Random thoughts from a Led Zeppelin fan

[stevethomson@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Random thought #1
===============
Google Alert brought me to an interesting article due to passing mention of Led 
Zeppelin. It's initially focused on Simon and Garfunkel's unannounced reunion 
at NYC's Beacon Theater a few days ago, but it expands to talk about most big 
groups, including Zeppelin.

http://tinyurl.com/cx25k5

Here's an excerpt:
>>>
At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what the balance of power is. 
Sure, when it’s a little askew some egos will be bruised and nasty words 
exchanged, but the great bands, the truly fantastic ones are the groups which 
needed each other. The Beatles. Led Zeppelin. The Who. Rage Against The 
Machine. Guns N Roses. Simon and Garfunkel. Blink-182. They all found some 
modicum of success on their own, and we still wanted to hear “Bridge Over 
Troubled Water”. And we always will. 

So, go out and do what you gotta do. Explore your sitar fetish for a few 
albums, George Harrison. Host game shows on NBC, Joey Fatone. Just don’t forget 
who got you there. Even if you never got back together to make new music, take 
a few nights off every once in a while to harmonize on “Bridge Over Troubled 
Water”. It’s the one thing you can’t do alone. 

<<<

We could just as easily substitute any number of Led Zeppelin songs for Bridge 
Over Troubled Water. No matter what Plant, Page or Jones do, I think it's safe 
to say a majority of people will always want to hear the classics. To borrow 
one line of thought from this article, that the members of these groups need 
each other, what do you think, do Page and Plant need each other? (I don't 
include Jones in this because he has, I believe, been more successful in 
keeping his musical output as an overall body of work that just happened to 
include his very vital contributions to Led Zeppelin. Page's most important 
work has always been his contributions to Led Zeppelin and Plant's have been 
either his part in Led Zeppelin or else defined as either an extension of Led 
Zeppelin (88-98, 05-07) , a denial of Led Zeppelin (82-85), or in contrast to 
Led Zeppelin (84, 03, 07-09)). In other words, for Plant's it's never been "oh 
yeah, and he used to sing for a group called Led Zeppelin", it's always been 
"former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant...." 

Of course strictly speaking, Page, Plant and Jones do not need anyone to make 
music if they so choose, but as Jimmy pointed out last year, the best people to 
make Led Zeppelin music are those who created it. Together. Plant may redefine 
Black Dog with a mutated bluegrass backing, but it will always be remembered 
for that hybrid helium-hellhound vocal, impossible drum breaks, winding bass 
and guitar notes bending all over the place. Black Country Woman likewise be 
fine circa 2008 RPAK but it will always be Page and Plant sitting in the garden 
with the airplane hovering, Stairway may have worked as an instrumental with 
the audience fillin in the vocals, but it didn't soar, Levee was absolutely 
stunning on electrical steel guitar, but without that vocal anchoring the 
whirlpool at the end, it's just not the same. Etc., etc. 

Watching the O2 footage before Christmas, the thought occurred to me around the 
end of Black Dog just as the band seemed to gel and really take off that the 
saddest part of this all is how good the band was yet it may very well have 
been the last time, anyone will ever see that band perform live. That they will 
never play another note together is a damned shame!

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Random thought #2
===============
Yesterday I read a CNN article about Plant/Krauss with an interview 
(http://tinyurl.com/bxgjzc) in which they asked Plant about "Led Zeppelin 
diehards" holding their breath for a reunion tour. I think a better way of 
asking the question would have been to acknowledge that there's a huge body of 
Led Zeppelin fans out there who would probably prefer a reunion of some kind. 
Maybe I'm overly sensitive, but the  "Led Zeppelin diehards" reference seems to 
suggest a small minority of fans, when I think it's safe to say that the number 
of fans out there preferring a LZ reunion greatly outnumbers everything else. I 
thought of the CBC Sunday Morning item about RPAK last year and that interview 
with two fans lining up for one of the RPAK shows. They were clearly excited to 
be seeing Percy, but when asked they both admitted what they really would 
rather see is a LZ reunion.

So those of you who would prefer a reunion, do you see yourself as part of a 
"diehard minority"? Those of you who prefer that Page, Plant and Jones go their 
separate ways, do you see yourself as part of some majority? Or do you see 
yourself as part of some third group, without a preference, but simply happy to 
see PPJ to pursue whatever they want?