ARTICLE III
WHO WAS JJ JACKSON?
The DJ who helped Led Zeppelin sell out The Tea Party and take Boston by storm!
DID YOU KNOW?
The official title of Led Zeppelin's first album was, simply, Led Zeppelin. It's only in retrospect, after having had so many releases, that the convention of calling it "Led Zeppelin I" has come about. The latter has become so commonplace, many think it is the official title. In fact, even the band's own label, Atlantic Records, sometimes refers to this official first release as "Led Zeppelin I"!
The purists out there have been keeping me honest (you know who you are!). In Volume 1 - Break & Enter, I always refer to the first official release as Led Zeppelin in order to be historically accurate. For practical reasons that will become apparent, I have chosen to refer to it as Led Zeppelin I in Volume 2 - You Shook U.S.
FR
I didn't know how important JJ Jackson was to the members of Led Zeppelin or to the band's success until I was well into my research for the books. I was aware of Jackson's career on MTV, but didn't know of his close connections with Led Zeppelin from the band's beginnings. Maybe it's the same for you, too.
If you collect live concert recordings, you'll have heard him introduce some of Led Zeppelin's early concerts. JJ introduced Led Zeppelin at the Inglewood Forum on September 4, 1970. He was a deejay at WBCN – the coolest, hippest radio station in Boston at the time. He later became one of the first veejays and he had a syndicated radio program devoted to The Beatles. He hung out with Robert, Jimmy, JP and Bonzo who considered him a dear friend.
I had the pleasure of interviewing JJ on several occasions. He was very excited and enthusiastic about my early Led Zeppelin research. He was also one of the warmest, most genuine people I've ever met. His understanding and knowledge of music was unbelievable. My conversations with JJ appear in all three volumes of Sonic Boom: The Impact of Led Zeppelin because of his tremendous influence. I only wish he were still among us to see the results in print.
Here, I'm going to share with you an excerpt from Volume 2: You Shook U.S. The book is an interactive listening guide to the music of Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut album: Led Zeppelin. It's too early for me to reveal what makes this particular book so revolutionary. That has to do with my own analysis of the music. But I would like you to read JJ's take on three songs from that album. Then listen to those tracks again on Led Zeppelin, for a whole new appreciation of how great Led Zeppelin's music truly was. Then you'll know WHY it sounds as fresh and exciting now as it did almost forty years ago!
Musically yours,
Frank Reddon
Click on any of the photos below to enlarge!
This building at 53 Berkeley Street, corner of Appleton Street, was the site of the original Boston Tea Party. The city's hippest, coolest music club relocated to Lansdowne Street near Fenway Park, after a fire.
Notice the rose-window-style Star of David on the upper storey. This has led many to believe this venue was once a Jewish synagogue. Not true, according to exhaustive research conducted by ethnomusicologist, Donna Halper (who, by the way, discovered the rock group "Rush" and is interviewed in Volume 1 - Break & Enter).
Ms. Halper's research tells us that a renowned Boston architect, William G. Preston, designed the building in 1872 as a memorial to Reverend Theodore Parker. The good reverend was a Unitarian minister who was popular but controversial. The beautiful brick structure was completed in 1873 and dedicated in September of that year. It became home to the "Twenty-eighth Congregational Society and Parker Fraternity". Its various meeting rooms, chapel, etc. were rented to local civic and religious groups, including the religious school of a neighbouring Reform synagogue. For a time, the building was used as a Jewish community centre but there is no evidence that it ever served as a Jewish synagogue.
Photo courtesy of L. A. Reddon, Enzepplopedia Archives.
Boston Tea Party Grand Opening Handbill, January 20, 1967
Courtesy of Donna Halper and Jon Jacobik, used with permission.
The late JJ Jackson was there in a big way when Led Zeppelin stopped at Boston on its first U.S. and Canadian tour of 1968-69. As a DJ for Boston's coolest radio station, WBCN, JJ Jackson was instrumental in promoting Led Zeppelin's first appearance and album at the Boston Tea Party. He became great friends with Led Zeppelin from that point onward, and also counted among his good friends, Rod Stewart and Roger Daltrey. In June 1977, Robert Plant dedicated Since I've Been Loving You to JJ at one of Led Zeppelin's legendary concerts, at the Inglewood Forum, in Los Angeles, California.
JJ Jackson was one of MTV's five original veejays (Video Jocks). He helped pioneer the format that drove the video revolution of the 1980s and early 1990s. JJ began his radio career in Boston. Peter Wolf spotted him in the audience at The Boston Tea Party and asked him if he'd like to work part-time at WBCN. At the time, Peter Wolf (who went on to join The J. Geils Band as lead vocalist), was in the Boston Tea Party's house band, called The Hallucinations. He was impressed with JJ's enthusiasm and knowledge of music. JJ enjoyed a long and illustrious career at Westwood One Radio, in California.
JJ Jackson passed away on March 17, 2004. The music world continues to feel the loss.
