I'm certainly no expert, but Top Gun was realsed in (I think) 1986, a year or two after the Firm's debut, so I don't think Top Gun had any effect on the decision to cover the song. Personally, I don't really care for the cover tune because the original is really overplayed. When I listen to the Firm, that's probably the one song I skip over 90% of the time. Up until about 15 years ago, I played in a classic rock cover band around DC (some of the same places Dave Grohl played with his pre-Nirvana punk band, we grew up in the same neighborhood, but that's a different story). Anyway, I tried and tried to convince the band to do a Frim cover. They finally agreed to do Satisfation Guaranteed. When we played it for the first time, I was thrilled to hear some chicks in the crowd actually recognize and sing along with it!! This was somewhere like 1992-93 when the Firm was just a bad dream to most folks. So I was glad to see that they were gone but not forgotten, and it's just as thrilling to see the same on this thread so many years later!

I had no idea that Page even knew Chris Squire! That's some great triva. I'll have to dig out my 90210 give it another listen! Speaking of the March 19 (?) 1986 show at the Cap Centre; I was incarcerated at military school at the time. I think it was a Wed night. I and some friends snuck out to get to the show (DC was about 60 miles away). We made it to the show in time to catch Virginia Woolf. I bought the concert jersey with the black sleeves, and the All the Kings Horses picture on the front. We got incrediby baked with a soda can. Anyway, we made it back in time to sneak into morning formation without getting busted. Unfortunately, one of our group got pee-tested a few days later and was thrown out! I would love to get my hands on that Westwood recording. I guess I'll go sniff around ebay!

I probably more more value on the Firm than deserves because of sentimental value. I grew up in the 80s and we played those Firm LPs constantly, so when I listen now, they tke me back to those teenage years. In those days, all we had were the Zep LPs. We didn't have good bootlegs, BBC live recordings, internet info. So anything that Page did was "new Zep" for us. Ju being able to see what Jimmy looked like and played like. But the real treat of the Firm is in the song Midnight Moonlight. The acoustic guitar intro is the intro he originally created for the opening of Kashmir but left it off. As for Outrider, I waited in line at the record store for hour waiting for it. The other folks were waiting for the new Steve Winwood and made fun of me saying that the Page LP would be in the bargain bin in a week! But back then, a Page solo album was about as exciting as it got! I was actually less than thrilled with most of it. The collaboration with Plant was dissapointing, the instrumentals were boring and I personally didn't enjoy the singers.

I remember Jason's opening band. I was quite disappointed at his drumming, but am thrilled to see that he's come far in these last 20 years. I also saw Jason drum for age on the Outrider tour. But that Firm concert was magic! The bow, the lasers, the duel with the bass player; I actually found a recording of a show from that tour on Ebay. It sounds just as good as I remembered it. I'm probably the only person on Earth who is still waiting for a third LP from the Firm!!

I have seen pretty much every major band one can name and to this day, the best show I've ever seen was on te Firm's Mean Business tour in 1986. I still think the 2nd LP is extremely under-rated and the power-force of Page & Rodgers when shamefully unnoticed. Perhaps the time just wasn't right.