Good Times, Bad Times

Welcome to the month of Zeptember!  I've given myself a project to write about a Led Zeppelin song each day of the month.  A lofty goal; let's get started.

My early exposure to Zeppelin is from radio play and studio albums.  I'm too young to have been to a concert - well, not too young, but Zeppelin wasn't the music my parents listened to. When I got my own radio and could choose what I listened to, I realized I liked rock and roll.  I went through times of listening to pop and top 40 and even some country, but realized that rock & roll was what I liked the most.   I heard plenty of Led Zeppelin on KQ: "Stairway to Heaven" and "Black Dog" and "Heartbreaker."  One day, my pal asked me, "have you heard anything else by Zeppelin, like any song off Physical Graffiti besides 'Kashmir?'"  I hadn't. Pat got out the tapes  and from there, it was downhill and picking up speed fast.  Something was talking to me. These weren't just songs on the radio anymore, and what about these songs that weren't on the radio at all? 

I couldn't listen enough.   Most days since then, I listen to Zeppelin.  There have certainly been days where I haven't, but the scales are decidedly tipped in favor of "listened to Zeppelin." 

I went through a period of time a couple years ago where I didn't.  There was some weird and difficult times at home, and I wasn't fully aware of what was going on. My then wife asked me to move out for a bit and give her some space and time to think about our marriage.  I was in shock.  Embarrassed. Trying to understand what had gone on to get to this point.

(This blog isn't going to be just about my divorce. However, my divorce is part of my history.)

I went several weeks where I didn't listen to Led Zeppelin.  The only thing I was listening to was Twins games and some modern Christian-rock.  I was trying to get my head around what was going on in my life, and buried myself in books and music that I hadn't been reading or listening to before.   I realized I had really messed up in some places and was trying to inventory my life and what was going on around me. 

I had a lot of different things going on then.  The same day I left the house, I started a new project at work.  A lot of other changes were made in things I had been doing.  One day, I stopped myself and said: "Shawn, some of these changes you're making are fine.  It's good you've lost some weight.  It's good you've stopped drinking right now. It's good to improve your diet. But not everything in your past has to go away."  

A part of that was the music I had been listening to at the time.  It was fine.  Good messages, nice melody, but the radio stations seemed to have a list of 43 songs that they played throughout the day, and it was getting stale.  So I pulled out my iPod, deciding to listen to something else I loved, and Zeppelin seemed the logical choice. And if Zeppelin was the logical choice, their debut album seemed The Most Logical place to start, and the very first track on that album is "Good Times, Bad Times."

In the days of my youth, I was told what it means to be a man, 

Now I've reached that age, I've tried to do all those things the best I can. 

No matter how I try, I find my way into the same old jam. 

After the intro, these first words came on.  I began to wonder: "Did I really learn what it means to be a man?"  I might not have even heard the rest of the song at that point, or even the album then; it was suddenly just noise in my ears.  I thought, sure, I learned about the birds and bees, I knew you were supposed to have a job, and provide for yourself and your family, if you had one.   Don't steal.  If you get in a car accident, call the police to report it and trade information with the other drive.  Do the Right Thing.  I was also realizing though, that some of the things I had learned and that were normal to me, just were wrong. Most of that was with attitude, behavior, tone of voice and the look I could give.  And that stuff:  the attitude, behavior, tone of voice and look I could give, that is what led to the "same old jam." 

Some changes I have made have been more permanent than others. Some were a bit more temporary (like, I lost a lot of weight, but have put some back on.)   Zeppelin has come back in, and it's there now, almost daily.   

"Good Times, Bad Times" is the first song on the first studio album.  It's short, by Zeppelin standards, but it's all there. Plant's lyrics have hit me in different ways at different times.   John Henry Bonham's drum skills are all put to use; the steady high-hat, and insane triplets on the bass drum.  This guy was kicking out a steady beat with his left foot on the high hat and his right foot doing wild ass stuff on the kick drum. Listen to that!  I'm no drummer;  I'm not able to do two different things like that with my feet.    There's a great bass riff after the chorus too by Jonesy.   This song, as a debut song, really exemplifies the talents that each of these guys brought to the bad.