Posted on 05/07/2013 5:53:24 PM PDT by ciceroqpublic
I'll start by mentioning that I saw Led Zeppelin at Madison Square garden for two of the three nights during the Song Remains the same. Oh la, ain't I cool. They were good, almost great. John Paul Johns and John Bonham were the voice of the Norse Gods. Page was in top form and Plant couldn't hit the high notes. Those shows were Led Zeppelin in their prime. What most of the later generations of music fans don't seem to understand is that Led Zeppelin was just another band. They were not the Beatles. They were not the beginning and end of rock. I have seen hundreds of rock shows. Led Zeppelin was just another band, in fact, they stole every song they recorded.
Today's headlines has the humiliating news that ex President (thank the lord for that) Bill Clinton attempting to step in to use his "influence" to pressure Led Zeppelin to reunite to play a benefit to aid the victims of hurricane Sandy. The band said no. I imagine, and I have a strong reality based imagination, that the band laughed themselves silly. Bill Clinton is not cool. He has never been cool. Well, he may have been considered cool by legions of nerds and mainstream Americans that are, in themselves, not in any way cool. Bill Clinton isn't cool. His supporters aren't cool and in many ways Led Zeppelin is no longer cool.
The more interesting point is Bill Clinton's inability to accept that the proper thing for an ex President to do is fade into the background. Since he is a rampant narcissist he naturally assumes that in addition to exporting all the jobs in America, bringing peace to the middle east and finally making Serbs and Croats love each other he will remake Rock history. It needs to be said, Bill Clinton is a putz. He has never been cool, he never will be cool and his taste in music is just one of the many confirmations of this fact. Unfortunately, being a NARCICIST he suffers from a complete inability to be self reflective. Now we, the American people, are going to suffer as we watch him continue to cheapen the real perception of the American Presidency. The mystique and tangible respect of the position of the President of the Republic of America is the product of 216 years of work by American Presidents. Sadly a man with as little substance as Bill Clinton will pour part of this important faith and respect down the drain in an effort to prove to himself that he is still the center of the universe.
There is no question that politician are, as a class, narcissists. But there is ego and there is narcissism. They are not the same thing. Bill Clinton's flaws run deep, frighteningly deep. One of the great unanswered questions of recent political history is why Bill Clinton's impeachment trial was conducted in secrecy. What dreadful things was the Senate hiding from us? The question, when viewed against one of the most scandal plagued administrations ever to control the White House. The possible answers are all bad, really truly, bad in ways that effect history. It appears that this man, this ex President, will never willingly leave the stage. His flaws compel him to the limelight and the damage he is doing to America's respect is real and tangible. Perhaps America needs to consider a banishment amendment to the constitution.....
©Brad Morrison 2013/Billiken Media
Fogerty was able to prove they were different songs by playing them on guitar to the judge. What was the sax solo stolen from?
Why should he? Jimmy Carter is still around, inflicting his assininity on the rest of us, and he had a 20-year head start on leaving the stage.
It was the flute on Down Under...ooops, which they stole from the Girl guides song according to Wiki.
thx you
The Men At Work song was “Down Under” and the song stolen was “Kookaburra.”
Taurus by Spirit is a nice song.
Catherine,
Sorry about the acendency thing. I should spell check more carefully.................
Sorry Skeeter but you are wrong about Led Zeppelin’s being honest about stealing their songs. On all of the original albums they listed themselves as the writers. As a result they were sued a number of times by the original writers/estates and lost. Part of the settlements forced the band to admit they were not the original writers.
Ok Skypilot I can see that you weren’t old enough to experience Led Zeppelin during the seventies. They were, in fact, just another band. They were great in many ways but there were many other bands that were more influential and more successful. Sorry about the typo. We all make mistakes, even Led Zeppelin made a serious mistake when they claimed to have written all of their songs only to be sued and forced to admit they stole the songs. I’ll admit that I like Led Zeppelin’s catalog. And you are correct Kashmir may not be stolen.
Deadrock,
Just google Led Zeppelin and plagiarism and you will find enough proof to convince anyone that the band stole the bulk of their songs.
Save the "LedZep is not cool" stuff for the next Tiger Beat magazine.
MarkL,
Happy to see that you are respecting the free republic rules about not calling names. Your inability to disagree with someone with personal attacks shows how week your grasp of adult discourse is.
I never said that Led Zeppelin wasn’t popular. Being popular does not equal being cool. Yes Zeppelin was cooler than Kiss but not as cool as The Velvet Underground or Iggy and the Stooges.
As for knowing nothing about music you are wildly off base. Since you challenge my competence concerning music I will list SOME of my resume:
Own over 10,000 vinyl LPs, 8000 CDs and have a barn full of 2inch Master tapes from the RECORDING STUDIO I OWN AND OPERATE
aged 7-21 played classical piano and jazz piano
aged 19-23 Disc Jockey (very successful by the way)
aged 20 produced my first record
Aged twenty two - opened my first of three record labels.
All three labels had remarkable successes, including something called “gold and Platinum records”
Toured professionally as a guitarist and organist for about 15 years
produced over seventy records
Study music composition in college ( it was my minor)wrote a few hundred things called “songs” I could continue but I am not sure you are qualified to read the books or would know what “RIAA Rock Producer of the year means.
Since you have mounted the throne of judgment I would love to hear your music qualifications. Let’s hear it buddy....
Yes, that’s all very nice, but what are your qualifications?
I've seen many famous bands perform. Too many of them play as close to the recorded version as possible. Also, when you play with a pre-recorded part (as per Van Halen and the later Who), you have very little wiggle room for improvising, which I found Zeppelin excelled at very well.
I like a wide variety of music (I think of Beethoven's Fifth and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture to be the rock anthems of their day. Those tunes rock!), but for me, Zeppelin will always be number one.
Each to his own, I say. It makes the world go 'round.
If I had known you were a musician I would not have written the first paragraph above. Please don't take it as condescending.
No harm done. It’s just a pet peeve of mine; these days I see so many misspelled words even running across the TV news screen, and it drives me a bit nuts.
Ummm... Are you the Brad who wrote the article, because that's to whom my name calling was directed, hence the "Dear Brad,"
Mark
Mark,
Yes, I am the person that wrote the article. I have now gored the sacred Led Zeppelin horse. Sorry everyone, Zep was great in many ways but today, 40 years later, they are no longer an example of a cool band.....................
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