70s Rock Juggernauts

[maxperenchio]

When my bone-headed musician friends and I have some drinks, 1 out of 4 times we end up discussing this admittedly stilted, but evenly matched scenario- I'd like some opinions from the classic rock fans on the board: Order the following 70s juggernaut rock bands:


Led Zeppelin - Pink Floyd - Black Sabbath - The Who


in terms of overall greatness, or personal preference, or feuds between the respective personnel in each band (they are quite evenly matched in terms of great guitarists, vocalists, bassists and drummers (Rick Wright wins keys though)).

1. Black Sabbath
2. Pink Floyd
3. The Who
4. Led Zeppelin

is my extremely subjective ordering (which says more about me than the bands themselves) I think historically it would maybe be opposite? Don't even get me started on Gilmour vs. Page vs. Iommi vs. Townshend... actually get me started, I'm bored.

[RFNAPLES]

1. Led Zeppelin
2. The Who
3. Pink Floyd
4. Black Sabbath
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[GARY]

Well,12 of my top 34 albums on my chart of 50 are from these 4 bands.I agree that Rick Wright wins keys but John Paul Jones of Zeppelin is not very far behind him.I also think that Led Zeppelin and The Who have superior drumming,bass guitar and vocals to those of Pink Floyd.Zeppelin has the most consistent high quality of albums with the least amount of,if any,filler on them.The Who was a great live band and best of these 4 bands.I could spend a week on this good,but difficult,question.So I will just rank them with all aspects of these bands consisered.

(1) Led Zeppelin
(2) The Who
(3) Black Sabbath
(4) Pink Floyd
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[ShaneSpear]

1. The Who
2. Led Zeppelin
3. Pink Floyd
4. Black Sabbath

[Postmodern_Beatnik]

1. Pink Floyd
2. The Who
3. Black Sabbath
4. Led Zeppelin

I do like Black Sabbath more quality-wise in comparison to The Who, but The Who seems to have more consistency. Led Zeppelin is just another blues-rock band while Pink Floyd reigns supreme.

[maxperenchio]

I'm a pretty serious guitar dork, so I always find myself going back to that. Any other guitar players on the board?

I think Tony Iommi wrote the most evil-cool riffs of all time. You can trace almost any metal song back to some archetypal Iommi/Sabbath riff. His tone is a hell-spun mixture of metal fingertips (literally), a classic Marshall/Gibson SG combination, light strings that he shakes just right, and a solo style that sounds more like a ghost-portal being opened rather than scales being played. He actually might be Satan. He's the most singular, and therefore my favorite of the bunch.

Page is the superior soloist. Probably the greatest electric blues soloist of all time. His riffs rival Iommi's, and is probably the most revered of the gang, historically. I love him. Really, I would probably rank Zeppelin #1 if it wasn't for Robert Plant, which makes me rank them #4. I kind of have this weird hatred for him.

Gilmour is a God on the strings, and probably wrote the greatest solo of all "Time". He plays slow, huge, arena sized licks and has a great singular Fender tone. His textures on "Echoes", his harmonized leads on "Dogs" make him one of the all time guitar heroes.

Townshend. I was reading a history of Marshall amps book, and found out that the 100 watt full stack was invented, by James Marshal, just for him...that's like saying rock n roll was invented for you. That is fucking awesome. He packs so much swat into his rhythm playing. The A power chord in "won't get fooled again" might be the greatest and chord has ever sounded in rock.

[purple]

0. The Stooges (favorite album: Raw Power)
1. Led Zeppelin (III)
2. Pink Floyd (Wish You Were Here)
3. Black Sabbath (Master of Reality)
4. Who (Who's Next)

[40footwolf]

1. The Who
2. Black Sabbath
3. Led Zeppelin
4. Pink Floyd
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