A thought on Led Zeppelin

[DerekJohnson]

I can't stand RHCP either. That might be why the Seinfeld slap bass is like PTSD.

 

[YellowSnow]

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.

Disagree on critical opinion. Given years to reflect on the work of artists, I think consensus of critical opinion tends to get it right more often than not. I'm a big AllMusic.com guy. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/metallica-mn0000446509#discography

It's not fair to say I don't like metal. I love Metallica, Sabbath, Motorhead. I don't like a lot of the tone deaf metal like Slayer, Pantera, Megadeath, etc.