All The Wrong Topics dot com

How would that sound?

Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)… the Edge (U2)… Jack White (White Stripes)…

Might it really get that loud? If we threw these three into a large room together with their instruments of preference, and would that make a stunning enough movie that people would pay to see it? Is that a question there was actually any need in answering in front of audiences because obviously there was some kind of market going for this “meeting of the minds” televised, and yet I feel essentially at peace in knowing that I caught a glimpse of these three wise men waxing guitar in their variously geeky ways. The special, which was what it really felt like, was consistent in revealing each respective musician in their particular element. Speaking personally on the genuine movement from earlier clunky constructions of sound into what made them great, each was candid with a history of their unique discovery of the instrument. Except for Jack, they all seemed to radiate a “little-boy-in-love-with-their-instrument” aura, and jammed a few of each others songs together. How lovely to see the children playing with their toys.

“to turn to the next, Page…”
Page was interesting for his “dirty old man/wise elder” dichotomy, playing off the legendary status without a hint of irony as he let the film makers into his home, but it is no wonder with Page as one of the primary people responsible for bringing the whole project together. Honestly, I never discovered Led Zeppelin until much later, and still don’t have the individual respect for the band that it would seem every other idiot and his son could idolize as holy towards them all. I have been introduced through my culture to their “high” art of music, and have so far only found snippets that weigh anything in-between my ears. As a bass fanatic, my respect is held for the more enigmatic John Paul Jones, and the wish and a hope that he and two other bass players could talk shop televised.

“it cuts to The Edge…”
To say that I do not like much U2 is an understatement, but to say that I absolutely disregard their skills as musicians would be a bold-faced lie at the very least. The Edge is not the least appreciable persona in this band, Bono strives to make the effort in that department with a genuine ease, and the other members seem to make the reluctant faces of musicians who have hit their stride no matter how professional their “chops” may be. However, when I hear ‘New Years’ Day’ or ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, I get a certain feeling I can’t readily describe. Like many of the songs that we all truly love listening to. These musicians, whoever they are, are the conduits to a destiny that defies logical description. The average person does not necessarily have the bravado to impose their way into situations which tap into the grand inspiration, but those who seek will find a version that conforms to the truth of the experience envisioned. He gets to play his guitar in the Highlands, out by a loch somewhere there, and the echoes drive stars mad. I am so envious of that, he has gotten past the reigns of obscurity, and become able to be anyone’s friend.

“White, out…”
The final person to seem worth their salt in the struggle was Jack White, who really didn’t seem to consider himself a musician at all, but took on the stance of the scientific bluesman whose experiments into sound have yielded star results. His “sister” and he made that first great leap back into the “stone age” to come up with a guitar and drum duo that took some boundaries to a new level altogether, what they respectfully chose to enlist into their repertoire from the immediate past of struggle and tribulation, has helped to push music forward while hailing to the past. I remember going through his “guitar” line once I figured it out, over and over again, and still play the same song that Jack taught the other two on that fateful day. ‘Seven Nation Army’. I’m still getting the hang of playing it as a bass line, singing along with it when I can, but many things flit through and about the brain stem all at once. Sometimes it is easy to lose concentration when all things go haywire without attention. Sorry. I really liked the model of guitar that Jack plays that he had built custom, and this sweet beast has a Green Hornet microphone built into it. There is nothing finite quite like the pristine glimpse of this artist’s work at large.