Weekend Plans Post: Kingdom Come
A million years ago, back in 1988, there was a concert advertised on MTV for THE MONSTERS OF ROCK. You couldn’t watch for 10 minutes without seeing 2 commercials and a Kurt Loder speech about the concert.
Van Halen was touring for OU812, Scorpions was touring for Savage Amusement, Dokken was touring for Back for the Attack, Metallica had And Justice For All coming out about a month after the tour ended, and Kingdom Come had, you know, Kingdom Come that they were promoting.
What I thought was funny was that MTV was making such a big deal of these guys but they wouldn’t touch Metallica with a 10 foot pole otherwise. I had never seen a Metallica video but, you know, there was no shortage of Van Halen, Scorpions, Dokken, or Kingdom Come on there. In discussing the upcoming tour with friends (there was *NO WAY* that I was going to go, but they were all talking about how they were going to get tickets), they explained that Van Halen was awesome (though Van Hagar was less awesome than the previous incarnation), Scorpions were awesome, Dokken was awesome…ish…, METALLICA WAS REALLY AWESOME OH MY GOSH, and, yeah, Kingdom Come sucked.
I had listened to Kingdom Come a bunch of times and I thought, huh, they’re pretty good. They remind me of, you know, Led Zeppelin. Here:
See? A little bit of Kashmir, a little bit of Black Dog… what’s not to like?
Well, my peers explained, they were totally ripping off Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page explained that he thought it was awful what those kids were doing, ripping off that signature sound. And, welp, that message got passed along to my peers while missing me entirely and they hated Kingdom Come while I was thinking, hey, it’s not like Zeppelin is putting out any new albums.
As I got older and learned more about the history of rock and roll, I learned that Jimmy Page had his own… let’s call it “cavalier” attitudes towards borrowing the sound of others. The song “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You” was credited to “Traditional, arr. by Jimmy Page” instead of to Anne Bredon who wrote it less than a decade before. (Anne Bredon missed the song all through the 70’s and finally learned of Led Zeppelin’s version in the 80’s. Starting in 1990, she got her name on the song and a chunk of change.)
Here’s her version (the original):
Having heard it, I now understand how she went 10 years not hearing Led Zeppelin’s version and, at the same time, having a circle that didn’t contain anybody who would have heard Led Zeppelin’s version.
Jimmy Page hadn’t heard that version, though. He’d only heard Joan Baez:
You can kinda hear the seeds of Led Zeppelin’s version in there.
Well, not only was there that incident, but there was also the incident between Stairway to Heaven and Spirit’s song “Taurus” (jump to 0:44 if you just want to get to the juicy bit):
Led Zeppelin toured with Spirit. Jimmy Page had their album in his collection. They went to court over this and the case was finally decided just LAST YEAR. The court found for Led Zeppelin and the appeal made it to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal which pretty much finally puts a lid on this one for good.
Poor Spirit.
Anyway, Kingdom Come came and went and there were a bunch of bands that did their best to sound like Led Zep (but not *TOO* much like Led Zep) until Wolfmother came out and said “you know what? It’s time” and they out kingdom came Kingdom Come:
When Mike Patton (from Faith No More) was giving an interview at one of the Lollapaloozas and heard Wolfmother singing this song, he immediately stopped the interview and asked the interviewer “Are you hearing this?!?!? WHAT YEAR ARE WE IN?!?!?”
Well, I disagree with him and disagree with my peers from 1988 and, yeah, disagree with Jimmy Page. Hey, it’s not like Zeppelin is putting out any new albums.
Anyway, this weekend, I’ll probably be studying for my (not-yet-scheduled) test and listening to music to help me calm down while I do so.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Featured image is “Rip Off+ kingsize” by oddsock and is licensed under CC BY 2.0)
I was informed of Greta van Fleet on the twitters.
I checked them out and the lead singer can sing “my my” and make it sound like Robert Plant singing “woman”.
Thumbs up.Report
Heh. For me, GVV was so obvious that I just assumed you would include them.Report
I’d not heard one of their songs before today!Report
I would say “well, Zep still gets play on the radio, and people still buy their albums, so there’s clearly a market that exists for that particular creative work, and so it deserves protection just like any other relevant-and-popular creative work”
But…Zep still gets play on the radio, and people still buy their albums, even with Wolfmother out there just straight-up playing their riffs, so whatever dilution of the market may be occurring it hasn’t seemed to stop Zep making money.Report
I thought this was going to be about Kindgom Come: Deliverance, but I guess that would be more appropriate for a Saturday post.
