dpat Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 I was browsing an online book site, and they had a paperback book entitled, "Led Zeppelin and Philosophy (Popular Culture and Philosophy)" by Scott Calef. Has anyone read this? And if so, is it silly? I mean, it has to be, right? To somehow get a 'philosophy' from Zep's music. I love Zeppelin the most of any rock band EVER, but compared to their peers at the time, Plant's lyrics were hardly 'deep.' Derivative and sometimes even a little (dare I say) obtuse. But not overly philosophical -- except maybe stuff like "Night Flight," "Misty Mountain Hop," "The Rover," and "In the Evening," etc. But then again, Dave Lewis has a back cover blurb recommending the book ... Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 I find most of those "...and Philosophy" books to be the publishing equivalent of fast food. They're cheap and easy to produce, have a ready-made hook to market to a pop-culture obsessed public, and have just as much to do with real philosophy as Taco Bell does to real food. Of all the ones I've seen over the years, and I've seen some doozies, only a few really stood out from the pack, and are ones that I would recommend...those being The Godfather, the Simpsons, and Star Trek ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaweed gate Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 This book is very well written, the only difficulty being it's in French. Seriously I've read zillions of books about Led Zeppelin both in English and French. I think this one deserves a good translation in the first place. If any editor/publisher is reading this, please take the time to consider this work, this is worth the time and effort. Thanks. For those who read French, here is a link where you can find an excerpt from the book's first chapter. http://laguerretotale.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WChrisMullen Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Yeah. Robert's lyric are majestic and transcendent, but nine times out of ten the song is just done to sound pretty, not to "mean" anything. It's art for art's sake, which is why nobody needs to find hidden meanings in Stairway. I actually saw a flame war on a Youtube video arguing that Kashmir was a political song about Kashmiri independence and the India/Pakistan nuclear arms race. This despite the fact that the song was written about Morocco deserts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZoSo1960 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I have read the book it was interesting to say the least I remeber writing my rebuttles in the margins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I own this book and have read about half of it. It is a collection of 17 essays. Some of them are not very good, but there is an excellent one by Randall E. Auxier, "Magic Pages and Mythic Plants". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SummrMoon Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I read this book in Feb I think, so some of it has dimmed a bit. I agree some of the essays were not good. They didn't seem very scholarly....with a lot of flowerly language and attempts to make connections that didn't fit, IMO. Still, overall I liked it because it was a different take on Zep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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