Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Jethro Tull. What did they all have in common? -Blues rock. I could add Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young becauce their following solo and duo work wasn`t as good as their group work, but then I would have to mention The Beatles too, and we all know that.

I read somewhere that those bands first albums were so sky high in quality that a downfall was just to be expected. To me, this sounds like bullshit. Sure, there was a fall in quality as the 70s went ahead, but one common thing was that they all left the blues rock formula.

Aren't you missing one?

I wouldn't say Led Zeppelin peaked in the very early 70s only. Also, the comparison with The Beatles eludes me, to be honest.

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SomeGuy
I wouldn't say Led Zeppelin peaked in the very early 70s only. Also, the comparison with The Beatles eludes me, to be honest.

Well, Led Zeppelin delivered many good songs later but I think some kind of decline started after their fourth album.
The Beatles peaked in the 70's? John Lennon's two albums 1970 and 1971 were fantastic, the rest I would say were downhill.

Yes peaked in the early 70's. And I agree with Rocky Dijon. There was some other band but I can't recall their name now...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-01-19 17:05 by Thommie.

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noughties
Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Jethro Tull. What did they all have in common? -Blues rock. I could add Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young becauce their following solo and duo work wasn`t as good as their group work, but then I would have to mention The Beatles too, and we all know that.

I read somewhere that those bands first albums were so sky high in quality that a downfall was just to be expected. To me, this sounds like bullshit. Sure, there was a fall in quality as the 70s went ahead, but one common thing was that they all left the blues rock formula.

JMO, but none of the bands you mentioned first album was there best. But you could argue they peaked in the early 70's

Would add Grand Funk Railroad to that.
Led Zeppelin was formed to take advantage of the huge audience in the States to hear that type of heavy blues music played by bands like Iron Butterfly, etc.
That kind of music is really tailored for young men, and the formula is limited, so as the rock audience got older and women started buying records, tastes changed.
Then you had the heyday of 'soft rock' banks like Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles in the mid to late 70s.

Yes, I`ve been a bit inaccurate. The Beatles has nothing to do with this. -And first albums need a bit correction. The very first album by some of those bands weren`t that great. -And that other band, yes, that`s right, but they didn`t play heavy blues rock, though. Listen to Martin Barre on Aqualung, it`s almoat like hearing Jimmy Page.

One could say that rock/pop music, period had a massive peak in the first years of the 70's. I'd say the first big evolution in technology (studio and live stage) contributed to that. Also a general trend in psychedelic drugs leaving the scene, and the first wave of cokaine still not having wreaked havoc.
The high quality of one album surely spurred the next artist on to match, and surpass. The charts of those years are insane. The quality of each week's releases are staggering. An overall laziness and complacency then set in, and wasn't rattled until punk. But everyone knows that.

PS I'm not sure that I would say ELP were rooted in Blues rock. Or that LZ peaked with ZOSO. They didn't let go until they lost Bonham.
But I think you're right about the Blues Rock roots. Many of the acts, even the prog acts came from those roots; and it wasn't until they completely lost all connection, that they started to tank. I can easily listen to GFR, when they were a 3 piece, or Uriah Heep with Byron, Hensley and Thain line-up. And definitely Purple Mach II.
And I would very much add Glam Rock to that line of reasoning. Marc Bolan, Bowie (with Ronson), Mott the Hoople, Slade, even Sweet all had those foundations.

For some reason Uriah Heep developed into a ballad song style, and Jethro Tull became more of a prog band. Both LZ and DP got influended by funk. ELP really rocked on Tarkus and Pictures At An Exhibition, and definetely when compared to Yes.(Well, I have only heard their "Tales From Topographic Oceans" and "Relayer").

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Rocky Dijon
Aren't you missing one?

lol

Partridge Family.

They of course, had the 'other' Keith.

Free ….. ..…did nuffin for me
BIG hair and tight jeans rock
But all me mates creamed over 'em …….



ROCKMAN

Fairport Convention-when Ashley Hutchings, Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson left the band, they weren't as interesting.

Sly & The Family Stone-cocaine is one helluva drug.

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Rockman
Free ….. ..…did nuffin for me
BIG hair and tight jeans rock
But all me mates creamed over 'em …….

I thought maybe I was alone in that. I could never get much out of them either.

Is Nazareth still alive?
I don't know their existence since Razamanaz.

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Toru A
Is Nazareth still alive?

Were they ever?

The Who?

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peoplewitheyes
The Who?

-A bit old school in the early 70s.

Slade, Hawkwind, Alice Cooper.........

Three Dog Night
Credence

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noughties

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peoplewitheyes
The Who?

-A bit old school in the early 70s.

er... not quite sure what you mean. Arguably Who's Next (1971) and Quadrophenia ('73) are the pinnacle of their recording career.

-Yes, but they had a past lasting the second half of the 60s. Who`s Next is great, and very much of it`s era in a positive way. Gone was the 60s mod style, so in a way it`s a candidate to what we`re talking about.

Black Sabbath

Unfortunately the Allmans. With the deaths of Duane and Barry in 71 & 72, they were never the same band.

Wouldn't say they peaked in the early seventies, but don't believe there was a better time for the J Geils Band after perhaps the mid-seventies.

They achieved more commercial success in the early eighties with Centerfold etc., but as a band they peaked years earlier..
Second best live band I've ever seen

pains me to put this on the thread: humble pie. that stuff still sounds phenomenal today, a lot of it anyway. alright, i'm ready for my 30 days in the hole but i don't need no doctor.

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Ram
Unfortunately the Allmans. With the deaths of Duane and Barry in 71 & 72, they were never the same band.

Not the same, but the Betts-Haynes-Woody ('89-97) and Haynes-Trucks-Oteil ('01-14) lineups were pretty freakin' awesome.

….Dylan and The Band ….
awww no that was the 60's



ROCKMAN

Someone above posted: "Led Zeppelin was formed to take advantage of the huge audience in the States to hear that type of heavy blues music played by bands like Iron Butterfly..."

Not necessarily true. LZ was formed because Jimmy Paige's fellow Yardbirds were sick of the hard rock direction he was taking them in during their later post-Jeff Beck era. They had a version of Dazed and Confused recorded that sounds almost identical to the LZ version, and 1968's Think About It wouldn't have been out of place on their first 2 albums: [www.youtube.com]

Trouble was, by 1968 "Yardbirds" was no longer a saleable name, and in the summer of '68 the "New Yardbirds" were going nowhere...

...until later that year Dusty Springfield, in the States recording the Dusty In Memphis album with Jerry Wexler, happened to mentioned to her producer that her former bass player had joined a new band that needed a break.

You see, in 1968, John Paul Jones played bass and did the string arrangements for Dusty's final album with the UK Philips label, Dusty...Definitely:



This Girl's In Love With You: [www.youtube.com]

That recommendation alone got Wexler to sign LZ to Atlantic Records without ever having heard a note of their music, and to boot for the most lucrative record contract at that time. How else to explain how LZ just seemed to come out of nowhere to become so instantly huge?

Creatively, The Moody Blues, Chicago, Three Dog night and The Guess Who