I question the sanity of Rolling Stone readers

[WaylonJennings]

Poll from this week:

"Which artists or groups are the most influential in the history of rock & roll?"

The Beatles: 67 percent
Bob Dylan: 35 percent
Led Zeppelin: 26 percent
Elvis Presley: 22 percent
The Rolling Stones: 19 percent

Led Zeppelin above the Stones? Not on their best day.

Above Elvis?!?! Please.

We were all in seventh grade once and listened to Zep and the Doors and thought they invented music. Then we moved on.

 

[I Should Coco]

What?? No votes for Radiohead? Or Yo La Tengo??

Oh, sorry, this is a poll of Rolling Stone READERS.

 

[Huggy]

The Zep mention is kinda amusing when you figure RS ripped the band every chance they got. One of the first issues of RS I got with my subscription (going on 30+ years now) had Charles M. Young's review if In Thorugh The Out Door. He hated it.

Speaking of which, I was kind of pumped to see RS would be debuting a new website with an archive featuring every issue of the mag - in its entirety. But I'll be damned if I can figure out how to sign up for it. As a subscriber I believe it is free, but Christ they make it difficult to access this.

Anyone else seen this?

 

[YGBFKM]

Led Zeppelin is much, much better than the Stones. Keith Richards couldn't hold Jimmy Page's jock. And Page, Bonham and Jones are better musicians than any group the Stones have ever had.

But given the direction of RS in recent years, I'm surprised the Black-Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga and the Jonas Brothers weren't considered more influential.

 

[WaylonJennings]

Led Zeppelin is much, much better than the Stones. Keith Richards couldn't hold Jimmy Page's jock. And Page, Bonham and Jones are better musicians than any group the Stones have ever had.

Please.

 

[JR]

The question is "Most influential"

Buddy Holly should be near the top of the list.

 

[JayFarrar]

Well, they at least nailed it with the Beatles.

I could some variance between the rest, but I'm fine with it. Especially if you note the work Robert Plant has done post-Zep, most notably with Alison Kraus. Some of that is just fantastic.

Problem with the Rolling Stones is they have been releasing the same album for roughly the last 25 years.

 

[YGBFKM]

Led Zeppelin is much, much better than the Stones. Keith Richards couldn't hold Jimmy Page's jock. And Page, Bonham and Jones are better musicians than any group the Stones have ever had.

Please.

Fine analysis.

Even if you think the Stones are a better band, you're fooling yourself if you believe they are a better group of musicians.

 

[WaylonJennings]

Here is a partial list of bands better than Led Zeppelin:

The Rolling Stones
The Beatles
U2
The Beach Boys
Lynyrd Skynyrd
AC/DC
The Who
Pearl Jam
Nirvana
The Grateful Dead
Fleetwood Mac
Cream
Boston
The Clash
The Ramones
The Velvet Underground
Van Halen
Metallica
The Allman Brothers
Guns 'N' Roses
Creedence Clearwater Revival
R.E.M.
The Beastie Boys
Wilco

Now, I grant you that it is a list of "most influential," and Led Zeppelin would have to go on the list ahead of a few of the acts I listed. But you said "better."

 

[WaylonJennings]

Led Zeppelin is much, much better than the Stones. Keith Richards couldn't hold Jimmy Page's jock. And Page, Bonham and Jones are better musicians than any group the Stones have ever had.

Please.

Fine analysis.

Even if you think the Stones are a better band, you're fooling yourself if you believe they are a better group of musicians.

I'd say Charlie Watts is better. I'd say Jagger and Plant as a vocalist is a toss-up, but Jagger probably gets the edge because of the "it" factor. I'd say that Keith Richards may not be better than Page at straight musicianship, but Ron Wood is. So was Mick Taylor.

On no planet is Led Zeppelin "better" than the Rolling Stones because Jimmy Page can fit more notes into a solo than Keith Richards. The idea that Led Zeppelin is better or more influential than the Stones is pure lunacy on its face. Laughable.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

I recently bought a subscription just for the political articles and Matt Taibbi. Their coverage of music is embarrassing at best. The latest issue featured the Black Eyed Peas and how they will save rock. I mean, c'mon guys. ::)

 

[WaylonJennings]

I recently bought a subscription just for the political articles and Matt Taibbi. Their coverage of music is embarrassing at best. The latest issue featured the Black Eyed Peas and how they will save rock. I mean, c'mon guys. ::)

Along with Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga.

Best quote in the issue was from Russell Brand: "Stop letting children decide which musical acts are big."

 

[Killick]

Led Zeppelin is much, much better than the Stones. Keith Richards couldn't hold Jimmy Page's jock. And Page, Bonham and Jones are better musicians than any group the Stones have ever had.

Please.

Bonham's been dead for - what? - 30 years? Hell, Watts hasn't had a pulse in 35 years in he's still dragging his carcass out on tour. ****. Keith's been dead for about 40, he just has yet to have fallen over and nobody else wants to break the news to him. What the hell is Bonham's problem? Slacker. :P

 

[YGBFKM]

Here is a partial list of bands better than Led Zeppelin:

The Rolling Stones
The Beatles
U2
The Beach Boys
Lynyrd Skynyrd
AC/DC
The Who
Pearl Jam
Nirvana
The Grateful Dead
Fleetwood Mac
Cream
Boston
The Clash
The Ramones
The Velvet Underground
Van Halen
Metallica
The Allman Brothers
Guns 'N' Roses
Creedence Clearwater Revival
R.E.M.
The Beastie Boys
Wilco

Now, I grant you that it is a list of "most influential," and Led Zeppelin would have to go on the list ahead of a few of the acts I listed. But you said "better."

