Led Zeppelin Vs. The Beatles - Who Is The True Rock G.O.A.T.?

[Harry Dresden]

Again I am not talking about number of hits.
I mean, c'mon yellow submarine was a big hit. It's not exactly a great song... it was basically a childrens song. Maxwell Silver Hammer... WTF was that? Again like a childrens sing a long.
There was a time Beatles could have recorded themselves sneezing and kids would have ran out and bought it.
Paul McCartney, IMO, was a hit machine. he knew how to write catchy-quick little tunes better than anyone. To this day.
I am talking quality of music. Again, not to say everything Paul did was kiddie stuff, there was groundbreaking songs mixed in with it.
But writing 1000 little catchy diddies doesn't mean you are the greatest of all time.

you are using the word "greatest".......greatest means what they have accomplished is greater than the other bands....name a band that equals what the Beatles have accomplished.....maybe BEST is what should be used here....are the Beatles the best there has been so far?...i dont think they were....

 

[Ringo]

are the Beatles the best there has been so far?....

Yes, they were.

 

[Canon Shooter]

I suggest you do some research; it's rather fascinating how they were rejected by every record company except Parlaphone, a comedy label.
They also wound up doing the same thing as every other artist...
Brian Epstein got 25% of their Gross Income for 3 years.
The Publishing Company owned their music.
EMI paid them a paltry sum of money per record, single or album, because they were unknown.
They found out around 1969 that, collectively, they owned Britain 10 million pounds in taxes.
Allen Klein told them to sell the rights to their music in order to pay the taxes and associated fine.

They toured for the first 3 years just to be able to pay EMI, the publisher and Brian Epstein which is why Lennon wanted to quit after Revolver and only wrote to keep up with Paul.
It wasn't a happy story.

And, yet, Paul McCartney currently has a net worth just north of $1 billion dollars.

Ringo Starr isn't doing too shabby, either...

 

[Harry Dresden]

Yes, they were.

thats a matter of opinion.....there are bands who have had far better musicians and who had a lot of success too..... they just were not as great as the Beatles were....but many bands since have had guys who were better players than the Beatles....the only Beatle who could stand with best on their instrument was McCartney on Bass.....but the other 3?.....

 

[iamwhatiseem]

you are using the word "greatest".......greatest means what they have accomplished is greater than the other bands....name a band that equals what the Beatles have accomplished.....maybe BEST is what should be used here....are the Beatles the best there has been so far?...i dont think they were....

I can go with that... sort of.
I am thinking of "greatest" as the best there has ever been, not just who did the most songs.
The Beatles were a significant part of early Rock n Roll, and influenced many other band after them. Anyone saying otherwise has their head buried in the sand.
But so did Led Zepplin. In fact I believe LED had a longer and greater influence sphere than the Beatles did.
You take The Hollies, earlier than Beatles... McCartney did not like The Hollies because people were comparing them and asking Paul and John are they influenced by them, Paul declined they were - but who knows? I think they probably influenced each other.
Then you have Buddy Holly who were a HEAVY influence for Paul and John, and where they got the name Beatles from!
No one band created Rock n Roll, but groups had a larger sphere of influence than other bands did like them. Beatles sphere was massive at the time because of their success. But I am not convinced they have had long term "sound shifting" influence like LED.

 

[Harry Dresden]

I can go with that... sort of.
I am thinking of "greatest" as the best there has ever been, not just who did the most songs.
The Beatles were a significant part of early Rock n Roll, and influenced many other band after them. Anyone saying otherwise has their head buried in the sand.
But so did Led Zepplin. In fact I believe LED had a longer and greater influence sphere than the Beatles did.
You take The Hollies, earlier than Beatles... McCartney did not like The Hollies because people were comparing them and asking Paul and John are they influenced by them, Paul declined they were - but who knows? I think they probably influenced each other.
Then you have Buddy Holly who were a HEAVY influence for Paul and John, and where they got the name Beatles from!
No one band created Rock n Roll, but groups had a larger sphere of influence than other bands did like them. Beatles sphere was massive at the time because of their success. But I am not convinced they have had long term "sound shifting" influence like LED.

