The Who vs. Led Zeppelin

[Reverend Joe]

As an annendum to the Doors/ Creedence Clearwater poll, which turned into a Zeppelin/ Who debate, I will post a new poll for all the Hippies and Music enthusiasts out there. (I can't really vote on this one; I don't like Zeppelin, but I have not gottena round to listening to the Who.)

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

It would have to be Led Zeppelin. The Who were ok, did some good tunes, i like that one called "Teenage Wasteland" or i think thats what it was called

[PanzerJaeger]

The Who were a great band, but Jack Black said it best:

"Lords of rock Led Zeppelin...!!"

You just cannot beat the amazing stuff Zep did, as their transcendent popularity shows.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

It would have to be Led Zeppelin. The Who were ok, did some good tunes, i like that one called "Teenage Wasteland" or i think thats what it was called

It's Baba O'Reily.

Led Zeppelin would win, if it weren't for the fact that they 'borrowed' a lot of their best known tunes-although this has mostly been rectified now, so it's not that much of an issue

It's really too close to call for me-although if you asked me in the street, I would say Zeppelin.

[lancelot]

This one isnt even tough. The Who are great but Zep outclass them by miles!

[ShadesWolf]

Zeppelin every time
But my wife would say the Who

[Spino]

I'd have to go with Led Zeppelin as the better of the two but to the Who's credit they were able to change or alter their sound dramatically over the course of their existence and still produce outstanding music. The stylistic difference between 'My Generation', 'Tommy' and 'Who's Next' is absolutely startling. The Who managed to changed their trademark sound a number of times without alienating their fan base and the public at large which is no small feat, only a handful of successful bands (i.e. Beatles, Rolling Stones) have been able to do this without being labeled as 'sellouts', 'too experimental' (in the negative sense) or simply 'done'.

Led Zeppelin however was a rock/blues band to its core and their biggest successes came when they stuck to their roots. Zeppelin's first four albums are absolutely drenched in rock/blues and so is 'House of the Holy' for the most part. Sure albums like Physical Graffitti', 'Presence' and 'In Through the Out Door' have splashes of brilliance but when you listen to those albums (especially the last two) you can sort of feel that the band's creative juices were in decline.

One thing for sure is that Led Zeppelin peaked and burnt out much faster than the Who. It's perfectly understandable when you consider the jaw dropping content of Zeppelin's first five albums. I guess that's what happens when you burn the candle at both ends like they did. On the other hand the Who managed to churn out quality music for a much longer period of time even though they were never able to produce as many great back to back albums as Led Zeppelin did. While the Who was able to spread its successes out over time they only have one or two albums that are crammed with first rate songs. Now in this regard Led Zeppelin is virtually unmatched. I know so many people (myself included) who have said they can listen to every single track on every Led Zeppelin album up to and including Houses of the Holy and actually feel bad about skipping a song! There hasn't been a single rock band in the history of the genre that has been able put so much quality music into that many back to back albums as Led Zeppelin did, it's simply an astounding accomplishment.

[Strike For The South]

lets get the led out

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Led, but that's too old for me...

[ShadesPanther]

Led Zeppelin for sure


Anyway I heard about them appearing at Live Aid and supposedly they showed so much contempt for each other that they have banned all footage of it. So what exactkly hapened

[Muska Burnt]

kinda hard to compare those two band even though they are both rock there just complety different like do the who vs the guess who

[English assassin]

Meatwad I think you have hit your stride with this one, very tough call.

I'm going to go with the Who. Both are brilliant bands, but maybe its the Who's attitude that shades it for me.

Besides everyone else is saying Zep.

[Steppe Merc]

Led Zeppelin all the way. The Who were good, but Zeppelin was incredible. It's probably because Zeppelin's style is what I love, blues/rootsy rock. Incredible.

Led Zeppelin however was a rock/blues band to its core and their biggest successes came when they stuck to their roots. Zeppelin's first four albums are absolutely drenched in rock/blues and so is 'House of the Holy' for the most part. Sure albums like Physical Graffitti', 'Presence' and 'In Through the Out Door' have splashes of brilliance but when you listen to those albums (especially the last two) you can sort of feel that the band's creative juices were in decline.

No way, I love Physical Graffitti. Incredible stuff on that one. If you said they started to go down with Presence, I might agree, but Physical Graffitti is incredible. Besides, a bunch of those songs were recorded early, either in the Houses of the Holy or the Zeppelin III sessions.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Physical Graffiti is a great album, but it should have been a single album, not a double-it's the first Zeppelin album with any filler. Cutting it down to one record would have made the album overall much better

[UglyandHasty]

Led Zep by far ! In my book its a no contest.

[Reverend Joe]

Where's Gawain? He's the biggest Who fan around here.

[Moros]

The Who... 1969 back in those days when there was real music...

O tempora o moras like my latin teacher always says