[Pontiac, MI - Pontiac Silverdome April 30, 1977]

Great pictures of the Silverdome. Now the Silverdome isn't even used for concerts or anything cool really. I think the WNBA plays there and monster truck rallies are big deals there. Why was Jimmy so skinny in these pictures? I think it starts with the letter H.

Yep... it sure does start with an H. Man Heroine is a motherf**ker!!

What's weird is Jimmy's fashion sense was at its coolest with the white dragon suit and his aviator sunglasses, but man he looked like a skeleton. I truly believe that if Zeppelin didn't break up when it did, Page most certainly would've died.

On another note, I really wish the Pontiac gig was filmed, hopefully it exists and will come out one day.

[Hot pics of Jimmy]

I did some photoshop work on a couple of pics and made them into wallpapers if anyone likes them.

[Hot pics of Jimmy]

Thanks for posting this picture although I think it deserves a new topic: Craziest clothes ever worn by JPJ.

I always thought this was page's coolest look. I wish some of this time period was captured on pro film.

[Cinematic Blunders: The Song Remains The Same]

I agree with all that you have posted here. I'd like to add that band has never been particulary enamoured with the movie & it mainly came out because Plant's accident prevented them from touring. If the 3 surviving members of Zep were to gather in a room tomorrow to discuss another reunion & Plant agreed to do it, all one would have to do is put TSRTS on the a TV screen & he'd instantly change his mind & run out of the room. The movie represents everything Plant hates about the Zep myth & the best that Page can say about the movie is that it represnts the band at the end of a tour. Not exactly high praise.

Let's be realistic though. I know Plant hates that whole glam image of Zeppelin with the excess and the private planes, but it was Plant who stood there, with his crotch in clear view, making flamboyant gestures and movements with his hands. Plant got the most camera time.

It was always one of the drawbacks of the film. Don't get me wrong, the footage on a HD tv looks amazing, and jimmy page was the coolest thing to me. I'm 18 years old and when I first saw a Zeppelin video, it was STH live. I gave it a break and then saw SIBLY, and I just had to surrender and say "jimmy page, you have converted me into a led Zeppelin fanatic!" And that's why it holds a special place with me.

But for you younger fans like me, (and older too) I don't know if I'm the only person, but I try to get my friends to dig Zeppelin and I show them clips, and they say "man that guy screams like a girl" or "is that dude gay or somthing." Of course we all know plant isn't, but it's that flamboyance and attitude that really personified the excessive lifestyle that would later escalate out of control. And I never understood why. Put in disc 1 the of zeppin live DVD, then watch TSRTS. I'm not even talking about soundwise, just the attitude of the band and of Plant was drastically different. The gritty soulful plant became the flamboyant rock god, and while they still sounded great, I wished he would have stayed like he was when he first started.

[Cinematic Blunders: The Song Remains The Same]

I agree with all that you have posted here. I'd like to add that band has never been particulary enamoured with the movie & it mainly came out because Plant's accident prevented them from touring. If the 3 surviving members of Zep were to gather in a room tomorrow to discuss another reunion & Plant agreed to do it, all one would have to do is put TSRTS on the a TV screen & he'd instantly change his mind & run out of the room. The movie represents everything Plant hates about the Zep myth & the best that Page can say about the movie is that it represnts the band at the end of a tour. Not exactly high praise.

Let's be realistic though. I know Plant hates that whole glam image of Zeppelin with the excess and the private planes, but it was Plant who stood there, with his crotch in clear view, making flamboyant gestures and movements with his hands. Plant got the most camera time.

It was always one of the drawbacks of the film. Don't get me wrong, the footage on a HD tv looks amazing, and jimmy page was the coolest thing to me. I'm 18 years old and when I first saw a Zeppelin video, it was STH live. I gave it a break and then saw SIBLY, and I just had to surrender and say "jimmy page, you have converted me into a led Zeppelin fanatic!" And that's why it holds a special place with me.

But for you younger fans like me, (and older too) I don't know if I'm the only person, but I try to get my friends to dig Zeppelin and I show them clips, and they say "man that guy screams like a girl" or "is that dude gay or somthing." Of course we all know plant isn't, but it's that flamboyance and attitude that really personified the excessive lifestyle that would later escalate out of control. And I never understood why. Put in disc 1 the of zeppin live DVD, then watch TSRTS. I'm not even talking about soundwise, just the attitude of the band and of Plant was drastically different. The gritty soulful plant became the flamboyant rock god, and while they still sounded great, I wished he would have stayed like he was when he first started.

