I realize I’m a little late on this but oh well.
So Robert Plant and Alison Krauss won a boatload of Grammys for their record “Raising Sand”. Not that I really care too much about Grammys or Oscars or whatever, but in today’s day and age where music is less and less an ‘us vs. them’, ‘cool vs. uncool’ world, winning a Grammy is no longer considered a sell out. Not that it’s a golden validation of ‘real’ music either, but at the very least it says some group of elitists recognizes something cool is going on. Never mind that past groups of elitists were too stupid to recognize a band called, um…Led Zeppelin? But anyway, their golden wand graced the heads of Plant and Krauss and dubbed them best this and that.
What stands out for me in this, is Plant’s heel dragging on doing the whole Zeppelin reunion thing when the other Zepsters where getting all whiny about his little ‘project’ holding up plans for some massive Zeppelin world conquering tour gone wild.
Why was he dragging his heels? Well, he is one of the only dudes on the planet that can say, “Sorry guys, but -been there done that. This is new (ish) fresh, different and something I haven’t done before, so I’m gonna ride this puppy out.”
What I respect here is two things-
First, Plant was putting art before popularity and the will of the masses, choosing to follow his sense of artistic integrity before hopping on the for-sure massive money mammoth magnanimous Zep beast.
Look, here’s the deal -Plant can’t sang like he did in 1971 when he was 23 years old. In fact, he couldn’t sing in 1979 like he did in 1971 (not to mention Page not being able to play anything like he did back then). So although he did quite well in the Zeppelin reunion one off in 2007 (according to all the cell phone video clips I saw), the fact is, a reunited Zeppelin will never, ever, ever be as good as it was back in the day. But this whole Krauss thing was again- new, different and something he had never done before. And I think he instinctively felt something real was happening musically that was bustling his inner hedgerow in a new and glittery way. He followed that lead and it led him into the arms of elitist approval -which I sense he takes with an ambivalent shrug, but at the same time with an undoubtedly unavoidable sense of confirmation his instincts were correct.
Second, I think Plant realizes that at 60 yrs old, singing about squeezing his lemon is a bit of a joke. I mean, at what point does it become a metaphor for an enlarged prostate?
As groundbreaking and musically innovating Zeppelin was -their music and recordings STILL stand the test of time- much of the spirit of their music was about youth, power and sexuality. It’s a bit goofy trying to tap into the spirit of that music when you are in your 60’s is it not? Plant will always sound cool singing “All My Love” ( about his deceased 5 year old son) but the siren like wailing of “The Immigrant Song” ain’t gonna work -unless it’s an ambulance siren coming to get a little CPR going for an aging rocker that didn’t know when to quit.
The cool, wise, classy vibe of Plant-Krauss is not only more fitting for a dude his age, it emanates an authenticity and organic honesty that much -if not most – of today’s pop music lacks.