I was 18 in 1968 when I saw Led Zep for the first time at the Fillmore East. I knew someone that got us in to the sold out show for free and to top it off I had some great acid. They were outrageous; my tender eyes and ears had never seen or heard anything like that before.

I listened to Zep so much during that period and for years afterward I got flashbacks every time I heard the first album. 

I saw them another five times; at the Boston Garden, Central Pak in NYC and Madison Square Garden. I was a fan.  Although I really didn't care for anything that they did after the fourth album and for me at least their music doesn’t hold up as well as some groups from that period like Cream, Traffic, The Beatles, Santana, Blind Faith, etc. 

 I have to agree that they are overrated. Just because they have been influential doesn't mean that they were all that good. This may be hard to accept but there were a lot of crappy bands and a whole genre of music made by lesser light bands that followed in their wake.   If you're a fan of heavy metal you are going to take exception to this post.

Plant never lets the music breath, he tries to fill every space and Page's live playing was very sloppy.  He was a master at apprehending styles and music from the past and then incorporating them into the bands music. He was the first rock guitarist that took standard blues licks and used high volume and slur’s that would sort of trick the ear into thinking that he was playing fast. McLaughlin, Metheny, Demiola play fast clean and complex.

There was a fair amount of controversy when Zep's first album came out.  Jeff Beck was considered a better (read: purer) blues guitarist.  Page was very comfortable in the studio and did have a knack for creating a "wall of sound" type of effect on their records. He also conveyed a mystical atmosphere that translated very well into the LSD experience (much like Hendrix music did).  His playing veered pretty far from the blues most of which his music was derived from. Not that's a bad thing.

Page brought some wonderful styles to our ears.  With the exception of John Renbourn and Bert Jansch Page's acoustic work was unmatched during that time. He was an innovator if not an original.

Look, I'm conflicted about this group as I am about the Stones.  Their music doesn't hold up after years of exposure to the variety of music that I've been listened to. I hear it for what it is and back in the day the image that groups like Zep and the Stones along with its newness and my youth was an influence on my uneducated ears. Like one poster said: it's just an opinion!