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Cream; better musicians and more original. Led Zeppelin had a great sound, but I think even the Yardbirds were more influential for recording a couple of good tracks.
Agree.
Another vote for Cream from me.
Cream was only a band for 2 years....june 1966 to November 1968
Led Zeppelin ...much longer ...august 1968 to September 1980....12 years
But Cream had a huge impact back in late 66-early 67....spear heading a blues boom in Britain...bands like...Fleet Mac...Savoy Brown...Jethro Tull…
all formed after Cream in 1967.
Power trios too...Blue Cheer in 1967....Budgie and Rush formed in 1968.
I read many books on Black Sabbath...and Geezer and Tony both cite Cream as being
a big influence in them.
And the "kids" growing up at that time ...Angus Young...Eddie Van Halen....Stevie Ray Vaughan
all were 13 years old in 1968 ...all big Cream fans.
Even Jimmy Page himself...he was in the Yardbirds (1966-1968)...and he witnessed Cream's
rise to superstardom ...he wanted that....which he would attain with Led Zeppelin.
Jimi Hendrix himself was a fan...he loved playing "Sunshine of Your Love", for example,
on Lulu's TV show in January 1969 ...The Jimi Hendrix Experience was playing "Hey Joe"...
in the middle of it Jimi stopped playing and said "enough of this rubbish" and started
playing "Sunshine of Your Love" instead!
Led Zeppelin...around much longer...many more albums ...lots of really good music..
both original and some "ripped off"...but I can't think of too many groups that were
directly influenced by Zeppelin.
Possibly, Deep Purple, they predate Led Zep but Ritchie Blackmore
saw Zep's quickly growing popularity and persuaded the group to start playing much
heavier music with new members Ian Gillan and Roger Glover (july 1969).
Or ...Rush, they were initially influenced by Cream but also Led Zeppelin...just listen to Rush's debut
album (1974) ...it sounds very Zeppelin-like.
Cream was only a band for 2 years....june 1966 to November 1968
Led Zeppelin ...much longer ...august 1968 to September 1980....12 years
Longevity and rate of impact isn't the question, Zepp had 12 years to make a bigger impact and influence than Cream. That's like saying Randy Rhoads had a bigger influence than Clapton since he died at 25 and Clapton is still rocking.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMI
But Cream had a huge impact back in late 66-early 67....spear heading a blues boom in Britain...bands like...Fleet Mac...Savoy Brown...Jethro Tull…
all formed after Cream in 1967.
That blues boom was John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, who boasted, Clapton, Green, Fleetwood, Dunbar (Aynsley, check him out) Bruce, McVie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMI
Power trios too...Blue Cheer in 1967....Budgie and Rush formed in 1968.
And...? Rush was progressive rock, more like Jethro Tull than Cream, is this just coincidence? Its slim evidence. Then what about Mötorhead, ZZ Top, Nirvana, ELP, Grand Funk Railroad, Jimi Hendrix Experience? All Cream inspired?
What about the darkest power trio, Venom? They were not inspired by Cream thats for sure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMI
I read many books on Black Sabbath...and Geezer and Tony both cite Cream as being
a big influence in them.
And the both cite Zeppelin as a huge influence too, and... John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMI
And the "kids" growing up at that time ...Angus Young...Eddie Van Halen....Stevie Ray Vaughan
all were 13 years old in 1968 ...all big Cream fans.
And big Zeppelin, Hendrix and Sabbath fans.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMI
Even Jimmy Page himself...he was in the Yardbirds (1966-1968)...and he witnessed Cream's
rise to superstardom ...he wanted that....which he would attain with Led Zeppelin.
He also saw it with Hendrix, and earlier the Beatles and Stones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMI
Jimi Hendrix himself was a fan...he loved playing "Sunshine of Your Love", for example,
on Lulu's TV show in January 1969 ...The Jimi Hendrix Experience was playing "Hey Joe"...
in the middle of it Jimi stopped playing and said "enough of this rubbish" and started
playing "Sunshine of Your Love" instead!
