One of the most successful groups of all time, Led Zeppelin has often been taken to task for using the work of other artists without citing the source, particularly blues artists, but critics have also drawn attention to Zep's use of the work of folk and rock artists as well. In the last few years a number of releases have assembled collections of the "original" versions of Led Zeppelin tracks.
 Early Blues Roots of Led Zeppelin |
 Led Astray |
 Led Zeppelin's Sources of Inspiration |
 The Roots of Led Zeppelin |
 Zeppelin Classics |
 Led Zeppelin's Jukebox |
 The Roots of Zeppelin |
 Roots of Led Zeppelin |
Opinion runs the range on Led Zeppelin's relationship to their influences. Among Led Zeppelin's defenders is Chris Welch, author of Led Zeppelin - Dazed and Confused: The Stories Behind Every Song. According to Welch, "Led Zeppelin were constantly being sniped at by nit-pickers and probed by musicologists." Though Welch concedes that Zep were "careless in crediting their sources of inspiration," he argues that it would be difficult to track down the true creators of the blues songs Led Zeppelin incorporated into their work. And besides, continues Welch, "if this album [referring specifically to Led Zeppelin II] had sold three copies in a junk shop, nobody would have noticed references to Howlin' Wolf's 'Killing Floor' during 'The Lemon Song.'" And this is OK because "the average record buyer was happy simply to be swept along with the excitement created by this shameless outburst." [1]This line of reasoning is strange coming from someone who has produced a copywritten work; proper credit should be given to the source of creative work.
At the other end of the spectrum are those who express the attitude that Led Zeppelin are simply music thieves. On the website Perfect Sound Forever Will Shade refers to Jimmy Page and company as "Thieving Magpies," [2] and cites several instances where Led Zeppelin's records bear a strong resemblance to other recordings. According to Short, that Led Zeppelin released these records without proper songwriting credits amounts to outright theft. This sentiment is echoed by rock critic Richard Meltzer, who contends "there is NOTHING original" about Led Zeppelin. [3]
Each of the compilations shown above has its own point to make about Led Zeppelin's relationship to their influences, as expressed in the liner notes and in the choice of tracks. As the title would suggest, Led Astray is the most critical of Led Zeppelin, though the words in the liner notes are carefully chosen. They point out that the blues became popular in Europe in the 1960s and the practice of taking songwriting credit for blues songs was widespread among British rock bands. The Early Blues Roots of Led Zeppelin is part of a series of CDs put out by Catfish Records to introduce rock fans to the blues, with volumes devoted to the blues recordings that influenced such artists as Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, the Grateful Dead and Eric Clapton. Given that premise, the liner notes for The Early Blues Roots of Led Zeppelin give surprisingly little information about the blues, focusing instead on a history of the Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin's Sources of Inspiration draws primarily on blues recordings and provides extensive liner notes about the blues artists—but all in Swedish. The front and back covers are written in english and they refer to songs as the "original source" to various Led Zeppelin songs.
The most celebratory compilation is The Roots of Led Zeppelin.
This CD was included with the August, 2004, issue of Mojo. The cover story of this issue goes straight to the source and asks Jimmy Page about his influences. The article is actually an interview with Page and fellow Yardbird alum Jeff Beck.
The article and the liner notes for The Roots of Led Zeppelin emphasize the wide array of influences that Jimmy Page drew on and, in a separate article, select him as the greatest British guitarist of all time with Beck as the runner up.
To be fair, Led Zeppelin did credit their sources some of the time—in fact, their inconsistency in this regard is rather puzzling. Also, Led Zeppelin was a band of immense talent and creativity, and their contribution to music was significant. Jesse Gress, who wrote a piece for Guitar Player entitled "Zeppelineage: The Roots of Jimmy Page" offers a thoughtful perspective of the issue of Led Zeppelin's relationship to their sources of inspiration. According to Gress, "Jimmy never settled for merely copying his predecessors. His genius was to channel his influences into a distinctive and influential voice." [4]Jimmy Page did bring a great deal of technical skill a strong drive to challenge musical boundaries to his work. He was certainly correct when he defended himself in a 1990 Musician interview by saying, "usually my riffs are pretty damn original." [5]He also blamed Robert Plant's use of lyrics from original blues songs for getting them into legal trouble from time to time. Robert Plant was a blues enthusiast and paid homage to a number of blues artists. He occasionally made bows to other artists by quoting them, such as Albert King's "The Hunter" in "How Many More Times" ("They call me the hunter/That's my name" makes more sense when viewed in this context). At other times, however, Plant used the entire lyric of a song. This was the basis for Willie Dixon's lawsuit against Led Zeppelin over the song "Whole Lotta Love," which uses the lyrics of Dixon's "You Need Love" over original accompaniment. In this case Dixon deserved credit, and he received it only after bringing legal action against Led Zeppelin. Where Led Zeppelin are especially more vulnerable to criticism is in the area of compensation. By the 1970s the market for this sort of music had funamentally changed and substantial rewards from record sales were to be had. Where many Delta blues singers struggled to make a living, Led Zeppelin became very, very rich from their music.
A rather ironic note is that in recent years a number of artists have been accused of copying Led Zeppelin. A 1988 Rolling Stone article cited numerous examples of bands imitating Led Zeppelin's sound and style. [6]Also, with the advent of sampling, Led Zeppelin recordings have been put to use by several artists.
Perhaps the way to approach this issue is to acknowledge Led Zeppelin's originality but to explore their influences in greater depth. If you're a Led Zeppelin fan, you can broaden your own horizons by listening to Zep's influences in other genres. If you're a Led Zeppelin detractor, then you can take pride in listening to the "true" originals (but bear in mind that they had their influences as well). Start with either the compilations of tracks that influenced Led Zeppelin or with Led Zeppelin's albums and follow the links for each track to get more information about how Led Zeppelin channeled their influences. If you cannot find these CD compilations and you want to track down releases with tracks that influenced Led Zeppelin, I provide more recommended listening.
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Led Zeppelin's Sources of Inspiration | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Roots of Led Zeppelin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Zeppelin Classics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Led Zeppelin's Jukebox | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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- ^ Chris Welch, Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused, The Stories Behind Every Song, (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1998), p. 34.
- ^ Will Shade, The Thieving Magpies: Jimmy Page's Dubious Recording Legacy, Part 2 from the website Perfect Sound Forever.
- ^ Scott Woods, "Kicks Just Keep Getting Hard to Find: Interview with Richard Meltzer", Part 2 RockCritics.com
- ^ Jesse Gress, "Zeppelineage: The Roots of Jimmy Page," Guitar Player (August, 1993), p. 75.
- ^ Matt Resnicoff, "In Through the Out Door: Jimmy Page Goes Back to Led Zeppelin, Musician (November, 1990), p. 62.
- ^ Steve Pond, "The Song Remains the Same" Rolling Stone 522 (March 24, 1988), pp. 68-69.
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