Promo shot that JJ Jackson autographed and sent to Frank.
Photo courtesy of
Enzepplopedia Archives
The following piece is excerpted from the full version of
Frank Reddon's interview with JJ Jackson.
This interview appears in its entirety in
SONIC BOOM:
The Impact of Led Zeppelin.
Volume 2 - You Shook U.S.
scheduled for official release
SPRING/SUMMER 2009.
Led Zeppelin has often been criticized for being what some refer to as "the best cover band ever"! Here JJ Jackson discusses the importance of cover songs to musical evolution. He also provides some interesting insights into how the physical production of Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut album helped capture the raw energy of the group's live performance.
In Sonic Boom: The Impact of Led Zeppelin. Volume 2 - You Shook U.S., JJ Jackson talks to Frank and offers up his detailed analysis of every track on the album. Remember that JJ was there at The Boston Tea Party for four live performances immediately after the January 1969 release of Led Zeppelin's first-ever album.
Reddon: How about the next song on Side One of Led Zeppelin: Babe I'm Gonna Leave You?
Jackson: Whew, man...here come the goose-bumps, just hearing the title of this one! Here, we get to hear what a great acoustic guitar player Jimmy is. Most artists are fortunate to be either a fine electric player or a fine acoustic player. Some are able to do a bit of both proficiently. Page can do it all.
Since this is basically a "cover song", we're also afforded a fine opportunity to see how the very early Led Zeppelin interprets and performs the work of other artists. I've always been infatuated when artists do "cover songs". It's a good, quick lesson on where the artists have been and where they're going musically, because you have another version from a different artist to compare it to.
To me, cover songs speak volumes about the talents an artist has and what's important to them musically. The version of Babe I'm Gonna Leave You on Led Zeppelin, provides a clear example that whatever Zeppelin becomes involved with, the song will turn out nothing like the original.
That's one good lesson I gained early from this song [Babe I'm Gonna Leave You]. When I first heard it back in 1969, off the debut Led Zeppelin LP at WBCN, I couldn't believe it. It's so emotional, right from the very first notes of Page's acoustic guitar work. It has such an intimate feel when Robert begins his vocals. There are also "ghosting" vocals; where you can hear Plant sing lyrics that seem buried, 'way off in the distance of the musical mix. That's very effective and gives an added dimension of the haunting nature of this piece that's apparent in the first place.
All the different emotional peaks and valleys throughout Babe I'm Gonna Leave You are truly stunning. This song shows how Zeppelin understood the value of softer and louder sensibilities and how they're put into composing and playing music. Jimmy's added flamenco bits provide a real sense of romanticism; fused into "call and response" efforts with Robert's vocals, bringing up musical elements of the blues. Frank, when Jimmy puts in those chunks of flamenco guitar, can't you just see the matador and the bull? And that's no bull! [hearty laughter from Jackson and Reddon].
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You has it all...including Jones and Bonzo anchoring everything with very solid bass guitar and percussion. Bonzo's drumming frequently explodes throughout this piece, when the group gets into the refrains. Even after all these years, I still get a chill running down my spine wherever and whenever I hear it. Incredibly, Zeppelin also played it "live" as an electric version.
I think Babe I'm Gonna Leave You is a great vehicle to improvise and transform this folk song into a completely new creation. I discovered this the first time I heard them do Babe I'm Gonna Leave You live on that first tour. If you've ever heard the Joan Baez version of this song, Zeppelin's is nothing like it. This is one of the finest Zeppelin adaptations the group has in its catalogue to this day.
Reddon: Okay then, the next track on Led Zeppelin, Side One, Track 3, is You Shook Me. What are your thoughts on this one?
Jackson: This is one of several tracks on this album that instantly earned Led Zeppelin the reputation of a rock-solid "blues band". There have been so many great British bands playing the blues over the years: The Stones, The Who, Fleetwood Mac. On the Led Zeppelin album, You Shook Me shows how Zeppelin is able to push, pull, rework, reshape and redirect the blues into new areas of musical development.
JJ Jackson on concert stage with Led Zeppelin
The Carousel Theatre. Thursday, August 21, 1969. Framingham, Massachusetts, USA.
Photo courtesy of JJ Jackson's personal collection donated to Enzepplopedia Archives.
Like I mentioned to you earlier about the way Zeppelin transforms Babe I'm Gonna Leave You into its own thing. You Shook Me gets the same innovative treatment here. The performance and arrangement of this song are so, so tight, and ahead of its time in 1968. In this piece, I find Robert's voice steals the show. The way he matches Jimmy's guitar, up and down the register, is beyond words and is a highlight.
There's also the most spaced-out atmosphere on this track. It's completely unique to any other recording, by any artist. It's frustrating. I can feel it but can't describe it to you appropriately. You know what I'm getting at though, whenever you hear the record. This performance of You Shook Me is one of those tracks on Led Zeppelin that you knew would have been amazing to hear live. You can tell by the way they play that they really love the blues and its associated roots.
