Christina Aguilera sure knows the National Anthem.

[Egbert]

Who knows or cares? It is "Led" for whatever reason.

[giblets]

I thought it was Lead as in the metal which would make a Zeppelin made out of lead impossible since it's so heavy. Instead, it's led like the past tense of lead? That makes less sense but rock band names often make no sense anyway. Or is it just a stylistic spelling of lead?

They changed the spelling to stop people from saying "leed zeppelin"

[Elok]

The name was made up by Keith Moon, who sneered that the band ought to go over like a lead zeppelin. The omission of the A appears to have been a purely stylistic choice. Like "Def Leppard," though I don't know if they're actually named for a hearing-impaired jungle cat.

[Al B. Sure!]

The name was made up by Keith Moon, who sneered that the band ought to go over like a lead zeppelin. The omission of the A appears to have been a purely stylistic choice. Like "Def Leppard," though I don't know if they're actually named for a hearing-impaired jungle cat.

Def is really old slang for cool.

Though Wikipedia says it was deaf originally:

Soon afterward they adopted a name proposed by Elliott, "Deaf Leopard", which was originally a band name he thought up while writing reviews for imaginary rock bands in his English class (and in at least partial reference to the band Led Zeppelin).[12] At Kenning's suggestion, the spelling was slightly modified in order to make the name seem less like that of a punk band.

[Al B. Sure!]

Seriously?

Do you understand now?

[Docfeelgood]

I thought if I ever had a band , White Meat sound good.

[N35t0r]

Exactly. Replace the Black woman (who Rolling Stone magazine oddly made no mention of) with a white one and voila! Pop success!

Note how the article noted "blond singer". Exactly.

Waaaay to miss the point. Re read this, please (emphasis added):

...
Everything changed in 2003, when the band, then consisting of MCs apl.de.ap and Taboo and will.i.am, hired singer Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson and made a conscious decision to pursue commercial success.
...
The band began working on a third LP in 2001, but things didn't come together until Fergie came on board in 2003. Along with the new, blond singer, the band adopted a more pop-friendly approach, from its guest list and fashion sense to its lyrical content.
...

They don't make rap anymore. They make rappy pop/dance.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Seriously Albert, do you even read your own posts? You WANT to ascribe a racial reason. Starting off with "this is just tongue in cheek" to "the more I think about it, it seems like it was Fergie was white". It's the same thing that all racists do, start with an I'm just joking / saying comment to you know, that's right!

Your posts even say that fans of the OLD BEP don't like the new direction with Fergie. What's the new direction? They became more poppy / sold out. So OF COURSE they are going to explode in popularity in the mainstream because they changed their sound to be more mainstream!! I don't see what is so hard to comprehend about that!

[ColdWizard]

Clearly he is BK's DL.

[Al B. Sure!]

The WSJ article affirmed that marketers love them because they are multi-ethnic. The fact that they appeared in so many commercials was the turning point for their popularity, as Will.I.Am even said. They got the deals then became famous for their music. They only got the deals because they are multi-ethnic. They were not multi-ethnic enough until they got a white woman.

What is so hard to understand?

[dannubis]

That you voluntarily listen to (c)rap.

[N35t0r]

The WSJ article affirmed that marketers love them because they are multi-ethnic. The fact that they appeared in so many commercials was the turning point for their popularity, as Will.I.Am even said. They got the deals then became famous for their music. They only got the deals because they are multi-ethnic. They were not multi-ethnic enough until they got a white woman.

What is so hard to understand?

Do you want me to make a list of multi-ethnic group which are NOT popular? We'll then list how many pop-friendly groups with mainstream-oriented lyrics there are? What do you think?

If fergie had been black, then maybe they wouldn't have gotten as much fame as they do now (certainly the 'odd' factor helped), but they'd still be famous. If they had kept on making the same music as before, with a white fergie, then they'd probably still be where they were.

[Imran Siddiqui]

And as everyone knows, there are no non-white artists or groups that have made money in music

[Al B. Sure!]

And as everyone knows, there are no non-white artists or groups that have made money in music

Hey I didn't say it. The Wall Street Journal said it.

[rah]

We should thank Christina because next year there will be a NEW prop bet.