Tuesday Tune Two-Fer: F-f-f-Foolin’ the Rain

At first I might seem to be just a mild-mannered computer programmer, but I’m writing on my internet weblog where I write voluntary book reports and talk about my favorite Star Wars and comic book TV shows to assure you that I am extremely hard core.

If you’re not convinced, just get a load of the music I used to listen to when I was in middle and high school.

“Foolin’ by Def Leppard” yeah, that’s right, did I just blow your mind? It starts out sounding like it’s going to be a ballad but then I hope you’re holding onto something because this shit gets rockin’. I was one of the rare 12 year olds at the time to get in on the ground floor with Def Leppard from the start.

(I’m realizing that most of the people reading this are probably too young to know/remember that in the early 1980s, every adolescent suburban boy in the United States was required by law to have a copy of Pyromania).

That was my gateway to the even harder stuff, like Led Zeppelin, who destroyed hotel rooms and wrote songs about sex, drugs, and hobbits. I bought every LP because Zeppelin had and still has the all-time best album design. I didn’t even own a turntable, so I had to go to my friend’s house and record them to tape.

Oh and you know my punk-rock ass spent hours drawing detailed cassette labels for the tapes that mimicked the LP design! That meant a two-layered one for Physical Graffiti that showed the letters of the title inside the windows. I’m pretty sure I drew the label for In Through The Out Door on a paper bag, because the record was shipped inside a brown paper bag wrapper.

At least back then, In Through The Out Door already had a bad reputation with Zeppelin fans for being more pop-oriented, but I secretly loved it. At the time I thought the instrumental break in “All My Love” was transcendent, and I’m still a fan.

“Fool in the Rain” might be their most pop-accessible song, and it does sound like they were trying to appeal to the Jimmy Buffet crowd. It says a lot that even while they were struggling with addiction problems, John Bonham and Jimmy Page were bringing exceptional talent to one of the least Led Zeppelin-ish songs on one of the least Led Zeppelin-ish records.