Is Deep Purple A-List?

[HueyRamone]

I was talking to my friend who was a teen in the 70s and he said it didn’t get any more A-list than Led Zeppelin.

Anyone agree?

[Sleek]

I met some high-school kids getting stoned in the woods in 1974 who told me that Led Zeppelin were the biggest band ever. Was your friend perhaps one of them?

[HueyRamone]

I met some high-school kids getting stoned in the woods in 1974 who told me that Led Zeppelin were the biggest band ever. Was your friend perhaps one of them?

No those guys were idiots. The guy im referring to knows his shit. He's the one that confirmed that he saw Jason Newsted buying microwaved burritos at the 7-11, but had to put one back, because he was low on cash.

[Lobo]

Led Zeppelin is A-List and that isn't going to change anytime soon.

They called it quits after the drummer died.

There was no room or space for the inevitable decline due to the fact it ended so abruptly.

At the time they were headlining stadiums.

Deep Purple has been going since 1969. They had a few line up changes. The guitarist left and came back, then left again, then came back, then left again.

They never headlined stadiums on their own.

I like classic Deep Purple more than Led Zeppelin but Zep will forever be A-List, DP is a hard no.

I saw Deep Purple a few years ago headlining a shed with Alice Cooper. The whole audience was people over 40 years old with very few exceptions. There was a group of 4 teens that were close by as we walked towards the venue and I could hear them say "where are all the people our age?".

If Zep were to do a tour today they'd get a lot of teens to 20-somethings. Young people listen to Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple? I'm not convinced.

So if Zeppelin is the barometer for A-List, as others here have mentioned I would have to say that Deep Purple was never A-List. The closest they ever came was the Perfect Strangers album and tour. Still...it didn't quite fit the bill.

[Sleek]

Wait, you can buy microwaved burritos at 7/11?

I thought you had to microwave them yourself. Are you sure it wasn't a churro?

[HueyRamone]

Wait, you can buy microwaved burritos at 7/11?

I thought you had to microwave them yourself. Are you sure it wasn't a churro?

Youre missing the bigger issue. Forget the microwave. Newsted had to put items back due to not having FU money. Just like he wasnt rich enough to keep his metal band on the road, he wasnt rich enough to get the snacks his tummy desired.

[Sleek]

So are you saying he isn't A-list?

[EzyRider]

You gotta watch out for those 7-11 microwaves. I put a frozen burrito in one and followed the directions exactly (it was like 3 minutes from frozen or something like that)

After a few minutes black smoke started coming out and the guy started yelling at me that it was a 'super-microwave' and I completely F'd up.

There wasn't a 'super-microwave' warning or sign, or anything, I was confused.

So I left, but that guy had to sit there and smell it for the next few hours at least

I've never tried to microwave anything at 7-11 again, but it's a good thing, their burritos are D-list

[veritas]

Wow, late to this thread, but Sleek is pulling a Moggio here.

It's absolutely idiotic to contend Zep weren't A-listers in the 1970s. I won't repeat the box office records, the #1 albums, and the general hysteria over them throughout the decade. Biggest band of that decade, neck-in-neck with the Stones.

[HueyRamone]

I've never tried to microwave anything at 7-11 again, but it's a good thing, their burritos are D-list

Insane take.

I've recorded thousands of commercials from the 80s and 90s, and their microwaved burritos are ALL over the spots. Absolutely A-list in the microwave burrito world.

[Sleek]

Wow, late to this thread, but Sleek is pulling a Moggio here.

It's absolutely idiotic to contend Zep weren't A-listers in the 1970s. I won't repeat the box office records, the #1 albums, and the general hysteria over them throughout the decade. Biggest band of that decade, neck-in-neck with the Stones.

Neck AND neck.

[dmbrocker]

I've never tried to microwave anything at 7-11 again, but it's a good thing, their burritos are D-list

Insane take.

I've recorded thousands of commercials from the 80s and 90s, and their microwaved burritos are ALL over the spots. Absolutely A-list in the microwave burrito world.

Not here in Northeast GA/Upstate SC. Around here QuikTrip is king!

[Tommy2Tone84]

Grand Funk? Seriously? I can name you maybe three GFR songs at best,

Your ignorance is irrelevant.

While the press might’ve hated Zeppelin in the 70s, the rock press was kissing their ass in the 80s and 90s just rubbing their clits out at the thought of a reunion.

Again, irrelevant. This whole thread is about who was "A list" in the seventies in music.

Alice Cooper is Blackie Lawless by comparison

Wut? I feel like your grasp on how analogy works may be a little weak.

Are you feeling alright, sleek? You’re not making any sense.

I feel like I have stated my case clearly and succinctly, but then my reading comprehension levels may be a bit high for sludge, so let me simplify it as a list.:

1. Hard rock was a musical ghetto in the seventies, not taken seriously by anyone over 18. This is a board for hard rock fans, and at the time, we were all under 18 and took it seriously, which makes y'all hella biased. and downright blind.

2. Being "A list" means more than just selling tickets and records. It requires an awareness in the popular culture and the old-school industry, not just among hip youngsters. Elvis crossed over. Mick Jagger crossed over. The Beatles crossed over...but if (for instance) you asked Mike Douglas in 1975 who the drummer in Led Zeppelin was, he'd be like: "Who?"

3. Any person's like or dislike of a band has no bearing on their pop cultural status 50 years ago. (For the record, I love Zeppelin and know more about them than you, regardless of who "you" is.)

