Like socks with sneakers, some things are always appropriate and never obsolete.  Similarly some of Led Zeppelin’s  songs have yet to meet their maker.

Sitting in the stands at the last Penn State football game, I was happy to count 3 Led Zeppelin songs played.  In fact, Penn State’s football team’s promotional video features Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” in the background.  “Kashmir” is Led Zeppelin’s song that often plays between downs.  The “Immigrant Song” and “Kashmir” were written almost over thirty years ago. However, the progression, the sound, the ambiance the songs create are virtually everlasting.

A commercial for music on cell phones featured the song “Kashmir.” The sound speaks to everyone.  Scientifically, the beats per minute correspond to a higher heart rate.  Historically, “Kashmir,” “Rock n Roll,” and “Immigrant Song” were played during Vietnam to rev soldiers up, as a sort of battle cry.

Robert Plant was obsessed with ancient Celtic times and Nordic Wars.  “Immigrant Song” was not just a battle cry in the metaphorical historical sense, but also in a literal sense.  One of the lyrics reads, “We come from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.” These lyrics themselves convey a sense of extreme strength and endurance.  The cry of Robert Plant, “Ahhhhhahahhhh ahhhhhh,” is somewhat frightening and intimidating to listeners, which is exactly what the Penn State football players want to make their opponents feel.  The promotional video is pretty bold and terrifying itself, but “Immigrant Song” provides the enforcement the images demand to cultivate the terrifying prowess of the football team.  The song sets the tone for the video.  If I were the opponent, I would not want to mess with the Nittany Lions.

“Kashmir” is a great song for in between downs.  The lyrics are not even played, just the guitar riff.  I watched a video from the film “It Might Get Loud,” and guitarist Jimmy Page said that the genesis of one of the most famous guitar riffs in music history was rooted in another song, “Swan Song,” by Led Zeppelin.  The small riff became the anthem of sports and the song is featured on iTunes’s football playlists.  The riff increases in tune every few strokes of the guitar, which increases the feeling of suspense.  This suspense corresponds perfectly with the feeling viewers experience between intense plays during a close game.  However, the intensity suits many occasions.  Right before an exam, I like to listen to this song.  It makes me feel powerful and ready to dominate.

Few songs in history have made listeners feel strong and powerful.  The fact that “Immigrant Song” and “Kashmir” have achieved this sound accounts for the success of these songs.  Led Zeppelin has achieved its goal of being a household name forever through tunes such as these.

The rock and roll lifestyle stereotypically encompasses sex, drugs, and rock and roll.  Jimmy Page had plenty of each of the three in his life.  The first of the three, Page particularly had encountered.  Page, Led Zeppelin’s guitarist, had his way with women. He was the only one of the two unmarried men in Led Zeppelin, and this was pretty obvious.

Page habitually saw groupies at night.  While in Japan, his manager showed him to a brothel.  Amidst his one-night stands, Page occasionally found a “keeper” – relatively speaking.  These girls were called “road wives.” Page’s first roadwife was named Pamela.  He decorated her in gold and turqoise jewelry throughout his tour.

However, his feelings for her faded after he met a girl named Lori Maddox.  Page’s relationship with Maddox was kept on the down-low because Maddox was only 14 years old, while Page was well into his twenties.  Eventually, he broke it off with her and moved on to another super model.  Later on, Page caused a bandmember of the Who’s wife to cheat on her husband with him.

The latter instance, I cannot tell whether or not Page did that for his ego or to satiate his desires.  Usually lead vocalists get all of the attention in bands.  However, Page always made sure to make his presence known on stage with his moves and solos. Sleeping with lots of women might have been Plant’s way of making himself feel more desirable.  Whatever the case, his sleeping around does not make me desire Page anymore.

What lured young Maddox to Page was how romantic he was.  I wonder why she didn’t question his sincerity considering his reputation.

Page is a strange character.  I wonder which girl really had “all of my [his] love.”

The band Led Zeppelin has been considered “sellouts” by many because of their songs’ prevalent use in commercials and sporting events.  “The Immigrant Song” is played throughout Penn State’s opening film clip montage of the athletes of this year at the games.  “Kashmir” is often played between plays during the game.  Surprisingly, Led Zeppelin’s sound in the media was not so strong not too long ago.

Ever since the beginning of their existence, Led Zeppelin avoided the press like the plague.  In no way did they promote their music through music magazines or the news.  Several music critic organizations attempted to interview the band, but Led Zeppelin refused them.  They didn’t want to deal with the media.  However, this plagued them for a good portion of their career.

Led Zeppelin’s bad relationship with the press stemmed from their early rough start.  Critics were harsh on the band that sounded too Californian for the UK.  Led Zeppelin didn’t want to involve themselves with their critics.  As Led Zeppelin’s music became popular, the press still maintained a strong campaign against the British rockers.  Despite this force against them, Led Zeppelin remained at the top of the charts in the early 1970s.

Led Zeppelin had refused to license their music commercials, movies, and TV shows.  However, in recent years, their MO has changed.  One goal of the band was to become immortal to have their name as household as Elvis.  Led Zeppelin disbanded roughly thirty years ago.  Although classic rock stations continue to play their music, the frequency is decreasing over the years.  Dismayed by this, the band surrendered to the press and licensed their song “Rock and Roll” to Cadillac in 2002 to appeal to a younger audience.  Whether or not their plan was effective in increasing record sales, Led Zeppelin did gain exposure through the press.

So are Led Zeppelin sellouts?  They sacrificed their early years’ morals for the sake of exposure.  Is that wrong?  Personally, I enjoy Led Zeppelin so I don’t mind hearing their music in commercials and at the football games.  However, the band did handover their principles.

I read a biography on Led Zeppelin over the summer (for those of you who couldn’t tell by my crazy-detailed posts on their lives).  One point the book made was how the band members’ personalities meshed so well.  None of them competed for attention.  It seemed as if each member knew his place.

The book highlighted that when tours were over, each band member went his separate way until they started working on the next album.  There was no mention of comraderiship or brotherliness felt between the bandmates.  I think the success of the band’s meshing dealt with the fact that the relationships between the members were kept at a pretty professional level.

However, this professionalism, I think, contributed to the death of one of the members, Bonzo, the drummer.  Almost every night, Bonzo would get completely drunk.  While drunk, he would say outrageous things to people, start fights with strangers, and destroy hotel rooms or anything he could get his hands on.  Bonzo developed an addiction to alcohol.  It is arguable that each band member had a little bit of substance dependence of some sort.  However, Bonzo’s was bad.  Really bad.  So bad that on a way to a gig, which the band was running behind to, Bonzo made his party stop at a bar and he got completely hammered.  Oftentime, he would play drunk onstage.  His bandmates were well aware of his alcohol problems, yet no one did anything about it.  No one felt the need to help him.  No one saw his struggle.  Had the bandmember had stronger personal relationships, I think Bonzo’s drinking would not have gotten so out of hand.

Though Bonzo lacked “true” friends in the band, he had a personal assistant with him a lot.  The day Bonzo died, he had consumed enormous amounts of alcohol throughout the day (forty shots of vodka in total).  That night,the personal assistant laid a passed-out Bonzo on his bed on his side to sleep.  The next time Bonzo was checked on – which was by bass guitarist John Paul Jones in the aftertoon – Bonzo was dead.  Though Bonzo was lying on his side, he managed to inhale his own vomit.

In a sense, I am blaming the members of Led Zeppelin for not taking care of Bonzo before he had gotten to this point.  Though the professionalism felt between the members contributed to their success, it also contributed to their downfall.  Bonzo’s death catalyzed the dissolution of the band.  Poor Bonzo.