"Led Zeppelin didn't write tunes that everybody liked. They left that to the Bee Gees."
It turns out that that is hard to do well and requires a certain brilliance and finesse. Nearly everyone in the anglosphere can recognize at least one of their songs even 35-40 years on; Zeppelin doesn't have that kind of claim. Getting to that level requires a certain propensity to hack the human psyche, employing hooks, chord structures, melodies and lyrics that are sure to get attention and remain in memory.
I think that far fewer people would recognize "Stairway" than would recognize, say, "Stayin' Alive". My parents, for instance, would recognize the latter but if you played "Stairway" for them -- puzzled looks.
It turns out that that is hard to do well and requires a certain brilliance and finesse. Nearly everyone in the anglosphere can recognize at least one of their songs even 35-40 years on; Zeppelin doesn't have that kind of claim. Getting to that level requires a certain propensity to hack the human psyche, employing hooks, chord structures, melodies and lyrics that are sure to get attention and remain in memory.