Goodbye Zep (**sniff**)

Is it the Bad Times now?

Well, I suppose that’s it then. Robert Plant re-posted a beehivecity.com article on his website confessing that he had his bollocks cut off in an accident years ago, and that’s why he has no interest in any type of music resembling the powerhouse that was, and apparently never will be again, Led Zeppelin.

Okay, not exactly – and I feel bad even kidding about that when it comes to one of the absolute kings of rock, but I AM DISAPPOINTED.

Here are the relevant parts of the article:

Now 62, the lion-maned wailer has resisted the $200 million temptation of a full Led Zeppelin reunion tour in favor of a deeper exploration of the Americana style and sounds of his Grammy-winning Raising Sand album with Alison Krauss.

Plant says he feels further away from heavy rock than he ever has – even going to see Them Crooked Vultures made his ears bleed. [Wear earplugs, Robert!]

Plant looks delighted to have found a versatile band that isn’t expected to ape Zep and which shares his current passion for pre-rock musical forms. Jimmy Page isn’t going to get that phone call any time soon.

In a way, that’s not really news: We all know he resisted a Zep reunion, and that Jimmy, JPJ and Jason Bonham auditioned various substitute singers but eventually gave up. I now wish they didn’t because the thought of no more Zep frankly sticks in my throat like a bone from a particularly bony northern pike.

I’m going to have a hard time getting over it. Because here we have the creators and pioneers of a hugely great and influential musical form, three of four lions, possibly past their prime (we don’t really know) yet still potent, and even though they’re alive and in good health and all still playing music, we’ll never see them again. Seriously?

The Beatles are gone but the Stones aren’t too proud to do it. Sabbath has done it, and the boys even got a new drummer and different singer for Heaven and Hell. Further down that path, Priest is doing it. In other words, it’s not as if the Zep guys are pushing up daisies like Tchaikovsky. They’re still here! Still playing music! And they all STILL PLAY ZEP SONGS, just not together.

They even still get along.

WTF?!

I get the whole “artistic development” thing, and “moving on to new things” or whatever. I even get that Robert probably doesn’t have the range he once did. But I don’t get having such a huge impact on rock music, literally millions of people wanting to see and hear the band (just do an album for F’s sake!) and turning a blind ear to it all.

Ah crap. I don’t know if I can make a compelling argument about why he SHOULD do it, at least at this late hour, but I strongly feel that he should – would it really be that bad?

Or at the very least, Pagey should bang out some riffs that’ll slam into and wash over us like those giant waves off Oahu. That would be glorious.

Why not play it with the fellas?

12/10/07, London’s O2 Arena. Ah well.

Category: Jimmy Page/Zep, Rants