Led Zeppelin News

By Steve Kandell 10.31.08 11:29 AM

Sometimes getting a taste of something sweet only to see it disappear is worse than never tasting it at all.

Which, I guess, is what’s going through the minds of Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones right around now. How else to explain why the excitement from last December’s Led Zeppelin show at London’s O2 Arena - by all accounts the rare triumphant reunion that actually lived up to its unfathomable ballyhoo - and subsequent tour rumors have now deteriorated, nearly a year later, to this:

The dude who replaced the dude from Creed might be the new lead singer for Led Zeppelin.

There’s no amount of times that one can re-read the previous sentence before it makes a modicum of sense. But rather than wait on Alison Krauss’ duet partner to get the bluegrass out of his system, which doesn’t seem close to happening yet, Page and Jones appear willing to fritter away their legendary band’s entire mythos on The Guy Who Isn’t Even Scott Stapp for a big-bucks world tour.

This would be hilarious if it weren’t reportedly close to being true. Jones, in particular, seems eager to paint Robert Plant as the villain in this story — the stubborn holdout selfishly depriving his fans of a treasured experience and his bandmates of, well, treasure.

But — and this is merely speculative, as Plant hasn’t yet told me — it just may be that a 60-year-old man who now more closely resembles the Cowardly Lion than a bare-chested golden god in too-tight jeans wants to preserve that bedroom-poster image, and his dignity, rather than treat us all to the mental image of the juice dripping down his leg. (Who among us wants to hear rock’s gnarliest bit of double-entendre turned into a Depends gag?)

Or, maybe he just has enough fucking money, thanks.

Plant’s ambivalence is not what’s shocking. What’s shocking is that Page and Jones can’t abide by this reasonable, if disappointing notion. And it wouldn’t be the first time Page hired a Plant manque, but at least David Coverdale and Paul Rodgers had their own sizable, if still inferior, pedigrees. Hell, at least Coverdale had long, curly blonde hair. From the back row, if you squinted just so…

But, with all due respect to Myles Kennedy, who may well have a set of pipes and a set of balls up to the unenviable task, his “joining” “Led Zeppelin” feels closer to Journey trolling YouTube for a replacement Steve Perry than a personnel decision worthy of the name on the t-shirts waiting to be sold.

And certainly the box office for this compromised version would be a fraction of the bonanza that could be expected if Plant were on board, but are the numbers still low enough to keep this nothing more than a bad idea rampantly overblown on the Internet?

The song remains the same. Here’s hoping sanity prevails and everything else does as well.

Thanks to Dylan Silver

http://spin.com/blog/why-led-zeppelin-shouldnt-reunite

SIRIUS XM Radio announced the broadcast of a new 100% commercial-free music channel dedicated to rock icons Led Zeppelin on SIRIUS and XM. Led Zeppelin Radio will be broadcast on SIRIUS channel 12 and XM channel 39 and will launch on Saturday, November 1 starting at 6:00 p.m. ET through December 31.

“Led Zeppelin is one of the most important rock bands in history,” said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer, SIRIUS XM Radio. “We are thrilled to broadcast Led Zeppelin Radio for our subscribers and provide Led Zeppelin fans the only place to go for a comprehensive experience of their music and interviews with one of rock’s most iconic bands.”

Led Zeppelin Radio will be a non-stop broadcast of virtually every song from Led Zeppelin’s music catalog. The channel will also provide Led Zeppelin fans with archived interviews with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham and unique content that celebrates Led Zeppelin’s musical contribution to rock music. This channel will provide fans exclusive access to the sounds and insights that have made Led Zeppelin rock legends.

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=107936

Led Zeppelin, apparently, is mulling a new album and a tour, but without its defining vocalist, Robert Plant. Giving some heft to longstanding rumors, bassist John Paul Jones was quoted on a BBC Radio report as revealing that the band has been auditioning lead singers. Maybe Leona Lewis is booked.

But despite the BBC’s defining headline of “Zeppelin to go back on the road,” nothing appears imminent.

“It’s got to be right. There’s no point in just finding another Robert,” Jones said, adding, “You could get that out of a tribute band, but we don’t want to be our own tribute band. … There would be a record and a tour, but everyone has to be on board.”

Wired’s Listening Post beat Pop & Hiss to asking readers if it’s Zeppelin without Plant, but no bother. The answer is no — credit Jones for already acknowledging the dreaded “tribute band” tag. But because there’s no new Plant-less Zeppelin music to discuss at the moment, here’s five ways to help ensure that Led Zep 2.0 has a fighting chance at working.

1. Don’t get anyone who sounds like Plant. Not only are the man’s vocals instantly recognizable, but any singer who’s even remotely similar is going to veer the project straight into tribute band territory. For the new project to work, it needs to be a complete band, not just the leftover Zep members recording music with someone who kinda-sorta sounds like Plant.

2. Don’t call it Led Zeppelin. Let it stand on its own, and not have to live up to every piece of music in the Zeppelin back catalog. Calling it Led Zeppelin is also a disservice to the fans who have been waiting for a reunion tour. Let’s be clear: In no way, shape or form is it Led Zeppelin. Its two original members + the drummer’s son + someone who’s not Robert Plant, and all of that = a band that’s not Led Zeppelin.

3. Don’t fast-track it. Reunion rumors have been circulating for nearly a year now, stretching back to when the band played a London benefit last December. Surely the pressure is on for the act to get on the road. But since this is not Led Zeppelin (see No. 2), it’s going to take time for this new, as-yet-unnamed act to find its footing. Target 2011, which also gives Plant time to change his mind.

4. If this tour does happen, focus on the new album, not Zeppelin material. In fact, don’t play any Zeppelin songs until the encore, or near it. Keep focused on the new material. If the band is going through the trouble of recording a new effort, don’t pull a Rolling Stones and simply use the album as an excuse to tour and play old Zeppelin material. Sure, “Whole Lotta Love” will get a big rise out of the crowd, but that’s taking the easy way out. Zeppelin built its fan-base by challenging it. Has the desire now for some sort of Zeppelin reunion run so deep that fans wouldn’t even care who’s voicing the songs?

5. Keep tickets under $50. It’s one thing to gouge fans for a long-awaited reunion that may never happen again. Led Zeppelin fans would be all too happy to give the band a victory lap. But if Jones and Jimmy Page end up touring the world with a new band, price it as such. Selling high-priced tickets based on decades-old Zeppelin hits, and doing so with someone other than Plant, is essentially forcing fans to pay for a touring Las Vegas show. The millions of Zeppelin fans who couldn’t see the act last December deserve more.

–Todd Martens

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2008/10/zeppelin-withou.html