It was the ’70s when I was in school.  Serious rock was being produced.  Led Zeppelin was arguably the biggest thing going, in spite of various tragedies and spotty output.  School kids could spend years debating the relative merits of the Zep vs Yes, for instance.

And then disco.  Punk.  Grunge.  Thrash.  Et Cetera.

My contemporaries frequently look around and ask the current generation where their  Led Zeppelin is.

To be honest, I don’t have an awful lot to do with the current generation.  I rely largely on what I read, hear, and what my wife’s teenage nieces and nephews are saying.

What was/is Led Zeppelin?   A supergroup of sorts.  Several top-notch studio aces [that's Jimmy Page on Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual" and Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help from my Friends"] and friends combined to revolutionize rock music as we knew it.  They could all play their instruments quite well, including the singer.  Any studio trickery was used for effect; they pulled it all off well live (more difficult for a three piece group).  They pushed the envelope.  Their songs are still staggeringly popular and continue to sell well.  They’re classics.

So where is the second Led Zeppelin?

Some people tell me it was the Pearl Jams and Cobains.   Please.   I knew no good could come of this when Rolling Stone compared Cobain to Hendrix (that was my last Rolling Stone).  Someone had obviously gotten into the office stash too heavily.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m aware of their popularity and impact.  I’ll ignore the fact that I can’t stand to listen to either of them and give them credit for what they did (I don’t think Frank Sinatra was all that great either, but he sure was popular).    I’m talking about lasting impact and musicianship.

Kurt Cobain could barely tune his guitar.  His playing sounded like that of a first year guitarist (I’ve taught a few).  His writing was as formulaic as ’50s sitcoms.  Let’s not talk about his tones (either of them).   As for Pearl Jam, I had a lot of difficulty getting past Eddie Vedder’s voice.  That fellow gives new meaning to the words enunciation and pitch.   Neither of the guitarists did anything for me, even when one was pretending to be Jimi Hendrix.

I can feel the angry, defensive comments building up before I’m through typing this.  Remember - you’re getting my opinion, for what it’s worth  (and it’s worth exactly what you’re paying for it).

Lest you slag me off entirely, I’d like to call a few more witnesses, should it please the court.  I call my wife’s nephews (17 and 20).  Both started playing the guitar in their mid-teens.  My wife just drove one to college and almost fell out of the car during music discussions.  Apparently both nephews are grossly dissatisfied with most of what’s come along since they started playing and are doing the only thing curious musicians can do: going back and listening to those who came before.

My wife is a big fan of guitar music.  I knew she was The One<tm> almost immediately but seeing Jeff Beck’s ‘Blow by Blow’ in her CD collection confirmed it.  Being saddled with a guitar-playing husband has only widened her vocabulary and tastes.   She runs the gamut from REM (they drive me up a wall) to Eric Johnson.

So who came up when discussing music with the nephews?  Jimmy Page, Eric Johnson, Jeff Beck, Steve Vai, Eric Clapton, et al.  They were discussing music in a manner that reminded me of high school when I went there, down to some of the same people.   Why?   Because there’s nothing going on currently or recently worth discussing (in a guitar-centric or other way).

I saw Jeff Beck years ago at Philly’s Tower Theater.  We were approximately twenty rows back.  That geezer (now 63 or so) was playing better than ever before.  He was enjoying the hell out of it too.  The same stunned looks were on the faces of the audience… how does he DO that?  El Becko grinned and unleashed another fusillade of carefully bent notes.  This was the first time I ever heard his instrumental version of ‘A Day in the Life.’   My neck hair stood at attention.  My wife stood at attention.  The air was electric.  You completely failed to notice there were no vocals; his playing was that good.  You could almost see Lennon smiling offstage.

That doesn’t happen a lot these days, especially with the current crop of bands who are allowed to pick one attribute from the barrel: loudest, most tattoos, oddest face mask, best sneer, or weirdest (visible) piercing(s).

My primary listening is guitar-centric but you’ll find other interesting things there… Joe Cocker isn’t exactly known as a staging ground for guitar wizards.  There are no 256th note solos in Del Amitri songs.  Sass Jordan doesn’t even play the guitar.   And I’ll be damned if I can figure out half of what Mr. DeLeo from STP is doing, but it’s aurally pleasing, nicely layered, and he pulls it off very well live.  Dr. John, Sly Stone and others.

So where is the next Led Zeppelin?