YouDecide2007 - The Led Zeppelin Election?

Home

The Led Zeppelin Election?

By Terry Flew,

One strange feature of the 2007 Federal Election has been the eerie influence of 70s rockers Led Zeppelin on the campaign.

The latest contribution on this has been a video posted on YouTube supporting the Greens candidate for Bennelong, Lindsay Peters. Titled 'Bennelong time since I rock and rolled', it makes a number of comments about John Howard based on the Led Zepplein classic 'Rock 'n' Roll'.

Of course the Chaser team contibuted their bit of Led Zep rewriting with 'Stairway to Kevin '. Where Led Zeppelin fans, many with dusty vinyl offerings in a crate in the garage, are going to put their votes is an interesting question. No-one is writing off the 39-55 male vote this election, that is for sure.

The Zepsters themselves provide conflicting clues on this. On the one hand, tracks like 'Going to California', and the hippy/trippy material found on 'The Song Remains the Same' concert documentary would put them firmly in the Greens camp (Note to first timers: if you get this film on DVD, be sure to skip the chapters where this appears - truly scary stuff).

On the other hand, Led Zep have been famous for being tight with the rights of other artists to use their work. The 1995 Richard Linklater film 'Dazed and Confused' could not put Zep's 'Dazed and Confused' song in the film or on the sountrack, because their representatives demanded too much money.

Linklater and Jack Black faced a similar struggle to get 'The Immigrant Song' onto the 2003 film 'School of Rock'. So maybe Led Zeppelin points to green politics, and maybe to economic rationalism. It remains an intriguing question as to whether 2007 may be the 'Led Zeppelin' election, as Mark Latham had hoped (wrongly) that 2004 would be the 'Meat Loaf' election.

Terry Flew is the Head of Postgraduate Studies in the Creative Industries Faculty at the Queensland university of Technology, and a member of the youdecide2007 project team. His comments here should be seen as being in an entirely personal capacity.

Coda (A Led Zeppelin term, by the way): If you want to see entertaining use of Led Zeppelin songs in ways that have nothing to do with the 2007 Federal Election, go to:http://users.wolfcrews.com/toys/vikings/

Users' Comments

Display 5 of 5 comments

Generational change

By: jasonw (Registered ) on 14-10-2007 02:03

Maybe we need some generational change in the selection of music for politics and parody.

I think Joy Division could have been useful this election with "Rudd will tear us apart again."

Any other suggestions?

» Report this comment to administrator

Generational Change

By: juliank (Registered ) on 14-10-2007 06:56

Fantastic video Terry! Actually we should bear in mind that Led Zep have been thoroughly re-discovered and championed by Gen Y, who have been mining their parents' vinyl collections. Led Zep sound-alike bands are thick on the ground (cf Wolfmother etc..) and Led Zep are now frequently cited as a favourite band by 16-25 year olds. That being the case, I wonder how strategic this use of Led Zep is... ? Hmm... am i reading too much into it?

Joy Division - Ha! That one would appeal to Gen X, but you'd need Interpol to cover it for Gen Y (or else use one of the more recent cover versions like Squarepusher, Calexico et al. !

» Report this comment to administrator

Generational change

By: juliank (Registered ) on 14-10-2007 07:01

Neil Young has achieved cross-generational status.
"Rudd Never Sleeps"?

» Report this comment to administrator

re: generational change

By: barry saunders (Registered ) on 14-10-2007 23:19

Won't get fooled again?

» Report this comment to administrator

I love my Rudd buddies...

By: wil (Registered ) on 16-10-2007 05:03

The Liberal Party seems, as Evan Dando once lamented "like a ship without a Rudd-er". No direction, sinking fast.