Nah - you’re forgetting Peter Grant, Zep’s huge, bellicose former-wrestler/bouncer manager. Compared to Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp (I think that’s his name, Terence Stamp’s brother) who were the 5th and 6th members of the Who and fashionable Mod dandy-type co-managers. The Who wouldn’t have stood a chance and Percy Plant’s hair wouldn’t even have gotten mussed…
Would Pete be allowed to use his guitar?
And Moonie is likely to have some random bits of explosives hidden in his drum kit that could come in handy in a brawl.
If you’re gonna let Grant in, then you have to allow Pete’s signature moves (the "El Kabong" and the “Doc Marten Stomp”). That should even things up a bit.
I’m a little late to this thread. In Ball Four, Jim Bouton’s hilarious diary of his season with the Seattle Pilots, he describes a pep talk that his manager with the Yankees gave before a big series. The manager simply went through the line-ups of the two teams, comparing the players position by position. The Yankees were so loaded that everyone ended up laughing, sure that the Yanks would stomp their opponents. If baseball actually worked that way, there might be an undefeated season, and certainly a lot more series sweeps. Rock definitely doesn’t work that way.
In the spring of 1969, I had the pleasure of seeing The Who in concert at Meriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. The opening act was Led Zeppelin. Tommy had been released in the US just days before. The first Led Zeppelin album had been released a few months before. It was the best concert I’ve ever attended. After experiencing it, I was convinced I had heard rock at its best and most powerful. Almost 40 years later, my opinion hasn’t changed. So, I’ll start by completely weaseling out at the band level. Both bands were great; they fought to a draw.
As the OP said, this is opinion.
Daltrey vs Plant - Daltrey. When Roger’s voice is in good form it is an awesome rock instrument. I enjoy Plant, but nobody can thrill me with a guttural scream like Daltrey.
Townshend vs Page. Page. I have tremendous respect for Townshend as a player, and I will argue vehemently with anyone who dismisses him as a mere rhythm guitarist, but Page was and is simply brilliant. Memorable riffs, blazing solos, and great power-playing, he’s the complete rock guitarist. Throw in some pedal steel and acoustic guitar wizardry, and he stands alone.
Entwistle vs Jones. Entwistle, as a bass player. He was fast, he was fluid, he was an innovator, and he rocked. If I was starting a recording band, I’d probably pick Jones for his keyboard ability, but in concert, Entwistle was a mammoth presence physically and musically.
Moon vs Bonham. Bonham. The hardest choice for me, these are my two favorite drummers. For me, it all comes down to the unbelievable power and authority of Bonham’s playing.
I never knew Zep opened for The Who. How cool is that? What a show that must have been. Did they do an entire tour together?
I’m a bit late to this but I really want to pitch in something as a fan of both bands. I haven’t read much of the thread yet so I might be re-stating stuff, I’ll skip the obvious stuff who is the better player that must have been covered many times by now (especially since WordMan has posted).
Some comparisons at random.
Live I think The Who win by a mile (judging by films, never saw either band in person), Zeppelin could be really boring. I have the How the West Was Won DVD and some of that is unwatchably dull - any live Who footage is dynamic. My impression is that the Who really wanted to put on a show with a decent PA and (I think the first) LASER light show. Zeppelin mostly wanted to make money.
Songwriting Lyrically Townshend is ahead by a several of orders of magnitude, Plant is often embarssing. Some of Zeppelin’s best stuff doesn’t really strike me as ‘songs’ as such, the lyrics are pretty much irrelevant and often (thankfully) incomprehensible, Page writes the best riffs and Zeppelin’s arrangements make the most of them. They were also really good at creating great moments in their songs, often at the climax of a Page solo.
Instrumentally I expect this has been done to death, but overall I think I’d call it a draw.
To look at it another way how would you do:
(The Who or Led Zeppelin) vs Pink Floyd
All contemporary English bands, all aiming at utterly different things (artistically, I expect the whole money and fame thing goes without saying) I don’t see why you have to favour any one over the others. You can have your chips and peas.
