Led Zeppelin - "The Crunge": C/D?

Yeah loads if you wanna hear it but that needless FUN FUN FUN jab aside CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC!

They might not've been so silly before, of course

Well, Plant's rendition of "The Hunter" in the middle of "How Many More Years" always makes me giggle (at least).

HOTH is my favorite Zep album, in part because of the lightness of stuff like "The Crunge."

To the extent that I disliked any prime-era Zeppelin (i.e. I still knew it by heart), I think it was easily one of my least favourite Zep tracks as a kid, mostly for the vocal (and I normally like shrill dudes). Thinking back, maybe I just didn't get funk. I like it for the rhythm/groove now (great bass) but I still wouldn't rank it as a peak. Without putting on the record, I think I might still say it's a point where Plant pushes it a bit.

not saying that Zep isn't fun...I guess "funny" would have been a better word. There's a real self-mocking vibe throughout the whole thing, and obviously the whole "have you seen the bridge" part.

also great / unfairly maligned: "D'yer Maker"

I like it fine, but they had way funkier tracks when they weren't making such a point of signifying "funk." So I guess that makes me like it a little less.

pre-Houses? The closest I can think of is "Misty Mountain Hop," which is obviously great but hardly the same thing.

Of course, "The Wanton Song" puts "The Crunge" to shame, but that's more a virute of the strength of the former than the weakness of the latter. "Trampled Under Foot" is great too though it's not too much more than "Long Train Running" redux.

Oh yeah, hat's a good soong.

Yeah, "Trampled Under Foot" is the obvious one. Maybe the salsa parts of "Fool in the Rain," too - those are so funky they're almost disco! But I was thinking "Good Times Bad Times," "Whole Lotta Love," "Heartbreaker," "Immigrant Song," "Out on the Tiles." Compared to how hard those swing, "The Crunge" almost has a stick up its butt, y'know?

(And hell, "Long Train Running" redux is a GOOD thing! Hell, I even like when Bananarama covered that song!) (Don't know what I mean by "even", though. Bananarama were great.)

Supposedly John Paul Jones was the real funk fan in the band. (That's what he told me when I interviewed him once, anyway.)

"Out on the Tiles" is a good one, I never remember that for some reason. Those other songs I don't really see the funk (unless you're using "Funk #49" as the definition of funk) except for maybe the bridges in WLL and "Heartbreaker".

The semi-awkward self-consciousness is the best thing about "The Crunge," I think. It'd come off as patronizing for most bands, except they do it so fucking well.

And yeah, I love "Long Train Running" (and "Trampled Under Foot"--just can't give Zep too many points for ingenuity on that one, whereas this they really take the sound and make it their own). Which did Bananarama cover, "Long Train Running" or "Trampled Under Foot"? Either way, I gotta hear that shit.

also, the whistle mid-way through "Fool in the Rain" has gotta be one of the most thrilling sounds in classic rock.

>unless you're using "Funk #49" as the definition of funk<

Why not? I play it in between Humble Pie and the Isleys in my DJ sets, and people dance!

And Bananarama covered "Long Train Running" (with flamenco guitar parts, no less).

>the whistle mid-way through "Fool in the Rain"<

I have to believe they were listening to Donna Summer, but maybe not. (Did *In Through the Out Door* come out before or after *Bad Girls*? Both were 1979, obviously.)

Anyway, don't get me wrong. I do like "The Crunge" a lot. But Zep were *always* funny (and like I said, funky); they really didn't need to put neon signs around it to convince us!

neon signs are underrated.

xhuxk otm re oversignifying funky. Through rose-color glasses of 20-20 hindsight seems like they were plenty funky on those two Beastie-sampled tracks, "The Ocean" and "When The Levee Breaks."

The funk is more or less all over HOTH--just listening to "The Song Remains The Same" and even that has way more of a funk influence (especially the bass) than I ever realized. Only totally funk-less songs on that album are "The Rain Song" and "No Quarter".

Chuck, "Bad Girls" came out in the spring, the Zep record in August.

I love that moment on "How the West Was Won" where they play the intro of "Out on the Tiles" then slam straight into "Black Dog."

I appreciate Chuck/Ken's acknowledgement of the dichotomy between funk and "funk". Presence was overflowing with the latter, which I guess explains why Chuck doesn't rate that LP higher - even tho it's arguably their most rhythmically adventurous, with Bonzo at his absolute zenith throughout. (And then there's "Royal Orleans" - no way a song set in NOLA that namechecks Barry White CAN'T be funky/funny!)

"Trampled Under Foot" = "Long Train Runnin'"? Hmmm...I always thought it was more like "Superstition" (ah, that clavinet) with a Steve Cropper/"Soul Man" guitar lick after each chorus.

As for "The Crunge", I absolutely love it, and have done so ever since the first listening made me laugh out loud. Plant was just so funny, tossing out Otis Redding song titles, ranting about seeing his girl in the newspaper (Page 3 of the Sun, presumably), using the phrase "tell you" 139 times or so. I doubt that it was entirely made up on the spot, but it sure sounds like it. And that elusive bridge at song's end was the cherry on top. That's what made me laugh, even tho it was a few years before I became a James Brown fan!
Classic all the way.

Classic--if only because it was the name of my band when I was a 15-year-old kid goofing around with my friends.

Presence, it seems to me, is where Zep shows much they dig the Meters, via "Hots on for Nowhere," "For Yr Life" and "Royal Orleans." in fact, these three tunes invented the Red Hot Chili Peppers, gawdhelpus.

It's PROG with funk signifiers. Which is why I liked it so much in high school.