Tuesday, March 07, 2006
The Throng Remains TEH L4M3
The Canadian music network FUSE is airing the Led Zeppelin concert movie "The Song Remains the Same" tonight, as part of a show they call "Project This Bitch!". The twist... as the movie is playing, viewers are text messaging a special number, and their comments scroll TRL-like across the bottom of the screen.
The constant stream of text adds a surreally entertaining twist to the film. Typical messages range from the self-serving (roughly every third message is a myspace link) to the deeply personal ("any hot chicks out ther like arkansas boys?" / "amanda ur hot but i hate ur roomate") to the incomprehensible ("i luv bubles")
My favorites so far have been the ones that actually relate to the film. Shortly after a long, loving shot of Robert Plant's denim jeans, came across the comment "someone has been stuffing his pockets tsk tsk." For a while, too, there was a heated intellectual debate ("zepplin sux hawthorne heights rulez!") over where Zeppelin ranked in the pantheon of rock heroes ("what is this crap?") versus today's ("dude its the 00's not the 50's") more progressive rock bands ("if u like greenday txt tha wrd HOLLA!"). Luckily cooler heads prevailed ("if you listen to green day, slipnot, or hawthorne heights you deserve to DIE!!!!"), and some folks with a better grasp on rock history ("this was the 70s u loser") helped set the masses straight ("this is the HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL ur watching so sit down, shut up, and WATCH ZEPPLIN u dorks").
As far as the film itself, this must be the first time I've watched it in at least 15 years, and probably the first time ever I'm seeing it sober. The video footage has aged terribly, especially the canned dream sequences produced for each band member - hell, I think Robert Plant's cliche-laden medieval quest vignette was dated before the film was even removed from the camera. But the music holds up extremely well, at least to me, an avowed Zeppelin whore who spent most of high school listening to every Zeppelin bootleg I could get my hands on. A few years back I bought the boxed set reissue of Zeppelin's studio catalog, and I still listen to the earlier records on occasion (I'm personally partial to I and III), but I'd somehow forgotten how incredibly dynamic the band was live. So while I know there is a long line of bluesmen armed with pitchforks and shovels, waiting at the crossroads for Plant and Page to come by for their beating, but I still love hearing them rip through 'Dazed and Confused' and 'Since I've Been Loving You'. And as much as I adore the original albums, the live version of 'No Quarter' in the movie is even better than the studio version.
I do think the next time I watch this, though, I'll do it without the peanut gallery.
Edited to add: This morning I went to the FUSE site to aadd the links above, and it turns out they're giving "This is Spinal Tap!" the AOL Chatroom treatment tonight at 10PM. Another film I haven't seen since forever, it should be quite interesting to hear what kids who weren't born when the film was released think of it. ¶ 9:49 PM
The constant stream of text adds a surreally entertaining twist to the film. Typical messages range from the self-serving (roughly every third message is a myspace link) to the deeply personal ("any hot chicks out ther like arkansas boys?" / "amanda ur hot but i hate ur roomate") to the incomprehensible ("i luv bubles")
My favorites so far have been the ones that actually relate to the film. Shortly after a long, loving shot of Robert Plant's denim jeans, came across the comment "someone has been stuffing his pockets tsk tsk." For a while, too, there was a heated intellectual debate ("zepplin sux hawthorne heights rulez!") over where Zeppelin ranked in the pantheon of rock heroes ("what is this crap?") versus today's ("dude its the 00's not the 50's") more progressive rock bands ("if u like greenday txt tha wrd HOLLA!"). Luckily cooler heads prevailed ("if you listen to green day, slipnot, or hawthorne heights you deserve to DIE!!!!"), and some folks with a better grasp on rock history ("this was the 70s u loser") helped set the masses straight ("this is the HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL ur watching so sit down, shut up, and WATCH ZEPPLIN u dorks").
As far as the film itself, this must be the first time I've watched it in at least 15 years, and probably the first time ever I'm seeing it sober. The video footage has aged terribly, especially the canned dream sequences produced for each band member - hell, I think Robert Plant's cliche-laden medieval quest vignette was dated before the film was even removed from the camera. But the music holds up extremely well, at least to me, an avowed Zeppelin whore who spent most of high school listening to every Zeppelin bootleg I could get my hands on. A few years back I bought the boxed set reissue of Zeppelin's studio catalog, and I still listen to the earlier records on occasion (I'm personally partial to I and III), but I'd somehow forgotten how incredibly dynamic the band was live. So while I know there is a long line of bluesmen armed with pitchforks and shovels, waiting at the crossroads for Plant and Page to come by for their beating, but I still love hearing them rip through 'Dazed and Confused' and 'Since I've Been Loving You'. And as much as I adore the original albums, the live version of 'No Quarter' in the movie is even better than the studio version.
I do think the next time I watch this, though, I'll do it without the peanut gallery.
Edited to add: This morning I went to the FUSE site to aadd the links above, and it turns out they're giving "This is Spinal Tap!" the AOL Chatroom treatment tonight at 10PM. Another film I haven't seen since forever, it should be quite interesting to hear what kids who weren't born when the film was released think of it. ¶ 9:49 PM
