Imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery, and in music, covering a song is the way it is
done. There are bands playing right now
in a club or bar anywhere around the world playing Led Zeppelin songs. Several Led Zeppelin tribute bands make a
living traveling around and not only playing the music of Led Zeppelin, but
dressing up and playing the part as well.
I've seen a couple bands in my time, and it has been a pretty good night
out. I have had to stop myself initially
at these shows when I have started feeling a little disappointed to say:
"This isn't Led Zeppelin, Shawn.
They love the band as much as you do; maybe more. Give them some
credit. They're on stage making the
effort." I also know from being in
a band on the other side that we didn't fully reproduce the artists we were
covering; but we did represent them, and the crowd had a good time.
I recently completed
reading Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and decided
to watch the movie. As the opening
credits rolled, "Immigrant Song" began playing. This wasn't Led Zeppelin's version, but an
industrial/tech version performed by Trent Reznor, and vocals by Karen O. They did a great job covering the song, and
there were cool visuals with it. I think it was an appropriate way to represent
the song, considering the theme of book.
Many other top bands
have covered or used Led Zeppelin's music.
I was out with a couple friends one night and when we got back into my
friend Jeff's truck to head home "When the Levee Breaks" started playing
on the radio. Jeff said "Oh,
sweet! The Beastie Boys!" thinking that "Rhymin' and Stealin'"
was coming on the air. Almost in synch,
my friend Pat and I started laughing and we corrected Jeff.
The power of
Zeppelin in that moment was we were two beats into the song, and we knew who it
was. We knew that it was the Zeppelin version and not a sample.
The other thing with
Zeppelin is that they themselves were masters at borrowing. Before the Beastie Boys sampled "When
the Levee Breaks," Led Zeppelin
took it from someone else. Zeppelin also
took "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You," and "Bring It On Home,"
and "Traveling Riverside Blues," among many others.
If we love Zeppelin,
we have to love that they borrowed, and in my opinion, improved upon the
original. I've also come to appreciate
other artists doing Zeppelin's work.
Tori Amos does a great cover of "Thank You," as does Chris Cornell. Blind Melon did "Out on
The Tiles." The Black Crowes
(okay, with Jimmy Page on guitar) did a bunch of Zeppelin tunes, and Chris
Robinson has a great voice. A nice list
of covers is here, and I know a lot of these can be found on YouTube.
Do you have a favorite Zeppelin cover?
Van Halen covered "The Rover" back during their club days.
ReplyDeleteAdding to my list of things to check out. Thanks, Troy.
DeleteAhhh… Tori. Everything she covers becomes stripped down gold. Tori is my musical goddess. She does a great deal of Zeppelin covers on several albums, and of course, still more during her shows. She and Robert Plant play together on the Encomium album. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteShe has a beautiful voice. I love her piano and interpretations of the music, especially songs like "When The Levee Breaks" and her voice drops down so low and sultry.
Delete:)
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/Ie3Kaa3jyPM
:D
DeletePeople want to know how I started listening to Tori Amos, and This. Is. Why. BTW, Atlantic Records marketing department couldn't have come up with a better advertisement for Zeppelin than her own words about what the music does.