Tried 'n' true

Veteran rockers remain true to selves, music

August 15, 2000
Web posted at: 2:39 p.m. EDT (1839 GMT)

(CNN) -- Rock 'n' roll has had its seen its share of "one-hit-wonders" come and go over the years. Who can forget Paper Lace's "The Night Chicago Died" or "Groove Is in the Heart" by Deee-Lite?

Rock also has its hard-working standard bearers -- Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones and the Who, for example, which recently went back on the road with fellow veteran rocker Jimmy Page.

The song remains the same, as Page's band, Led Zeppelin, once sang. But the notes may not remain so constant, as Who frontman Roger Daltrey recently noted.

"I am trying to do things and sing songs that I used to sing 30 years ago, and my voice has changed," Daltrey told WorldBeat. "I can't hit some of the real high notes I used to hit, but it makes you have to explore different avenues."

For guitarist Page, exploring takes a different form: playing the original songs, but with a different band. For example, Page recently joined the Black Crowes on such classic Led Zep tunes as "Misty Mountain Hop."

Billed as Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes, the band had to scrap its tour Monday after Page hurt his back. Tour organizers say the band was forced to cancel all shows, effective Tuesday and running through August 30.

Page's managers did not disclose the extent of the 56-year-old musician's injuries.

In an interview before his injury, Page recalled his early days, when Led Zeppelin forged new ground nearly every time its members plugged in their amplifiers.

"We were in a constant state of musical growth," Page said. "Each album reflected the general consciousness that we were at in that point in time."

The Who's Pete Townsend agreed. "I don't think that new acts (today) break ground quite the way we broke it in the

old days, because there was no ground (already) broken then," he said. "It was much easier."

Now, bands that have been around for a while, but are still young enough to know the pulse of the current music scene -- think R.E.M., U2, Metallica and Pearl Jam -- wonder about the direction of today's tunes.

"What rock music has over a lot of electronica is what a rock band can do emotionally," said U2's Bono. "(A) guitarist doesn't sound like anyone else. He's an original of the species. That can be more powerful than dialing up a groove or an atmosphere."

Peal Jam's Eddie Vedder concurred. "Records aren't really records," he said. "They've become exercises in marketing."

"We just plow through it all," offered Metallica's James Hetfield, also slowed by a recent back injury. "We put the blinders on and just go. We don't slow down for trends or what's not hip anymore. We just stay true to ourselves."

That philosophy has worked for Metallica, whose record sales have only gotten bigger as the years have added up.

It's worked for others, too.

"If you go back and check all the reviews for all the icons of today -- Elvis, the Beatles and so on -- they were dismissed as flashes in the pans," Gene Simmons of KISS said. Fans, he said, thought otherwise. "The people knew," he said. "They always know. "

"That's why we say 'of the people, by the people, for the people,'" fellow KISS member Paul Stanley added.

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