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Why Led Zeppelin, Why Now?

Ok, so, a quiet night in, alone at home - for a change.
I decided to have a Led Zep revival fiesta. On the weekend I hired film The Song Remains The Same - Tuesday now, been saving it.

I wrote the other day about growing up with the music of the Clash. Well, Led Zep was probably more significant to me than all of the punk and post punk bands I enjoyed put together.

I discovered the joy of headphones and stereophonic sound with Led Zep. Lying in bed at night with the lights off listening to the wailing guitar and sound of Robert Plant's voice oscillating from one side of my brain to the other. Now, I have to confess at this point that drugs never played a part in my enjoyment of the music. Not because I'm a stiff - (I don't care if you enjoy using drugs - it's entirely up to you), it’s just that I was never introduced to drugs. Never even held a lit cigarette, let alone tried to find a vein that hadn't collapsed. I've managed to live my adult life without anything more exciting than alcohol (although I should confess that I've had an exciting ride with booze in the past - maybe more about that when we know each other better).

Watching the movie as I write brings back so many memories. Every Sunday night you could be pretty sure The Song Remains The Same would be playing as a double feature at either the Capitol in Balmoral, The Bridgeway in Northcote, The Tudor in Takapuna or the Academy in the city.

I must have been pretty clueless as kid. It only occurred to me years later the meaning of the lyric 'The way you squeeze my lemon makes me want to fall right out of bed'. The appeal to me was to be as cool as Jimmy Page and as sexy to girls as Robert Plant (I could never understand what was going on with John Paul Jones' pudding bowl haircut).

The throb of John Bonham's drumming, the pulse of the bass. It all carried me through my adolescence.

When I said I was having a 'quiet night', I was lying. I may be doing permanent damage to my hearing. All in all it makes me wish I had a Norton Dominator motorcycle again and that I could take it for a night ride as soon as the show is over, then come home and listen to it all over again - like I did when I was a dumbass, skinny little kid.

I'm looking forward to the drum solo, so that I can go to the toilet. Just like the old days. Though the fantasy footage of Bonzo looks like he had the most fun.

I have no idea what it was about Led Zep but they were definitely The One & Only - 'The Biggest band In The World'.

Read the Wikipeadia entry for the band



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