| It's Been a Long Time |
 I had an eclectic musical childhood. Mom and Dad always had the radio tuned to the country music station. My older brother was into progressive, blues rock, and AOR. In my music lessons I studied Russian Classical composers, polka, film music and traditional folk. I grew up with Waylon and Willie, Geddy Lee, Jameses Paige and Hendrix, Tchaikovsky, John Williams, Lawrence Welk and Mr. Pink Floyd - just to name a few. Led Zeppelin is one of my first and longest lasting loves. Thanks to big bro and Stairway to Heaven, I was pretty much hooked before I started elementary school. There was a time when I was positively obsessed with them. I owned every album, read every book, saw The Song Remains the Same about a million times, and spent years tracking down the elusive 45 of Hey, Hey What Can I Do. I never did get to see Led Zeppelin - I was only ten when John Bonham died - but I did get to see Robert Plant. After several years of practically shunning everything Led Zeppelin and acting like he never heard of the group, Robert Plant dramatically embraced his Zep roots on his 1988 album Now and Zen. One track even sampled the old songs! I couldn't get tickets fast enough. Third row center! ROCK! Over the years, Robert Plant has stepped away but always returned to his roots. His most recent foray into Zeppelin nostalgia is the Strange Sensation, a bunch of hip young guys backing up Robert on his originals as well as some smart and fresh revisits of some great old Led Zeppelin tunes. The whole show is pretty great, but Black Dog is probably my favorite. Click the image to pop, or watch the video in the big player on my Music Video page along with lots more cool stuff. |