Led Zeppelin: A Fan's Tribute
Dec 30 '03 (Updated Mar 31 '06)
The Bottom Line Led Zeppelin has to rank as one of the three or four most important musical groups ever. Delve deeply into their music and you'll find out why.
I wrote this in the spring of 2000. At the time, it was one of the best pieces I had ever written. I say that because I was able to convey, for perhaps the first time, what I really thought and felt about a subject. A strange admission for one who is a writer by profession.
Since writing this, my passion for Zeppelin has certainly not waned. I’ve added more bootlegs and more collectibles, and the release in 2003 of How the West Was Won and Led Zeppelin DVD were very welcome additions. And, as I await the birth of my third daughter in 2004, it seems her name will be Paige…
Well it's been ten years and maybe more
Since I first set eyes (ears?) on you.
The best years of my life go by,
Here I am alone and blue.
I can only vaguely remember a time when I didn't like them. I can't remember when their music wasn't the soundtrack to my life. Here I am, a 28-year-old man who can't ever seem to have enough Led Zeppelin.
Sure, I know what you're thinking: Led Zeppelin: those heavy metal devils. You know what happens when you play "Stairway to Heaven" backward?
Yes, I know what happens. You miss a perfectly good song. "Play it backward." Next you'll be telling me to read "War and Peace" backward. But I digress.
I'm not even sure how I started liking them. My suspicion is that I was emulating an older brother, or so I thought. I assumed my brother was a big Zeppelin fan, but I don't think he was. The other reason is a convergence of The Who, "Miami Vice," and comic books. I guess that's a complicated way of saying I started getting into classic rock and roll, and the best place to hear that in Utah was on the old 103.5 FM, KRSP. Remember the block party weekends? Three songs at a time from all the great bands. Get the tapes ready.
And it's whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long,
And the forests will echo with laughter.
Led Zeppelin compares favorably with its contemporaries. More original, consistent and enduring than the Rolling Stones; more aggressive, but perhaps lest artistic, than the Beatles; less cerebral, and therefore more fun, than The Who; less experimental, but with a wider appeal, than Pink Floyd. Around the world, Led Zeppelin is more popular than every band but one, the Beatles (only the Beatles have sold more records). That should mean something.
But what was it I liked? At first, my tastes weren't very discriminating: the fourth album--"Black Dog", "Rock and Roll", "Stairway to Heaven"--and Led Zeppelin II — "Whole Lotta Love", "Heartbreaker", "Ramble On". Play it loud, so everyone can hear.
Then, MTV broadcast "The Song Remains the Same." That movie changed my life. Well, okay, maybe not my life, but the way I listened to Zeppelin. This movie contained clips from a 1973 concert. By the band's standards, the performance was sub-par. But I didn't care (I didn't know enough then). The movie had "Since I've Been Loving You." It had "The Rain Song," "Dazed and Confused," and "The Song Remains the Same."
A few months later, I joined one of those record clubs; I ordered tapes. Of the first 12, I think half were Led Zeppelin, including the soundtrack to the film. I'm surprised I didn't wear those tapes out in the first five months; I was constantly listening to them. On the way home from work, I'd take the long way and drive slow, so I could enjoy the continuity of "The Song Remains the Same" and "Rain Song" from the soundtrack.
I had a dream,
oh now, a crazy dream,
Oh, anything I wanted to know,
Any place I needed to go.
Then in 1990, just a few months before I would give up rock and roll for two years, Atlantic released the first Led Zeppelin boxed set. By that time, I had all the albums, but this set presented Zeppelin in an entirely new way. It was around this time that I began to appreciate the less obvious gems in the Zeppelin catalog: "That's the Way," "Tangerine," "Bron-Yr-Aur," "White Summer/Black Mountain Side," "Custard Pie," "Ten Years Gone," "For Your Life," "Tea for One." How many so-called Zeppelin fans have overlooked side two of Led Zeppelin III? ("Side two, what are you talking about?").
And yesterday I saw you standing by the river,
And weren't those tears that filled your eyes,
And all the fish that lay in dirty water dyin',
Had they got you hypnotized?
