Aerosmith v. "Today's" Zeppelin

["James Bonal" <bonal71@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This recent Aerosmith thread has sparked a thought within my head 
(some may 
feel such an occurrence is a first).

As we all know, Aerosmith has been around for 30 some years.  We also 
know 
that Aerosmith originated as a "hard rock" act, in a similar vein to 
the 
non-acoustic Zep tunes of the 70's.  Since then, and specifically, 
since 
1987's "Permanent Vacation" album (heralded by many critics as their 
triumphant conquering of drug abuse), Aerosmith's sound has evolved.

To me, however, musical "evolution" is not always a good thing.  
Aerosmith 
has, without a doubt, adapted their sound to the tastes of the day 
(for any 
of you who wish to argue that point, I kindly refer you any of the 
number of 
"ballads" they've put out in the past 14 years, in particular any 
song that 
has Alicia Silverstone in the corresponding video or any movie 
soundtrack 
tunes).  However, I'm not sure that this makes them "better," "worse" 
or 
neither.

My question is, if Zeppelin had stayed together (Bonzo remaining 
alive), 
what would they be putting out today?  Like them or not, Aerosmith is 
"relevant" today - see the commercial success of "Jaded" as proof of 
that 
assertion.  Would Zep have been the same?

As a very proud Zeppelin fan, I would like to think that Zeppelin 
would not 
have followed the same path as their compatriots from Beantown.  I do 
not 
think we would have seen them credited on the soundtrack to 
"Charlie's 
Angels" or "Pearl Harbor," with Plant crooning a top 40 theme to some 
cinematic starcrossed lovers.

However, I would also like to believe that the mighty Zep would not 
have 
followed in the Rolling Stones' footsteps either.  By that, I mean 
that Zep 
would not have put out an undeniably forgettable album simply as an 
excuse 
to tour on their 30 year-old hits.

NOW WAIT A SECOND!!  I know many of you out there have already typed 
out 
"what about WIC" in response to the preceding point.  I'm not looking 
for a 
debate on the merits of WIC (an album which I quite like and will 
defend to 
the end as a great amalgamation of the 1990's styles of Plant AND 
Page - 
yes, contrary to popluar belief on this list, Page was not led around 
by the 
nose by Plant for this record).  I will discount it for the sake of 
this 
discussion, however, because it was not a Zeppelin album.

I'm saying, what if Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham remained together 
today?  
What kind of music would they be playing?  Would they have remained 
commercially relevant today or would their stuff have sounded great 
to us, 
the hardcore fans, but been off the commercial radar, like great 
blues or 
other music is today?

Or, would Zeppelin have transformed in a manner similar to Aerosmith 
and 
sustained their commercial viability by putting out music that would 
be 
bound to alienate their true fans?

Just a thought here at the end of a long work day.