PEAK MUSIC 1969 - The Led Zeppelin Problem

 

This is a series that will attempt to Sport(ify) music by creating a 5 member All-Pro/All League/All Star team (Sort of like the NBA first team all-stars) for each year in Music starting with 1964. It will rely heavily on Top 20 Hits from the year but also take into account Concert Tours, Music awards, Music Videos (MTV Crowd-You Tube), TV, Films, Pop Culture etc….. 

1969

The 5^th Dimension – 3 top twenty hits with 2 number one hits including – Age of Aquarius

Three Dog Nights – 3 top ten hits with including "One"

The King is back with 3 top ten hits including number one "Suspicious Minds"

The Beatles had 4 top ten hits with 2 number ones including "Get Back" but think there power was fading until 1970.

Number 5 was a difficult choice but I went with the Rolling Stones with Honky Tonk Women their only top 20 hit that went to number one – They just beat out Marvin Gayle, the Archies and CCR.

The Led Zepplin problem. Led Zepplin had only one top ten hit and that was Whole Lotta Love which hit the charts in late 1969 and which went to number 4. These yearly ranking are calendar year based and will tend to omit a group like Led Zepplin whose music is still being played in abundance today but who never had the top twenty sound. Heck, Led Zepplin has radio channels devoted to them, today. In fact I think they probably were at their Zenith in the late 1970s (from the songs they recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s)  when FM Radio took over the music scene from AM Radio. 

 I tried to think of a sports player they were comparable to and I think of Nolan Ryan. Nolan Ryan never won a Cy Young. Nolan Ryan never led a league in wins but he did lead them losses once. Though I bet a few years he finished in the top 5 of voting of pitchers. Strikeouts were his foray.

In other ways Led Zepplin may be a little like Lebron James, where James was the best player in the league or near best for an awful long time but he never seemed to reach the dominance of a Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Larry Bird or Magic Johnson.  That is tested by the fact he had to constantly seek out teams and teammates to give him the best chance to win.

1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
The Beatles	The Beatles	The Beatles	The Beatles	The Beatles	5th Dimension
4 Seasons	Supremes	Rolling Stones	Monkees	Gary Pucket	3 Dog Night
Supremes	Rolling Stones	Frank Sinatra	Supremes	Simon & Garfunkel	Elvis Presley
Bobby Vinton	Herman Hermits	Beach Boys	Rascals	Aretha Franklin	The Beatles
Johnny Rivers	Byrds	Monkees	The Doors	Supremes	Rolling Stones
1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975