Originally Posted by
Freypower
But so were Led Zeppelin. It could be argued that because Zeppelin were 'hard rock' they covered that area too, which the Eagles really didn't (the Eagles did a few uptempo songs which weren't really 'hard rock' in the Zeppelin sense). The Eagles are always referred to as 'soft rock' even though I take your point about critics. I think that Led Zeppelin had more influence worldwide than the Eagles did across hard rock, folk and country as well as in the 'mystical' lyrics of many of their songs. The Eagles influence it seems to me was mainly confined to the United States, where country rock is a a major genre. Elsewhere if artists did country influenced songs they cited Gram Parsons, the Byrds, Dylan, even the Stones in their 'country' period, rarely the Eagles.
I think Led Zeppelin also had a larger than life mystique due to all the stories of their life on the road. The band members were also fairly well known. That can't be said of the Eagles, even today, where some would even struggle to identify Joe as a member.