Sometime during my teen years I was watching rock/pop
music on TV and my mother, a classically trained singer and pianist, assured me
this music would never last. It was her way of telling me that she thought the
music of little value and that I’d be better off spending my leisure time on
other things. We often debated this question. I remember another day when I
again was watching TV in the lounge and she came through from the kitchen
asking ‘who is that with the beautiful speaking voice’? She was shocked to see
a long haired, bearded and bizarre character speaking. It was in fact Ian
Anderson of Jethro Tull.
I don’t remember really having any sense of belief at the
time that the music I loved would last. As I grew
older I learned that the pop/rock music of the 60s and 70s represented a radical
change from what had gone before, both in terms of sound – they’re had been
nothing like it – and the cultural values held by many of its exponents. Long
hair and outrageous appearance and on and off stage behaviour was par for the
course. As a teenager and early 20 something I was proud that I was part of a
new generation that had at least in some sense changed the world. And it
satisfied my natural tendency towards rebellion and rejection of my parents’
and mainstream values.
Last night a Facebook friend (who is incidentally also a
good friend in ‘real’ life) posted a link to a video from a memorial concert in honour of the pioneer rock band, Led Zeppelin. The video featured a live performance of
Stairway to Heaven by Ann and Nancy Wilson. Complete with choir and orchestra I
really enjoyed this superb version of ‘Stairway’. But what moved me more was watching
the reaction of three of the original members of Led Zeppelin – Robert Plant,
Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones. Once wild men of rock they were seated in the
audience dressed in suits and had it seemed turned into thoroughly respectable
old men.
Robert Plant seemed stunned at what he was witnessing. His
eyes welled up with tears, and he stared at the performance happening on stage
with a kind of ‘what have I done? what did I do?’ expression. But in a positive
sense. It was as if he was realising for the first time the beauty and the
power of the song he and Jimmy Page had created 44 years earlier. So Stairway
to Heaven has lasted and has been enriched and transformed by a new generation
of musicians. (John Bonham’s son played drums in this performance.)
My own eyes began to well up as I watched and listened to
this wonderful rendition of ‘Stairway’ until I was finally quite simply crying.
Crying In support of Robert Plant. As my wife commented I just want to give him
a hug. Crying too because I remembered that comment of my mother’s all those
years ago and I realised, if I hadn’t before, that the music of my generation
has been validated. We weren’t just listening to a passing fad or an aberration
in the history of music. We had been part of huge and powerful cultural change that
has left an indelible stamp on the world. It did have value.
You could scoff and bemoan the fact I guess that the Led Zap
boys are now respectable senior members of the community and wear suits – Robert
Plant often performed bare chested for heaven’s sake – but they are no longer
wild and provocative young men. They don’t need to be. They, and many of their
peers, created music that was the wind beneath the wings of a generation and it
is clear now that much of it will outlast them and the generation that is
growing old with them.
I felt proud watching this performance that I had made the
choices I had, that I had listened to this ‘devil music’ from an early age and I
want to believe now that I knew instinctively all those years ago that
something huge was happening, and that our music had value. It’s a big call but
it felt like it validated much of my life and who I am.
For another example of how another wild man of rock has
become part of the musical establishment watch Ian Anderson singing Wondering Aloud with a chamber orchestra.
You were wrong Mum.
ADDENDUM (3/2/24)
I have been reading Bob Spitz’s account of the Led Zeppelin story, and I have read things there that make me question everything I ever felt about them, and what I wrote above. We all know that the groupie phenomenon was part of the rock star lifestyle, and we have all heard tales of exploitation of women that don’t sit comfortably with more recent standards. But the disgusting depravity and debauchery of Led Zeppelin was beyond the pale. And the bullying methods employed by their manager against journalists, other bands, musicians, promoters, and bootleggers was nothing short of underworld thuggery. Violence and intimidation were his standard tools.
A very very seedy tale - there were seeds of evil within the
Led Zeppelin camp – and right now I’m feeling they did not deserve their success.
