Official Led Zeppelin Top 40 Countdown Thread!! (Top 2 revealed!!)

[TAC]

Doesn't matter how it gets there, as long as it gets there. 

[KevShmev]

Doesn't matter how it gets there, as long as it gets there. 

[TAC]

Is that Better Call Saul?

[jammindude]

Is that Better Call Saul?

 

Dammit Tim!

 

[KevShmev]

No, it's I Love Lucy.

[TAC]

No, it's I Love Lucy.

You must like that show because you used it for your avatar, no?

[Dream Team]

List submitted. It was pretty tough after the first 15 or 20, spots 20-40 are pretty interchangeable.

[Stadler]

I know I'm repeating myself, but this is SO FUCKING HARD.   I'm about halfway through the Ranker, and I'm listening as I go, and I make a choice, then hear one of those songs an hour later and I'm like "I have to go back and change my answer".   

This is me 9 times out of 10: "Wow, this is so good; better than I remember."
This is me 1 times out of 10: "Wow, that sounds like 19xx".
This is me 0 times out of 10: "Wow, I didn't realize how much this sucked."

EDIT:  I just came up with this choice:  "The Rain Song" or "Stairway To Heaven".   It's been on my screen for about an hour and a half now. 

[jingle.boy]

I know I'm repeating myself, but this is SO FUCKING HARD.   I'm about halfway through the Ranker, and I'm listening as I go, and I make a choice, then hear one of those songs an hour later and I'm like "I have to go back and change my answer".   

This is me 9 times out of 10: "Wow, this is so good; better than I remember."
This is me 1 times out of 10: "Wow, that sounds like 19xx".
This is me 0 times out of 10: "Wow, I didn't realize how much this sucked."

EDIT:  I just came up with this choice:  "The Rain Song" or "Stairway To Heaven".   It's been on my screen for about an hour and a half now. 

The answer is Thomas Jefferson, sucka!

[pg1067]

All right...good enough...

I - 3
II - 5
III - 2
untitled - 8
Houses - 7
PG - 7
Presence - 1
Door - 6
Coda - 0
Other - 1

[Dave_Manchester]

I know I'm repeating myself, but this is SO FUCKING HARD.   

Same for me, this is by far the hardest one yet. After a week of doing nothing (musically) but revisiting the Zep catalogue I've got it down to 47 songs but it's gonna be brutal leaving off 7 of those tunes.

[Cool Chris]

I did my list solely on memory, nostalgia, and gut. I haven't listen to LZ in any capacity in 20 years. I am going to go through all their albums over the next couple weeks, but no listening in 2022 is going to change my rankings. Their songs are so ingrained in my musical psyche.

[Stadler]

For me:

I - 4
II - 3
III - 4 (Includes b-sides)
IV - 6
HOTH - 5
PG - 11
P - 2
ITTOD - 3
Coda - 2 (Based on the reissue)

[KevShmev]

10 lists so far.

One week left to submit!!

[jingle.boy]

10 lists so far.

One week left to submit!!

Make it 11 - literally just sent it to you 5 minutes ago.

[Dave_Manchester]

Ok, that'll do. I got:

I: 4
II: 6
III: 3
IV: 7
HOTH: 7
PG: 8
Presence: 3
ITTOD: 2

[Cool Chris]

I - 6
II - 6
III - 4 (Includes b-sides)
IV - 8
HOTH - 5
PG - 7
P - 2
ITTOD - 2

More from LZ1 than I anticipated. Everything else looks like I would have expected.

[Dave_Manchester]

While we kill time before the countdown I'll give my ranking of the albums, having just relistened to them all several times. 

1. Houses of the Holy
2. Physical Graffiti
3. IV
4. II
5.Presence
6. III
7. I
8. In Through The Out Door
9. Coda

[TAC]

1. Physical Graffiti
2. Houses Of The Holy
3. II
4. IV
5. Presence
6. ITTOD
7. I
8. III
9. Coda

[jingle.boy]

1.  IV
2.  III
3.  II
4.  Physical Grafitti
5.  I
6.  Houses of the Holy
7.  In Through The Out Door
8.  Presence
9.  Coda

[Mladen]

I had so much fun ranking the songs through the ranker linked in the OP. Looking at the list, it looks both accurate and satisfying. I sent you the list, Kev. 

My top forty reflects my ranking of the albums in a big way:

1. Houses of the holy
2. In through the out door
3. III
4. IV
5. Presence
6. Physical graffiti
7. II
8. I

[twosuitsluke]

Working on the rest of my top 40 whilst prepping a roast dinner, lovely.

I know I keep banging the same drum about LZ I here, but I am shocked it's average rating is so low! I know that it's not generally as well loved as some of their other albums but to see it ranked 7th or lower in 3 of the 4 rankings above took me by surprise.

My ranking is

1. I
2. IV
3. II
4. III
5. Physical Graffiti
6. Houses of the Holy
7. Presence
8. In Through The Out Door
9. Coda

[jingle.boy]

Working on the rest of my top 40 whilst prepping a roast dinner, lovely.

I know I keep banging the same drum about LZ I here, but I am shocked it's average rating is so low! I know that it's not generally as well loved as some of their other albums but to see it ranked 7th or lower in 3 of the 4 rankings above took me by surprise.

TASTES^TM!!!

