Led Zeppelin is back at card #22 in the 1991 Pro Set MusiCards set. Looks like this copy here has a less-than-perfect top corner. Might have to poke around for an upgrade. I think I've got 2-4 copies of each Series 1 card at this point, so I've likely got a better one around somewhere. Sorting all of them is an ongoing process. If anyone is working on this set (or just looking for a favorite band's card), let me know and I should be able to help out with my dupes.
Oh, and along these lines, congrats are in order for Night Owl recently completing his 1991 MusiCards set! I appreciate the plug in that post, too!
That reminds me of another quick thing I wanted to mention. In my efforts to get more eyes on this blog, I've been trying to get it included in the Sports Card Blogroll run by James B. Anama. If you're not familiar, it's a handy list of pretty much every active blog in the cardsphere. A lot of folks browse that to find blog posts to read, so if you're a blogger, you want to be sure your blog is included there. James is usually very nice and quick to add new blogs. But the fact this is a non-sports blog throws a wrinkle and he's been reluctant to accept my add request. I feel this blog would fit right in under the "SET SPECIFIC BLOGROLL" section. Hey, the Gint-A-Cuffs blog is in there, and that's not strictly a sports card blog either. But I'd also be fine with a new little "NON-SPORT BLOGROLL" section added with this blog among the inaugural class. James might be wary of a flood of Pokemon/Magic The Gathering/Star Wars/etc blogs, but honestly I think that stuff is a whole different "cardsphere" altogether.. one that I'm not even sure exists, or if it does, I haven't stumbled upon it yet. I don't think I've gotten any commenters on this blog other than usernames I'm already familiar with from sports card blogs. I think most of us are familiar with MusiCards being everywhere in the early 90s right there with all the other "junkwax" we ripped at the local card shops back then. So I consider MusiCards closer to sports cards than other stuff that would fall under the "non-sports" umbrella. It's my belief that most card collectors are familiar with MusiCards and would appreciate the variety in blog reading with the occasional music post. And backing me up on that is a Twitter poll James did where the vast majority of respondents voted in favor of him adding the blog.
Last I heard from James, he was still considering adding the blog, though that poll was about a month ago now, so probably not at the forefront of his mind. If you think you can articulate reasoning for adding this blog to his blogroll beyond my pleas, please consider leaving James a friendly email or Twitter comment encouraging him to add the blog. Today is the 8-month anniversary of the 1991 MusiCards Blog, but still feels like we're having trouble getting out of the gate, and extending reach in blogrolls such as the one James maintains would be great. I'm not just looking for more page views, but more voices in the comments are very appreciated and make each post much more interesting for everyone. I'm always intrigued to hear other thoughts on the bands/songs/etc being covered.. feelings and memories readers have.. sometimes alined with my experience, other times a much different perspective. I'm not trying to boost my ego with lots of views and comments, rather I'd love to build a little online community for-- as the sidebar intro states-- "taking a trip back in time to the awesome 80s & gnarly 90s [...] talking about the music and more from the era (and beyond)."I received a request to add a ProSet SuperStars MusiCards set blog to the Sports Card Blogroll. Beyond the fact that it's not a Sports Card focused blog, should I add it to the Blogroll? Getting opinions. Please vote and leave comments if I should consider adding it to the site.— James B. Anama (@bdj610) May 6, 2020
Gah, I'm sorry for spending so much of the post on this!
But as for the card, looks like the fellas are in the middle of a seated, acoustic performance. I've watched The Song Remains The Same-- the concert film type thing recorded in '73 and released in '76-- a while back, but otherwise I haven't checked out much live Zeppelin, so I'm not sure if this was a common occurrence at their shows.
The back features a live photo-- electric, this time-- and a blurb focusing on Led Zeppelin IV.
"Stairway to Heaven" is an undeniably great song, right?! Maybe if you listened to a lot of 70s and 80s rock radio, you might be sick of it at this point. But for somebody like me who was only discovering this stuff around the time these MusiCards were first on shelves, it's still exciting when you hear the song quietly starting up. You know you're in for a ride. Even though I don't really have any idea what Robert Plant is singing about, it makes for an epic narrative song that feels like a short story or film.
With a duration of 8 minutes, it's very long as far as popular songs go. That and "Hey Jude" (7 minutes) were what radio DJs would play when they needed a bathroom break. Listeners couldn't get enough. "Stairway to Heaven" was the most requested song on FM radio stations in the United States in the 1970s.
CUSTOM CORNER
Going with the first thing that pops into my head here, I figured I'd go with the Butthole Surfers for today's accompanying Custom Corner. They've got an album titled Hairway to Steven (1988), hence the connection.
Butthole Surfers are a weird rock band that formed in San Antonio back in 1981. Their albums in the 80s weren't commercial hits but were big in the underground rock scene. Kurt Cobain was a fan and met his future wife, Courtney Love of Hole, at a Butthole Surfers/L7 concert.
The band eventually signed with Capitol Records in 1992, a surprising move that some fans felt was selling out their indie roots. Capitol hooked them up with a big-time producer to helm their major label debut.. (and hey, coincidentally fits well with this post). John Paul Jones, best known as the bassist for Led Zeppelin, produced Independent Worm Saloon (1993), with the single "Who Was in My Room Last Night?" garnering decent alternative radio play, plus got the band on MTV when the video was featured in an episode Beavis & Butt-head during the show's prime.
