AC/DC Finished?

[Granny Gremlin]

Special events being shrinking bank accounts?  Remember No Quarter. Those were some pricey concert tickets even by today's standards.

[uwe]

I don't think that Robert Plant has ever been in the need to sing a note to make money since sometime, say, 1972.

[Granny Gremlin]

I think you underestimate a rock star's ability to blow away money. 

... or bad investments... or just plain greed. Who knows.  But that sure wasn't no special occasion and it was mostly if not all Zep tunes (their second guitarist on the Toronto tour dates was the dude from the Cure FYI.... not Robert Smith, the other guy... no coincidence to me that the very next Cure record, Wish, had some of their best guitar work ever, and is my second favorite; not to be judged by the rather unrepresentative/out of place single).

[uwe]

"They are one of the best-selling music artists in the history of audio recording; various sources estimate the group's record sales at 200 to 300 million units worldwide. With 111.5 million RIAA-certified units, they are the second-best-selling band in the United States. Each of their nine studio albums placed on the Billboard Top 10 and six reached the number-one spot."

And the new 2014 remasters with an extra CD of studio outtakes of each album aren't even out yet - that will add at least another ten million sales or so ... Zep fans are devoted and - unlike Sex Pistols fans - they upgrade the sonic qualities of what they already know and love given the chance.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/led-zeppelin-box-sets/

The royalties from Stairway to Heaven alone leave the familes Bonham, Page, Jones and Page nothing to worry about - to this day.

http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/how-much-is-stairway-to-heaven-worth-161369/

What has the world come to that I of all people wave the Zep flag here? 


PS: Royalty intake of that "Smoke on the Something" song by that other band less famous than the Sex Pistols is still 250-500 k GBP for each one of the credited five writers - to this day.

[Granny Gremlin]

Of course.  That is a lot of money.  But this is not my point.  The point was to dispute the following:

And Plant has stuck to his guns about it all these years/decades - I find that very impressive. His refusal to return for anything other than special events has kept the Zeppelin aura intact.

No Quarter was not such a special event.... aside from the fact that you could hear most of Zep (technically half, but both primary songwriters tips the scale just so; not to dimminish Bohnam and JPJ who are/were awesome musicians) playing Zep tunes live in NA  for the first time since 1977 (20ish years), but counting that as the special occasion is putting the cart before the horse.

That said, he did better than most in this regard (notable exception: The Beatles) and I do not begrudge him for it (even if it was a cash grab; there was certainly demand for it).

[uwe]

It's no secret that the other two have been asking Plant again and again since the 80ies to do a tour - everyone would be laughing all the way to the bank. Plant has refused anything but one-offs, even to the point of straining his business relations and friendship to the other two. He's probably not the easiest person to get around with and I never liked him as a frontman, but I believe he has truly left his "hammer of a rock god" image and doesn't sleep at night with his windows open to hear the cry for a Zep reunion. He has defied Zep fan expectations around the world with his solo stuff to the point of being sadistic!

[Granny Gremlin]

Tru dat.

[TBird1958]

Having never been a huge Zep fan I'm glad Plant moved on -  revisiting the past would be kind to him, less so to Page, it's not like he's getting less sloppy with age! 

[Dave W]

Can we PLEASE not turn this into yet another discussion of Led Zeppelin? 

[uwe]

I like that too and I like the album he did with Frau Krauss, lame adult contemporary as it might be. And of course Page could do worthwhile things if he got his butt of his Led Zep rock god throne. The Coverdale Page album for all Led Zep mannerisms had its moments, so did the Clarksdale album with Plant (I saw them on tour, it was a bit too Zeppish or me already) and I'm one of the few people who think that you could get a decent album out of the material of the two The Firm releases.

Page is an interesting and even daring acoustic guitarist, all those strange stringed instruments and wild tunings he does, why we haven't seen his guitar Tubular Bells on acoustic instruments is beyond me. It would sell shitloads too. It almost seems that without Plant in the rehearsal room he can't really write, he needs him as his foil.

[uwe]

Can we PLEASE not turn this into yet another discussion of Led Zeppelin? 

Ah, the un-stadium rocker! Tom started it, 'twasn't Jake and me, we always only go on about DP and SP (seriously) plus Polish-German borders (in jest), which are different things altogether!!! Now that AC/DC will not split up, but continue to ride the Rock'n'Roll Gravy Train some more, what's wrong with moving from one stadium act to another? The similarities are obvious, they both either lost or face the prospect of losing a key member, they both had the option to continue or not, and between them they have written the second and third US National Anthem. 

[Dave W]

Let's start a new sub-forum for shitty bands that couldn't rock 'n' roll and broke up long ago. Zep will naturally be the main topic of discussion.

[Dave W]

I'm not especially fond of AC/DC. But I was reading this article a couple of days ago, and IMHO Angus just hit the nail on the head: "...even on a bad night, Chuck Berry is a lot better than Clapton will ever be."

You go, Angus! 

[uwe]

"shitty bands that couldn't rock 'n' roll and broke up long ago"



Dave, you are a walking talking minority opinion!!! And if this isn't rock'n'roll - sonically, visually and by the sheer excitement and good time of it - to even the most avid Led Zep hater, I don't know what is. Open your heart. Don't be like the Catholic Church and deny the obvious. 

[4stringer77]

Hope Malcom is doing ok. AC/DC was a big part of my love affair with rock once I started growing hair on my sac. If they didn't make another album I wouldn't be too worried. I'll just listen to the stuff from their prime or turn on the radio.