The Song Really Does Remain The Same

I make no claim to anything other than what any other guy born in Generation X does when it comes to Led Zeppelin: I only got into them out of obligation. See...I missed them in their heyday. I mean, not many 8 year-olds get the Led out. And when you're 14 you don't really understand what the deal is when a band stops playing because their drummer died. But when you're 14 you don't really understand exactly how someone would die from choking on their own vomit, either, despite how much 14 year-old guys will tell the story with excited/lurid grotesqueness.

But, like all high school guys, their music became a soundtrack of sorts in our lives. Teenage guys can't help it. It just does.

Being a kid in Alabama, I was highly skeptical of the guy that came to our church and played "Stairway to Heaven" backwards and suggested some sort of Satanic lyrics to which everyone in the room but me heard (and the parents seemed to have especially gifted hearing) and his story of how it was written in 17 minutes after the band had a seance.

Being a kid in Alabama, I loved the scene in the movie "The Last American Virgin" when the protagonist is told to play "Led Zeppelin IV, side 1" on his date to get her in the mood. The song he played was "Kashmir" which we all immediately knew was distinctly NOT on Led Zeppelin IV, but rather on the double album "Physical Graffiti." The funny part to us is that we all knew girls didn't really like Led Zeppelin and such a ploy would fail miserably (yet we all agreed that Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" would put her in a romantic mood. Hmmm.). Zep was guy territory...much like professional wrestling and The Three Stooges.

Being a kid in Alabama, our high school had an "air guitar show" to raise toys for Toys for Tots--I think the policemen and firemen in our area did that--at Christmas time. The couple of years I remember that amid all the popular bands at the time (think Quiet Riot & Def Leppard & Van Halen) there was always a Led Zeppelin entry. My senior year I was asked to be Robert Plant but I had to decline as I was going to be the emcee. I helped them choose their song, which was "Whole Lotta Love" which was the logical choice because you really got two songs since the grown ups in charge didn't know that the song "Living Loving Maid" which follows on the album was a separate song due to the abnormally short pause between tracks.

Being a kid in Alabama, I worked the midnight movies at the local theatre. "The Song Remains The Same" was a semi-documentary of a concert they played. It was almost 80% full every Friday and Saturday night. I remember staying longer in that theatre as I made sure nobody had their feet on the seats to listen to various songs. Apparently, the crowd was unaware of the satanic influence of "Stairway" because they sang along with all the words. Really. In 1984.

As a college kid in Alabama, during initiation for the fraternity pledges, it was my job to keep them up all night. While they were cleaning & mopping, I had them sing the introductory howl to "Immigrant Song" in unison. "AHaaaaaaAH...AHaaaaaaAH."

Being adults in Alabama, we all laughed when we saw the sign in the guitar store that Wayne Campbell (think Wayne & Garth in the movie "Wayne's World") frequented that said "Absolutely NO Stairway." We all laughed because we all learned to play that song soon in our guitar days at college. Everybody recognized it, no matter how poorly you played it.

And, yesterday, in London, they reunited as Led Zeppelin (there were some other attempts to play Led Zeppelin songs at things like Live Aid and an Atlantic Records celebration as well as "unplugged" sessions with two of the members) for the first time in 35 years. They had their departed drummer's son playing drums. All accounts of the show, of which tickets were going for as much as $2,000, said it was a masterful performance.

And, yesterday, when they started playing "Good Times, Bad Times" (which they rarely played live) with it's guitar intro and opening lyrics, "In the days of my youth/I was told what it was to be a man/Now Ive reached the age/Ive tried to do all those things the best I can./No matter how I try/I find my way to do the same old jam." I think I might've paid that much to have been there in that moment.

If they, as expected, use this as an opportunity to tour, and being a grownup in Dallas, I might save my money and go as high as $500 to see it if they ever come around. And, I'd save extra to get a t-shirt.