Some thoughts on Zep in the new age media

[Steve Sauer <sauerlemon@xxxxxxxxx>]

A little back story: I have a 12-year-old guitar player at home who
plays the real guitar and also plays Guitar Hero. He hasn't taken a
guitar lesson yet, but he is schooled by the classic and modern rock
stations on the car radio his mom and I listen to, so he knows all
sorts of names like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ozzy Osbourne, Green Day, etc. He
also is schooled by the acts that are available on his games, so he's
familiar with Yngwie Malmsteen and Dragonforce, stuff I don't listen
to for enjoyment but can put up with. He'll recognize some songs on
Guitar Hero from hearing them on the radio, such as "Sweet Home
Alabama," "Crazy Train," "American Idiot," "Slow Ride," "La Grange"
and "Rebel Yell."

He thinks there is no greater band on the earth than Guns 'n' Roses,
and he chooses the Slash character to get him through his games. It
sometimes seems like he likes Bon Jovi and Twisted Sister as much as
he likes GnR.

He has no concept of the different eras these bands came from, and so
he has no idea that Led Zeppelin came long before Def Leppard and any
of the Whitesnake songs he knows, and in fact influenced them in many
ways. To him, Led Zeppelin is just another band -- along with AC/DC
and the rest of 'em. He is well aware Led Zeppelin is my favorite
band, but I can't play him anything like "Achilles Last Stand" without
him losing interest quickly. He wants to hear "Runnin' with the Devil"
instead, and he'll interrupt my music to start playing his.

With that background information in mind, here's a revealing
conversation we once had: Over the summer, he told me there was a
definitive Guitar Hero game coming out that had the however many
greatest songs of all time on it. And, as if he were bragging that my
favorite band was somehow inferior to any or all of these others, he
informed me there was not a single Led Zeppelin song to be found on
it. He surmised this meant Led Zeppelin's music wasn't good enough to
be considered worthy of being called the greatest of all time.

Well, you know me. I didn't hesitate to inform him that it was the
other way around: Led Zeppelin didn't want to be on his stupid game.
This was just after Jimmy Page's statement to that effect, so I had
some evidence to point to.

But see how Led Zeppelin is, in effect, injuring itself by not buying
into the only format that reliably exposes kids to some music!

Obviously, the radio format does a great job of playing those
signature songs and a few others. And in my work as a consultant for
Carol Miller's "Get the Led Out," I strive to ensure variety in the
playlists -- it's not just "Rock and Roll" and "Kashmir" all the time;
we do play "I'm Gonna Crawl" and live cuts on the show (haven't
resorted to bootleg material for more than a few seconds at a time
though).

But for the most part, radio doesn't play "Ten Years Gone" and
"Tangerine." I want the kid to know the real Jimmy Page, not as
someone who can't play as fast as Joe Satriani or as loudly as Randy
Rhodes and Zakk Wylde.

In a few days, I'll be taking him to his first showing of "It Might
Get Loud." I'll be seeing it for the fourth time myself today, and I
know how the movie affects me. It makes me cry because of how well it
is put together and how fluidly Jimmy comes across. Even the concert
footage of Jack White, with the Raconteurs, shredding with his
bloodied fingers on a bloodied guitar makes me overcome with emotion,
and the tear ducts fill up. I am hoping at least a little of that can
be experienced by the kid so he knows the real Jimmy Page and can
appreciate the light and shade, the full extent of the creativity of
this equal partner in making Led Zeppelin the best rock band ever.

Steve "The Lemon"