The Beatles and Led Zeppelin have long been mentioned in the same breath, given that Led Zep knocked the Fab Four off their perch as the most exciting band in the late 1960s. Also breaking the Liverpudlian group’s record for the highest-ever concert attendance in 1973, this immense success has meant that the two are inextricably connected in music history. However, according to Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, the bands were vastly different.
While the sounds of both groups might be distinct, according to Bonham, Led Zeppelin were from an era when musicians represented something entirely distinguishable from when The Beatles were at their pomp. Namely, this was that, before all else, listeners wanted to enjoy the music instead of going to shows in order to marvel at the aesthetic wonders in front of them.
Bonham’s incredibly perceptive comments came when appearing alongside Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant on the BBC’s current affairs programme, Nationwide, in 1970. After winning numerous accolades at that year’s Melody Maker poll, the pair were in the studio to chat with host Bob Wellings. The awards saw them deliver another blow to The Beatles’ cultural standing as they won ‘Best UK Group’ and ‘Best International Group’ with Plant also taking home ‘Best UK Singer’. Not finished there, 1969’s Led Zeppelin II was also voted ‘Best UK Album’.
Naturally, Wellings sought to draw parallels between The Beatles and Led Zeppelin but couldn’t help patronising the two long-haired musicians before him. Wellings said that despite all the different variations that had been played upon The Beatles’ 1965 hit ‘Yesterday’, he could still hum the melody. However, he posited that he couldn’t have done the same for any of Led Zeppelin’s songs.
He then asked the band if they thought they would be in the limelight as long as the Fab Four and be considered as “inventive”. It was then that Bonham silenced Wellings’ assertions with some genuine insight. He pointed to changing listener attitudes and that they were successful because fans were appreciating them as musicians, not just as a commercial force.
Bonham said: “I think that’s why the awards have changed because the kids are changing for a start, and so is the music. Well, there’s already a single out of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ – an orchestra playing it – which is quite interesting, really. The flute plays what the lead vocal would do.”
Following this, Wellings asked if Bonham claimed that his band’s fans didn’t want to whistle or hum their songs because they were much “more sophisticated” than his generation. Again, he parried this notion and outlined how Led Zeppelin were from a considerably different time to that of The Beatles.
He explained: “Well, no, not in that sense. I think these days, let’s say the public, let’s not just say the kids, because we’ve had all sorts of people at concerts, I think that they’re coming to listen to what you’re playing and not just to look at you and see what you are. I mean, I remember, this is going back a few years, when I first went to see The Beatles – because we’ve mentioned them a few times – it was to look at them. You didn’t really bother with what you were listening to, and today, it’s not what you are; it’s what you’re playing.”
Watch the interview below.