Gods of Rock Resurrected

I was excited to hear about the Led Zeppelin reunion concert that took place in London this week, though I'm sure it was disappointing to millions of their world-wide fans, me included, to take in the fact that it was only a one-time gig. Sure, the whole world is spreading a rumor about a reunion tour, but none of the rumors are supported by any official word from the band. Until they officially come out and make a statement, I'm not getting my hopes up. Just for the record, Zeppelin is basically my favorite band of all-time. In this day and age they're a little under-appreciated by anyone under the age of 25, so I may be a dying breed. But regardless of me being a relative lone-wolf in my Zeppelin adoration, I can't stop admiring them for the pioneers of rock 'n roll that they were. Here's an excerpt from a review of the concert that I especially liked:

“By Dazed And Confused (all 26 minutes of it), Page was at his most avant-garde, attacking his guitar with a violin bow, but on Kashmir, unleashing the Zeppelin riff of Zeppelin riffs, he was almost inhumanly exciting. It was like watching a man invent electricity. One oft-repeated Seventies myth suggested Page’s prowess came as a result of a pact with the devil. Superstitious nonsense of course, but sometimes you wonder.” (The Evening Standard)

Here's another:

“Page may no longer swagger across the stage, his guitar worn low like a gunslinger as he churns out riffs. And Plant can’t scram and strut like he did in his rock god heyday. But the awesome power and majesty of the music was undiminished.” (The Daily News)

If you haven't yet discovered the "awesome power and majesty" of Led Zeppelin, I'd just like to invite you to listen to some of their songs. I'm not talking about the stuff that everyone's heard a million times over, like "Stairway to Heaven" or "Immigrant Song." Led Zeppelin is far more than their oft-repeated hits. Scattered throughout their 18 albums is a plethora of musical prowess, covering just about every rock 'n roll style known to man in the 60s and 70s. Every song is its own work of art. They never wrote a throwaway song, or something that wasn't worth listening to. I'd reccomend looking up the following three songs just to give you a taste of the variety of styles Led Zeppelin is capable of weaving into their music:

- Hey hey, what can I do?

This piece is one of their later songs, and to me it sounds pleasant and optimistic, though it certainly retains its rock edge. Most consider Zeppelin to be the founders of metal music as we know it today, though in this song it's hard to understand why. This song is just another example of how varied their music is.

- In my time of dying.

This song is a little bit harder-- they rock out just as you'd expect them to, being the founders of metal-music and all-- but I really like it because it's basically a blues song bloated into a mind-blowing, eleven minute riff.

- Going to California

I swear they wrote this song just to prove that they were capable of writing an incredible ballad. It's very different from the previous two in both style and emotion. It's a very laid-back and heartfelt song, and sounds as if Robert Plant simply composed this song straight from a memory or longing he had in the back of his mind.

Flashback

One of the benefits of not going to Logan this Thanksgiving was the opportunity to see some old friends of mine who were in Denver for a couple days. Corban and Libby are both students at Johns Hopkins and are therefore way too far to visit whenever I'd feel like it, so this short weekend during which they were home was my only chance. They might not even be returning for Christmas, so who knows when I'll be seeing them next. The good news is that the night that we hung out was kind of like a flashback from when I was 17. I swear I practically lived at Corban and Libby's house every weekend that year. I think that, had stuff happened differently, they probably would've built an addition to the house especially designed for me and my stays there. But anyways, I had great fun being with them again because we all just picked up where we left off, careful to ignore certain details of each of our pasts which may have stilted an otherwise warm reunion. Hanging out with them felt like when I was 17 because when I was almost 18 everything started to change. Being a little candid here, Libby turned the dreaded age of 16, which utterly doomed me from that day onward. And it went pretty much downhill from there. I don't think the fact that Libby fell in love with me was the exclusive reason for the slight separation between me and my former best-friend, Corban, but it was certainly the catalyst that started all the tension between us. Me leaving for Idaho and him to the Air Force Academy couldn't have done much to help matters, either.

However, shoving all trivial matters to the side, hanging out with them again made everything awesome. Corban suddenly felt like my best-friend again, and it made me happy that he didn't cringe or give any looks of disapproval when Libby and I were hopelessly flirty with each other. It's like he accepts that we're adults now, relatively more responsibible and mature, and therefore capable of handling adult relationships without him having to burst out with his overly-zealous protectiveness. He felt like my best-friend again from when we were 17.