[Hot pics of Jimmy]

sorry if I'm asking this in the wrong place, but when was the first time jimmy ever wore a costume on stage? The crowd must have been like "what the hell is he wearing"

[Your favourite Plant vocal]

I'd have to say IMTOD, Black Dog, Dazed and Confused, and the most underrated and never not mentioned, Trampled Underfoot.

The thing about Trampled Underfoot that gives me chills is the rawness and raspiness in Plants vocals. That is one song, along with IMTOD, that I wished they could have closely reproduced on stage. Just one time, I wish I could've heard Plant sing Trampled Underfoot onstage with that same vocal sound. It really is the most rawest Plant has sounded.

[In My Time Of Dying]

led bucket o'blood

by rachel s. hanks

to every great composition there exists a dual nature. to the figure drawer, it is the relationship between light and shade; to the musician, bright and dark: chiaroscuro-deep gradations and subtle variations. it is a unity created by the marriage of opposites. for the gospel-blues, it was the streetside preacher blind willy johnson, and for rock and roll, it was the notorious led zeppelin.

gospel-blues: a paradox. since the blues have always been associated with the devil, it's ironic to think that a baptist immortalized traditional slave spirituals through slide guitar and agonizing shouts and groans. but more ironic still is the consummation of blues with heavy metal to create the essence of heavy, light music-like a steel balloon, or led zeppelin (the "a" was dropped from "lead" so that americans wouldn't pronounce it leed)-chiaroscuro (davis 57). it was this technique that became led zeppelin's master trademark and, i believe, revolutionized the history of rock and roll-forever.

today blind willy johnson is acclaimed as the greatest blues slide guitarist to have ever lived (cohn 119-120). but jimmy page, zeppelin's guitarist, is heralded by any modern guitarist as "the greatest rock and roll guitarist" ever. what blind willy did with a bottleneck and jackknife to the neck of his guitar, page took above and beyond to the next level-utilizing violin bows, his trademark gibson fuzz box, the theramin, an echoplex, and metal slides (davis 17, 97; coffey).

inspired by johnson's jesus, make up my dying bed, zeppelin adapted and manipulated the apocalyptical tune and renamed it in my time of dying. in my opinion, this piece best represents zeppelin's keen sensitivity to light and shade. no other song better exemplifies their fragile but powerful use of dynamics, both in subject and sound. the song begins with a series of melancholy danelectro guitar slides, very mellow and hymnlike in nature, only to explode with an unexpected surge of sexual energy. the two play off one another and build intensity, only to recede back into docile churchmode again. at this point, vocalist robert plant intervenes like a banshee:

in my time of dyin', want nobody to moan

all i want for you to do is take my body home

the (s)explosion reoccurs with all instruments in unison:

well, well, well, so i can die easy

well, well, well, so i can die easy. . .

only to rebuild upon the moment of pleasure:

jesus, got to make you . . . shiver!

jesus, gonna make you,

jesus, gonna make up my dyin' bed!

and retract back into a hymn:

meet me, jesus, meet me!

ooh, meet me in the middle of the air!

if my wings should fail me, lord,

please meet me with another pair

and provoke more foreplay:

well, well, well, so i can die easy

well, well, well, so i can die easy. . .

and resurface to delight in the moment:

jesus, gonna make up . . . somebody! . . . somebody!

oh, oh! jesus gonna make up,

jesus, gonna make up my dyin' bed!

the beauty of the piece lies in the tension of the ebbing and flowing dynamics. it is this reoccurring pattern-from out of the slow drone of melancholy into brief intervals of ecstasy-that is not unlike blind willy's soul coming out of the dark (sin) and into the light (presence of god). each progressive build is anticipated by another lull. thus is the nature of humanity, coming to terms with god in the depths of humility and being lifted into the glory of god, only to fall from pride and continue the cycle again. zeppelin reinterprets this neverending round through their sensual wails of agony into ecstasy.

the song continues building upon the moment of elation, guitar and drums tearing into the silence, like the rotation of an engine. hysteria intervenes, and the guilty cry:

oh, saint peter! i can make amends!

won't you let me in?

i never did no wrong, i never did no wrong!

oh, gabriel, let me blow your horn,

let me blow your horn!

i never did no wrong, did no wrong!

i only can be young once,

i never thought i'd do anybody no wrong

no not once!

torque chews and burns into confession

oh, i did somebody some good,

somebody some good, yeah!

oh, did somebody some good, yeah!

i must have did somebody some good, yeah!

oh, i beleive i did, i seen the smilin' faces

i know i must have left some traces . . .

