Tau837
Footballguy
Just found the thread for the first time and haven't read through it yet. Led Zeppelin is a top 5 band for me, so definitely want to participate. Will have a list to you by the end of this weekend.
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Ranking Led Zeppelin Songs - Request To Participate (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Anarchy99
- Start date
jamny
Footballguy
And you hear Plant come in just a beat early when he sings "S...So now you better stop" I can never not hear that.
Tau837
Footballguy
Exactly the same for me, except I have 43 on my initial list, including Stairway. I think selecting the top 20 will be fairly easy, but downselecting to the last 5 is going to be very tough.
Dennis Castro
Footballguy
List submitted. Fun little exercise.
In The Zone
Footballguy
Yeah, those last five or so were tough. So many great songs. If I looked at it today I could easily change out some songs but I'm going to stick with what I initially submitted.
Exactly the same for me, except I have 43 on my initial list, including Stairway. I think selecting the top 20 will be fairly easy, but downselecting to the last 5 is going to be very tough.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
AAABatteries
Footballguy
The top of the list has been easier so far than the 20-30 range.
List submitted. 
I don't want to give anything away, but I do have a playlist on Apple with 56 different versions of Black Dog. (Thanks mostly to a Led Zeppelin trove from @Anarchy99)
I don't want to give anything away, but I do have a playlist on Apple with 56 different versions of Black Dog. (Thanks mostly to a Led Zeppelin trove from @Anarchy99)
dickey moe
Fingerpicker
jamny
Footballguy
Same.
I can't help but downgrade some of the overplayed songs and lean more to the bluesy ones.
In The Zone
Footballguy
He didn't ask me to submit your rankings. I believe that he wanted me to turn in mine but after further review it may have been two off of PG.
Tau837
Footballguy
When I was a senior in high school in 1985-86, I had an English assignment that led a group of seniors to film our own abbreviated version of a Streetcar Named Desire. It was all guys, and Stella was the tallest guy, so it was pretty bad. (Plus, I was Stanley.) We skipped school a couple days before it was due and filmed the whole thing in one day. At the end we had a posterboard with "credits" and showed that for the duration of playing Black Dog, which obviously had absolutely nothing to do with SND. Our classmates liked it, our English teacher not so much. Good memory.
That said, Black Dog is not likely to make my final 25. Which kind of underlines how tough it is for me to pick 25.
shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
Man, I would have loved for this countdown to have started this week, while we all get inebriated every night.
I can't remember what I said before, but just looking at my list again for fun, I think they have 11 songs that I would call "masterpieces".
I heard my #8 today, and thought wow I really need to move that up the list. But really the top 11 are really interchangeable.
I can't remember what I said before, but just looking at my list again for fun, I think they have 11 songs that I would call "masterpieces".
I heard my #8 today, and thought wow I really need to move that up the list. But really the top 11 are really interchangeable.
dickey moe
Fingerpicker
jwb
Footballguy
Didn't make mine. Likely because more than any other Zep song, it was played to death by classic rock radio in the 80's/90's. Stairway gets the "played out" label, but besides the "greatest ever" countdowns, I barely heard it on the radio. But Black Dog? Every single day.
⚡DEADHEAD⚡
Footballguy
Tau837
Footballguy
List submitted.
I have 558 Led Zeppelin songs in my library, so there was no way to listen to all of them. I did listen to all of the studio albums (except Coda) plus the B sides and listened to many songs a number of times to try to figure out downselecting and ordering.
It was really difficult to downselect the last 10 or so to get to 25 and also really challenging to order below the top 5. I iterated the final cuts and final order many times. As many have said, it would be different yesterday and different tomorrow.
My breakdown:
And to have their lesser albums be of the quality of Presence and ITTOD... I doubt any artist has matched a run of 8 of that caliber, either.
About my list:
I have 558 Led Zeppelin songs in my library, so there was no way to listen to all of them. I did listen to all of the studio albums (except Coda) plus the B sides and listened to many songs a number of times to try to figure out downselecting and ordering.
It was really difficult to downselect the last 10 or so to get to 25 and also really challenging to order below the top 5. I iterated the final cuts and final order many times. As many have said, it would be different yesterday and different tomorrow.