The follow-up album Electriclarryland (1996) saw the band reach the height of their mainstream success, with the single "Pepper" topping the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and its video getting solid rotation on MTV. Record label squabbles took some wind out of their sails and they seemed to settle back into "underground" status after that record.
They haven't been very active in recent years (latest album was released way back in 2001), though they play live once in a blue moon and may finally come out of hibernation for a new album one of these years.. who knows?
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| "I'm a surfer!" |
DESERT ISLAND DISC
- Who Was In My Room Last Night?
- The Wooden Song
- You Don't Know Me
- Human Cannonball
- Revolution, Pt. 2
- Lonesome Bulldog II
- Golden Showers
- P.S.Y.
- Lonesome Bulldog IV
- Concubine
- Eye of the Chicken
- Dum Dum
- Cough Syrup
- Pepper
- Thermador
- Jingle Of A Dog's Collar
- TV Star
- I Saw an X-Ray of a Girl Passing Gas
- Night of the Day
- One Hundred Million People Dead
There's my personal "best of" playlist for them. Frontman Gibby Haynes has also guested on a couple other songs I like, singing lead vocals on "Jesus Built My Hotrod" by Ministry and "Fire In The Hole" by Deconstruction. The early 90s side project P (with Johnny Depp and Flea) also had a couple tunes I like ("Michael Stipe" and "The Deal").
Ha, turns out Gibby was a star on the court back in high school.
Good enough excuse to whip him up a basketball card custom. Who says this blog isn't a sports card blog?! lol
That'll do it for this post. More Led Zeppelin on deck.
Any thoughts to share on "Stairway to Heaven" or the Butthole Surfers, please feel free to sound off in the comments.
I don't understand what's so hard about including this blog in the Sports Card blog roll, just add a nonsports category, you don't have to be so committed to the blog title. It would open it up to a blog about Star Wars or whatever, but how many of those are going to happen.
ReplyDelete"Stairway To Heaven" was THE song of songs when I was listening to the radio in the '70s and early '80s. And, yes, I got sick of it.
Ha, I figured you'd feel that way!
DeleteAnd yeah, hopefully James relents and lets me get in on the fun, but I probably shouldn't fret over it too much and just keep doing my thing.
Have you heard the "Stairways to Heaven" compilation? There are 10 or so covers of Stairway on the album in eclectic styles, including a pretty amazing cover in the style of the Doors by "The Australian Doors Show." Track it down if you have a chance. I think it came out in the 90s.
ReplyDeleteJT, The Writer's Journey
Interesting! Hadn't heard of that.
Delete-Butthole Surfers in blog form....awesome....they were a weird band though...
ReplyDeleteYeah, I try to mix in some less talked-about notable bands here sometimes.
DeleteThis may be funny only to me, but a few years back my family and I were driving and listening to the 90's Alternative station on Sirius. "Pepper" played, and the DJ mentioned afterwards the band's name. My 5 year old daughter then asked "Why are they called the Butter Surfers? Do they like butter?" This cracked my wife and I up, and since it's a much better alternative than correcting her, that band is henceforth now known to me as the Butter Surfers.
ReplyDeleteHaha, that's great!
DeleteAlso, I suggest adding your blog to "The Blogroll To End All Blogrolls": https://jd-blogroll.blogspot.com/. Even if you get your blog on Anama's site, eventually this particular series of cards will end, and he'll remove you after 6 months of inactivity.
ReplyDeleteCool, thanks for the tip! Hadn't heard about that blogroll yet. Requested add and bookmarked it for myself.
DeleteAnd as for the end of this blog, lol.. at my current rate of only one or two posts a month.. coupled by the fact that I'm planning to do Series 1, Series 2, the UK Edition, AND probably then the Yo MTV Raps companion set (Series 1 and 2).. well, chances are this blog will take many years to come to an end!
I worked in classic rock radio in the '90s, and "Stairway" was still the most requested song!
ReplyDeleteGood to get the info from the source! I wonder how its popularity has help up in the digital era.
DeleteFor years The Sports Card Blogroll and Night Owl's blogroll were responsible for the majority of my blog views. They're still in the top 4... but Google and another site I'm not familiar with are in the top spots now. I just visited his blogroll for the first time in awhile and ironically... my current post features a Pro Set MTV Raps! card and it's front and center on his blogroll.
ReplyDeleteAs for the music... I listened to Led Zeppelin here and there in the 80's. I have a few albums passed down to me from my bro, but I haven't played them yet. And I know of the Butthole Surfers. I had a buddy who liked them in the early 90's (same guy who got me into the Beastie Boys), but I never really got into them myself.
Ha, cool to see you infiltrating with non-sport content!
DeleteYou should definitely give those Zeppelin albums a spin one of these days. Some good stuff in there! And yeah, the Butthole Surfers ain't for everybody, lol.
Not all that familiar with the Butthole Surfers but have heard plenty of Zeppelin. You probably have already heard of them but if you haven't check out Dread Zeppelin who among other things does Zeppelin tunes reggae style with an Elvis impersonator.
ReplyDeleteDread Zeppelin are actually included in the MusiCards set, funny enough! I'm looking forward to digging into them more once their turn on the blog comes up.
Delete