page, but the purity of what Sabbath did seems hold it's own over time, maybe even more than Zeppelin's material.

I still have to go with the mighty Zep for quality of songs and the high level of musicianship from every member of that band.

Good matchup.

 

[bodia]

I'm going C - Deep Purple!

But, since there were only two choices, I'm going to go with Sabbath. I probably listen to more Zeppelin at this stage of my life, but Sabbath was a bigger influence, and was listened to much more "back in the day." I'm still a little conflicted by my answer, though.
- Saw Page/Plant tour back in '97 (?) - I remember the goose bumps on my arms....it was an electric show
- Saw Black Sabbath at one of the Ozz-fests. Yawn. Slow, plodding....when will it be over....seriously disappointed
- Saw Heaven & Hell twice....OMG....so awesome. Ronnie, and those songs....just pure power!

I much prefer Sabbath with Dio, but I also love Ozzy...more his solo stuff than his Sabbath years. There are a lot of misses on the early Sabbath catalog, IMO. Maybe not misses, but there is a lot of non metal to it.

I am with Alan....that album with Gillan was really good....too bad it was overlooked by many.

 

[JustRob]

That's a tough call...

Dread Zeppelin is hilarious.

But I have been jamming on some Brown Sabbath lately.

 

[11top]

Zep by a mile, and I’m a Sabbath fan.

Physical Graffiti is in my top 10, and I can still remember being blown away the first time I heard Good Times Bad Times.

 

[rugerpc]

I like about 50% of the Sabbath stuff, but I'm closer to 99.9% on Zeppelin.

Maybe I prefer my music more melodic than metal.

But it's preferences, so everyone is correct!

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

As much as love Sabbath - up to the Sabotage album - I'd have to go with Led Zep. More creativity, exploring musical styles, and quality of music until their end (yes, I know that's subjective). Can you imagine a band today allowed to thrive with the musical diversity in Zep's repertoire? C'mon - Dazed, What Is and What Should Never Be, Immigrant Song, Friends, Going to California, No Quarter, Kashmir...! Each song a masterpiece and completely different from the rest.

 

[veinbuster]

Led Zeppelin handily. I like how they fit together, the variety in what they played and that it mostly matched my tastes.

Black Sabbath might be the only metal band I know more than a couple songs from. That whole genre skipped by me while I was doing something else.

 

[markd21]

I'd have to say neither. While each has a song or two I like, they are from the generation before mine. Those are the bands the guys in the black TA listened to as they chased my friends and I down the street while we rode our bikes. To this day, when I hear "Black Dog" I think of Phil and Caveman gunning down on their Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am to beat us up.

Pretty fun memories. WAAAAYYYYY cooler times growing up than the kids today have!!!

BUT....to stick to the topic....it really depends on the day. If I am feeling chill, Zeppelin. If I have some other feelings, Sabbath. In the end, though - and some of you may find this funny - considering Maiden as being the open door to what REALLY got me into music, I hear Zep and Sabbath as being electric blues bands. I am not really that moved by their "heaviness". I go back and study what they did for cool ways to incorporate blues into my 80's metal base - which I keep trying to move past as I get closer to 50, lol....

Anyway, different perspective.

 

[Lee B.]

I’ll go with, “Yes, please.” And maybe some Deep Purple and Fleetwood Mac on the side.

 

[Lee B.]

Seriously though, love both about the same. Sabbath is a lot deeper lyrically, Zep more adventurous musically. They’d both make my desert island playlist.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Sabbath. I never really “got” Zeppelin in my youth, and though I fully appreciate them now, I always got and enjoyed Sabbath.

Fortunately, we don’t really have to pick, we can listen to either when the mood merits.

 

[RaySachs]

I'm the perfect age to be a fan of both, but I never really liked either. I respected Zepplin a lot and didn't really find any redeeming qualities in Sabbath, so I guess I'd have to vote Zepplin, but it's kind of like a lot of elections where you vote for the lesser of two evils. God knows I heard plenty of both - you couldn't go a to keg party in the mid-70s without being run over by both of those bands and I, uh, went to a few keg parties around then. I was always a Stones, Dead, Clapton, Hendrix, Trower guy (and then by '76 or 77 was going back to the source material and getting into Robert Johnson, Muddy, Wolf, etc), and then later Springsteen, Petty, Dire Straits. But I never liked metal at all and I guess Zepplin and Sabbath kind of invented the genre even if they didn't exactly play it - they sure as hell led up to it (pun intended). I shoulda liked Zepplin a lot - I was into the blues from a really early age, but I just never liked how over the top they were with it, either in terms of Page's playing, Plant's singing, or Bonham's pounding away. I really came to like Plant as a solo artist though, particularly the older version.

 

[dmatthews]

That's easy!
Zep... cuz... personal/private jet!
Beauty way to gig!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Zep.

 

[Tucson Thump]

I'm going C - Deep Purple!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Way to go Bodia !!!

 

[alantig]

Zep never inspired a tribute band like this. Your call whether that's good or bad.