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