I love Led Zeppelin, but I would have to say they wrote the most overrated rock song ever: Stairway To Heaven. Also, Led Zeppelin should stop being classified as Heavy Metal (they are not the same as Black Sabbath or Metallica). The same could be said for Kiss (sorry boys, but you're dangerously close to being a Glam Rock band).

Anyway, my answer to the original question would be: Stinkfist - Tool (I love metal, but this group leaves me cold).

Black Sabbath, also not heavy metal.

Kiss were awesome back in the start too. I've got a beaten up record of Alive that I listen to all the time. But yeh they've been flogging a dead horse for 20 years or something. I see Ace Freely got fired and it's basically Gene Simmons and that cat guy now days hahaha :D

Sabbath were definitely metal. Sure its tame by today's standards but that shit pioneered Doom Metal (or Stoner whatever you choose to call it) anyways. They were a lot darker than anyone round that time, shit must have totally fucked with peoples heads.

Sabbath didn't really "fuck with" our heads- we just dug it because it was different, and it was real. There wasn't the fractionated music scene there is today- punk, metal, emo, whatever- it didn't exist- it was rock, and that was it. If it was original and true, we liked it. Sabbath was different from anything else around, and you could tell they meant what they said.

I was never a fan of Kiss because it all seemed like artifice to me- it was more about the show than the music.

Led Zeppelin also stole most of their hits from other bands.

They have more of a blues sound to me, but still metal, not heavy per-say.

If you mean they re-made old songs, that would add up to about 1/15 of all their material. If you mean something else, please give examples.

Yes, Kiss always seemed glitz and glamour without substance to me. Trying to be more than the sum of their parts. Sabbath were so much more gritty and down to earth. Still love them to this day. I believe that without them, we wouldn't have some of the music we have now. Or even some of the music of the 80's- my love!
Whitesnake were a little tiny bit later, but all bravado compared to AC/DC. I just hope the latter isn't selling out as a result of their being discovered by a new generation.. I was tempted to buy the soundtrack to Iron Man 2 until I realised I already have most of the music on other albums.

there earlier hits were all stolen from blues artists, but this is common knowledge by now.

I'll be damned; I had no idea Stairway To Heaven was ripped off. I had a feeling Dazed And Confused was someone else's, but they never gave Jake Holmes credit. They gave Willie Dixon credit for You Shook Me and I Can't Quit You Baby, but I see they didn't give Robert Johnson any credit for The Lemon Song. Did they give credit to Robert Johnson for Travelling Riverside Blues?
If you have any more examples of Led Zeppelin ripping other artists off, I'd love to hear them.

P.S. I still love Zeppelin in spite of everything.