the plateau. page sustains the violent interplay between his drug-induced danelectro and the violent drums, elongates it-and it chortles. out of entropy and into sync, all reunite;

and i seen them in the streets

and i seen them in the theatre

and i hear them at my feet

and i know i tried to feel real

oh, lord, deliver me all the wrongs i've done

oh, you can deliver me, lord

i only wanted to have some fun

and pull into a steady, pulsating rhythm,

oh, keep the angel's marchin', marchin'

keep them marchin', keep them marchin', marchin'

and retaliate for a gasp of air-ecstasy! the point of equilibrium-the marriage of light and shade. the sources reunite and, in rapture, harmonize:

oh my jesus! (11x)

that's got to be my jesus! oh!

it's got to be, it's got to be my jesus!

it's got to be, oh, it's got to be my jesus!

oh, take me home!

friction is conjured and rebuilds:

come on, come on!

i can hear the angel's singin', oh

here they come, here they come

bye bye! bye bye! bye bye! bye bye! bye bye!

oh, it's pretty good up here, pretty good up here

i'll touch jesus (5x)

and loses itself completely in chaos

oh! oh! oh! oh! oh! oh! oh! yeah!

oh, i seen him, come on!

hey! (13x)

until the physical finally gives:

lord, won't you make it my dyin' dyin' dyin'. . .

. . . cough *

led zeppelin redefined the violent interplay of opposites. they possessed a touch sensitive to the delicacy of light and heavy to the allure of shade. the beauty of in my time of dying is the relationship of energy, tension, and release. the cycle rotates and builds, recedes, and rebuilds again. zeppelin knew just when to lay it on thick, and when to pull back.

some may listen and interpret this piece as a vulgar adulteration of a traditional spiritual. i see it as a very thorough introspective into the pomp and glory of led zeppelin's reign. although their music exemplified the beauty of restraint, zeppelin personified the image of ultra-excess. the album from which this song originates, physical graffiti, was released during the pinnacle of their career--a time when pride was high, and humility low (davis 118). thirsty for the thrills of disposable, ready-to-wear pleasure, they indulged and dabbled in every aspect of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. they were even rumored to have made a pact with the devil, at the crossroads, like many blues musicians (davis). they ascended their stairway to heaven only to kamikaze to the heel of the punk revolution and return wiser, sober (ahem), more humble men. out of the dark and into the light, they made up their dyin' beds.

while johnson's voice and guitar ranted on like a demon being exorcised out of possession, the only devil that haunted the blues was the community that oppressed the musicians themselves (bergeon). blind willy succeeded in combining spiritual with secular, uniting heaven with hell. the blues gave birth to rock and roll, only to be abandoned, and later repossessed by a small group of psychedelic experimenters/blues enthusiasts. i believe that led zeppelin's success and influence over all other hard rock bands came from their union of light with heavy; mellow "blood bucket blues" mingled with heavy rock and roll. these legendary doses of melody intertwined with aggressive guitar riffs and exploding rhythms epitomized the essence of chiaroscuro: the fruitful marriage of light and shade.

bring it on home, boys . . .

* zeppelin's added cough at the end is a slightly trivialized tip of the hat to johnson, who died of pneumonia from going to bed in his sopping wet nightshirt after extinguishing a fire that had consumed the majority of his house (hewston; cohn 120). thus, jesus was nigh in making up willy's dying bed (cough). this exhibits yet another dual side of led zeppelin: their inevitably irreverent sense of humor toward even their most revered idol.

sources

bergeon, thomas. re: communication breakdown.

thcb@chevron.com.

blueflame@surfin.com. the blue flame cafe.

http://www.surfin.com/TheBlueFlameCafe/index.html. 1997.

coffery, timothy john. re: more, more, more.

achilles@ece.wpi.edu.

cohn, lawrence. nothing but the blues: the music and the musicians.

new york: abeville press, 1993.

davis, steven. hammer of the gods: the led zeppelin saga.

5th ed. new york: ballantine books, 1989.

digital graffiti. led zeppelin lyrics--physical graffiti.

listserv@cornell.edu.

halfin, ross. led zeppelin: the photographers.

los angeles: 2.13.61 publications, 1995.

hewston, curtis. the blue highway.

http://www.vivanet.com/~blues/. amazon.com: 1997.

led zeppelin. physical graffiti.

remasters. new york: atlantic d-205832, 1975.

lybarger, jeff. re: blind willy johnson.

outriderjl@aol.com.

Very in depth and well thought of. Truly one of the best ZEP songs. Its wierd, when I talk to Zep fans about this song and their favorite part, they never match mine.

My favorite part of the song is right before the end, when the whole song goes into chaos and Robert sings that part "Oh I see him good. Come on!!! Take it, Take it, Take it, Take it, Take it, Whooh yes." I just keep rewinding my ipod like five times. That part is addictive and i love it. Anybody else feel the same.