Zepplin definitely was a bigger influence in the hard rock world...

 

[the other mike]

Zepplin definitely was a bigger influence in the hard rock world...

That's kind of like saying the invention of steel made concrete skyscrapers possible.

but Beatles still thought of the idea of the skyscraper in the first place

 

[Harry Dresden]

That's kind of like saying the invention of steel made concrete skyscrapers possible.

but Beatles still thought of the idea of the skyscraper in the first place

was i right or wrong?....

 

[the other mike]

was i right or wrong?....

It's an inherently redundant question to begin with isn't it? Even if Led Zeppelin 'improved' on what the Beatles started , it wouldn't make them better.

It's like saying a 2022 Corvette is better than a mint condition 69 Camaro.

 

[Harry Dresden]

It's an inherently redundant question to begin with isn't it? Even if Led Zeppelin 'improved' on what the Beatles started , it wouldn't make them better.

It's like saying a 2022 Corvette is better than a mint condition 69 Camaro.

no its not.....who has a bigger influence in hard rock music....the Beatles or Zeppelin?...

 

[Leo123]

I saw Zep one of the first times they played in SF. They nearly blew the roof off the place!!! I believe, at the time, they were 2nd billing to Country Joe and the Fish. Felt sorry for CJF though.

 

[the other mike]

no its not.....who has a bigger influence in hard rock music....the Beatles or Zeppelin?...

That's not the premise of this thread.
If you want to argue in semantics try the education board.

 

[Harry Dresden]

That's not the premise of this thread.
If you want to argue in semantics try the education board.

so i was right?....zep was a greater influence in the hard rock world....

 

[Feeding Crows]

I'm sorry, you can't use the little catch hits that McCartney would write for the Beatles, and himself. Yeah, there are hundreds!

But that's not what it's about. The Beatles made many of the greatest songs in rock history. Nobody has made more.

You can't call Let it Be, Hey Dude, Yesterday, and countless other songs as "paul fluff". And that's not even including John and George. They made the most iconic songs, and they are all still with us today. They haven't lost a "beat". Greatest band of all time. Even though they did a lot of ballads.

Which brings me to something I was thinking out. Ballads. The Beatles were Rock&Roll, but they played a lot of ballads, and a lot of different style music. So did Led Zeppelin, Stones, and Floyd. So did Elvis!

But everyone calls Elvis the King of R&R, but most of his songs were ballads. Not even written by him.

So it's hard to pigeon hole, "Best Rock and Roll Band", because there's a lot of ballads in the greatest groups.

If we want to go groups that did only R&R, there are very few... Besides heavy metal, and even they did ballads, there's none I can think of!

 

[Feeding Crows]

We have to go by what professional musicians consider the greatest group and also the greatest song of all time.

And that's the Beatles almost unanimously, and the song being "in my life".

 

[Feeding Crows]

We can have our opinions. In my opinion, Billy Joel (my musical idol, along with Paul and John) is one the greatest songwriters ever, but I can't give him "the best" title because of Paul. And the Beatles were his idols! That's what created Billy Joel.... The Beatles! So I'm going with my idol's idols as the best ever.

 

[Gracie]

In my opinion, The Beach Boys were twinsies of the Beatles. Same concept of grabbing teenyboppers and $$$$. Go after the young girls and boys, not a lot of "great" music.
Again...just my opinion. Everyone has their own style of what they like to hear. Its kinda like who was the best crooner...Sinatra or Crosby or Como.

My own style was Hendrix, Joplin, Led, Stones, etc. Less hard rock was The Animals, Crosby Stills Nash and Young etc, a dash of Moody Blues with a sprinkle of Cat Stevens and similars.

 

[.oldschool]

 

[Ringo]

Their saddest song was on the same LP

 

[Feeding Crows]

I love that song! I play the crap out of it on piano! TY!!!