Boston is better than Led Zeppelin? OK, now I know you're posts are nothing but performance art.

 

[Buck]

I love rock music, but let's keep some perspective:

1. It's a popular music genre, and a nebulously defined one at best. Let's stop taking it so seriously.

2. It has been the dominant popular music genre for about 60 years, but it will not be forever.
Sixty years is a drop in the bucket.

3. The only reason it has been the dominant genre of popular music for this long is people keep expanding the definition to include all popular music, so that virtually everything that is produced can fall under the 'rock' umbrella.

 

[Boom_70]

Poll from this week:

"Which artists or groups are the most influential in the history of rock & roll?"

The Beatles: 67 percent
Bob Dylan: 35 percent
Led Zeppelin: 26 percent
Elvis Presley: 22 percent
The Rolling Stones: 19 percent

Led Zeppelin above the Stones? Not on their best day.

Above Elvis?!?! Please.

We were all in seventh grade once and listened to Zep and the Doors and thought they invented music. Then we moved on.

It's an interesting debate and let me say that The Stones are my all time favorite group but Stairway to Heaven might tip the scales to Led Zep as far as influence.

 

[Boom_70]

Here is a partial list of bands better than Led Zeppelin:

The Rolling Stones
The Beatles
U2
The Beach Boys
Lynyrd Skynyrd
AC/DC
The Who
Pearl Jam
Nirvana
The Grateful Dead
Fleetwood Mac
Cream
Boston
The Clash
The Ramones
The Velvet Underground
Van Halen
Metallica
The Allman Brothers
Guns 'N' Roses
Creedence Clearwater Revival
R.E.M.
The Beastie Boys
Wilco

Now, I grant you that it is a list of "most influential," and Led Zeppelin would have to go on the list ahead of a few of the acts I listed. But you said "better."

No love for The Boss and E Street band?

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

As for that list: If the Stones' prime era matched that of the Beatles and Dylan, then how many bands were more influenced by the Stones' prime era material than by the Beatles and Dylan's?

Zeppelin has the advantage of influencing a completely different set of genres than those others.

The Stones' fingerprints are all over bands like Aerosmith and the Black Crowes. Their influence can be found in bands that play simple, "good time" rock and roll music.

Zeppelin's are all over bands like Black Sabbath and Metallica. With Sabbath (and I suppose a bit of The Who), they are widely seen as the inventors of heavy metal.

For me, that's a major point in favor of Zeppelin. It just depends on what you like.

At the same time, you bet I would say they're more influential than the Stones. Having listened to most of both the Stones and Zeppelin's respective catalogs, I think Zeppelin took a lot more chances in the studio. Live, they weren't everyone's cup of tea, but neither are the Stones' drugged-out, half-speed renderings of their classics.

Waylon's list of better bands is apocryphal, at best. At worst, it reads like "He obviously once broke up with a really awesome girl who ended up marrying a Led Zeppelin fan."

 

[WaylonJennings]

Here is a partial list of bands better than Led Zeppelin:

The Rolling Stones
The Beatles
U2
The Beach Boys
Lynyrd Skynyrd
AC/DC
The Who
Pearl Jam
Nirvana
The Grateful Dead
Fleetwood Mac
Cream
Boston
The Clash
The Ramones
The Velvet Underground
Van Halen
Metallica
The Allman Brothers
Guns 'N' Roses
Creedence Clearwater Revival
R.E.M.
The Beastie Boys
Wilco

Now, I grant you that it is a list of "most influential," and Led Zeppelin would have to go on the list ahead of a few of the acts I listed. But you said "better."

No love for The Boss and E Street band?

I counted him as a solo artist. Same with Prince and the NPG, who would have been ahead of Led Zeppelin, as well. I didn't include Motown acts, either.

I forgot The Band. But, like I said, partial list.

 

[Gator]

Here is a partial list of bands better than Led Zeppelin:

The Rolling Stones
The Beatles
U2
The Beach Boys
Lynyrd Skynyrd
AC/DC
The Who
Pearl Jam
Nirvana
The Grateful Dead
Fleetwood Mac
Cream
Boston
The Clash
The Ramones
The Velvet Underground
Van Halen
Metallica
The Allman Brothers
Guns 'N' Roses
Creedence Clearwater Revival
R.E.M.
The Beastie Boys
Wilco

Now, I grant you that it is a list of "most influential," and Led Zeppelin would have to go on the list ahead of a few of the acts I listed. But you said "better."

Boston is better than Led Zeppelin? OK, now I know you're posts are nothing but performance art.

That is list is awesome. And not in a good way. Look, the bands are separated by 7 percent, and the reason why I'm giving Zep the nod is because of the old cliche: "Live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse."

I know Page, Plant and Jones still perform, and they're far from good looking, but they no longer perform together or under the name Led Zeppelin. They haven't had 15 farewell tours, either. I think when people think of Zeppelin, they think of Custard Pie, the Lemon Song and Going to California, not the Bridges to Babylon Tour.

As a guitar player, I'd say Page was better, but man, Keith Richards could write some awesome riffs (see Can't You Hear Me Knocking?)