I Shit Music

If you’ve seen links to this Zeppelin cover and have been afraid to check it out, I’m here to tell you it’s worth the 2 minutes and 53 seconds of your day. Ok, so “Immigrant Song” – essentially one of the most well-know bad-ass tunes in the pantheon of rock and roll. Now despite the black magic that lives in the hands of Jimmy Page, there’s 2 main reasons Led Zep covers usually, epically blow. One is that Robert Plant had a voice like none other – a quasi-feminine and eerie howl, that nobody has ever been able to live up to. Two is that without John Bonham, shit just never lives up to the original. Guy was the greatest drummer in rock history, hands-down, and nobody will ever be able to so gracefully assault their kit like that man did. But I’ll tell you what, in this cover – both of those issues have been resolved.

First off, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is in all likelihood, the most eerie and bad-ass chick rocker on the modern bill. She’s vicious and sensitive, and turns Plant’s turns-of-phrase into something that she could have actually written. The second issue gets resolved by Mr. Reznor, and his trademark industrial drum-looping. Essentially inventing that groove, he layers it in perfectly here in a much needed bout of repetition. If you can’t get John-Bon, then the next best thing is to have a killer metal-dance groove. I don’t know anything about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, (which this is the soundtrack to,) other than that the book is supposed to be really easy reading that makes people feel smart – much akin to The Davinci Code. Anyway, take a minute – shit’s hot.