My breakdown:
- Led Zeppelin I - 3
- Led Zeppelin II - 5
- Led Zeppelin III - 2
- Led Zeppelin IV - 3
- Houses of The Holy - 4
- Physical Graffiti - 6
- Presence - 1
- In Through The Out Door - 1
And to have their lesser albums be of the quality of Presence and ITTOD... I doubt any artist has matched a run of 8 of that caliber, either.
About my list:
- I wouldn't be surprised if my list is the only with my #1 in that slot. I know it isn't on every list.
- I expect I am the only one with my #4 in the top 10. I know it isn't on every list.
- It is possible that my #8 song isn't in any other list.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
- Someone else already had your #1 as their #1.About my list:
Really enjoyed this.
- I wouldn't be surprised if my list is the only with my #1 in that slot. I know it isn't on every list.
- I expect I am the only one with my #4 in the top 10. I know it isn't on every list.
- It is possible that my #8 song isn't in any other list.
- Still adding in a bunch of lists that came in yesterday, but the highest anyone else had your #4 song was #6 so far.
- Your #8 song is not on any other list, but it was on 2 lists initially before those rankers submitted updated lists.
- There are no songs on every list. IIRC, even the #1 song overall so far was left off of 3 lists.
-
2Young2BBald
Footbaldguy
PM sent. I sort of embraced the younger me versus older me struggle. There are a handful of songs 53 year old me probably wouldn't queue up now that 10-18 year me loved, so they had to make the cut. Things like songs I listened to before sports or were go tos when trying to hook up in high school.
My list panned out as follows:
I: 1
II: 2
III: 3
IV: 5
HOH: 4
Presence: 2
Physical Graffiti: 4
ITTOD: 4
I really wanted to work in a song from Coda, and Ozone Baby made a run I suppose, but each time it tried, I'd play something else and it'd get knocked back down.
My list panned out as follows:
I: 1
II: 2
III: 3
IV: 5
HOH: 4
Presence: 2
Physical Graffiti: 4
ITTOD: 4
I really wanted to work in a song from Coda, and Ozone Baby made a run I suppose, but each time it tried, I'd play something else and it'd get knocked back down.
By album:
Zeppelin I: 2
Zeppelin II: 3
Zeppelin III: 1
Zeppelin IV: 7
Houses of the Holy: 4
Physical Graffiti: 4
Presence: 3
In Through the Out Door: 1
Zeppelin IV has been my favorite album by any band since it came out. I have every song from it on my list except Rock and Roll.
Zeppelin I: 2
Zeppelin II: 3
Zeppelin III: 1
Zeppelin IV: 7
Houses of the Holy: 4
Physical Graffiti: 4
Presence: 3
In Through the Out Door: 1
Zeppelin IV has been my favorite album by any band since it came out. I have every song from it on my list except Rock and Roll.
jamny
Footballguy
List sent.
When all was said and done, my top 5 is probably the same top 5 from 40+ years ago. I've never actually sat down to make a list of this so thanks for starting it @Anarchy99 Greatest band of all time.
Now on to your live collection to listen some more!
When all was said and done, my top 5 is probably the same top 5 from 40+ years ago. I've never actually sat down to make a list of this so thanks for starting it @Anarchy99 Greatest band of all time.
Now on to your live collection to listen some more!
2Young2BBald
Footbaldguy
Funny, I just read back through parts of the thread I'd missed and caught the Carouselabra stuff. It forced its way in at #25 on my list as a long time guilty pleasure.
Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
I'd put - just from the same general era - Beatles, Stones, Parliament, Elton John, & Funkadelic up there.IMO no artist that ever had a run of albums as good as Led Zeppelin's first 6... and it was their first 6!
And to have their lesser albums be of the quality of Presence and ITTOD... I doubt any artist has matched a run of 8 of that caliber, either.
But, even more so, Stevie Wonder. He had the greatest run of fantastic LPs I've ever seen/heard.
Tau837
Footballguy
It is obviously subjective, but I don't think any of those named artists did it. They all had great hits, but I don't think they matched the top to bottom quality of Zeppelin's run.
We may have done this in some other thread, not sure, but I'd be very interested to see anyone put forth a list of 6 straight, especially first 6, and discuss the merits of why they are as good or better. Whether in this thread or another.
Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
Fire a thread up, baby.
I'm in no way dissing Zep. They were fantastic.
Stevie's run of albums from 1971 to 1985 lays waste to everyone.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
Yeah, the best run of albums has come up before. The first 6 Zep albums all are rated 5 stars on All Music. Dylan had a run of 8 such albums in the early 60’s. The Beatles are hard to classify, as the record label released different versions of albums in the US and UK (and released a ton of songs as singles not on albums). But they also had a string of 8 in a row in what now are considered the most official releases. Stevie had a bunch of great albums in the 70’s, but several were 4.5 stars. IMO, it’s like asking someone who is the most beautiful woman. It’s all subjective.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
I think this would come down to the genres of music one likes. I love a lot of Stevie's music but his style isn't my go to like rock. I would just have a hard time putting him above Beatles, Stones, LZ and other rock groups.
2Young2BBald
Footbaldguy
Since submitting my list, I have been nursing my NYE hangover and searching ranked lists of their songs. The following comments were placed on my #1 song (which was #49 on the list I was reading):
An outtake from either the Led Zeppelin IV or Houses Of the Holy eras, this is a favorite among Zeppelin fans who stuck with the band through until the end. A review of Physical Graffiti back then written by Lisa Robinson, the First Lady of hard rock reportage, described the song as one that “Out-Company’s Bad Company,” as it has a swagger similar to what Zep’s then-Swan Song labelmates were known for.
as this fits with how I felt about their music as a kid, I liked what I liked, not what was on the radio. I'd guess my #1 will be in the top 25, but maybe in the 20s.
An outtake from either the Led Zeppelin IV or Houses Of the Holy eras, this is a favorite among Zeppelin fans who stuck with the band through until the end. A review of Physical Graffiti back then written by Lisa Robinson, the First Lady of hard rock reportage, described the song as one that “Out-Company’s Bad Company,” as it has a swagger similar to what Zep’s then-Swan Song labelmates were known for.
as this fits with how I felt about their music as a kid, I liked what I liked, not what was on the radio. I'd guess my #1 will be in the top 25, but maybe in the 20s.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
Yeah, your top song hasn’t gotten much traction. Not many votes. Definitely an outlier, but that’s what will make things interesting.Since submitting my list, I have been nursing my NYE hangover and searching ranked lists of their songs. The following comments were placed on my #1 song (which was #49 on the list I was reading):
An outtake from either the Led Zeppelin IV or Houses Of the Holy eras, this is a favorite among Zeppelin fans who stuck with the band through until the end. A review of Physical Graffiti back then written by Lisa Robinson, the First Lady of hard rock reportage, described the song as one that “Out-Company’s Bad Company,” as it has a swagger similar to what Zep’s then-Swan Song labelmates were known for.
In The Zone
Footballguy
I feel the same way about my list. I am thinking that my rankings will be way off from the composite rankings, especially the top 10 or so, but I may be wrong.List submitted.
I have 558 Led Zeppelin songs in my library, so there was no way to listen to all of them. I did listen to all of the studio albums (except Coda) plus the B sides and listened to many songs a number of times to try to figure out downselecting and ordering.
It was really difficult to downselect the last 10 or so to get to 25 and also really challenging to order below the top 5. I iterated the final cuts and final order many times. As many have said, it would be different yesterday and different tomorrow.
My breakdown:
IMO no artist that ever had a run of albums as good as Led Zeppelin's first 6... and it was their first 6!
- Led Zeppelin I - 3
- Led Zeppelin II - 5
- Led Zeppelin III - 2
- Led Zeppelin IV - 3
- Houses of The Holy - 4
- Physical Graffiti - 6
- Presence - 1
- In Through The Out Door - 1
And to have their lesser albums be of the quality of Presence and ITTOD... I doubt any artist has matched a run of 8 of that caliber, either.
About my list:
Really enjoyed this.
- I wouldn't be surprised if my list is the only with my #1 in that slot. I know it isn't on every list.
- I expect I am the only one with my #4 in the top 10. I know it isn't on every list.
- It is possible that my #8 song isn't in any other list.
In The Zone
Footballguy
@Anarchy99Have you decided how you are going to reveal the rankings? Are you going to take it slow like the U2 thread, throw it all out there, or somewhere in between?
