Editing Led Zeppelin (section)

== Legacy ==
[[File:Robert-Plant.jpg|thumb|Plant's vocal style has been highly influential in rock music, while his mane of long blond hair and powerful, bare-chested appearance, helped to create the "rock god" archetype.<ref>{{Cite news |title=How Robert Plant contributed to creating the 'rock god' archetype |publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]] |url=https://www.dw.com/en/how-robert-plant-contributed-to-creating-the-rock-god-archetype/g-45147384 |url-status=live |access-date=3 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703211239/https://www.dw.com/en/how-robert-plant-contributed-to-creating-the-rock-god-archetype/g-45147384 |archive-date=3 July 2020}}</ref> A 2011 ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' readers' pick named him the "Best Lead Singer of All Time".<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=12 April 2011 |title=Rolling Stone Readers Pick the Best Lead Singers of All Time |magazine=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/rolling-stone-readers-pick-the-best-lead-singers-of-all-time-19450/1-robert-plant-256503/ |url-status=live |access-date=3 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703213249/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/rolling-stone-readers-pick-the-best-lead-singers-of-all-time-19450/1-robert-plant-256503/ |archive-date=3 July 2020}}</ref>|alt=A black and white photograph showing a headshot of Robert Plant with a microphone in hand]]
Led Zeppelin is widely regarded as one of the most successful, innovative, and influential bands in the history of rock music.{{sfn|Schinder |Schwartz|2008|p=380}} Rock critic [[Mikal Gilmore]] said, "Led Zeppelin—talented, complex, grasping, beautiful and dangerous—made one of the most enduring bodies of composition and performance in twentieth-century music, despite everything they had to overpower, including themselves".{{sfn|Gilmore|2006}}

Led Zeppelin have influenced hard rock and heavy metal bands such as [[Deep Purple]],{{sfn|Thompson|2004|p=61}} [[Black Sabbath]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 March 2006 |title=Black Sabbath: the greatest metal bands of all time |url=http://www.mtv.com/bands/m/metal/greatest_metal_bands/071406/index2.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319045933/http://www.mtv.com/bands/m/metal/greatest_metal_bands/071406/index2.jhtml |archive-date=19 March 2008 |access-date=5 September 2010 |publisher=MTV}}</ref> [[Rush (band)|Rush]],{{sfn|Prown |Newquist |Eiche|1997|p=167}} [[Queen (band)|Queen]],{{sfn|Prown |Newquist |Eiche|1997|p=106}} [[Scorpions (band)|Scorpions]],{{sfn|Nur Pervan|2022}} [[Aerosmith]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aerosmith inducts Led Zeppelin 1995 |url=https://rockhall.com/inductees/aerosmith/video/4433/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160523004050/https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/aerosmith/video/4433/ |archive-date=23 May 2016 |access-date=10 May 2016 |website=Rockhall.com}}</ref> [[the Black Crowes]],<ref name="The Black Crowes">{{Cite web |title=Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes Interview |url=https://www.guitar.com/articles/jimmy-page-and-black-crowes-interview |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513025921/https://www.guitar.com/articles/jimmy-page-and-black-crowes-interview |archive-date=13 May 2016 |access-date=10 May 2016 |website=Guitar.com}}</ref> and [[Megadeth]]{{sfn|Davies|2010}} as well as progressive metal bands like [[Tool (band)|Tool]]{{sfn|Pareles|1997}} and [[Dream Theater]].{{sfn|Sparks|2010}} Jeff Mezydlo of [[Yardbarker]] wrote, "While Black Sabbath and Deep Purple also influenced a hard, guitar-driven sound that opened the door for the heavy metal movement, Zeppelin did it better than anybody."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-01-28 |title=The 25 most legendary bands to hail from England |url=https://www.yardbarker.com/entertainment/articles/the_25_greatest_english_rock_bands/s1__30317819#slide_1 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=Yardbarker |language=en}}</ref> The band also influenced some early [[punk rock|punk]] and [[post-punk]] bands, among them the [[Ramones]],{{sfn|Jones|2003}} [[Joy Division]]{{sfn|Day|2005}}{{sfn|johnrobb|2012}} and [[the Cult]].{{sfn|Erlewine|2007}} They were also an important influence on the development of [[alternative rock]], as bands adapted elements from the "Zeppelin sound" of the mid-1970s,{{sfn|Witmer|2010}}{{sfn|Grossman|2002}} including [[the Smashing Pumpkins]],{{sfn|Haskins|1995|p=xv}}{{sfn|Turner|2010}} [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]],{{sfn|Gaar|2009|p=36}} [[Pearl Jam]],{{sfn|Schinder |Schwartz|2008|p=405}} and [[Soundgarden]].{{sfn|Budofsky|2006|p=147}} Bands and artists from diverse genres have acknowledged the influence of Led Zeppelin, such as [[Madonna]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 January 1999 |title=Interview Madonna reviews life on Larry King Live |publisher=CNN |url=http://articles.cnn.com/1999-01-19/entertainment/9901_19_madonna.lkl_1_dancer-madonna-madonna-ciccone-modern-dance/12?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ |url-status=dead |access-date=5 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121105431/http://articles.cnn.com/1999-01-19/entertainment/9901_19_madonna.lkl_1_dancer-madonna-madonna-ciccone-modern-dance/12?_s=PM%3ASHOWBIZ |archive-date=21 January 2012}}</ref> [[Shakira]],{{sfn|García Márquez|2002}} [[Lady Gaga]],{{sfn|Cochrane|2009}} [[Kesha]],{{sfn|Hendicott|2011}} and [[Katie Melua]].{{sfn|Melua|2007}}

