Led Zeppelin & Prog???

I've been listening to a lot of Led Zeppelin lately and was astounded at the complexity of their music. There are too many elements for me to point out that i would consider prog. Their best work was from 1969 (early prog period) to 1976 (peak of prog).

Although they have many songs that are considered hard rock with the various folk influences, I would say there are many songs that contain elements of prog that were apparent in "prog groups" at the time.

So what do you think? Could they be considered progressive?

richardh wrote: Achilles Last Stand is more progressive than most so called 'prog metal'.Kashmir is a no brainer as well.The great Heavy Rock triumvirat Led Zep, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath all harboured prog influences without doubt BUT none could truly be called 'Progressive Rock' IMO.

I agree. 

danbo wrote: On a whole LZ are NOT prog, though they have many tunes, which individually could be considered prog. I'd say the same about Queen. Songs from either of those bands regularly appear on my prog compilation CDs. Over all, I'd say much of Houses of the Holy was clearly prog. My fav LZ release.

Agreed about Zep and Queen. I was shocked the first time I heard The Crunge and I realized thy were playing in alternating 4 and 5 beats per measure. But, of course, if Led Zeppelin were in the Archives, then we'd have to let in basically every other band in existence.

NO, Led Zeppelin is not prog. They are one of my favorite bands of all time but they are not prog. At least not by overall classification. Yes, the did have songs that flirted with prog, sometimes heavily flirted with prog (Kashmir, The Crunge, The Rain Song, No Quarter, etc) but largely they were a rock n' roll group based in a blues structure.

Along with bands like Deep Purple, Queen, REO Speedwagon, Journey and The Who, IMO Led Zeppelin isn't a prog group and shouldn't be listed on this site though they all had a few songs that fit into the genre.

Great band nonetheless!

IMO, Led Zeppelin was a bluse-oriented hard-rock band with progressive attitude and influenses.

TheProgtologist wrote: richardh wrote: Achilles Last Stand is more progressive than most so called 'prog metal'.Kashmir is a no brainer as well.The great Heavy Rock triumvirat Led Zep, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath all harboured prog influences without doubt BUT none could truly be called 'Progressive Rock' IMO. I agree,but no matter what I listen to or what I like,Led Zeppelin will always be my all-time favorite band.

Looks like we're all agreed with Richard H on that ... offhand you could count Rain Song and No Quarter and In The Light among their "prog epics" too, but like Purple and Sabbath and other favourites like Wishbone Ash and Rainbow, I wouldn't classify them as a prog-rock group either ...

Funny thing is I'd also include Uriah Heep in that list ... Despite Salisbury and July Morning type songs, I still think of them as belonging in the hard rock category ...

I've also always thought of Queen as the most progressive of this batch of creative hard-rockin 70s bands, but I can see why they haven't been included ...

Another interesting point for me is that I listened to Jethro Tull for about 10 years before I first heard the Thick As A Brick and A Passion Play albums ... and prior to that I lumped them with Zep, Purple, Heep, and Sabbath ...

Zargus wrote: Yepp they deserved all the praise they got theye where truly great, the beatles of the 70s,and they hade some prog qualitis yes they hade, but seriusly theye newer did a 20 min song so, no theye are not prog

"Dazed and Confused" from The Song Remains the same is almost 30 minutes long, and is a rock masterpiece. "No Quarter" from the same album is also a lengthy live psychedic masterpiece. "Achilles Last Stand" is a of epic length and theme. There's other examples as well, "Caraselaramba" "Kashmir" "Battle of Evermore" and so on.

I agree that Led Zep doesn't qualify as a full blown prog band like Gentle Giant or King Crimson, but many of Zep's tunes qualify as prog rock, imo. 

Trotsky wrote:   Funny thing is I'd also include Uriah Heep in that list ... Despite Salisbury and July Morning type songs, I still think of them as belonging in the hard rock category ... I've also always thought of Queen as the most progressive of this batch of creative hard-rockin 70s bands, but I can see why they haven't been included ... Another interesting point for me is that I listened to Jethro Tull for about 10 years before I first heard the Thick As A Brick and A Passion Play albums ... and prior to that I lumped them with Zep, Purple, Heep, and Sabbath ...

I agree that Uriah Heep is on the edge of prog and rock but I still think they deserve to be classified as prog. They are kind of like the Dream Theater of their day. Poor Uriah Heep...they get no love.

Yes, before Thick as a Brick, Jethro Tull were not too proggish.

NetsNJFan wrote: bluetailfly wrote: Zargus wrote: Yepp they deserved all the praise they got theye where truly great, the beatles of the 70s,and they hade some prog qualitis yes they hade, but seriusly theye newer did a 20 min song so, no theye are not prog   "Dazed and Confused" from The Song Remains the same is almost 30 minutes long, and is a rock masterpiece. "No Quarter" from the same album is also a lengthy live psychedic masterpiece. "Achilles Last Stand" is a of epic length and theme. There's other examples as well, "Caraselaramba" "Kashmir" "Battle of Evermore" and so on. I agree that Led Zep doesn't qualify as a full blown prog band like Gentle Giant or King Crimson, but many of Zep's tunes qualify as prog rock, imo.  yea the songs are long but they are drawn out blues jams, not prog. great band tho

Yes, great band.

But I disagree with your point. To dismiss all those songs I mentioned as "drawn out blues jams" is to wildly mischaracterize them. "No Quarter" extended blues jam? "Caroselaramba" extended blues jam? Rather, they are compositions of much more complexity than your 12-bar blues jam.

George Thoroughgood and ZZ Top play extended blues jams. I don't lump Led Zeppelin's work in with those type of bands---even when they do play the blues, it's not an extended blues jam!