Category Archives: Keyboards

Getting reacquainted with Led Zeppelin

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(Photograph by Heilemann/Camera Press/Redux)

     I’ve been spending a lot of time with Led Zeppelin lately. I have been listening to their albums with a new ear. With an 184 mile commute round trip I have the time. My focus has been on different aspects of their albums with each listen. From Led Zeppelin to Coda  a new appreciation has grown within me for a band that has been a part of my life for a very long time. I mean how many of us used to draw the four symbols on everything we had?

     The production and engineering on these albums was way ahead of the time. There is a magical depth to the music Led Zeppelin gave us. The lyrical content combined with the music expands the mind and transports us to worlds far from the ordinary world.

       Led Zeppelin took us from blues to hard rock to reggae, sometimes on the same record. I often hear traces of them in many other bands throughout the years.

     Thank you for the journeys Robert, Jimmy, John, and Bonzo for the friendship and joys you have given me.

     it’s loud, it’s wonderful, it’s Led Zeppelin!!!

     the Hellion

Should keyboards be used in metal?

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Ahhh keyboards in rock music. I have always been a fan of keyboards in rock n’ roll, I mean John Paul Jones in Led Zeppelin, John Lord in Deep Purple, Rick Wakeman in Yes, Freddie Mercury in Queen, the list goes on and on. And then on December 21st 1983, a day that lives on in infamy to me,  Van Halen released the single “Jump”, wait…what just happened? My hard rock driven guitar band released a song with a sickly poppy sounding keyboard in it? If you can’t tell I was sorely disappointed in the boys. People were labeling the song as “pop rock” or “synthrock”, I was aghast a this. I eventually overcame my lament and forgave Van Halen for this travesty (again this is my opinion).

Today on my commute home I heard “Jump” on the radio (no I still don’t like it) and thought to myself I wonder what others think about keyboards in hard rock and heavy metal. I know bands like Sonata Artica, Kamelot, and Nightwish use them, but what are your thoughts?

 

it’s loud, it’s dirty, i might as well JUMP!!!

-the Hellion