Led Zeppelin

A place to socialise and share opinions with other members of the BGAFD Community.
Jonesy
Posts: 238
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Led Zeppelin

Post by Jonesy »

Most bands that have Blues as their main scale will have stolen from Johnson. It goes on and on.
I love White Stripes, but their ideas are again, based on the Blues scale
WigBilly
Posts: 717
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Led Zeppelin

Post by WigBilly »

White man's blues/soul/reggae has been largely about ripping off black originators with shameless plagiarism, and Zep/Clapton/The Stones are all guilty beneficiaries of the black man's art.
Lizard
Posts: 6228
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Led Zeppelin

Post by Lizard »

"Zep/Clapton/The Stones are all guilty beneficiaries of the black man's art.
"
I dont think any of them have made any secret of this fact, they have all acknowledged this over the years many many times. Zep were influenced by many other artists, Manchesters finest (Roy Harper) for one, and he in turn was very heavily influenced by American blues musicians. It's all variations on a theme.

[_]> No Liberals were harmed during the making of this post.
Steve R
Posts: 1809
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Led Zeppelin

Post by Steve R »

Nobody is "guilty" of anything in this.

Mozart stole from Bach and Beethoven stole from Mozart.

Einstein stole from Wien and Rutherford.

Bobby Fischer studied all of Capablanca's chess moves and Gary Kasparov studied all of Fischer's.

The poetry of Tennyson and Owen was greatly influenced by that of Keats.

Sartre's philosophy was built upon ideas he had taken from Kant and others.

Of course, none of this is really stealing - it is simply how we learn from those who have gone before us. It is how all endeavour naturally progresses.

Steve R
Posts: 1809
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Led Zeppelin

Post by Steve R »

I know just about everything there is to know about blues, Regina, having begun playing blues myself in 1963 and having been a professional musician for well over forty years.

I have taught at Yale University, Juilliard, Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, Royal College Of Music, Amsterdam Conservatoire and others.

You are, to an extent, correct in what you say, but I am saying that it is merely par for the course, so to speak.
Steve R
Posts: 1809
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Led Zeppelin

Post by Steve R »

I saw Hendrix play at the RAH; I never really got into flares; I liked about five percent of what was on OGWT and I thought Yes were rubbish.

It is true that Led Zeppelin have borrowed a little from Robert Johnson, but much more so from Blind Willie Johnson, Willie Dixon, Leadbelly, Josh White and others.

Indeed, In My Time Of Dying is basically a re-working of Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed by Josh White.

Plant is probably a more prolific borrower than Page, with whole sections of lyrics lifted. However, I do not feel that this should be held against them. I do feel though that they could have been rather more consistent when it came to giving credits (especially to living composers).

To get a better idea of my musical interests, in addition to the Classical stuff, why not see some guitar I recorded last week, and some of the other, often very rare, items on my YouTube channel:



Steve R
Posts: 1809
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Led Zeppelin

Post by Steve R »

Thank you for the kind comments on my YouTube channel, Reggie.

In answer to your questions: I prefer electric blues from the 1950s onwards and I suppose my favourite player was Albert King. Of more recent/current players, my favourite would be the English player, Robin Trower who, although he is perhaps more generally regarded as being a rock guitarist, also plays exquisite straight blues. I usually only listen to recordings for the purpose of reference, or to introduce students to them - much preferring to play the guitar myself, rather than listen to others do so.

As regards Junior Kimbrough: I heard about six or eight of his recordings, perhaps fifteen years ago. I recall that they were all in the key of Ab and, with the exception of one song, there were no changes at all. However, there was an integrity in their delivery that was compelling.

Locked