Understanding the rivalry between Yes and Led Zeppelin
The world of rock and roll in the 1970s belonged to Led Zeppelin. After leaving The Yardbirds, Jimmy Page set out to create a band that would take blues in a much different direction than he had for the past five years, meeting Robert Plant and John Bonham and giving rock and roll the same jolt as the sound of thunder. Although Zeppelin wasn’t looking to be in a popularity contest, they did have a few dust-ups with fellow prog rock band Yes.
Although Zeppelin and Yes were signed to the same label, they existed on different sides of the music spectrum. Whereas Zeppelin was a band still rooted in the blues that would take their music to new sonic frontiers, Yes expanded the parameters of what could be done in a rock song, bringing influences from jazz, classical, and freeform all under one roof. Since both were competing for the attention of their label bosses, Yes guitarist Steve Howe treated Zeppelin as a taboo in his house.
According to his son Dylan, he wasn’t allowed to listen to Zeppelin all that much because of the ongoing rivalry between both bands. When asked about it further, drummer Alan White remembered the beginnings of the feud starting with Melody Maker, telling Rock History Music, “It was down to Melody Maker magazine because for about five or six years, there was a time when we’d win a poll one year, and Zeppelin would win the next year for who was the best band in England”.
It’s no surprise why a band like Zeppelin would want to be competing for the top prize. Ever since The Beatles broke up, most fans went to Zeppelin for something a bit heavier, and any sense of competition from another ambitious rock band would not sit well with them. As the rock world opened up to something other than psychedelia, there was no stopping Zeppelin from quickly taking over the world.
While Yes may have won their battles every year with groundbreaking moments like Close to the Edge and Relayer, Zeppelin would eventually win the war, with songs like ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and ‘Whole Lotta Love’ becoming the glorified soundtrack for what most rock fans think of when reminiscing about the early days of hard rock. Despite both bands trying to compete with each other, fans won out in the end, with acts like Rush taking the power of Zeppelin and the complexity of Yes and turning it into something much more intricate in the late ‘70s.
After the ‘70s blew over, White mentioned the beef coming to an end quite quickly, going on to say, “I got to be pretty good friends with them. We’re really good friends with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. I got to meet John Bonham more than a few times but never really got to know him”.
It can be a dog-eat-dog world in the music business, but both Yes and Led Zeppelin have more than earned their place in history on their own. Despite their rivalry, Zeppelin would never write something as ambitious as ‘Roundabout’, and chances are Yes was never going to write ‘Achilles’ Last Stand’ either.
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