Sabbath vs Zeppelin (REAL)

I was having a rather heated discussion with one of my friends in which it was said, with hearty use of caps lock and exclamation point,  that jimmy page was garbage, the same with zeppelin.  i then found myself defending one of the bands closest to my heart with zealous  and righteous rage. he later changed his opinions to a less harsh view of the Zep but continued to voice the supremacy of Black sabbath and tony iommi. he also said that zeppelin is one of the all time greats but page was definatley not one of the best guitarists, and that Iommi was better, "The Godfather" i believe he called him. Opinions? Zeppelin or Sabbath?  Iommi or Page? more influential?  Please elaborate too i would like to hear  more than just the fan boy yelling we were doing.  Oh and this is strictly out of the field of prog, has absolutley nothing to do with  how progressive each band is,  although if you value that then let it show in who you vote for. thanks!

Mike

as a session/studio man before Zeppelin, Page was highly regarded and seen as technically advanced (not unlike Jeff Beck) and in their time, the first two Zep records had a high-tech quality unheard in rock at that point, not even from Hendrix.  As time went on, Page's skills suffered a bit and others sailed past him, including Iommi.  Who was more influential?  Very hard to say..

  

Both bands and guitarists are great for their own reasons.  Neither is "better" than the other.  Pagey's talent's in the studio were exceptional though.  

Black Sabbath for me! 

Influence wise they're probably the 2 bands with the most wannabe clones (aside from the Beatles). Black Sabbath basically CREATED heavy metal, with every single metal band being familiar of Black Sabbath's influence.

Led Zeppelin had this extra kick to them that no other band at the time had. Comparing songs like Paranoid with songs like Rock and Roll, there's definitely a similarity. But how many songs does Sabbath have that match the intensity of, say, Kashmir? How many "Four Sticks" songs do Sabbath have? BS's songs were definitely awesome, but for me, Zeppelin is the more versatile band.

Now to tackle the bigger issue of the guitarists and masterminds behind both bands. Jimmy Page's talents as a studio guitar player are unmatched. He knew how to place amps exactly to achieve a certain sound, was a master of resonation and reverb, and that's not even considering his playing style. He fused blues with a folky style that no other guitarist had at the time, and his songs (and the solos he put in them) were incredible. Look at "Fool in the Rain" and "Hot Dog", and those are from their last album!

Tony Iommi definitely has his credentials. Not only was he the first guy to really downtune and get that insane low metal sound, but as Dave Mustaine put it, every single riff you hear in metal nowadays was something written by Iommi that was played faster, slower, more transposed, backwards, upside down, or with minute differences. He is, if you will, the god of the riff.

The music is so different between the 2 bands it's hard to say who is better. Zeppelin's songs were more melodic and had more development, but Sabbath's songs were the first truly riff-based songs which inspired a musical form that is still in huge swing today. I'm going to vote for Jimmy Page, however, because Zeppelin's few riff-based songs rank up there with the best of Sabbath's, but Zeppelin had more range and versatility. But damn, is it a close win. 2 of my favorite bands right here; I wouldn't have been able to even make this marathon post if I wasn't such a fan of both bands.

Apples and/but oranges

I've only really got into Sabbath recently, I'm amazed how creative they were, really diverse fascinating music. Led Zep are great. I think they're both just as good in their own way.

Seriously?????

First of all your friend is ignorant.

BS and LZ, Iommi and Page both RULE respectfully. 

I enjoy Black Sabbath to a greater extent, even if they are "inferior" musicians compared to LZ.