I've nearly got all of III on my Top 40, and most others have 3 or 4.  Some tunes just hit you in a particular way, for a particular reason, at a particular time.

[jammindude]

1. PG
2. HOTH
3. IV
4. I
5. III
6. II
7. Presence
8. ITTOD
9. Coda

[twosuitsluke]

Working on the rest of my top 40 whilst prepping a roast dinner, lovely.

I know I keep banging the same drum about LZ I here, but I am shocked it's average rating is so low! I know that it's not generally as well loved as some of their other albums but to see it ranked 7th or lower in 3 of the 4 rankings above took me by surprise.

TASTES^TM!!!

I've nearly got all of III on my Top 40, and most others have 3 or 4.  Some tunes just hit you in a particular way, for a particular reason, at a particular time.

I just find it an interesting talking point, whilst we wait for this to start.

For instance, with the top 25 singers thread, although there were a lot of singers who made the list, who weren't to my tastes, I wasn't half as surprised as I am by LZ I being rated generally lower.

I guess going into this I was under the impression that LZ's last three albums were widely accepted as their weakest. I was under no Illusion that LZ I would top many peoples lists but I am surprised it's lower, more often than not.

Not in like a "THIS IS AN OUTRAGE" kinda way, more that I guess I had it wrong about the general consensus on these albums. I never would've assumed having LZ I at the top of your ranking was akin to having Load or Reload at the top of a Metallica ranking 

[TAC]

I guess going into this I was under the impression that LZ's last three albums were widely accepted as their weakest. I was under no Illusion that LZ I would top many peoples lists but I am surprised it's lower, more often than not.

Not counting Coda, because it's really not a proper album, but their last three albums are Physical Graffiti-Presence-In Through The Out Door. Far from weak.

If I had to choose, I'm taking their last 4 albums over their first four. (Again, not counting Coda)

[twosuitsluke]

I guess going into this I was under the impression that LZ's last three albums were widely accepted as their weakest. I was under no Illusion that LZ I would top many peoples lists but I am surprised it's lower, more often than not.

Not counting Coda, because it's really not a proper album, but their last three albums are Physical Graffiti-Presence-In Through The Out Door. Far from weak.

If I had to choose, I'm taking their last 4 albums over their first four. (Again, not counting Coda)

Shows how much I know as I thought Coda was a proper album 

I don't consider Presence and In Through The Out Door weak, just weaker than the albums that preceeded them. My impression over the years was that that had kinda become general consensus, but only because of the strength of LZ's catalogue on the whole.

This thread has just opened my eyes to how their catalogue is generally rated, compared to how I'd thought it was.

Imagine the suprise of someone who thought St Anger was generally well received by Metallica fans for years, only to find out they were very wrong. I guess that's where I am sitting right now.

[twosuitsluke]

OK, just sent my list. No surprises, mine was LZ I heavy 

I - 9
II - 7
III - 3
IV - 7
Houses of the Holy - 6
Physical Graffiti - 4
Presence - 2
In Through The Out Door - 1
Coda - 1

[DragonAttack]

^
nothing wrong with that...it's Zeppelin...there won't be anything wrong with anyone's list.

But....if anyone lists "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper" in their Top 40, I'd be shocked.  The ONLY song in their original discography (including 'Coda') that I hate and do not include on my CDr versions.  A real shame that 'Hey Hey What Can I Do' wasn't used in its place.

I’ll just copy what I stated in rating LZ III as the #13 album from my all-time Top 50 … “If not for the final track (which is the only Zeppelin song that I truly dislike), this would be in my top 3.  Replace it with Hey Hey What Can I Do - which until 1990’s box set, was only found on the B-side of The Immigrant Side’s 45 (if you’re with what I’m saying, go look it up kids), and it might even be my #1 album.”

That's a good thread.  Will skim through it soon.

This was a hard one.  Assigning numbers to 5 through 20 was tough, as was leaving off those that were 41-50.

I...   5
II...   6
III... 2
Zoso...8
Houses...6
Graffiti ....4
Presence....2
Door...   6
Coda....0
Bonus...1

[King Postwhore]

Sent

[jammindude]

I am on board with the general consensus that there were 3 phases of Zep. I-III is the “amazing” phase, IV-PG is the “as close to perfection as a band can get” phase. And then Presence-Coda which was the “some of this is really good, but I guess they aren’t perfect after all” phase.

[pg1067]

I am on board with the general consensus that there were 3 phases of Zep. I-III is the “amazing” phase, IV-PG is the “as close to perfection as a band can get” phase. And then Presence-Coda which was the “some of this is really good, but I guess they aren’t perfect after all” phase.

I'd change the first phase to:  Half of this is amazing and half of this is bland, ripped off old blues songs.

I'm also getting the feeling that I like ITTOD more than most and PG a bit less than most.

[KevShmev]

I also don't count Coda as a real studio album, and I would definitely be on the list of those who consider I through Houses to be their peak.  PG has a handful of great songs, but has a lot of okay/solid tunes, making it a tedious listen due to it being a double.  Presence is more forgettable than not, and while I like In Through the Out Door more than many (my number 4 song is from that album, and, no, it is not the long song), it doesn't touch those early albums.

[KevShmev]

Alright, alright, alright!

Up to 16 lists.

[TAC]

I like In Through the Out Door more than many (my number 4 song is from that album, and, no, it is not the long song),