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Led Zeppelin question


Batman

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Ok - to simplify things, a zeppelin looks a bit like a blimp (you know, like the Duff blimp of the Simpsons). And Led is a mispelling of, well, Lead, an element of the periodic table that is a heavy metal. Thus a "lead zeppelin" would be a flying machine made of heavy metal. Which of course is an oxymoron because if it ever got into the sky at all it would probably hit the ground very quickly because of gravity.

The name "Led Zeppelin" was allegedly coined by Keith Moon. He allegedly (jokingly of course) told the band before going on stage "you'll go over like a ...". This is mentioned in the book that comes with the box set "Led Zeppelin" released in 1990.

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yeah my teacher is always saying "go over like Led Zeppelin" and I always thought he meant you'll stop abruptly, like Led Zep did with Bonhams death. Nwo I know!

Thanks

You are likely to wake up the dead with this post! John Bonham is only "The Greatest" drummer to ever hit the music scene! I'd advise you to re-think your post here, and be respectfull of the dead!

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The Kieth Moon comment would make more sense if it was spelled Lead Zeppelin. A zeppelin is a blimp that has internal supports. They are also typically larger than blimps. An internally-supported oversize blimp made out of lead wouldn't go over very well at all.

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You are likely to wake up the dead with this post! John Bonham is only "The Greatest" drummer to ever hit the music scene! I'd advise you to re-think your post here, and be respectfull of the dead!

yeah, I know hes a good drummer, but how am I being disrespectful of him? All I said is that Led Zeppelin stopped when he died.

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The Kieth Moon comment would make more sense if it was spelled Lead Zeppelin. A zeppelin is a blimp that has internal supports. They are also typically larger than blimps. An internally-supported oversize blimp made out of lead wouldn't go over very well at all.

No, it makes perfect sense, Keith made that joke, and then Robert Plant said they should spell it Led instead of Lead because otherwise us "bloody Americans" would mispronounce it and not get the joke.

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Well comparing Keith and John is a bit difficult, since they differed in their playing styles. Keith, who I am a big fan of(since discovering him when I was in Middle school in the mid to late 90's)to what I hear, wasn't much of a structured drummer, much how he lived his life. John seemed to have played a bit more structured, but then again, thats my opinion, and I have no training in percussion.

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*Hindenberg

What is striking to me is how led (past tense of lead) is actually, perfectly in harmony with Moon's analogy even though he meant lead the metal. Since the Hindenberg was on their first cover, one can only associate zeppelin with the largest airship to ever take to the air. I'll do my best to explain why I'm captivated by Led Zeppelin's unintentional coin of a term that really wasn't as ingenious as they might have thought.

They misspelt lead intentional because of pronunciation concerns but never realized that led (past tense of lead) was the more accurate term...IMO. Here's why:

Basically, the designer of the Hindenberg (Hugo Eckner) was led into doing something against his will. He had always intended for the *H to be filled with helium (nonflammable) but the United States was the only source of helium. Hitler was becoming more and more powerful at the time and the US was not about to give up helium (blimps were used to track submarines in world war I). Hitler led (demanded) Eckner to fill the H with hydrogen (flammable) because basically a show of power was more important than the safety of human life. This was not Eckner's choice but Hitler's. Eckner knew he would be killed if he didn't comply.

This had to be an engineer's worst nightmare. To realize that upon making the most impressive, largest flying stucture ever, that his own morals would be bought by the lead which was in the gun to his head. Hitler held the gun and wanted the greatest zeppelin ever to take to the air at all costs.

So, the lead (present tense of led) zeppelin, the H, really was a led (past tense of lead) zeppelin because the engineer was slave against his own better judgment and had the same outcome, regardless of how unintentional and coincidental an envisioned metal blimp's destined demise would be, compared to one of the greatest bands and band names in history:

Led Zeppelin

Ironic, isn't it?

Next up, why Def Leppard spells it def.

:laughing:

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