Oh the humanity! On this day in 1937 an unimaginable air disaster occurred in Lakehurst, New Jersey. A German passenger-carrying airship, the Hindenburg, burst into flames while attempting to dock. What made the nightmare more real was the fire and the destruction of the Zeppelin was captured on film. A total of 36 people died from the tragedy.
These (highly flammable) hydrogen filled blimps were being built in Germany by the Zeppelin Company, and thus they were referred to as Zeppelins.
Fast forward to 1968 when the English rock band, The Yardbirds, was dissolving and their guitarist, Jimmy Page, tried in vain to save the band. He even went as far as to recruit new players and form ‘The New Yardbirds.’ Keith Moon, the drummer of The Who, was asked to join the group. Keith couldn’t see a future in the band and decided to remain with The Who. His parting remarks were something along the lines, “They’ll go down like a lead zeppelin.”
Well, Jimmy Page was not one to give up. It took awhile but he enlisted John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and John Bonham, and remembering in good humor the words of Keith Moon, he named the band, Led Zeppelin.
Our KAAZ Song of the Day is one of Led Zeppelin’s later tunes. One from their last album, 1979’s ‘In Thru The Out Door.’ This song is not the standard guitar, bass, and drums Zep rocker. The inspiration for it’s up-front drumming comes from when Plant and Jones were watching the 1978 World Cup. The soccer championship was played in Argentina (who won the cup, by the way) where rhumba and samba beats filled the air all during the tournament.
So, a nod to Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham, who dominates this track. Climbing to No.21 on the U.S. charts in early 1980…
Fool In The Rain - Led Zeppelin (click here)