I notice in "Classic Rock" magazine that Geoff Barton has included an article where he attempts to put forward the notion that Deep Purple are in fact more worthy than Led Zeppelin, and that somehow Zeppelin do not deserve the title of "The Most important band in the world... today" that has recently been bestowed on them by Q Magazine (Q224).

Here I attempt to examine the reasons why Zeppelin do indeed deserve that title, and Purple most certainly do not.  Zeppelin have long been regarded by the British Press and otherwise as the best rock band ever, indeed the best band ever.   Ever since they topped the charts and appeared on Top of the Pops in the early 70's the press has been behind Zeppelin, and quite right too. 

Zeppelin have the better guitar riffs.  OK Smoke on the Water is OK, but a bit dull. I gather even Purples current singer Ian Gillan calls it the "Dan dan" song (although of course the original version was sung by Rod Evans).  Take the Zeppelin classic "No Quarter", a riff of great majesty, if there ever was one. and what about "Trampled Underfoot", pure hard rock genius.

Another factor I guess is famous personnel and in particular guitarists.  Jimmy Page is renowned worldwide as a famous fantastic British guitar player whereas most people wouldn't know who Ritchie Blackmore is at all.  Why is this?  Simply it must be because Jimmy Page is the better player and write the better songs.  Even when Jimmy Page was replaced by Sammy Hagar for a few years Zeppelin remained at the top of the list of bands for the era.

Purple often tried to copy Zeppelin.  Take Stargazer, which was clearly just a take on Kashmir.  Or what about "Sometimes I feel like screaming" which is clearly based on Zeps "Black Dog" (although their song may have been based on Nick Drakes song of the same name)

Purple also copied titles from Zeppelin.  Zep did "The Battle of Evermore" and then Purple replied limply with "The battle of Epping Forest" off "The Battle rages on" album.

Too many Purple riffs are in the key of G.  Smoke on the water, Burn, Man on the Silver Mountain, Gettin Tighter.  Obviously Blackmore only had one mode and couldn't be bothered to move his hand further up or down the fretboard.  At least Jimmy Page could be bothered to change key a bit.  Oh and Mistreated was originally in G apparently, but was toned down to F sharp by the mixing process in order to make Coverdale seem a bit more gravely.  The Beatles did this with "Strawberry Fields Forever" with great success, however Purple managed to make the whole band seem grumpy, even Ian Paice.

Too many Purple songs simply lose their way half way through.  Take "Space Trunkin", again a good riff, however it descends after a couple of verses and choruses into mayhem  and goes on for ages without any real meaning (especially the live version).  Zepplins songs always had cohesion.  take "Whole lotta love", probably one of Zeps most famous tracks, with it's wonderfully harmonic middle section which nicely develops the theme of the song in general.  Also the cleverness of the lyrics are apparent here.  What cleverness does Purple ever give you in this direction?  What the hell is Ian Gillans "Knocking at your back door" about for example?

Purple are too tempted to try silly styles.  Look at "anyones daughter" from Fireball or the awful "Since you been gone", I mean what on earth were they thinking of?  Zeppelin always kept up their Hard Rock mantel, seen for example on their great hits D'Yer Mak'er or All my Love.

Put it simply, Zeppelin are indeed the most important band in the world today.  The British press has always known it, and they are correct.  Zeppelin deserves all the official recognition it gets.  Page and Plant should be Knighted by now and be figures of the establishment.  Deep Purple wrote Smoke on the Water, so what!

Xiago Chi Ip