Sabbath or Zeppelin? Go!

Can I say neither?:confused: I never got into either band when I was younger and they were at their peak...It wasn't until I was older and wiser that I went back and explored a whole bunch of music that I had overlooked as a youth. I can say I've at least seen Sabbath live, on "The End" tour last year...they sounded really good! But seeing as this is a poll and we are being forced to pick one over the other, I'm gonna go with Zep. Overall more appealing to my palate.
 
Tough call. War pigs is one of my favorite songs. I really like the rawness of sabbath recordings, I seem to be drawn to imperfect recordings like that but zep is really mind blowing in their writing. Recording and musicianship.

I guess I would have to say zep.
 
If I was going to start a band...and could pick the best drummer, bass player, guitarist and singer...it’d be a lot closer to Led Zep than Sabbath. I get the whole “developed a new genre” and maybe “inspired more musicians” appeal of Sabbath. But there’s something to be said for incorporating diverse influences into new music and taking a whole genre somewhere new, and perfecting it. They are both great...but I find Zep a lot more interesting to listen to, over and over.
 
Even though this is like comparing Potatoes to Cucumbers, my vote is for Led Zeppelin. Both have their merits, and their flaws, but LZ speaks more directly to me than Sabbath. Zeppelin has clear roots in R&B, where I do not discern any clear roots with Sabbath. It is hard for me to overcome the alleged satanic influences and ties, that Sabbath exhibits. I'm not bashing them for that, I do like some of the material produced, I just like LZ More.
 
Last edited:
Even though this is like comparing Potatoes to Cucumbers, my vote is for Led Zeppelin. Both have their merits, and their flaws, but LZ speaks more directly to me than Sabbath. Zeppelin has clear roots in R&B, where I do not discern any clear roots with Sabbath. It is hard for me to overcome the alleged satanic influences and ties, that Sabbath exhibits. I'm not bashing them for that, I do like some of the material produced, I just like LZ More.
Looking back at the whole "satanic" thing of that era, I honestly think it was just a silly (but effective) marketing ploy/image that those bands capitalized on. And honestly, if you look at Zep, the occult was definitely more rooted in their whole mystique from the symbols, Page buying Allister Crowley's mansion, etc. Sabbath just threw in "Satan" and "Lucifer" whenever they needed some lyrics. As Ozzy once said, "I have a hard enough time conjuring myself out of bed, let alone conjuring the devil." :confused:
 
Last edited:
Tough call for me. I love them both, both are in my top-5 all time favorite bands. I think I gotta go with Zeppelin because of the greater volume of material.
 
Both are great! Tough to compare and choose one over the other, however, I'd lean towards Sabbath over Zeppelin though.
 
If I was going to start a band...and could pick the best drummer, bass player, guitarist and singer...it’d be a lot closer to Led Zep than Sabbath. I get the whole “developed a new genre” and maybe “inspired more musicians” appeal of Sabbath. But there’s something to be said for incorporating diverse influences into new music and taking a whole genre somewhere new, and perfecting it. They are both great...but I find Zep a lot more interesting to listen to, over and over.
Agreed. I'm with you in that probably 80% of the time I'd put Zep on before Sabbath. I love the complexity of layers and arrangements in some of more epic tunes.

I'm just having a hard time getting past those points. Basically creating a new genre...I mean seriously think about that. The scope of it is crazy. 50 years later and it's still going and being expanded on with a gazillion sub genre's. That's insane. Having that kind of musical imprint on the world for half a century!

Edit: I’m not saying that Zep hasn’t been as influential either, maybe more. Just in a different capacity.
 
Last edited:
Tough call for me. I love them both, both are in my top-5 all time favorite bands. I think I gotta go with Zeppelin because of the greater volume of material.

I think Sabbath had more volume in both meanings of the term.
 
Agreed. I'm with you in that probably 80% of the time I'd put Zep on before Sabbath. I love the complexity of layers and arrangements in some of more epic tunes.

I'm just having a hard time getting past those points. Basically creating a new genre...I mean seriously think about that. The scope of it is crazy. 50 years later and it's still going and being expanded on with a gazillion sub genre's. That's insane. Having that kind of musical imprint on the world for half a century!

Edit: I’m not saying that Zep hasn’t been as influential either, maybe more. Just in a different capacity.

I totally agree. The central question here is philosophical...making it easily the most interesting of the collection of "20 questions" Shawn started throwing at us yesterday. Sabbath were the first to do something...so everyone who does that thing again owes some imaginary debt to them for "inventing" it. But do you really believe that the genre of heavy metal would not have eventually occurred, ever, if Sabbath never existed? We know that people, even whole civilizations can develop similar concepts in complete isolation of each other. For example the Mesoamerican cultures built pyramids, not identical, but similar to those built in Egypt 2,000 years earlier. One culture in a desert, the others in mountainous jungle regions...so it certainly wasn't predetermined by the terrain or materials...but just the concept. There is no geographical or cultural connection between the two civilizations (assuming you don't believe in aliens), so how did they both get a very similar idea? Is it something inherent in the human brain? Are there just only so many combinations of shapes in the universe? If a non-formally trained musician like Iommi could "discover" the glorious dissonance of the tritone (first used in music in the middle ages, and virtually outlawed by renaissance composers as "the devil's cord") while listening to classical music from the early 1900's with Geezer...is it really unlikely that someone, somewhere would pick up a heavily distorted electric guitar and "discover" the same thing? Maybe...and maybe it wouldn't have been as awesome if someone else did...but it's only been about 50 years since then...and I'd bet it would have happened in a lot less time than that. Is the moment of raw genius and inspiration, that occurs by chance, more beautiful and satisfying than the genius that results from the dedication and perseverance of refining an existing art form or genre to the highest level one can possibly accomplish? Is the first person who made a crude statue by banging rocks together more brilliant than Michelangelo?

Depends...Are you more impressed by the big bang....or evolution?
 
Last edited:
Back
Top