The Word Was Out About Kingdom Come. Even before the band's debut album was released, the record-industry buzz was that it had the potential to be a smash hit. And there's a good reason, say the buzzers: Kingdom Come sounds exactly like Led Zeppelin.

So it Kingdom Come hits big, nobody'll be too surprised — because although the band may be the latest and most shameless outfit to learn that sounding like Led Zeppelin is a ticket to the top, it certainly isn't alone. In just the past year or so, we've seen a slew of "New Zeppelins" of one sorr or another, including the L.A. underground thrash band Jane's Addiction, the English reformed-punk band the Cult and the revived heavy-metal band Whitesnake.

Yeah, its been a long time since Led Zeppelin rock & rolled, but when it comes to modern mainstream rock music, Zep still has the touch of the gods. Classic-rock radio stations play the band's music incessantly; bands from Def Leppard to Crowded House do versions of its songs; the Beastie Boys and the Cult appropriate its guitar riffs; just about every hard-rock and heavy-metal band that ever tromped onstage has borrowed something from its style and sound.

"In my opinion, next to the Beatles they're the most influential band in history," says Geffen Records A&R executive John David Kalodner, whose label will soon release a Jimmy Page solo album that advance reports say has a distinct Zeppelin feel. "They influence the way music is on records, AOR radio, concerts. They set the standards for the AOR-radio format with 'Stairway to Heaven,' having AOR hits without necessarily having Top Forty hits. They're the ones who did the first real big arena concert shows, consistently selling out and playing stadiums without support. People can do as well as them, but nobody surpasses them."

But if nobody surpasses Led Zeppelin, lots of people pay homage. Led Zeppelin's ten albums — especially the string of six classics that began in 1969 with the band's debut, Led Zeppelin, and ended in 1975 with Physical Graffiti — are reportedly one of the most lucrative back catalogs in rock, selling consistently year after year. Certainly, those sales are helped by Zeppelin's status as the backbone of AOR and classic-rock radio, where "Stairway to Heaven" regularly ranks at or near the top of listeners' polls and such Zeppelin songs as "Rock and Roll" and "Kashmir" get regular airings.