I ordered a couple of the Super Mario Bros. LEGO sets, and they are supposed to arrive today, so I will probably start assembling them this weekend.
My wife and I have been going through the Rebuild Evangelion movies, and we will probably watch the third one this weekend. In the second movie, things start to go off the rails (compared to the series), and in the third you end up in a completely different story.
I’d also like to get in another game of Planet Apocalypse, either solo or with my wife. I came darn close to winning last time, but I pushed my luck too far and paid dearly.Report
What I thought was funny was that MTV was making such a big deal of these guys but they wouldn’t touch Metallica with a 10 foot pole otherwise.
From what I can remember, all changed with …And Justice for All. I remember seeing the video for “One” all the time starting about a year after that tour.
I maintain that Master of Puppets was the last Metallica album.Report
A friend had a mixtape with Sanitarium on it and I listened to it and thought that it was an awesome song and I really didn’t see the big deal with why the radio stations wouldn’t play it (except for that one AM station in New Mexico that we could only listen to after sunset).
Of course, now we live in a world where “Master of Puppets” gets played as a “Throwback!” song when the DJ has to go to the bathroom.Report
I remember a football game using “Ride The Lightning” as commercial-bumper music.Report
Master of Puppets is defo their best album, but for me …And Justice For All was their last album.
And y’all, Metallica’s first music video was for “One.” They didn’t make music videos before that.Report
As long as we all agree that nothing after …And Justice For All could possibly be considered Metallica.Report
Metallica got a lot better after they cut their hair.Report
Friends don’t let friends get ‘Friends’ haircuts.Report
It was the last Metallica album.Report
Oh gosh. That’s because “making music videos is selling out”… right? I seem to recall that being an argument at one time.Report
As is (was) selling your music in electronic format.Report
There’s a difference between being a ripoff and a throwback. You can hear that Wolfmother listened to a lot of Rainbow, Zeppelin, BTO, et cetera. But they’ve also got more contemporary influences, and their production sounds contemporary to their era. Kingdom Come set out to create an album that you couldn’t talk about without reference to Led Zeppelin.Report
Yeah, well, in 1988, you couldn’t talk about Led Zeppelin without pointing out that they were:
A) Broken up
B) Never, ever getting back togetherReport
Zep is by far my favorite band. I listen to them pretty much daily. I was 19 when the MOR tour was happening. Kingdom.Come had Zep tendencies IMO but so did a lot of bands and single acts back then. Think Whitesnake, Billy Squier… Hair metal was just 3 yrs away from being blown completely out of the water by the reset of the grunge movement. Today it’s Greta Van Fleet. I’m not a “purest” by any means. When I first heard them it was mid way through Highway Tune and thought; wait, did I miss a release of some never heard Zep?? I bought it and then heard Talk On the Street and Black Smoke Rising. I hear RUSH, not Zep. Zep was/is one of the greatest rock and roll bands in the world. Their influence can be heard in countless bands just like the blues influences they “borrowed” for their music back then.
If the music is good. Listen to it and enjoy it. I’ve seen actual Pink Floyd and since they don’t tour anymore for obvious reasons, I get my fix by seeing Brit Floyd when they come around. I don’t think they are ripping off Floyd, just like I don’t think Radiohead does either.
All in what you like…. Some other useless trivial stuff on Kingdom Come’s Danny Stag. He’s a pittsburgh guy from a family with a long history in pittsburgh news broadcasting (the Steigerwald brothers). The man can play.Report
One of the bands from recent (well, recenter) years that I’ve enjoyed is Chris Jericho’s band: Fozzy. (Used to be “Fozzy Osbourne” but, you know, you reach a certain level of fame and you start getting letters from lawyers about that sort of thing.)
He doesn’t go for a Zep sound, really. My immediate thought is something in the neighborhood of “Judas Priest”.
But his song “Sane” is one that many may be tempted to mock going into it (“I am living within this nightmare”? Really?) but coming out of it, I felt like his enthusiasm was infectious.
And the fact that the music video appears to have a production cost of taking over a roller coaster for two hours (and a guitar) adds to its charm rather than diminishes.
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I enjoy both Van Halen and Van Hagar (though I do prefer Van Hagar). They’re two different bands and bring different musical qualities to the stage. Van Halen is a platform for David Lee Roth’s bombastic vocal style and EVH’s groundbreaking playing style. Van Hagar is musically superior, with Hagar’s vocal abilities and guitar playing setting the band free in terms of musical expression–Eddie’s keyboard playing on 5150 and he and Hagar blending their guitar and songwriting abilities. I love both 1984 and 5150, but for very different reasons. And as extensive a catalog of EVH we have to choose from…I kinda think the solo from “Right Now” might be my favorite.
