Had Bonham not died, how would the band have evolved throughout the 1980s? Would have been very interesting
A thought on Led Zeppelin
- Thread starter DerekJohnson
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A member of a band or an artist dying young frequently is great for their catalog/image. I'm guessing yeah they go heavy in the way of my least favorite songs of All Of My Love and Fool In The Rain. It's the same thinking about if Jimi Hendrix had kept living.
Skynyrd is one of the few I'm actually interested in where they would have gone given they had just rejuvenated themselves with Street Survivors and Steve Gaines.
Skynyrd is one of the few I'm actually interested in where they would have gone given they had just rejuvenated themselves with Street Survivors and Steve Gaines.
Hendrix died at 27. He was scuffling a bit post Experience, depending on taste, but there's no reason to think he wouldn't have gotten on track and recorded more great albums. LZ was burnt toast at the end. They (Jimmy mainly) were physically unfit to be hard rockers anymore.
ukdawg
Member
Bands with good (not great) longevity are rare. I will define longevity as ~20 years. This is not to say the whole ride was magic (it's not), or there were no troughs, but that they will still solid (note I am not a fan of all of the "good" bands - this is more cultural relevancy AND time AND quality of output over the course of time):
Good:
Bad:
Middle Ground:
Good:
- Stones
- Ozzy
- Maiden
- Priest
- Metallica
- Slayer
- Tool
- AC/DC
- Bowie
- Foo Fighters
- Def Leopard
- Pearl Jam
- The Cure
- Volbeat (you should listen)
Bad:
- Weezer
- GNR
- Smashing Pumpkins
- KISS
- Crue
- Korn
Middle Ground:
- Pink Floyd (after The Wall it's a steep but graded ledge - I can listen to some learning to fly)
- U2
- Aerosmith (crazy, crying, amazi-crazy)
- Green Day
- Modest Mouse (pride of Issaquah)
- Radiohead
- Sabbath
I definitely wish we could have seen what Jimi was going to do. Part of me kind of wonders if he was shot out though and he's someone who I truly can't guess what they would have done. My best guess is going just to more of a typical blues musician type over the years without pop sensibilities.
If KISS could have gone another five years I'm intrigued by what they would have accomplished
Unpopular opinion, but I actually like In Through The Outdoor A LOT. I can easily see them having put out a few more good LPs in the early 80s.
I define this exercise by duration of critical, artistic and commercial relevance and none on the above listed passed the 20 year mark. Event the Stones fell short with their hey day being 1964- 81 or 17 years. The 2 longest I can think off that meet the Yella critera are Neil Young from 1967- 1990- i.e., Buffalo Springfield through Ragged Glory and Paul Simon from 1966- 1986- i.e., first Simon and Garfunkel through Graceland.
I’m not the biggest fan, but Red Hot Chili Peppers had longevity. Two of their biggest albums were around 15-20 years in.
Stadium Arcadian went 4X platinum in 2006 when CD sales were starting to dwindle. Thats 22 years after their first album.
Streaming has changed the game relative to using album sales as a longevity measure.
Michael Jackson doesn’t even show up until #79. Stones, Zeppelin, Beatles even lower.
AC/DC comes in at 102.
Probably a good indicator relative to who is still relevant.
If you’re talking a 20 year span, got to include Duran Duran, Springsteen and the E Street Band, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi just off the top of my head.
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Michael Jackson doesn’t even show up until #79. Stones, Zeppelin, Beatles even lower.
AC/DC comes in at 102.
Probably a good indicator relative to who is still relevant.
If you’re talking a 20 year span, got to include Duran Duran, Springsteen and the E Street Band, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi just off the top of my head.
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I was embarrassingly obsessed with RHCP as a young lad around Stadium Arcadium. One of the last big build up anticipated albums probably in rock and music that I bet was probably sold more as a CD than digitally.
Eminem is the highest for the Olds.Streaming has changed the game relative to using album sales as a longevity measure.
Most-Streamed Artists on Spotify (daily update)
See the most streamed artists on Spotify. Updated daily with the latest rankings for the top 1,000 artists.chartmasters.org
Michael Jackson doesn’t even show up until #79. Stones, Zeppelin, Beatles even lower.
AC/DC comes in at 102.
Probably a good indicator relative to who is still relevant.
If you’re talking a 20 year span, got to include Duran Duran, Springsteen and the E Street Band, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi just off the top of my head.
ukdawg
Member
Critics are fags and don't have relevance in this exercise Yella. They are usually cunty up-their-own-ass types who write for Pitchfork and hate everything except Radiohead.
Commercial, as Throbber pointed out, is also difficult to measure as time marches on. And commercial is often not a good measure of general "goodness" (see Achy Breaky Heart, Macarena, Livin' La Vida Loca, WAP, etc.)
Artistic is more where it's at, and that's why it's an unsolvable debate (for example, I don't get Niel Young or Bob Dylan and you probably think Tool sucks ass).
Bowie is close to making the 20 year run and not falling off of a cliff. Foo Fighters have been around and meet your three criteria for 30 years (I feel old writing that). Hard to say Priest and Maiden didn't do it a high level, selling out tours, and having relevance for well over 20 years.
But I know you don't like the metal. But I love you. Not like a brother.
Just to be clear, this was a joke
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Over tim, RHCP became a hated band for me. I hate anything after Under The Bridge
Journey needs some props too. Still touring in arenas after 50 years is impressive. Like them or not, younger audiences know their tunes.
Perry taking off solo and then losing his pipes took them off the radar during the grunge era but rest assured way more Americans between 10 and 75 can belt out Don’t Stop Believing over any Zeppelin tune.