Like many bands (Black Sabbath, Fleetwwood Mac etc..) Led Zeppelin started off as a "blues band". Of course they progressed into so much more than that. This whole thing about them (or any other band) "ripping off" the blues comes from people who don't really understand that the origin of many of the "blues songs" out there can't be claimed by any one person. Not to say specific songs were not written by specific people, but even in those cases much of the music and lyrics were learned and passed on from the black "working class" community. Where authorship can be claimed, it is fair to give credit. I will say this, Led Zeppelin served up the blues to me, before I had heard any "real" blues (Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, etc..) and as a result I did go down and buy my first blues records. So in a way, Zeppelin did not really "rip off" the blues, they brought them to me. How else would a kid be compelled to buy old blues records?
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