Did he love it because he inspired it? Sunshine bass intro was written by Bruce after he saw Hendrix for the first time. It was played by the JHX one the same day Cream announced their split. There's no evidence that he did love it other than that once incident.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMI
Led Zeppelin...around much longer...many more albums ...lots of really good music..
both original and some "ripped off"...but I can't think of too many groups that were
directly influenced by Zeppelin.
You're kidding right? Kiss, Van Halen, Dio, Motorhead, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest Whitesnake and the entire NWOBHM, Accept, Scorpions, and UFO, which then led to Mötley Crüe, and 80s Hair Metal, do you think its an accident 80s hair metal was either small venue on Sunset, or 50,000 seat stadiums?
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMI
Possibly, Deep Purple, they predate Led Zep but Ritchie Blackmore
saw Zep's quickly growing popularity and persuaded the group to start playing much
heavier music with new members Ian Gillan and Roger Glover (july 1969).
Or ...Rush, they were initially influenced by Cream but also Led Zeppelin...just listen to Rush's debut
album (1974) ...it sounds very Zeppelin-like.
Or the Deep Purple/Led Zeppelin was just two bands at the same time in the same environment doing similar things. Lord, Blackmore and Paice wanted to change into a heavier direction after an incredibly lackluster showing in their US Tour and album sales, I've got original source on that from Ian Paice (his daughter was a friend of my girlfriend of the time, and we spent a weekend with him and his daughter, nice guy), Paice also convinced the band to take Glover as bassist.
Ultimately I think the issue is a lot of Creams influence isn't Cream, but John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, they came from there, so that influence can't be discounted. Which both diminishes the Bluesbreakers influence and raises questions about Creams.
And...? Rush was progressive rock, more like Jethro Tull than Cream
There has been much writing about Rush being influenced by Cream AND Zep. even if they did not sound similar.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gungnir
Did he love it because he inspired it? Sunshine bass intro was written by Bruce after he saw Hendrix for the first time. It was played by the JHX one the same day Cream announced their split. There's no evidence that he did love it other than that once incident.
In a 1967 New Musical Express Pop Think-In interview, Hendrix claimed he liked Clapton the most when he first saw Cream perform and considered his guitar playing as quite similar in style and technique. The two at least respected each other.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gungnir
Ultimately I think the issue is a lot of Creams influence isn't Cream, but John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, they came from there, so that influence can't be discounted. Which both diminishes the Bluesbreakers influence and raises questions about Creams.
Cream had the bigger hits and bigger persona than Bluesbreakers. For sure in a 1990's Cream documentary, Alex Van Halen credited Ginger Baker for influencing his drumming. In another documentary, Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord credited Cream with having an often overlooked nascent influence on hard rock and what would later become known as heavy metal. So this power trio did have influence on others, just not sure if they had as much influence as Led Zeppelin. Yeah, I know, I have met people who claim that Cream is overrated, Clapton is overrated as a guitarist, etc. but I heard equally as much that Zep. were complete ripoffs of others yada yada, all of which I do not agree with.
Your question needs clarification. You stated “was more influential”, and I understand it as, when they first came out, who was more influential. Because if we talk about who has been more influential to this day, it is Led Zeppelin by far, not even close. However it was Cream (or one can argue, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, but Cream was more popular) that led the foundation for the heavy blues oriented rock that bands like Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Sabbath, and even The Who at the time of Tommy, based their sound on.
But Zeppelin took what what Cream did, added folk into their music, and mythology into their lyrics, and made the sound more accessible.
So if we compare 1966 which is the year Cream released its first record against 1969 when Zeppelin release theirs, one can argue that Cream was more influential as they were the first; Zeppelin wouldn’t have existed without Cream.
But in the big scheme of things, Zeppelin is without a doubt the most influential of the 2.
Cream is great too, but... They were like Eric Claptons backup band. While Zep was a real band, the sum of their parts.
Alex Lifeson cites both Jimmy page and Clapton. He even painted what was it a palm tree? on his guitar when a teen.
Geddy Lee also cites Zeplin. However he refers more to Jack Casady of Jef. Airplane and Jack Bruce of Cream as bass influences. As well as Chris Squier.
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