Quote:
Originally Posted by 1blankmind
A song isn't mainstream because someone said it is. And you guys areally discussing if Led Zeppelin wasn't mainstream? Did they top the charts with one or more songs during their initial years active. Check that and you'll have the answer.
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The charts--at least the singles charts--aren't at all a good way to check this. There are a few reasons for this, including that Billboard compiled singles charts primarily by using singles sales data during the 70s (well, that and the fact that you could
buy chart placement in the 70s). Also, Billboard required that songs were available commercially as singles in order for them to be eligible for the singles charts. Zeppelin didn't release many singles. The band/the band's management didn't want to release
any singles, but Atlantic released some anyway. Still, that wasn't their concentration.
Music radio, starting in the late 60s, and lasting through the early 80s, was dominated by FM "album-oriented rock" stations. Those were the most popular stations in all of the biggest markets. They included stations like WMMS in Cleveland, WSHE in Miami, and KMET in Los Angeles, all of which I listened to regularly, because I had family in all three places and spent part of every year in each locale. Album-oriented rock stations allowed DJs to make their own choices about what tracks to play from albums--a station would have every Led Zeppelin album, for example, and if you were a DJ and felt like playing "Out on the Tiles," you played "Out on the Tiles." And they often did things like playing entire album sides, too--"We've got side 1 of Led Zeppelin II coming up at 8 o'clock"). None of that is reflected on Billboard charts, especially since it's not as if Billboard had people monitoring radio stations all over the country and writing down what they played.