A cool story about my son & Led Zeppelin

[Beijoguy]

I wanted to share a story with you fans, in the hopes you will appreciate it as much as I do

Now, I have always been a huge music fan of all different types of genres, (mostly classic rock, pop, & R&, but have not had too much of an opportunity to expose my son to a lot of it due to the fact that he lives with his mother most of the time...and she is a Mormon who disapproves of preeeety much everything I do, and severely limits the amount of exposure he gets to most music and movies (sorry if this offends anyone).

I see him once a month.

I was with my son one day a couple of years ago (who was 8 at the time), and as we were driving home, he commented on a song he had heard on the radio that he really liked ("Listen To The Music" by the Doobie Brothers). I thought this was neat, because I was sure he had never heard it before, and it showed he had an ear for good music. This gave me an idea to make up a list of songs we would listen to during our video gaming sessions...a list we have come to call the "Gaming Kick-Ass List!"

Realizing that most of the songs on the list (which were pretty much rock & funk songs) he would be hearing for the first time, I figured I would just put on many of my 'typical' favorites, but not get too 'out there' yet. After an initial trial run at the first version of the list (which was only about 2 hours), and seeing that we were both enjoying the music-but-no-game-sounds aspect, I made a larger version of the list for the next session.

Okay...so we are sitting there playing, and I am trying to pay attention to his reactions to each song (if any) to gauge how my selections are faring. About 30 minutes into this, a song comes on and I noticed him kind of space out for a few seconds looking away from the TV screen, and then watched his little thumb pause his game from his controller. The first thing that ran through my mind was that he couldn't deal with the song that was now playing, since he had yet to officially comment on any song I had played for him. So I asked him if he was okay, to which he said "Yes". I then said "What's up, bud? Do you not like this song?"...and I'll never forget the look on his face. His eyes got really big, but still a bit spaced-out because he was still listening to the song, and then he turned to me and said in a very emphatic tone "Yeah...I like it a LOT! Can You start it again?"

The song was Kashmir.

I thought that was SO freaking cool! I kid you not, we listened to that song about 8 times that day. He LOVES that song!

Since then, it was always the very first song he pulled up on my iPod when I picked him up...until recently when he made a rare request that a new song must be added to the "Gaming Kick-Ass List!" - When The Levee Breaks.

I can't tell you how thrilled I am that he loves this music, especially since I have allowed him to pick the music he likes from a variety of types I play around him.

Anyway, I thought you all might all enjoy this little story, especially as Led Zeppelin fans

Thanks for reading!

[Maxwell Edison]

That's so sweet. He obviously has very good taste!

[Deborah J]

Well I would say that young man knows music. Thank you for sharing the story.

[Tripmender]

That's fantastic Beijoguy, and I can totally relate to it as my ex-wife is a full-on faux-Christian 'Mother of Prevention' nutter. Keep up the good work! Sounds like there are two happy winners here, and one sad loser who will only have herself to blame. But she'll still blame you anyway

Sadly, neither of my sons (now 13 and 11) are into rock. I've tried, but I don't want to push it. There was a time about 6 or 7 years ago when I had high hopes - my elder son was heavily into planets, black holes & constellations etc. I thought, 'Hey, I must have a song or two about that', and foolishly introduced him to Cygnus X-1 by Rush. If you know the song, and how quickly & seriously childhood obsessions can take hold, you'll know what I mean when I say foolishly - it's quite a disjointed piece, to say the least, and doesn't exactly scream 'play me on constant repeat all the way across England'. This inevitably led on to Hemispheres (= Cygnus X-1 Book Two) - I could and should have kept stumm about this particular masterpiece, but sadly I didn't, and I was soon having to try to explain Neil Peart's preposterous lyrical cop-out to a baffled 6 year-old who, like me, was bitterly disappointed by the crap sequel. Nevertheless, he still forced me to burn the two songs onto a single CD, and play that on endless repeat instead.

Looking on the bright side, I suppose it could've been worse - I nearly chose Dark Star by the Dead . Phew.....

[BlackDog71]

Great story. I too know the power of that song. It was the very song that made me fall in love with the music of Led Zeppelin and gave my musical tastes a 180. "Kashmir" is still a song that blows me away every time that I heat it. It's good to know that not all of this younger generation is lost. I am glad that he has such an open ear to music.

You must be proud as a father.

[Magic Fills the Air]

Great story, thanks for sharing it. Kashmir is one powerful song, it's just a shame it's so under-played, and therefore not that many people are exposed to it. Beats Lady Ga Ga (or whatever she's called) any day (and, yes, I know she's a Zeppelin fan!).

[imPLANTed]

Fantastic story. It really warms my heart! Thanks for sharing that with us!

[gina62]

Thats pretty cool, I have a five year old granddaughter who's father raps ,and he is darn good ! But when I have my earphones on listenning to Zep she always grabs them from me and puts it on her head, and Rocks Out !!!

[Kiwi_Zep_Fan87]

Wow! This is such an awesome story! Thank you for sharing this Beijoguy!

I can completely relate to your post because my dad who happens to love Led Zep, was the one who introduced me to my first Led Zep song at the age 12 : "Black Dog"

Thanks to Led Zep, my dad and I have had some really awesome father-daughter moments!