4. Zeppelin is a non-entity when it comes to billboard year-end lists and hardly exists on seventies radio, of which I have over 1,000 recordings as a sample size. There is no year where they had the top selling album, and were just cockslayed AT THE TIME by shit nobody thinks about now, like Andy Gibb, The carpenters .

5. Much less worthy bands like Kiss and Alice Cooper were closer to "A list" in the states, but despite getting close, were never there. Aerosmith arguably had two years with enough top 40 crossover singles ('76-'77) where they COULD have crossed over but did not, probably because they were too busy imploding.

6. All of these statements only concern the seventies. Many hard rock bands became bigger and attained legendary status over time and TO SOME EXTENT could be considered "A list" now, but only as legacy artists. AC/DC, Aerosmith or Zeppelin are legit huge in the backwards facing pop culture, but none of them are going to put anything out that knocks Taylor Swift or Lil' Jizzy D off the charts, and the average young person does not really know them.

7. Y'all greatly confuse "sales and reputation OVER time" with "sales AT the time". This is because you use suspect methodology (To put it kindly. I think the methodology is mostly: "WAaaaurgh! Me Love Zeppelin! ZeppElIn bIGgesT bAnD Ever!!!" but imma give y'all the benefit of the doubt, as you are not Kisstards).

Liiiike, if you google "best selling album OF 1971" you turn up Led Zeppelin 4, but if you look up "Best selling album IN 1971" it does not appear. I hear you say: "It came out in November tho, so it should be on the 1972 charts." It is. #14. Right behind Bread.

The top hard rock album of 1972 was Killer by Alice Cooper, at #6.

Source charts:

https://bestsellingalbums.org/year-end/ ... lbums_1971

https://bestsellingalbums.org/year-end/ ... lbums_1972

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_B ... ms_of_1971

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_B ... ms_of_1972

We will have to largely agree to disagree. Didn’t Debbie Boone chart huge in the 70s too? That doesn’t make her A-list.

You seem to love Alice Cooper for some reason. I don’t care where he “charted.” He was never A-List, no matter how tight he was with The Marx Brothers or who he golfed with. His record sales indicate he was about on the same level as KISS. As much as I love KISS, they were never in Led Zeppelin’s league either, and quite frankly neither was Aerosmith even if they came close for two years in the 70s.

Same with Elton John. Alice and KISS were never in his league even though Alice and Elton both appeared on The Muppet Show at different times.

All artists careers ebb and flow. While Zeppelin may have closed down a little between the death of Karac and Jimmy’s heroin addiction, KISS and Alice Cooper were minor leaguers by comparison. I don’t really care what the public perception was in the late 70s. I have no doubt had Bonham lived their 1980 tour would’ve been massive.

A Listers from that time to me are

The Stones
McCartney
Zeppelin
Eagles
Queen-I don’t care what anyone says
Fleetwood Mac-shockingly they stayed there for a good while after Tusk
Elton John
Bee Gees-although they soon fell from grace and never fully recovered sadly
Springsteen-See Queen

Alice, KISS and even Aerosmith can’t hold or carry any of those acts water. Btw, I’m a bigger KISS and Aerosmith fan than I am Eagles or FWM

[Sleek]

Springsteen wasn't THAT big until he crossed over with Born in da USA a few years later.

I base a lot of my estimation of "A list" on how ingrained in the culture and recognizable and artist was. My seventies a list would include:

Elvis
Any Beatle, Ringo maybe more than the others even. Fucker was everywhere for a while. Liiiike, anybody remember his prime-time special?
Elton John
Cher
Kenny Rogers
Willie Nelson
Mac Davis
Simon and/or Garfunkel
The Jacksons/MJ towards decade's end
Abba
The Carpenters
Diana Ross
Mayyyybe Kris Kristofferson. Fucker was everywhere on movies and TV.
Barbara Streisand
Johnny Cash
Mayyybe Jerry Reed
Mick Jagger

....and Burt Bacharach and Paul Williams, who were mainly composers, but celebrities in their own right as well.

[Bono Nettencourt]

[kanister]

Perfect Strangers is not A-list. It's fairly good. They've made a number better than that since then, a couple of the Morse albums. All of them are pretty good.

While I enjoy most if not all more recent DP albums that is a pretty bold statement IMO. Which later albums exactly you rate higher than Perfect Strangers?

[Wiseacre]

I know a few posters here who are absolutely, unquestionably, without a doubt A-hole listers.

[EzyRider]

I've never tried to microwave anything at 7-11 again, but it's a good thing, their burritos are D-list

Insane take.

I've recorded thousands of commercials from the 80s and 90s, and their microwaved burritos are ALL over the spots. Absolutely A-list in the microwave burrito world.

I re-read this five times in a row, and laughed out loud each time

[Van Ailin']

Perfect Strangers is not A-list. It's fairly good. They've made a number better than that since then, a couple of the Morse albums. All of them are pretty good.

While I enjoy most if not all more recent DP albums that is a pretty bold statement IMO. Which later albums exactly you rate higher than Perfect Strangers?

Perpendicular and Rapture of the Deep

[Tommy]

Led Zeppelin are absolutely A-list. JFC already.

[Wiseacre]

Led Zeppelin are absolutely A-list. JFC already.

As they say…”only on Sludge” could topic make it past the first reply telling the OP they are BEYOND retarded (the old-school definition).