Led Zeppelin

Guzzman wrote: This has been discussed before and still the answer is: No, they're not Prog, some of their material had Proggish elements, they were an influential band, they discovered new musical land, they were fantastic. They shouldn't be in the Archives, which is something that has to be said about other bands, Queen among them IMHO. As long as there's the ProgArchives this question will be brought up again and again.  Please stop it!I LOVE LED ZEPPELIN!

Rather harshly spoken but true.

When I first came here I was bound with the ignorance of this question.

Now that I am wiser in the ways of all prog I wish I could take back many of my dumber, less "knowing" posts...but I cant'...

Haha...my first thread on arriving I think was something a bit like this. I thought I was smart
The truth is, I was a dumbass, and continue to be a dumbass, but either way--I don't support Led Zeppelin being classified as prog.

Especially after reading a bio on them, and comparing it to a bio on Pink Floyd...

One was obviously prog, the other was not.

In the Pink Floyd bio, the words "Progressive Rock" as a classification was brought up many times, and also as in reference to peers (mostly Soft Machine).

In the Zep book, I don't think the term was ever used in a memorable way to describe their music.

All of this still boils down to opinion...but, if you read up on your common progressive tags, Zep wasn't a pretentious, theater-heavy, classical-music ridden, technically wowing, overblown concept album band...and that's what prog is all about!!!

...right? (kidding.)

Anyways, Zep was a blues rock band that later found themselves experimenting with folk music which led to the evolution of some pretty decent prog-like tracks--but at their core...they had nothing to do with the scene and miss the ties that the other bands of the time have to the genre. Had Bonham lived and the band continued to produce albums then perhaps, yes, they could be considered. But with their output...

Definately Proto-prog, and barely that.

Chairs! (pardon, I'm in a goofy mood today.)

They were originally part of the late 60s early 70s group of acts that were described as progressive because of their pushing the boundaries of what rock n roll was. Once the prog groups like Yes & Genesis started gaining attention, the term no longer meant the same. So Led Zep then became non-prog. A result that greatly affected their musical success there after - NOT !

I have not been on the forum for quite a long while (illness, travel and reviewing).