Re: Ya know....

[TangerineMan <tangerineman@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Just when you thought you knew it all someone has to come up to you and
> say "Hey, is it Led Zeppelin or Led-Zeppelin?" and you go ......

Gotta admit, I have never pondered this one in, what, 30+ years of
Zepophilia...
 
> Well, LZ1,2,3 the fourth one....no, HOTH, CODA, TSRTS, PG Yes...ITTOD I
> don't think so
> box sets remasters no...
> 
> Most posters yes
> Most printed stuff no
> 
> So the answer officially is ??????

Well, as a translator known to dabble in copy-editing and proofreading,
here's my high-falutin' answer.

I consider the hyphen to be a typographer's whim and not a grammatical
hyphen, if you know what I mean. It's "Led Zeppelin" in any print context
other than album covers, posters, magazine title designs, etc.

The most common graphical representation of the name WITH the hyphen is when
written in the "HoTH font." I'm sure the hyphen was added by the graphic
designer for, well, graphic design reasons. The band probably approved this
creative decision.

Seems to me Art Nouveau lettering (of which Page was/is a big fan) often
played fast and loose with type, adding all kinds of "frills" between words.

Another analogy: look at all those death metal band logos in those nasty
gothic fonts, or with worms & tendrils flying off 'em. When you write them
in normal text they lose all those extras.

The hyphen in Led Zeppelin is a similar beast - there for graphical, not
grammatical, reasons.

In my humble opinion.