i agree, halfly with Peter. while i do think Plant is one of the most unfortunate things to happen to "music" in the last 50 years, i also believe the band was one of the most bad ass rhythm sections of the genre. "led foot" drumming and even out of tune bass playing are sort of definitive (if not at least acceptable) facets of rock and roll (just listen to fucking bill wyman - the guy was almost always out but it was almost charming to listen to). i guess the fact that rock and roll music has for some reason (and some artists) transcended tuning, tempo, ability, and taste, is a testament to it's greatness. as with the blues music it came from, rock's harshness and tempo-dropping is part of the "*** you" mentality it originally spawned from. so that's my defense for tuning issues and straight balls out ethics of turning up and being a "rock god" or whatever.
in regards to the fabulous elvis costello and the attractions, i feel like their punk energy, as precise as they all are as players, is not all dissimilar to the kind of energy in "Livin Lovin". i mean what is rock and roll if not a measurement of energy? it's not about much else... other wise it wouldnt include records like Elvis at Sun with Iggy and Stooge's Raw Power. the players in zep (bonham, jones, page) werent exactly "wankers". listen to donovan's hurdy gurdy man album - where the zep boys originally met - and you can hear how truely keen their ears were. page's production skills on zep records were grade A.

all things aside, i feel like this one of those bands that is both one of the most over-rated, and under-rated bands of all time.