In 1991, I began two years of service with my church. I was in Germany. Rock and Roll music was not allowed; I survived on Mozart and chocolate. Two or three times, I heard Zeppelin songs as a car would drive by with the radio blasting. But the greatest gift was bootlegs: illegal (or at least illegitimate) recordings of Zeppelin concerts, L.A. in 1970 (a rather famous recording, as it turns out) and Brussels in 1980. Once again, my life had changed, this time in significant ways. "Kashmir," the timeless composition from 1975's Physical Graffiti, now became the be-all and end-all of Led Zeppelin songs. And since bootlegs were the only way I could add to my Zeppelin collection, I began to pursue them with near reckless abandon.
My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon,
I will return again.
Sure as the dust that blows high in June
When moving through Kashmir.
As it turned out, some stores in sleepy Utah Valley actually carried them. But the real boon was the Internet. I found entire communities of tape traders on-line. Thanks to a nice chap in New Zealand and others, I had built a small but respectable collection of Led Zeppelin bootlegs. I had all the famous gigs: Fillmore West, April 1969; Playhouse theater, June 1969; L.A. Forum, 1972 ("Burn like a Candle"), the penultimate performance at Earl's Court, May 24, 1975; Cleveland 1977 ("Destroyer"), and, of course, the first night at the L.A. Forum, June 21, 1977 ("Listen to this, Eddie").
I now have about four days worth of live Led Zeppelin. I don't listen to any of it backwards. At this stage of my Zeppelin "career," I can describe a Zeppelin performance like a connoisseur of fine wine would describe the subtle differences of his favorite vintages (not that I've had any wine):
The earliest, 1975 versions of "Kashmir," while lacking in polish, are nonetheless superior to the 1977 and 1980 versions, perhaps for that very reason. The performances of "No Quarter" at Earl's Court, specifically on May 24, is the finest of the band's entire career. Jimmy Page's playing throughout 1973, meaning the UK, Europe and United States tours, is the best on record. The best versions of "Over the Hills and Far Away" are certainly from the 1973 U.S. tour, and the single best version is probably from July 28. Later versions strayed just a bit too far from the original.
For me now, Led Zeppelin is much more than "Stairway to Heaven." In fact, in my mind, there are two types of Zeppelin fans. The "Stairway to Heaven" fan is the stereotypical hippie, still probably has longish hair, probably drives a truck with questionable bumper stickers. The "Kashmir" fan is white collar, cultured, appreciates both the raw rock and roll and the subtler, softer sounds of Zeppelin. Can you guess which group I fall into?
So, what is Led Zeppelin? It is the dynamic guitar playing of Jimmy Page. When I say dynamic, I'm not just using a cool adjective. I mean light and shade, aggressive and restrained. I mean the Gibson Les Paul and the cherry red Gibson Double Neck (serial number 911117). I mean "The Rain Song" and "Achilles Last Stand." I mean the power and the glory of Jimmy Page.
It was an April mornin' when they told us we should go,
And as I turned to you, you smiled at me,
How could we say no?
Whoa the fun to have to live the dreams we've always had,
Whoa the songs to sing when we at last return again.
Led Zeppelin is the masterful musicianship of bassist John Paul Jones, a man so talented he nearly left the band to become the choirmaster at Winchester Cathedral. Zeppelin is Jones playing the spooky organ solo of "No Quarter," surrounded by a cloud of dry ice.
They're wearing steel that's bright and true, ooh,
They carry news that must get through,
They choose the path where no one goes.
They hold no quarter
Led Zeppelin is the voice of the golden god, Robert Plant. From the raw rock and roll of the first album, to the ballads of the last album, his voice has done it all. How does the same man sing "Whole Lotta Love" and "All My Love"?
Yours is the cloth, mine is the hand that sews time,
His is the force that lies within.
Ours is the fire 'n' all the warmth we can find,
He is a feather in the wind, oh,
Led Zeppelin is the omnipresent force of John Bonham, who, in the words of Robert Plant, was "the greatest drummer Led Zeppelin has ever had." Page says Bonzo played with such tremendous force, the band had to buy bigger amps. Bonzo was so crucial to the band that when he died, so did Led Zeppelin.
And yet Led Zeppelin seems more popular now than when the surviving three disbanded in 1980. Listen to any rock or heavy metal group; you will hear their influence. Even listen to U2 and the Beastie Boys.
No, I'm not the biggest Led Zeppelin fan in the world. Perhaps west of the Mississippi. I am the biggest fan I know. I hope that you, after reading this, are a fan, too.
All lyrics copyright (c) Flames of Albion Music, Inc., or Superhype Publishing Inc.
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Member: Jason Russell
Location: It's all a state of mind
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