Anarchy99
Footballguy
Start at the bottom of the list. Write up and links for a song at a time. Probably one a day. Depends what else I have going on. Definitely a slow roll.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
I've spent WAY too much time on this.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
Yeah, I said the same thing. Except for me, I am staring up at the mountain still to climb starting from sea level. These types of threads turn into projects. And I haven’t even started my list yet. It shouldn’t be that hard. Fifteen songs from the deluxe edition of Coda and then cobble together 10 other songs.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
By album:
I - 4
II - 5
III - 2
IV - 6
Houses of the Holy - 3
Physical Graffiti - 3
In Through the Out Door - 1
B-side - 1
Spots 15-35 were nearly impossible. At one point I had all 8 songs from IV in the top 25. I did a Joe Lunardi top 10 out and there's some big-time songs in my last 10 out. A few I want to make room for but just can't. I will say that my top 5 were somewhat easy.
Not that anybody is that interested but here's how I went about it.
Round 1 - listened to everything. After that round I had - Out - 35; In - 14; Review - 54
Round 2 - Out - 53; In - 23; Review - 27 (27 songs for 2 spots
- I just couldn't cut anything)
Round 3 - Out - 68; In - 25; Last 10 Out identified
Round 4 - Listened to my 25 and didn't feel good about how a couple I left out and also had a couple of songs from LZ IV really low in the 25 so did some swaps. After this round I was left with 25 and had them grouped in to 5 groupings of 5.
Round 5 - Sorted the groupings - I'm actually still tweaking a little and plan to send the final list tomorrow.
I - 4
II - 5
III - 2
IV - 6
Houses of the Holy - 3
Physical Graffiti - 3
In Through the Out Door - 1
B-side - 1
Spots 15-35 were nearly impossible. At one point I had all 8 songs from IV in the top 25. I did a Joe Lunardi top 10 out and there's some big-time songs in my last 10 out. A few I want to make room for but just can't. I will say that my top 5 were somewhat easy.
Not that anybody is that interested but here's how I went about it.
Round 1 - listened to everything. After that round I had - Out - 35; In - 14; Review - 54
Round 2 - Out - 53; In - 23; Review - 27 (27 songs for 2 spots
- I just couldn't cut anything)Round 3 - Out - 68; In - 25; Last 10 Out identified
Round 4 - Listened to my 25 and didn't feel good about how a couple I left out and also had a couple of songs from LZ IV really low in the 25 so did some swaps. After this round I was left with 25 and had them grouped in to 5 groupings of 5.
Round 5 - Sorted the groupings - I'm actually still tweaking a little and plan to send the final list tomorrow.
Last edited by a moderator:
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Does anybody have the link to the thread where we ranked the albums? I tried the search function but couldn't find it. I'm curious to see how these ranking align to how I ranked the albums.
Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
Including those that won 3 Grammys for Album Of The Year? While Zep was in their prime and the biggest guitar-based band in the world?
He won 3 straight in 4 years (he took a year off in '75 to give someone else a chance; the Grammys ####ed it up and gave it to Paul Simon), and should have won for Talking Book & Hotter Than July. And Music Of My Mind was too far out at the time to be appreciated, though it's now recognized as a masterpiece.
I don't think much of the Grammys (& even less of AllMusic's ratings), but if you're bringing industry/fan accolades into the discussion you have to reckon with the TWENTY FIVE statues he's got on his mantle.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
I get it. You are a Stevie fan. No shame in that. Like you said, Grammys aren’t the best barometer either. IIRC, Beyonce, Alison Krause, and Jay-Z have more than Stevie does. I see Wonder listed with 22 statues. Bottom line, there is no good way to compare the greatest run of albums in music that everyone can agree on.
jwb
Footballguy
Especially across genres, and what you liked when you were growing up. That's really important.
I like Stevie. A lot. But I was a classic rock / 80's metal kid growing up, and Stevie/R&B/etc. didn't resonate with me until I was older. So it's harder for me to view his run of albums the same as Zep's, Floyd's, the Stones, etc. But someone who was an R&B fan first as a kid would have an opposite take.
Zep really has an incredible number of excellent albums and songs. While they are not my favorite band, I/II/III/IV/Houses/Graffiti is better than any six-album run I can think of.