David Van Halen is underestimated as a drummer. He’s a master, and it’s interesting to listen to his evolution through their discography.
As to Scorpions…”Rock You Like A Hurricane” is a banger, but I find myself changing the station when they come on. Surely there’s something better on another station, right (and there usually is)?Report
I really liked the Scorpions. I think dual guitar bands are underrated. I mean, the really tight riff stuff, like them and Judas Priest. It’s impossible to pull off unless you understand music. But those people will never be remembered like Van Halen. Eddie was amazing, and he was always going to expand his musical range, no matter who was fronting his band. He had it all: the technical skill, the musicality, and the immediate likeability.Report
My weekend plans are simple.
1. Fiber internet was installed today, ending the tyranny of the “20mbs at best and super prone to jitter and lag” crap I’ve dealt with since I moved here. (Older houses, man. Last on the list for any upgrade UNTIL fiber — where we were top, because we don’t have buried lines so they can make a lot of people happy very fast). Right now I’m doing about 500 down, 800 up. FEAR ME!
2. My PS5 came in (wahoo Sony direct sales). It’s a hefty beast. Until I get my TV moved to a wall mount, it’s got to live on a side table. Right now my PS4 is moving all my old games to an external drive (which I’m currently regretting not getting a faster one. 3.5tb’s takes awhile to move). Then I’ll verify all the profile and saves are uploaded, then transfer it all to the PS5. And then move a handful of “games I’m playing now” to the internal PS5 drive.
3. PROFIT.
Seriously, massive upgrade in internet speed (I can stream more than one show at once! I can play an MMORPG and not degrade the stream my wife is watching! I can do all that AND download big patches and games!. AT THE SAME TIME LIKE A REAL PERSON) and a hefty new console.
Of course, to balance that out I still need to replace a car, pretty much rebuild an entire bathroom, repair a wall BEFORE I can mount the TV on it (the drywall is cracked and I’d prefer to fix it first)….Report
You got one! Wonderful!
I keep thinking “I should go to Target first thing in the morning” but… man. That’s first thing in the morning.
What PS5 games did you get?Report
None! Zero PS5 games! The closest will be the PS5 upgrade to FF7, which my wife is playing. But since I didn’t have a PS4 pro, I can at least experience my current backlog in 4k.
I got it through a Sony direct invite. They’ll send them out, give you a 24-ish hour period where you can join the queue, and they randomly assign you a place in line. If your number comes up before they sell out, you can buy one. If not, you’re (I think) re-entered into their list for invites.
I got lucky.
I did work out I’d bought a sub-optimal external drive after I’d bought it, but i’ll do for now. I can replace it with a SSD or at least a hybrid drive later.Report
I would have at least gotten the Miles Morales Spider-Man!
It’s awesome that you got one, though. It gives me hope.Report
It’s on my list. I haven’t played the PS4 spiderman. 🙂
Problem with being in your 40s. Your wallet for a video game backlog is SO MUCH LARGER than your time to play.
I did finally finish Red Dead Redemption 2 (which I’m considering replaying) and am almost done with the Witcher 3 (plus all DLCs)Report
And it’s also the anniversary of Use Your Illusion I&II coming out.
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One of those moments where a band said “this is an incredibly self-indulgent vanity project and we have the fame and the fortune to make it happen, therefore we must, solely so that as history rolls on it will always be remembered that someone once did.”Report
Getting compared to Zep means you’re just a pretender. Wolfmother is catchy stuff, but it’s not breaking any new ground.
Today I went golfing, and while you expect somewhat slow play on a Sunday afternoon, you don’t expect to have to wait on every hole. Step up and hit the damn ball!Report
Why does new ground have to be continually broken? Sometimes it’s nice wearing something comfortable!Report
It doesn’t. But you could always listen to Zeppelin if you want to listen to Zeppelin.Report
I want to listen to *NEW* Zeppelin.
Am I saying that this is a perfect solution? No, I am not.
It is an imperfect kludge of a solution.Report
I’ll be the first to admit I love me some Beatlesque pop music.Report
It’s kind of the opposite of the tribute bandReport
We are nearing the end of Birbquest: Halloween; just one more trip to Target and we’ll have all the costumed birbs. There are a few more Christmas ones but we’ll wait until those actually hit the shelves.Report