Once again, my youth is a hindrance when assessing the bands that I like. However, from what I know, it’s difficult to imagine 1970s music without Led Zeppelin in the frame. I went through my own Zeppelin phase, and also wondered what everyone else must have thought around 1975 – was there a better band around? Were there, in fact, any other bands around apart from Led Zeppelin? Was there a better guitarist around than Jimmy Page? The answer to ll three of these questions is yes, of course, especially to the last. The answer comes mostly in the form of two words – Brian May.
Jimmy Page has co-written some great songs. Whole Lotta Love – great. Rock N’ Roll – great. Stairway – overplayed, plagarised, but still great. However, on a technical level, there are so many better guitarists (I’ll try and make my point clear over the indignant shouting of every 12 year-old guitarist currently attempting Stairway to Heaven in every guitar shop across the country).
On that note, let’s talk about Brian May. Style, attention to detail and tone are his main forte. May writes and performs each song with the utmost precision – you only have to listen to the solo in Killer Queen and you’d see what I mean. It’s neat and tidy, but turns this set of seemingly uninteresting qualities for a guitar solo into an unmistakable and incredibly stylish formula. A classic player needs a classic amp, and the tone of May’s Vox AC30 reflects his playing – clean but also incredibly powerful. I saw the band with Adam Lambert in January and I can safely say that if I heard Jimmy Page’s guitar tone, I wouldn’t think much of it, whereas May’s is unmistakably his. Plus, the hair…
The songs. Despite the huge success of Led Zeppelin, it would be easier to name a greater number of Queen’s songs initially. Why? Maybe due to the influence of Freddie Mercury as a performer, maybe the fact that their vocals of were so unique in their arrangement – the layering of harmonies which created a wall of operatic singing gives the band it’s recognizable sound. From a technical point of view, Queen were more on point than Led Zeppelin – they sound much sharper and much more distinct. Furthermore, John Deacon and John Paul Jones have both been remarkably underappreciated in this area – both are magnificent bassists, but their talents as songwriters cannot go unnoticed; Deacon as the author of some of Queen’s greatest songs – The Show Must Go On, You’re My Best Friend and I Want To Break Free, and Jones being behind Black Dog and Trampled Underfoot, among others.
That’s not to say at all that Led Zeppelin don’t sound good. They do, simply in the opposite way. Almost all of the material by Queen is meticulously detailed in composition and execution, but Led Zeppelin are much, much more prone to improvisation (Jimmy Page recorded the solo in Rock N’Roll in a corridor as improv). Zeppelin sound grittier, rougher and dirtier than Queen. However, it wouldn’t be fair to compare Dazed and Confused with Bohemian Rhapsody, or Kashmir with Inneundo. Led Zeppelin represents the 70’s as being the decade which said goodbye to flower power and instead smacked you across the face with a steaming pile of filthy, felonious, good old fashioned Rock N’ Roll. Queen, on the other hand, exploded after 1975 and were hailed as being a powerhouse of quality and dynamism, particularly in terms of vocals. Which brings us onto the next element to consider: frontmen.
The fact that Led Zeppelin just exudes sexual magnetism is mainly down to the lyrics by Plant which do nothing but fertilize ideas about sex (I shan’t go into detail about lemons). Whilst it is an undisputed fact that Freddie Mercury is simply outstanding as a musician but also in vocal performance and stage presence, how good is Robert Plant in comparison? His raspy, screaming vocals are a staple of every Led Zep track, and I can’t lie, they’re still very effective. However, the early 1970’s were the height of the band’s success. I.e, not the time at which Queen were also at the height of theirs, but were just beginning. Therefore, it isn’t necessarily fair to pit Plant and Mercury against each other, as they were both at the top of their game at different times in music history. Although, if we were to pit them against each other, it would be very, very difficult to choose a better frontman. Robert Plant has a raw, sexually-charged delivery, whilst Freddie Mercury is outright mind blowing. Take The Show Must Go On, for example; the sheer amount of power in Mercury’s voice sends chills down my spine whenever I hear it, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Led Zeppelin are an amazing band. Queen are an amazing band. It wouldn’t be right to try and decide which one is better – there are too many aspects to consider. Both influenced the members of Def Leppard among many other bands of that era, and continue to be cited as influences to artists today. I think that if a band can do that, then both are equally successful – Led Zeppelin and Queen have both left legacies which will be ingrained in rock history forever, and that is the true measure of success for them.