That's Why God Made The Radio by The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys are celebrating their fiftieth anniversary this summer. The tour will be making a stop on the shores of the Penobscot at The Waterfront Concert Series. I have seen the Boys back in the eighties a couple of times, they were actually my first concert, and with the prices a bit pricey we will not be attending.

Still The Beach Boys are an institution and the huge amount of publicity they are receiving right now is well deserved. Even as a person in his mid forties I have no recollection of The Beach Boys ever be anything more than a nostalgia act. Any band that included John Stamos on drums in any incarnation has to really stretch to call themselves cool.

In the 1960's however the Boys were more, they passed many of the tests to qualify as a true rock and roll band. The album Pet Sounds was the precursor to the Beatles Sgt. Pepper and the Beachers were considered as a progressive band. Brian Wilson created the album Smile as a response to Sgt. Pepper but his band rebelled, calling it too far out there. Finally released forty years later it does not seem that revolutionary to me, but in the moment it was.

In short The Beach Boys are a huge part of rock and roll history. The new single is nothing new. It is however a very good song, the harmonies and high notes are perfect. We can wonder what studio magic has been done to make this happen, these men are all pushing seventy after all. I prefer not to know or to think about it. What I do know is this song fits with their catalogue in a very nice way. Brian Wilson, ragged from years of drug abuse and mental issues, still is worth hearing. Listen to this song and you can imagine some Sixties Beach Movie Actors trying to sell you a Time Life Collection of Feel Good Songs from the Beach Music Era. The fact that a new song can make you feel that shows that Boys have not strayed too far from home.

This is a good thing.

Let it Bleed by The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones have an invaluable catalog of great music. Somehow in our house with our worship of the Beatles, my son's infatuation with The Who, our Led Zeppelin like and my trippy Pink Floyd attachment it would seem that The Stones are overlooked. Perhaps they are. It is a mistake.

From 68 to 74 especially they made some amazing music. In my collection however this song is clearly the one most played. Not a single but a title track on a very popular album this is a stellar song. Mick snarls through the leaning ,bleeding and creaming that he says well all need someone for and the song is one that we all can sing well in the car all by ourselves.

Recently I picked up Love in Vain from the same album and this song too is of the same vein. Slow beat, Mick warbling and another song you can sing well. The Stones rocked and we all know that. They might well have been at their best however when they slowed it down such as on this song.

My Son, Led Zeppelin and I

Led Zeppelin may be the most influential band in my life. I love the Beatles. They are, to me, while not the beginning of all things rock and roll, the group that changed everything. Nothing was ever the same again. Nothing ever would be.

Today listening to the Beatles music it is like going to an art gallery and seeing a Van Gogh or a Picasso. You feel like you should be quiet and feel how rapturous the music is. And it is perhaps the greatest music made in the rock and roll era.

Led Zeppelin on the other han is art of a different kind. it is music that you hear, feel, and live in. When I was starting high school Led Zeppelin was nearing the end, Bonham had died. But the music was everywhere. Of course all school dances consisted of the requisite " Stairway to Heaven." To hormonal teenagers the opportunity to latch on to the girl of their dreams for seven minutes was a dream come true. I remember as a freshman in high school being on the dance floor, with a girl who shall remain nameless to protect her reputation, watching our new History teacher dancing with his wife. But as the music picked up for the second part of the song they were fast dancing. Clearly being married must have changed your perspective on things and we freshman boys hoped our girlfriends did not think that was a good idea.

Later in college I had a friend who had the loudest, most sophisticated stereo on our floor. His standard rule was nothing but Zeppelin could grace his sound system. He did make allowances for solo efforts of the band members. I remember that during Finals week quiet hours were extended to 22 hours of the day rather than the standard starting at 10 pm. For those two hours he would have his stereo so loud the windows would shake. Standing out on the quad hearing Robert Plant's " In the Mood" with its slow intro building is something I still remember.

As my son neared his teenage years and a Zeppelin song would come on the radio and I would instinctively turn it up I let him know that I felt sure he would have a Zeppelin era in his own musical progression. My son has been indoctrinated well, he loves all things Beatles, appreciates Springsteen and sings about " The Spirit in the Sky. " As he says his friends do not get all the music he does but they know it is who he is.

Christmas 2008 I gave him the recently released digital remasters collection Mothership. It took him awhile to start listening to it. Now, however, after a basketball game or taking a break from the homework, I can hear the unmistakeable Zeppelin coming from upstairs. When its been a really good game I will even hear him singing along with Robert Plant behind the door. I never kid him about it. Sometimes when listening to Led Zeppelin you just have to let out the joy it can bring.

When I have to turn up the TV to hear it over the music from upstairs I have to smile. The Led Zeppelin era has begun again. All is right with the teenage world