Sea of Love

During my junior and senior years in high school, I was a ridiculously proud – and perhaps occasionally obnoxious – Led Zeppelin fan (see my post Live in Peace for more on this).

So in the fall of 1984, as I began my senior year, I was thrilled to hear the latest MTV news that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were getting together to record an album of remade classics. Of course I didn’t stop to consider that a classic to those guys meant music from their youth, which was well before my time. I was never too thrilled with 50’s music. But not to be deterred, I bought the new album (yes, vinyl) when it came out in November of ’84.

I went straight to the record store after school that day, which happened to be my 18^th birthday. Then I made a mad dash back home with my new purchase, The Honeydrippers Volume One, and immediately threw it on the turntable. I had no idea what to expect. And after a couple times through (it was a very short album), I still wasn’t sure what to think. While it wasn’t my favorite type of music, I was impressed.  I loved hearing Robert Plant’s distinctive voice, and there was definitely a lot of power in those songs. They sounded fresh, too, especially compared to their originals.

The following weekend, my mom came to my bedroom and asked what I was listening to. I played her a couple of the Honeydrippers’ songs, which she really liked. That concerned me – my mom wasn’t supposed to like my music. Then I realized that it probably brought back memories of her high school years, from the 50’s. Cool.

It wasn’t much later that I first heard one of the Honeydrippers’ songs on the radio. This was the first single from the album, titled Sea of Love. Amazingly, even though this was a 50’s ballad, it was getting airplay on the local classic rock station. And the video for the song started playing regularly on MTV. This band and record were getting a lot of attention. Almost immediately, a second single, Rockin’ at Midnight, hit the airwaves too.

Thanks to my favorite VJ’s on MTV, I learned that the Honeydrippers consisted of not only Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, but also Jeff Beck, Nile Rodgers and Paul Shaffer, among others. This was practically a super group. Rumors were already flying that Volume Two would be released soon, with more to come in the future.

The Honeydrippers were invited to play on “Saturday Night Live” in December that year. Unfortunately I was working that night at Godfather’s Pizza. But I programmed our (massive) VCR to record the show, then watched it right away the next morning. The Honeydrippers played a swinging extended version of Rockin’ at Midnight, as well as a cover of Santa’s Back in Town. I loved it.

In early January, Sea of Love went all the way to #3 on the Billboard charts, while Rockin’ at Midnight made it to #25 a few weeks later. In an interview around this time, Robert Plant admitted that he and the Honeydrippers never expected this kind of success from a little side-project they created, basically on a whim.

Graduation and a Concert

A few months later, in May of ’85, Robert Plant released his third solo album, Shaken ‘n’ Stirred. He immediately started a tour of the US to support the release. I was thrilled to see that halfway through the tour was a scheduled stop in Minneapolis. Woohoo! My good friend (and fellow Zep freak) Dave and I immediately got tickets for the show. Soon we heard that the Honeydrippers might be the opening act on Robert’s tour. Did that mean Jimmy Page would be here? Wow. The rumors were running rampant. Would they also be playing Zeppelin songs? Oh man, we couldn’t wait!

A month prior to the concert, though, was our high school graduation. Immediately after the ceremony in early June, my entire class of 600 was prodded and heaped into school buses, and whisked away to an all-night party. In spite of the fact that the party wasn’t optional and we were “locked” in the building, we actually had a pretty good time. There was plenty of food and soda (Mountain Dew being very popular after midnight), and several fun games (including the popular dunk-tank where you could send your favorite teacher for a swim), all with cool prizes. We couldn’t help but notice that there were video cameras following us around all night.

In the morning, as we ate breakfast – the last time all of us would ever be together – the organizing committee surprised us by playing a video montage of the night’s activities. I was shocked by the choice of music used to accompany the video. Of all the songs heard during our three years together in high school, they chose the Honeydrippers’ Sea of Love. At the time I thought it was pretty cool. The only problem was that the video was over twenty minutes long and the song was only a short three minutes. So we had to listen to the song s-e-v-e-n times. You could hear groans in the crowd after about the fourth time through.

As I finally crawled into bed later that morning, fully exhausted, I recall hoping that I would NEVER hear that song again.

 
Of course I changed my tune a month later once I was in my seat at the St. Paul Civic Center, waiting for the Honeydrippers to hit the stage as the opener for Robert Plant. By the time the show began the crowd was going absolutely crazy. The rumor mill had hit full frenzy in the weeks and days leading up to the show, and we were all expecting Jimmy Page to appear in the spotlight.

Much to our dismay, when the lights came on it was just Robert Plant and his band. No Honeydrippers. Confusion reigned until a couple songs in, when Robert announced that the Honeydrippers would make an appearance later in the evening. There was still hope.

Sure enough, about two-thirds through the concert, the curtains came down and we were given a brief intermission. When curtains parted, and the lights came back on, we saw the stage had been reconfigured with a cool 50’s jukebox vibe. However we were shocked to see that the Honeydrippers consisted mostly of Robert’s solo band members, along with a full horn section. There was no Jimmy Page, no Jeff Beck, and no Nile Rodgers. We did notice that Brian Setzer from the Stray Cats was playing lead guitar, with his most distinguishable feature – his shiny, oversized Gretsch guitar. But that was it for surprises. After months of speculation and rumors, we were deflated.

While at the time we were obviously disappointed, I look back at that show now as a pretty amazing experience.

What ever happened to the Honeydrippers?

Thirty years later, while reading a book titled The Last Sultan, I learned more about the Honeydrippers. This book – a FANTASTIC read for music fans – was about the life of Ahmet Ertegun, the founder and longtime president of Atlantic records. He was hugely influential in the music business for over 60 years. It turns out that Ahmet had heard Robert Plant playing his own version of some early rock tunes with a local group of friends in 1981, shortly after Led Zeppelin called it quits. A few years later Ahmet finally convinced Robert to record some of these songs with a band, resulting in The Honeydrippers Volume One. Ahmet loved how the initial album turned out, and hoped to arrange future Honeydrippers recordings.  But Robert was too busy doing his own thing, constantly re-inventing himself and never really interested in revisiting the past. I learned recently, however, that just before Ahmet’s death in 2006, the two were in talks of finally getting back to create Volume Two. I’m disappointed that never happened.

While Ahmet’s death might have squashed the possibility of a Honeydrippers return, it did bring about one of the great musical highlights of my life – the only full Led Zeppelin concert since their 1980 demise. This show was put together only as a personal tribute to the great Ahmet Ertegun. The amazing high-definition video of this performance in 2007 is the best footage we have that truly captures the intensity and magic of Led Zeppelin playing together on stage. Even though it was recorded 40 years later, and with just three of the four original members, it clearly shows the band’s amazing chemistry, and gives you a glimpse of what these heavy-hitting boys must have sounded like in their prime. That must have been one heck of a concert experience.

Let’s take a (short) trip back to 1984 with the official Honeydrippers video for Sea of Love. It’s a little romantic, a bit quirky, and probably the only video you’ll ever see with a Speedo-wearing vibraphone player. Although I’m not sure if he’s actually playing – you be the judge.

Enjoy.