Some thoughts by me. Rock n Roll again.

[apolla]

Disclaimer: All grammatical errors are probably intentional. I start a lot of sentences with 'and' or 'but' and I don't give a shit. Rules are meant to be broken. Or I'm a shit writer, whichever.

The Year of The Zeppelin

Last year it was Thin Lizzy. The year before that it was Buffy, Angel and The Doors. The year before that it was Dean Martin. The year I went to Eastern Europe with school it was even 'Beautiful Stranger' by Madonna. This year my Summer Love has been Led Zeppelin. I don't mean it's a flirtation that won't last once the sun cools, because none of these (with one obvious exception) were ever brief flirtations. Perhaps 'summer obsession' is more accurate. For whatever reason, I latch onto certain bands or music in the summer and listen to them to distraction. This isn't to say it doesn't happen at other times of the year, but it seems to happen much more keenly in the Summer. This time last year it was Roisin Dubh by Thin Lizzy, which I listened to so much it even inspired a so far uncompleted mostly un-posted Harry Potter fanfic.

This year it has been the Summer of Zeppelin. I've been listening to them for a long time now and have owned the 'great' albums (II, III, IV and Houses of the Holy) for a year or so (longer in the case of IV, which was part of my California soundtrack). It was around this time last year that I was listening to 'Travelling Riverside Blues' (thanks VH1 Classic!) and 'Immigrant Song' (Thanks Buzzcocks!) whenever I needed a Lizzy break. And yet the band did not truly enter my heart until some time this Summer and it's happened quite insidiously. It must've started some time ago- my 1984esque story is called 'Travelling Riverside Blues and Other Stories' and has always been intended to feature a Page or Plant cameo at some point- and that was started sometime in January. Trying to ascertain just when it started, I've been scouring my LJ for clues. There's a few Zeppelin references in the music I was listening to (it's me: you can tell an awful lot from that tiny little line of info)- The Immigrant Song is the soundtrack to my first ever LJ entry way back in October 2002, which I don't remember really doing but I'm sure, being me, I agonised over the 'perfect' song for the event. There's the seemingly throwaway mention of me buying The Song Remains The Same DVD as consolation for my toothache back in January, the mention of me clearly being boned up enough to correct the annoying git in my American Music class on a Zep point, listening to D'Yer Mak'er and randomly noting in a meme that Robert Plant was a favourite singer, noting that IV was the soundtrack to my birthday dinner, that Zep were the guys I turned to once my Morrison dissertation was done and I couldn't bear to hear the Doors, comparing Dean Martin to Zep ('Zep taught me that you can never have too much guitar'), and by July one meme mentions little else but Zeppelin. But I cannot pinpoint the exact moment. It now seems to me that one sentence on the 28th March that seems like years ago sparked it off: One last thing: Robert Plant rocks. Just in case you didn't get it the last time.

I couldn't really tell you how it all happened except that suddenly I was checking out HMV's book section for the band, I was poring over the Q special edition, that I was suddenly downloading solo Plant off Kazaa and watching The Song Remains The Same more than once. Perhaps it really started in May when I walked into the Preston branch of HMV and realised how excited I was to see the shiny new DVD. Maybe I just woke up one day in love with them. Whatever the beginnings, I know this: I have a Plant icon on LJ; I have all the albums except Coda; I have listened to nothing else everyday on the way to work since July and little else when on the computer; I can explain with some authority the many sides and facets of the Mud Shark Incident, including the contrasting evidence from the same people over the course of time; I own a Zep t-shirt that has already become my favourite t-shirt; I was genuinely disappointed that nobody could go with me to the Canterbury Fayre at which RP and Debbie Bonham were playing; I have bored everyone I know, online or RL with various hugely unimportant titbits of information- such as telling my dad on the way back from Safeways a few weeks ago that Elvis sent a 'get well soon' telegram to the band after the Rhodes car accident in 76. My dad did not, it transpired, give a flying one.

What I think I will remember most about this summer, aside from the fab music, is walking to work in the blazing sun listening to the band: tripping down the Slippety Slip (a Blyton reference from my childhood involving a rather steep slope near my house) hoping the disc didn't skip at all, bouncing along on my godawful Kickers shoes to 'Ramble On', walking past 'the lagoon' and thinking that the little wooded area there and the pathway/basin thing really catches the sun so well that it's blinding and almost feels like walking through a desert. Oh, and walking along the edge of Mundells roundabout singing along to 'What Is And What Should Never Be' not caring that passing drivers might stare or I'm getting dust in my eyes or that flinging my arm out nearly had it amputated by a passing lorry. And passing the offices of Avaya Communications and the printing place, thinking that I might get heard by people inside I'm singing so loud but not caring. Or scrawling "If the sun refuse (sic) to shine, I would still be loving you" across my notebook at work because 'Thank You' was the last song I heard before starting work and I couldn't get that phrase out of my head. And sitting dog-tired, bored shite-less at work deciding to compare Robert Plant to Jim Morrison on every conceivable criteria and realising that my Jimmy had some serious competition. Or perhaps, suddenly realising that I had found a new voice that I could not live without.

This summer, I haven't minded walking to work. This summer, I have sat in front of VH1 Classic for hours in the hope of seeing a Zep video, even though they're all just culled from the two DVDs I own anyway. I have started writing a Zepfan!Sirius fic. I have almost perfected the Plant hair toss and even procured Percy-tight jeans although that's an honest coincidence, I promise. I have slaved over 'Stairway' on keyboard, voice and guitar and become deeply bitter that I am not Jimmy Page, Robert Plant or John Paul Jones. I have scoured the internet for halfway decent Zeppelin pages in my never-ending quest for Knowledge. I have made my dad worried in the car on the way to my Grandad's because I'm singing along to my walkman and he can't hear that my shrieking is meant to be there at the start of the 'Immigrant Song'.

Although I have a feeling that this thing will last beyond this summer. I have a feeling that this might last for a long time. I have a feeling that this might last forever, even if it doesn't last to the same mad degree. I made a joke with someone (can't remember who) that I'm shipping Clare/Rock n Roll because it will last forever.

I really think it will.

Comments

[gryffinseye.livejournal.com]

I made a joke with someone (can't remember who) that I'm shipping Clare/Rock n Roll because it will last forever.

I think that was me if I remember correctly.

[apolla.livejournal.com]

I thought so. :D

And what's wrong with shipping Clare / Rock n Roll??

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Great post, mate. You are a True Believer. I like that. Each of us has our own musical mania (mine just happens to be someone 98% of the people on the planet have never heard of) and that's part of what draws us together (that and our real ship). Your dad really needs to listen to Immigrant Song more often if he doesn't realize the shriek at the beginning is SUPPOSED to be there!! *snerk* - Anne (doing IS shriek in my head)

Re: And what's wrong with shipping Clare / Rock n Roll??

[apolla.livejournal.com]

My dad's not really a fan of the Zep. He calls them PB Dirigible (apparently a make of airship/Zeppelin that was a Kenny Everett joke in the 70s) and gives me that 'not again' look when I so much as mention the band.


If you think I listen to old music, you should hear my dad's favourite stuff: guaranteed to be pre-1964 at the least!