My little brother impressively beat me to the Led Zeppelin punch and at the age of around 15 acquired the entire Zeppelin catalogue in box set form. For months, he was in his room listening to this music while I was not interested in the least. At that point, all I knew of Led Zeppelin were the standard radio cuts that were cool but just as much part of the landscape as the steel sheds, hay bales, and prairie bluffs of my home.
Flashback saved me. This would not be the last time.
Do you guys know Flashback? On our classic rock radio station, every Sunday night, a show called Flashback came on, and the radio travelled to a selected year, playing tracks and commercials from the time, trying to re-create something of the whole radio environment. Especially cool was that you could get a little bit deeper cuts of music than anywhere else. So around age 17, a summer Sunday night, I was driving backroads on my way home from something or other, and Flashback was on.
The song that opened the show was this creative, metallic staccato guitar part and cruising drums. The singing came in, this wailing minor line with the coolest half-step ending. I am still such a sucker for half-step intervals. It was in-stant-a-ddic-tion. It was "Immigrant Song."
The chord downshift into the verse solidified my love of what was happening, with the roaring tremolo guitar strum rushing over. The date of that Flashback was 1970; I don't know if I've ever come back. Upon arriving home, I essentially stole my brother's box set and disappeared into one of the most consistently inspired catalogues of music produced by any group. "Immigrant Song" was my conversion, my gateway.
I love the mythic themes of many Robert Plant lyrics, and the lyrics of "Immigrant Song" especially. His excellent, then-original philosophy was, if you're going to burn words inside a thundering heavy rock song and you're tired of listing complaints about pain and despair to match the aggressive tone of the music, just reach for the grandest mythical motifs ever instead. Do it with some swagger. Do it with some stylish mystery. Sing it with a mythic howl. You will elevate the power of the music in a different way that doesn't have to be dark at all, or even deep. Turns out it's just fun. "Hammer of the gods" indeed.
The song was written about the exhilaration of playing in Iceland at the outset of the band's career. Robert Plant, as well as drummer John Bonham, were essentially provincial villagers before joining Led Zeppelin. This song captures them on one of their first thrilling excursions. In many ways, the story of Led Zeppelin is this Hobbit-esque story of these two rural guys being swept up into this worldwide adventure with the help of the two worldly, experienced members of their party, music industry veterans Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. While Page and Jones were ingenious musicians and absolutely integral to the success of the band, the real hall of fame magic of Led Zeppelin came from the generational, transcendent abilities of their vocalist and drummer, hidden mega-talents hailing from the most obscure of origins.
With the traumatic loss of Plant's son in 1977 and the death of Bonham in 1980, that transcendent core of Led Zeppelin was crippled beyond recovery, and the band had no choice but to end. The ending turned out to be a far cry from the optimism of "Immigrant Song," and that's how you know this is real life. But you know, the Hobbit and all the mythology it was based on celebrated the journey over everything anyway. Enjoy the Fellowship while you have it.