[[File:JohnPaulJones1980-2.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Jones performing with the band in [[Mannheim]], West Germany in 1980 on their last tour|alt=A red tinged photograph of John Paul Jones playing a bass guitar]]
Led Zeppelin have been credited with a major impact on the nature of the [[music business]], particularly in the development of album-oriented rock (AOR) and [[Arena rock|stadium rock]].{{sfn|Bukszpan|2003|p=121}}{{sfn|Waksman|2009|pp=21–31}} In 1988 [[John Kalodner]], then-[[Artists and repertoire|A&R]] executive of [[Geffen Records]], remarked: "Next to the Beatles they're the most influential band in history. They influence the way music is on records, AOR radio, concerts. They set the standards for the AOR-radio format with 'Stairway to Heaven,' having AOR hits without necessarily having [[Top 40]] hits. They're the ones who did the first real big arena concert shows, consistently selling out and playing stadiums without support. People can do as well as them, but nobody surpasses them."{{sfn|Pond|1988|pp=68–69}}
[[Andrew Loog Oldham]], the former producer and manager of the Rolling Stones, commented on how Led Zeppelin had a major influence on the record business, and the way rock concerts were managed and presented to huge audiences.{{sfn|Hughes|2010}} In 2007, they were a featured artist in the stadium rock episode of the BBC/VH1 series ''[[Seven Ages of Rock]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Seven Ages of Rock. Episode 5: Stadium Rock |work=BBC one |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007qhtg |url-status=live |access-date=7 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808212720/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007qhtg |archive-date=8 August 2019}}</ref>

The band have sold over 200&nbsp;million albums worldwide according to some sources,{{sfn|Thorpe|2007}}{{sfn|Beaumont|2020}} while others state that they have sold in excess of 300&nbsp;million records,{{sfn|Sorel-Cameron|2007}} including 111.5&nbsp;million certified units in the United States. According to the [[Recording Industry Association of America]], Led Zeppelin are the [[List of best-selling music artists in the United States|third-highest-selling band, the fifth highest selling music act in the US]], and one of only four acts to earn five or more Diamond albums.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Top-Selling Artists |url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=top-selling-artists |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719114528/http://riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=top-selling-artists |archive-date=19 July 2012 |access-date=8 January 2011 |website=RIAA's Gold & Paltinum Program |publisher=Recording Industry Association of America}}</ref> They achieved eight consecutive number-ones on the [[UK Albums Chart]], a record for most consecutive UK number-one albums shared with [[ABBA]].{{sfn|Lane|2013}} Led Zeppelin remain one of the most [[Bootleg recording|bootlegged]] artists in the history of rock music.{{sfn|Clinton|2004|p=8}}

Led Zeppelin also made a significant cultural impact. Jim Miller, editor of ''Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll'', argues that "on one level, Led Zeppelin represents the final flowering of the sixties' psychedelic ethic, which casts rock as passive sensory involvement".{{sfn|Straw|1990|p=84}} Led Zeppelin have also been described as "the quintessential purveyors"{{sfn|Waksman|2001|pp=238–239}} of masculine and aggressive "[[cock rock]]", although this assertion has been challenged.{{sfn|Fast|2001|pp=162–163}} The band's fashion-sense has been seminal; Simeon Lipman, head of pop culture at [[Christie's]] auction house, has commented that "Led Zeppelin have had a big influence on fashion because the whole aura surrounding them is so cool, and people want a piece of that".{{sfn|Long|2007}} Led Zeppelin laid the foundation for the [[big hair]] of the 1980s [[glam metal]] bands such as [[Mötley Crüe]] and [[Skid Row (American band)|Skid Row]].{{sfn|Batchelor|Stoddart|2007|p=121}} Other musicians have also adapted elements from Led Zeppelin's attitude to clothes, jewellery and hair, such as the hipster flares and tight band T-shirts of [[Kings of Leon]], shaggy hair, clingy T-shirts and bluesman hair of [[Jack White]] of [[the White Stripes]], and [[Kasabian]] guitarist [[Sergio Pizzorno]]'s silk scarves, [[trilby|trilbies]] and side-laced tight jeans.{{sfn|Long|2007}}