Now off to see what everone else has said. Has anyone started a Floyd vs XYZ thread?
There’d be no point: Floyd would win without any contest 
Interesting stuff, Small Clanger. The thing with your Floyd question is that it really is a different question vs. what Southern Yankee had in his OP. With both The Who and Zep, you have acknowledged genius players in Page, Bonham, JPJ, Moon, and Entwhistle (I and others would add Pete) and powerhouse frontmen in Daltrey and Plant.
With Floyd, only Gilmour is typically referred to as a brilliant guitarist. Mason, Wright and Waters are certainly all great players - and Waters a profoundly talented songwriter and producer - but they are never mentioned when asking for lists of “the best” bassists, drummers or keyboard players. And from a vocal standpoint, Gilmour has a wonderful but limited voice and Waters is barely passable (although he interprets his songs effectively).
Having said all that, Floyd fully embraces a comment I made in an earlier thread that it is the BAND that matters - from that standpoint they are totally worthy of comparisons. But, IMHO - that is a different type of thread…
Perhaps you should search for threads on the best drummers, although I acknoledge that it is due to innovation and spirit more than technical prowess that projects Mason into the upper echelon.
It was an amazing show. Led Zeppelin did not tour with The Who. According to Led Zeppelin’s site, it only happened once, and I was there. It appears that I paid $5.75 to attend the concert. Please note the spelling on the ticket.
Prompted by what Small Clanger wrote, I would say that overall The Who was an immensely better band than Led Zeppelin. LZ was simply astounding opening for The Who, and as I said above, they fought to a draw. The two Zeppelin shows I attended after that, at the Baltimore Civic Center in 1972 and 1973, were big disappointments to me. Plant was ducking high notes all night at both shows, and Page didn’t even seem to be trying to play well. I saw The Who again in 1973 and 1976 in Largo, MD and was not disappointed.
I realised that after I posted on re-reading the OP, but plenty of other people have wandered off the point a bit ::wanders off:: obviously Pete would cream Page because he will use his guitar as a weapon, Page’s guitars will all be at home in a climate controlled room.
Floyd are a very strange band in terms of musicianship, they all seem to be leaving space for each other, but that discussion belongs somewhere else.
Any chance of a link?
In 1972? :eek:.
I hope that if Plant were to die or get incapacitated soon they would just get it over with and replace him with the Wilson sisters for concerts, and all will be right with the world.
Sorry - I mis-typed: it’s post #23 in this thread…
**Crotalus **- wow, “Lead” Zeppelin for a one-time appearance with The Who and you were there. Too cool!
Opening acts could be quite an adventure back then. Remind me to tell you youngsters about the Moody Blues opening for Cream, or Yes opening for Jethro Tull some time. But now it’s time for my nap.
Or Hendrix opening for The Monkeys.
No seriously, that was not was joke.
Imagine the shock and horror for all of those Monkees fans! I saw Hendrix in Baltimore in 1970. I had to go to a web site to find out that the opening acts were Ballin Jack and Cactus. Apparently Jimi’s show had wiped out my memory of that. Or something else had.
Not only did The Who share the stage with Led Zep, but Pete and Co. shared the bill with both The Beatles and Herman’s Hermits at points of their career. Jimi once opened for The Who.
Oh, and regarding Pete’s playing–there’s a nice clip from Amazing Journey where Alan Rogan talks about flecks of blood on Pete’s guitars…“It’s the real deal”, Rogan says.
I’ll admit to being helplessly clueless to today’s music scene. I’m not that old (40), but I’m just not that interested (get off my lawn!) Is there any equivalent in the last 20 years of contemparary bands of such historic importance playing on the same bill? The most obvious I can think of, outside of an* event * concert,might be Nirvana and Pearl Jam? But that’s just a WAG.
-wrong thread-
crap