Reddon: Really interesting observations. The next song, Dazed and Confused, rounds out this side of Led Zeppelin.
Jackson: Another jewel that arose out of the blues! The song is a masterpiece on many levels but when you hear Jones' "up and down the staircase" bass guitar starting it off, you're put in a trance immediately. Robert's vocals start, his voice super-charged with raw emotion. The lyrics of the song tells us he's hurting because of losing a love...and you can't help but believe it when you hear him! Anyone who's ever been on "the lost love scene", will definitely identify with the passion in Plant's voice as he sings this one! [laughs]
By the way, Frank...something else I want to mention before I get too far into Dazed and Confused...
Reddon: Certainly, what's that?
Jackson: The way You Shook Me almost goes, non-stop, into Dazed and Confused. These two songs are arranged to almost run into each other, which is very creative and effective. It gives you such a sense of non-stop musical action, because there's only a split-second between the end of You Shook Me and the start of Dazed and Confused.
I'm sure you've probably heard this album countless times, but have you ever noticed that on both sides of Led Zeppelin, there's this decided sense of non-stop momentum generated, because a couple of the tracks, on each respective side, almost run into each other?
I believe it was written and produced this way for a reason. On Side One, You Shook Me has Dazed and Confused, following right after and, on Side Two, Your Time Is Gonna Come relentlessly pursues Black Mountain Side, for that same feeling of forward momentum. Overall, this creates the sensation of "non-stop rock'n'roll" action, if you know what I mean, on both sides of this record.
It would have been fascinating to watch Jimmy, Jonesy and the others deciding how to present their material on Led Zeppelin, wouldn't it? The way the songs were combined on this record is very effective. I mean, the record just doesn't stop [laughs]!
Reddon: I've never noticed that. Thanks, the overall momentum is there all right, when you look and listen to the album as a whole. I'll listen to the first album as soon as we're done and get the full effect.
Jackson: Now, there's a good deal! I guess I'll get back to Dazed and Confused now...I find the verses and choruses of Dazed and Confused are such great examples of "the early, dread power" of Led Zeppelin. Page's guitar is
blazing and very sinister sounding throughout this piece. The whole song has such a freaky vibe that's perfectly burnt into the record. When we get to the middle section of Dazed and Confused, he uses the violin bow on the guitar. Nobody had ever heard anything quite like this before, I assure you...and it blew everybody's mind from the first time anyone heard him do it on Led Zeppelin.
I remember Page using the violin bow on the guitar live. That really did it for me and for lots of other people when we first heard and saw it. Even though he began using the violin bow with The Yardbirds, when he started using it with his own new band, the technique found a whole new audience that was completely floored. He got the most amazing and weird sounds from the guitar with it.
As we know, it became his trademark and he only got better and better at it, as the years went by. In anything, it's important to establish a trademark to set oneself apart from the crowd. This technique also took people on a psychedelic trip that no one else in music was doing, except for Jimmy. Everyone ate it up and with good reason. It was always a highlight of any Led Zeppelin show I ever saw...and that goes for throughout their career.
But don't get me wrong. It wasn't as if Page were simply dragging a violin bow over a guitar hoping to get some cool sounds. He did it with his talent; taking it even further by adopting such a visually and sonically sensational technique as using a violin bow on the guitar. A great move for lots of reasons on his part. He made the guitar sound like a whole orchestra of different sounds. His command of this far-out technique was, for lack of a better word, unbelievable.
Other intriguing things about Dazed and Confused on the Led Zeppelin LP, are the tempo changes in this song that are also very well done. You get to hear what a fine drummer Bonzo is, all the way through. There's so much going on with all the shifts of tempo and he's up to the task, no matter what. Just listen to the drum fills he throws in at the end of the verses, and while he accompanies Page's playing of the main theme, in the crazy guitar solo.
Looking back, these tempo changes would also become a big part of what made Led Zeppelin and their music so interesting for their twelve-year career. Whether you're hearing Dazed and Confused for the first or thousandth time, it puts you through it in lots of ways, every time! I always marvelled how this piece grew over the years from six or seven minutes to upwards of a half an hour.
It's also interesting that Side One of Led Zeppelin ends just as it begins: crunching guitar chords at the end of Dazed and Confused, with different rhythms than those crunching guitar chords that began Good Times, Bad Times. Although the rhythms of the beginning chords of Good Times, Bad Times and the concluding chords of Dazed and Confused have different rhythms, I think they have the hard-edged, brain-beating effect in common that creates a real sense of cohesion from the first song [Good Times, Bad Times], to the last song [Dazed and Confused]. Doesn't that ending hit you like a freight train, every time you hear it?
Reddon: It really does, that's an excellent description. That's especially true after a few drinks and listening to the first side of Led Zeppelin!
Jackson: Right on Frank, now you're talkin'! [laughs from Jackson and Reddon].
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