Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin (1998/File Photo)
Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads out there. For today’s Audio Files, I’m dedicating these songs to my awesome father, who taught me about football, took me to my first real concert (Metallica) and makes me laugh every day
His favorite band is Led Zeppelin. I remember listening to his worn out tapes of “Led Zeppelin IV” and “Houses of the Holy” on car trips after my mom would doze off. I thought “Stairway to Heaven” was the coolest thing ever, how it was mellow and then how it rocked out.
But as much as I loved that, I loved the opening drums for “Rock and Roll” even more. And my all-time favorite Led Zep song is from that same album, track one, side two, “Misty Mountain Hop.”
Years later, at the ripe age of 8, I argued with my dad about Bon Jovi swiping Led Zeppelin’s influence when “New Jersey” came out. This prompted a day of music education on the hi-fi, where we listened to everything from the familiar (Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin) to what was obscure to me at the time (Blind Faith, Traffic and Wishbone Ash). Back then, my parents owned a restaurant and bar in Atlanta and spending a whole day together at home and not at the restaurant at all was a special occasion.
Seven years after that, we were living in Maryland and my dad took me to my second concert–Page and Plant at the long-gone Capital Center in Landover. They didn’t play “Stairway to Heaven,” but they did play “Four Sticks.”
But Zeppelin wasn’t my only musical education–I remember listening to Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” on cassette. I loved the sci-fi cover. He’s an Ozzy-era Sabbath fan.
The band just released its first new album with Ozzy in 35 years, “13.” Steve Appleford at the LA Times had an insightful article that came out yesterday about the record.
Sabbath is coming to Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine on Aug. 28 (which totally puzzles me considering that San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore was where Ozzfest was born and out here in the I.E. we ARE heavy metal) to support the new record.
Here’s my all-time fave, “Paranoid.”