The Rain Song.

TSRTS has so many great moments that it's impossible to choose which one is best.

During a visit to Inverness in '97 I spent some time near Boleskine House exploring the nearby graveyard and woods. I found the area to be very still and beautiful, but didn't sense anything mysterious. An interesting anecdote: When I was in Inverness I spoke to a local tour guide who told me that when he was leading tours back in the 70's and 80's he would make stops outside of Boleskine House if a member of one of his tour groups requested it. He told me that on two separate occasions young women in his (van driven) tour groups requested that he stop at Boleskine House. He agreed, pulled his van over, the girls jumped out, ran up onto the Boleskine property, and never returned. The guide tried to find both girls, was unsuccessful, and reluctantly returned to Inverness with the rest of his tour group. A second interesting anecdote: During a visit to a pub located near Boleskine House, I spoke to a pub employee who told me that Page would sometimes visit the pub to have a beer or two back during the 70's and 80's. According to this employee, the pub's owner--noticing Page's repeated visits--eventually screwed a metal placard engraved with the words "Jimmy Page" into the floor beneath Page's usual barstool. The placard was later removed after Page sold Boleskine House. Whether this employee's story had any credibility or not, I don't know.

That's interesting. When I was in HS (mid 80's) almost everybody liked Zeppelin--even the kids who preferred the Stones liked Zeppelin. At every HS party you'd hear the same music: Zeppelin, Stones, AC/DC, Van Halen, Def Leppard, U2, etc, etc.

My older brother gave me LZ1 as a birthday present when I was 15. Then I watched TSRTS with two friends when I was 17.

I'm going with '73, even though '75 is very close.

Many of my favorite D and C's are from the ' 73 European and American tours. The TSRTS one belongs right at the top.

I'm most like JPJ in terms of my personality and temperament. I'm also a Capricorn (like JPJ and JP). Quite a few Zeppelin fans who I've known over the years have also been Capricorns.

I feel encouraged by what I've read on this thread. Today's young people seem to have all but completely forgotten about bands like the Stones and The Who, but there still seems to be a small, dedicated contingent of young Zeppelin fans out there. It seems like in some places it's even become "cool" to like Zeppelin. When one considers that the great majority of Zeppelin fans are now in their 50's and 60's, this is good news.

I enjoyed it too Virginia--thanks.

I've known a lot of people who felt indifferent to Zep--neither hated nor loved them--just had different tastes in music. I've run across 4 true Zeppelin haters in my life: 3 of them were total losers--guys who were angry, bitter, miserable, unhappy, and pathetic. To quote someone in another post on this thread, "their hatred of Led Zeppelin was the least of their problems." One of these guys had a strong contrarian streak : He seemed to hate Zeppelin simply because everyone else liked them so much. The 4th true Zeppelin hater I knew was--believe it or not--one of my best friends in HS and college. He (Jim) was a great guy in every respect and the two of us agreed about virtually everything--except Zeppelin. Jim's problem was that he was a fanatical fan of The Who, and he DEEPLY resented Zeppelin for being more popular and successful. We agreed to never discuss the issue--why ruin a good friendship--but sometimes I would hear him moaning aloud to other people, "Why does everyone love Zeppelin so much? Why are they so popular? The Who is a lot better." LOL.

I'm a fan of the Dave Lewis books--and I liked WGWTE. I also liked Heaven and Hell. (This book's introduction--where the writer talks about the sheer volume of crowd noise in Tampa stadium prior to Zep's '77 show--is memorable. He describes how Zep's audience in Tampa is far louder than the audiences for other major bands of the era who played Tampa-- MUCH louder than The Who's audience, for example.) I know that HOTG's is much criticized for being embellished and inaccurate--this seems true--but I still thought it was a good read.

They need to have their privacy respected. If I encountered one in a public place I wouldn't bother them. If I did meet one in a "natural" setting I would talk to them about something other than music; maybe antiques, or Celtic history, or London real estate, or whatever. It's amazing how open, friendly, and accessible all three have been with their fans over the years. Each one has undoubtedly been approached by many thousands of strangers asking for handshakes, autographs, photo opportunities, etc; or strangers attempting to engage them in long, boring conversations, etc. Despite this, they always seem to remain friendly and polite--it's impressive.

Actually, I find all of these rock star/god comparisons to be really intersesting: Zeppelin's most famous biography is called, "Hammer of the Gods," Robert called himself "a Golden God", Clapton was called "God," fans at Doors concerts screamed out to Morrison, "You're god!!" Etc, etc. Some of that era's rock stars--Zeppelin most of all--were uniquely capable of providing their audiences with a mystical, transcendental, hallucinogenic, quasi-religious experience. Therefore, fans came to view these artists/bands as "Gods." In Zeppelin's case, the band was capable of generating such extremely high levels of "magical energy"--energy which was subsequently and repeatedly transferred back and forth between the band and audiences in an ever-escalating upward spiral--that audiences were left feeling mesmerized, enthralled, and euphoric. Because of this, it should be no wonder that this thread addresses the issue of whether Zeppelin were "Gods." Personally, I don't think any human being should ever be worshipped as a god, except Jesus--if one is a Christian.

I agree with the posts on this thread by juxtiphy and Bong-Man: Page was definitely performing a ceremonial magik ritual of some kind. Of course, Page was also being theatrical--he was fully aware of how great it looked and sounded. I read a quote by Page several years ago where he said something along the lines of, "Back then, (in the 70's) that was my life--the melding of music and magik--I lived it." Also, Plantpothead mentioned above that he doesn't like to go "theorizing about what the artist was thinking at the time." With all due respect, I'm just the opposite; I'm fascinated by what the members of Zep were thinking, and particularly by the musical/philosophical ideas jointly shared by--and the interplay between--Plant and Page. I'm also fascinated by Page's thought patterns, his artistic vision, and his sources of inspiration and creativity.