How big would Zeppelin be if they hadn't their first four albums?

[Dark Banana]

Obviously Led Zeppelin made their name with their first four albums but do you think the quality of their later albums would have afforded them their rock giant status. Physical Graffiti was obviously an increbile double album and Houses of the Holy and Presence are great albums also (In Through The Out Door has its fans).

What do you think?

[PinkFreud]

They wouldn't be. Physical Graffiti was a double album bloated with filler. Houses Of The Holy was way weak. Presence sucked a big one except the live versions of their earlier songs, which wouldn't even be on them. In Through The Out Door sucks, too.

[Interviewer/surveyer]

Obviously Led Zeppelin made their name with their first four albums but do you think the quality of their later albums would have afforded them their rock giant status. Physical Graffiti was obviously an increbile double album and Houses of the Holy and Presence are great albums also (In Through The Out Door has its fans).

What do you think?Im not a big Zepp fan, but is Zeppelins first four albums comparable in a way to Tallica's first four, whereas the albums were not as commercially accepted but spawned much better music? If so, id say Zeppelin would have been popular for the time, but there music would not be timeless and they would have eventually been forgotten.

[Lunch]

No, Led Zeppelin's first four albums were very commercially accepted and successful (with maybe a possible exception of LZ III); those albums made them giants.

[Dark Banana]

I asked this as a huge Zeppelin fan who got into the early days first but now loves HOTH above all. I think though had it not been for the success of 1, 2, 3 and 4 then albums like HOTH wouldn't have been as well known, and I may never would have heard No Quarter.

[Lunch]

If HOTH was Zeppelin's first album, I don't people would've paid that much attention to it.

[PinkFreud]

They wouldn't. Especially with D'yer Maker on it. Ugh.

[Up The Irons]

Houses of the Holy < everything else

[Krabsworth]

Yeah Zeppelin would've been nothing....

[Dark Banana]

D'yer maker's weird but I think tracks like No Qaurter and The Ocean more than make up for that.

[Lunch]

I don't really. Plant's voice is so annoying on HOTH. Actually in general, the whole album is too bright and clear for me. No Quarter is a killer song, don't get me wrong on that, but the rest of the album doesn't come close to what LZ I and II do. HOTH was so popular because Zeppelin was already huge and people saw what they were doing on Houses as a great evolution from what they did previously.

[Jacaranda]

Houses of the Holy is my favorite Zeppelin album... I never knew it was unpopular or something.

[Dark Banana]

I don't really. Plant's voice is so annoying on HOTH. Actually in general, the whole album is too bright and clear for me. No Quarter is a killer song, don't get me wrong on that, but the rest of the album doesn't come close to what LZ I and II do. HOTH was so popular because Zeppelin was already huge and people saw what they were doing on Houses as a great evolution from what they did previously.

This is kind of what I was getting at. HOTH took me ages to get into and I don't think I wouldv'e bothered had I not already loved the last four

[MYR]

Achilles Last Stand would be where "Stairway to Heaven" would have been.

[standard]

Without their first 4 albums they wouldn't be anywhere. The albums after them would have either not been made, or they would have been completley different material.

[Seafroggys]

we wouldn't have Stairway to Heaven to annoy us!

[Bron-Yr-Aur]

Much as I love Zeppelin, they obviously wouldn't be near as big, as the first four were vital in their evolution, and paved the way for albums like Physical Graffiti and Houses of the Holy; which wouldn't have made sense at all coming as a bands first and second album(s) respectively. Not to mention the fact that it was their second one that cemented them as a international hit.

we wouldn't have Stairway to Heaven to annoy us!

I resent that my good sir!

[Permanent Solution]

It's a rather silly hypothetical situation to evaluate. For one, the band would have released their first album years later and rather than being one of the pioneers of a sound, they'd have been influenced by it instead and have released entirely different albums than they did. They also wouldn't have just had the latter albums' worth of material. When you release 4 albums, you've put out what may be years and years worth of writing and material, while latter albums may only take a year or two to write. So instead of the first album being a compilation of your best material over say, 5 years, you all are assuming it would still have been written in a year or two. Finally, it's hard to judge a band by their more experimental albums.

[LostChild]

I think another interesting perspective to things would be to ask: All complications cast aside, had their last four albums been the first four they released, would they have not done as well, because they wouldn't have had four commerically sucessful records to built up an audience of people who would actually listen instead of dismissing them as some experimental dribble?

I personally think it probably would have been harder to find an audience for the experimentation if they hadn't drawn fans in at first.

[Seafroggys]

heh, I like Stairway, but like most Zeppelin, its overplayed.

Child in Time all the way!

[Jude]

In Through The Out Door sucks, too.
This is a major lie propagated by people whose musical taste sucks. ITTOD is actually the second best of Zeppelin's post 1971 albums, behind Physical Graffiti.

TS: What the hell kind of question is that? Nobody has any idea. And it wouldn't make sense for the rest of their albums to exist as they were without the first four. (edit: Permanent Solution beat me to this)

Edit: Houses of the Holy DOES suck BY COMPARISON to their other albums, and that as a debut album is not a good kickoff to a career. Song Remains the Same, OTHAFA, No Quarter, and The Ocean are all up to Zeppelin standards...but Rain Song, Dancing Days and Dyer Maker are mediocre for them and The Crunge is just terrible.

[cybersprint]

I asked this as a huge Zeppelin fan who got into the early days first but now loves HOTH above all. I think though had it not been for the success of 1, 2, 3 and 4 then albums like HOTH wouldn't have been as well known, and I may never would have heard No Quarter.

Yes, love that one, especially the live versions from knebworth and "the song remains the same" in NY.

[cybersprint]

This is a major lie propagated by people whose musical taste sucks. ITTOD is actually the second best of Zeppelin's post 1971 albums, behind Physical Graffiti.

TS: What the hell kind of question is that? Nobody has any idea. And it wouldn't make sense for the rest of their albums to exist as they were without the first four. (edit: Permanent Solution beat me to this)

Edit: Houses of the Holy DOES suck BY COMPARISON to their other albums, and that as a debut album is not a good kickoff to a career. Song Remains the Same, OTHAFA, No Quarter, and The Ocean are all up to Zeppelin standards...but Rain Song, Dancing Days and Dyer Maker are mediocre for them and The Crunge is just terrible.

BAAAH???!, "the rain song" is super sweet

[Jude]

BAAAH???!, "the rain song" is super sweet
It's OK. It kind of drags on, and it's not on the same level as the songs I said were the best on that album.