Back in the late 60's and 70's it was harder than other band's sound, but listening to them today they are mellower than heavy metal which I think started with Black Sabbath. But this is just one person's opinion.
I was always under the impression that Vanilla Fudge were the first true Heavy Metal band despite their pretentiousness. In respect of Led Zeppelin overall I have to say no. Certainly there are elements of Metal within their work but overall they were more eclectic than metal. All in all I think they carved out their own niche in music.
If Black Sabbath is heavy metal, then Led Zeppelin is heavy metal. They're too similar. I've always figured that if the members of Zeppelin got together and said "hey, let's write a whole album of songs like 'Dazed and Confused' and 'Immigrant Song'", they'd wind up making "Master of Reality".
I would say that Zeppelin opened the door for hard rock, while Sabbath went through the door and invented heavy metal.
Regardless, my parents hated both when I was young and played their albums out loud. Now I'm the father and what do I do with my 7 year old daughter who likes Justin Bieber? I'm trying to get her to listen to Alice Cooper and AC/DC...but with little success.
I would say that Zeppelin opened the door for hard rock, while Sabbath went through the door and invented heavy metal.
Regardless, my parents hated both when I was young and played their albums out loud. Now I'm the father and what do I do with my 7 year old daughter who likes Justin Bieber? I'm trying to get her to listen to Alice Cooper and AC/DC...but with little success.
Back in the late 60's and 70's it was harder than other band's sound, but listening to them today they are mellower than heavy metal which I think started with Black Sabbath. But this is just one person's opinion.
The first heavy metal record was Black Sabbath's Master of Reality which even then was not termed heavy metal. Years went by and most all of this type of music was termed hard rock. Even a band like Ratt called themselves hard rock. AC/DC was hard rock. In about 1981 the term heavy metal started to be used. The term then was used to describe past heavy metal records. Heavy metal did not know what it was when it came to be. Even total heavy metal records like Judas Priests Stained Class which is 100% a heavy metal standard was termed hard rock.
Led Zeppelin was extracted from blues and was even called electric blues or acid rock before the term hard rock was coined. Zeppelin with it's imagery and subjects helped form heavy metal and became a strong influence to bands like Bathory which would form the future of extreme metal.
There is a heavy sound which Zeppelin had but most would agree Black Sabbaths self titled debut album was a little more heavy. The term acid rock was used for bands like Vanilla Fudge, Canned Heat, Iron Butterfly, Frank Zappa. It is really hard now to look back and put these terms of bands. Most folks today would never think of Frank Zappa as being acid rock but when Lumpy Gravy came out that was the exact term the "cool" people were using to describe it. Most people don't know this anymore. They just use other terms. The term Acid Rock became uncool in the media the moment Diane Linkletter jumped out of that window high on LSD. America changed overnight and the musical terms changed with it.
A music lover of today has to find someone 68 years old and ask the question "In the day, what was Blue Cheer?". The answer will be Acid Rock. Not hard rock or heavy metal. Anyone who tries to disprove my statements here just really does not know and needs to go back to playing their Duran Duran CDs.
Merchandise is renamed and history is changed to make things more marketable. The term "Acid" was cool then became uncool almost overnight. The music industry started to not use words with negative connections. Acid actually became an uncool word to use. Most Head-Fi members have not read the books or maybe don't know a rock insider from the 1968 music scene to talk with.
I was converted to metal about 2.5 years ago. I was already a fan of classic rock so converting me was easy. I have never been happier.
Now that I am a metal head I just can't see it being any other way. Music specifically Heavy Metal is my life and I don't know where I would be without it. I know for sure that if I never got into metal I wouldn't be here today. I went on head-fi to get better sounding heavy metal so i could hear more of the music. Personally I was influenced by the beats marketing to look for studio cans.
Regarding Led Zeppelin being metal I would say they have many songs that fit the criteria but the majority of their stuff doesn't. I believe they had a huge influence on metal though. Many bands say Led Zeppelin is an influence.
I would say that Zeppelin opened the door for hard rock, while Sabbath went through the door and invented heavy metal.
Regardless, my parents hated both when I was young and played their albums out loud. Now I'm the father and what do I do with my 7 year old daughter who likes Justin Bieber? I'm trying to get her to listen to Alice Cooper and AC/DC...but with little success.
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