Gettin' the Led Out

Gotta make this look good... David Coverdale is watching.

I remember in days gone by... nay, decades gone by, when rock radio stations would whip out a few old heavies for a set of Led Zeppelin. And the DJs would invariably holler over the airwaves "Time to get the Led out!" Yeah.

I was a big Zeppelin fan for many years. It all began in my early teens, when I bought Led Zeppelin IV. That thundering heap of sludgy vinyl (for I owned it on record originally) was medicinal every time the needle hit the groove. From JP's booming bass meanderings to Plant's vocal caterwauling... and from Page's genre-defining guitar riffs to Bonham's powerhouse rhythms.... these four young men tripped and jammed to entertain generations of fans. It was awe-inspiring and mystical; it was mythical and sometimes it strayed off into rootsy directions. 

Though many rock fans, even major Zep-heads, might be a tad bored of hearing the song Rock and Roll for the millionth time, I for one still consider it as vital and fun as the first time I heard it. There's a bit of Chuck Berry guitar influence in there, you know, imbuing the song with a 50's sensibility that will simply never die. That Jerry Lee Lewis-style manic piano accompanying the guitars and drums throws a neat bone into the stew, too. Love it.

On the other hand, I can't listen to Stairway to Heaven anymore. Wayne's World had it right. We've had enough. Zep IV aside, I never got into very much of their catalogue. I did at one point own all of their albums, but some of it just never grabbed me, so I stuck to the albums I enjoyed most. Makes sense, right? Like Houses of the Holy or Physical Graffiti.... while there are moments I like a lot on both albums, each one as a whole just never impressed me the way I thought it would have. I mean, everyone said those were the best Zeppelin records, right? Hm. 

I did, however, live on a steady diet of Zep's music during high school and college, and to a lesser extent after that. My friends and I rented the video of The Song Remains the Same at least a few times, rocking out to Page's extended solos and joking relentlessly about Plant's pants situation. During my school days I showed my band loyalty by wearing a slick-looking patch on my denim jacket... have a look here: Led Zeppelin patch

I remember that flippy moment back in 1979 when I accidentally spilled some water on the inner sleeve of my brand new In Through the Out Door album. The black and white image suddenly sprouted colours! But instead of dousing the sleeve in water to reveal the full effect, I chose to just leave that little splotch of colour and let it dry. A neat little gimmick by the band or their marketing department, but I didn't feel like potentially ruining the sleeve. 

Years later, once I'd achieved a certain level of ability on guitar, I included a couple of Zep songs on my setlist, The Immigrant Song and Rock and Roll, which I loved to pull out when I jammed with a drummer. Good times.... yes, just good times.

My prehistoric cassette copy of Led Zeppelin III.

Even though my tape deck has been in storage for ages,

I still have an issue with just throwing away all my old tapes