Keith Pille's Weekly Shuffle

Every week, I will fire up the Shuffle Songs option on my iPod; the first song to come up, no matter what it is, will get an instant, unvarnished review. We're at the mercy of random chance and the limits of my digital music collection. Let's see where this takes us.

Dazed and Confused
Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin Boxed Set, Disc 1

This past weekend, my wife and I were standing in line at a record store in Uptown Minneapolis. The wall behind the checkout counter was full of racks holding boxed sets; we passed the time talking about which ones would be cool to have and which ones would suck. After a few minutes of this, she pointed at a gigantic orange one with a crop circle and the shadow of a dirigible on the front and said "Led Zeppelin? That would suck. I'd hate to have to listen to that one."

I was grinning pretty fiercely when I told her that she'd listened to it many, many times over the years when we'd been in my car.

I've said this before, but there are a few cultural institutions which, no matter how good or bad they really are, managed to get into my head at such a young age that they're just part of my DNA these days and I can't possible be objective about them. The first three Star Wars movies are the prime example, but Led Zeppelin's up there, too. They're cheesy and don't have much to say other than that they like women and Tolkien. But there was I time when I was pretty into (imaginary) women and Tolkien, and the Zeppelin really spoke to me.

Or, to greatly paraphrase Peter Buck: if you grew up in rural Nebraska, you liked Led Zeppelin.

So, with all that in mind, let's talk about "Dazed and Confused." There are some Zep songs which I'm pretty sure I'd like even if they weren't grandfathered in—"When the Levee Breaks," for instance, is tough to beat on the all-kinds-of-sonic-hell-breaking-loose front. And if you don't like "Custard Pie," you don't like fun.

I don't think "Dazed and Confused" is one of those objectively good Zeppelin songs. To be honest, I didn't like it a whole lot even in 1988.

I mean, yeah, it always gets trotted out as a major song in the development of the Zeppelin sound, and yeah, Page bows his guitar in the middle, blah blah blah. But honestly? "Dazed" pretty much lives up to the common complaint that Zeppelin's songs are bloated. There's some cool English-guys-playing-electirc-blues stuff going on here and there (Page's harmonic guitar parts when he's trying to sound evil are pretty rad, and it's always fun hearing John Bonham switch from timekeeping to ass-kicking mode), but not six minutes' worth. Three, maybe. If they'd cut the song in half, left out all of the pointless call-and-response noise sections (note that I really like noise in music, but it has to have some energy or direction; this has a guy with a bow smirking at himself because he can make his guitar sound like the devil), "Dazed" could be really cool. But it's like they fell so in love with the ideas that work the song that they just kept them going on and on. And, well, less is more, guys.

"Dazed" did lend its name to what might be the greatest film of the Twentieth Century,* though, and that fact forgives a lot.

*Well, probably not the greatest. But top ten for sure.

Weekly Shuffle Scoreboard (Best to Worst):
1. "Rock N Roll Radio V2," Derailleur
2. "Back from Somewhere (live)," Husker Du
3. "The Ride of the Valkyries," Richard Wagner
4. "Powderfinger," Neil Young
5. "Sliver (live)," Nirvana
6. "Whiskey Bottle," Uncle Tupelo
7. "Don't Be Afraid of the Robot," Electric Six
8. "Gassed & Stoked," Lou Reed
9. "Shooting Star," Golden Smog
10. "You Are the Everything," R.E.M.
11. "Nicotine & Gravy," Beck
12. "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (live)," Wilco
13. "The Calming Sea," Beachwood Sparks
14. "John, I'm Only Dancing," David Bowie
15. "Take It or Leave it," The Strokes
16. "Is It Too Late?", World Party
17. "P'twgs," The Honeydogs
18. "Monkey Dot," Money Mark
19. "I Wanted to Tell You," Matthew Sweet
20. "Dazed and Confused," Led Zeppelin
21. "Soldier's Joy," Mark O'Connor
22. "Masoko Tanga," The Police
23. "Scenery," Neil Young and Pearl Jam
24. "We Got The," The Beastie Boys
25. "The Big Foist," The Minutemen
26. "Climbing up the Walls," Radiohead
27. "That's When I Reach for My Revolver," Mission of Burma