Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin are awesome! If it weren't for Page, I probably wouldn't have picked up a guitar in the first place. Not only did he come up with some of the most exciting guitar solos ever ("Stairway...," "Good Times, Bad Times," "Achilles Last Stand," "Since I've Been Loving You," among others), but he's also the ultimate riff-master ("Heartbreaker," "Black Dog," "Out on the Tiles" immediately come to mind).

I don't listen to them quite so much anymore (you can only listen to the same ol' songs so many times before you get a little tired of them), but I still think they're among the best bands ever. Sure, not everyone is going to like them, but they've obviously struck a chord with a whole bunch of people and continue to draw tons of new fans nearly 30 years after their breakup.

Add "Tea For One" off Presence to that list...

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

Here's one. Led Zeppelin is the best band in the WORLD!!!!!!!!! So what if they didn't reunite. I think they get their much-deserved rest!

+1 very cool GT.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Jimmy Page was ALWAYS at the top of his game.

Here is my opinion...

Prior to 1973, Page was a tremendous guitar player, but still a little rough around the edges. He was a little sloppy, and also seemed like he was hunting for his live tone. But it was in 1973 that Page's playing really hit a new peak. The speed and tone that he had been nurturing for years really came together with pure eloquence. He achieved the surreal ability to play long and fast guitar solos endlessly -- where every note seemed to radiate from the heavens. Back in '71, he was playing great, but not this good. So for 1973 to 1976, Page's guitar playing was absolutely monstrous. But post '76 the decline began. Page's playing became much slower and more muddy. He was still great, but not the same. The magical '73-76 years clearly became "long time gone"...

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

Well, Led Zeppelin was okay in Seattle in 1977. I saw a youtube video.

No doubt. In my opinion, Zeppelin and Page were always great. But Page - as a lead-guitar player - was absolutely magical in '73-76. I was a huge fan of Page in the Firm, too (still am, actually). But seeing Page live in 1985 was absolutely night and day from his live playing in 1975 -- night and day... And this is no slam on Page and Zep ... they were amazing. I am a huge fan of Jimmy Page.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

It's because Zeppelin blatantly stole music from Willie Dixon and called it their own. They were sued by Dixon and he was awarded somewhere around a million dollars. He wasn't the dumb old bluesman they thought he was.

http://www.turnmeondeadman.net/Zep/WholeLottaLove.php

Zeppelin were great musicians but not real ethical. Taking another persons song and making your own and giving credit isn't the same as taking another persons song and calling it your own.

Dixon Was the Hoochie Coochie Man. Muddy Waters made it famous.
Dixon was one of the finest song writers of his time and deserved better. Many bands covered blues songs in the 60's. The Animals, the Stones, but they gave credit where credit was do.

Here's my take on it.

As a society we like to build up "heroes" whether they deserve that title or not.
But then we love to tear them down.
That's a part of it.

But the bigger thing is this-
In the late 60's/early 70's Zep were innovators--taking what had gone before and making it their own. Yes they stole songs--and Page once lamented that Plant was supposed to change the words more.

Page's main talent was in producing. He got a sound that endures.
Try switching the balance from left to right on Zep's songs---you'll find some neat stuff you may have missed. On some songs the drums are all on one side--yet they sound full and booming.

In any case what happened for a backlash is that as Zep got bigger and more influential, others inevitably copied them, and so we got inundated with clones that weren't as good, and we got tired of it--so people said the same thing about Zep.

I remember the late 80's/early 90's "power ballad" craze--eventually it crashed--and people complained that all power ballads were boring--forgetting that some people pioneered that and did it well--including Zep. But it all got lumped together.

But it's also music--and you're free to like or dislike what doesn't speak to you.

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It wasn't Willy-Nilly, it was at crows.

Yeah i reckon Page was good in the studio too, but i also think he had great feel as a guitarist, knew his way round the fretboard and carried that band live. saw em in feb '74, they were GREAT.

patrick auckland nz

Well, I think what he did as a producer was definitely influenced by his "musician-ness" and was built around his abilities on the guitar. He took what he could do & built on that and added others that fit into those ideas & plans.
Sometimes a band is successful for the simple reason of the right people coming together at the right time.

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It wasn't Willy-Nilly, it was at crows.

Love Zep, still one of my 70's favorites.

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2006 Custom Shop Stratocaster Pro CC
2007 Parker NiteFly M
2008 Art & Lutherie Ami Cedar
2010 Seagull Entourage Rustic CW QI
2008 Blues Jr. Texas Red Ltd edition

I could play 'Stairway to Heaven' when I was 14. Jimmy Page didn't write it until he was 28. I think that says alot.

I don't remember where I heard this but it cracked me up.

Major Zeppelin fan. Major Jimmy Page fan.

Lost a bunch of discs in a move and needed to replace a lot of Zeppelin. There's a boxed set avail Jimmy and another remastered in...mid '90's? All their studio albums. 10 discs. 5 double cd cases, each side with the appropriate album cover. 'Bout a hunerd and a quarter, I think, but excellent.