Elders of the Gentle Race

RANDALL AUXIER got his first Led Zeppelin album for his thirteenth birthday in 1974. It was the Runes album, but being barely a child past twelve, he had never seen the cover and did not recognize or understand what he had so generously received (Thanks, Mom and Dad, really). Randy’s parents had asked a best friend what to get, and the friend had rightly guessed at the best present, but Randy said, and I quote, “What is this? I don’t want this!” and, I swear to God, he tossed aside the old man with the sticks to get on to “better” presents. All things correct themselves in time. These days he teaches philosophy at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale—at least, that’s what he does when he isn’t playing too damn loud with a garage band in the local bars, or writing silly chapters in pop culture books.

 

JEANETTE BICKNELL grew up in rural south-western Ontario, where “Stairway to Heaven” was always the last song played at the end of high school and community dances. She’s the author of Why Music Moves Us (2009) and enjoys perplexing her students by playing “When the Levee Breaks” before class starts, without explanation.

 

SCOTT CALEF is Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Ohio Wesleyan University. Besides publishing in Socratic studies, the philosophy of religion, political philosophy and applied ethics, he has contributed chapters to volumes on the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, and Metallica. In the best summer of his life he met his wife and experienced the California sunlight, sweet Calcutta rain, and Honolulu starbright. Scott thinks the soundtrack version of “Dazed and Confused” one of Jimmy’s finest moments and constantly asks the kids, “Where’s the confounded remote control?”

 

LUKE DICK resides in Nashville, where he writes songs, essays, poetry, and teaches at Nashville State. While not occupying himself with such leisurely occupations, he does his best to keep the black dogs away from his mind and his daughter Emily’s window. He’s convinced the Led should be let out under the right circumstances.

 

ERIN FLYNN is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ohio Wesleyan University. Though his main gig is teaching and writing about nineteenth-century German philosophy, he still fronts bands from time to time. He came to Zeppelin relatively late, while working in a record (actual vinyl) store and chain-reading Tolkien.

 

STEVE GIMBEL is a philosophy professor at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. Author and editor of several books including Defending Einstein and Methods and Models: A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, his primary research focuses on the philosophical ramifications of the theory of relativity. He recently taught a course in the philosophy of cosmology because stars fill his dreams; he is a scholar of both time and space.

 

THEODORE GRACYK teaches philosophy in Minnesota. But he’d rather be in his home state, where the mountains and the canyons tremble and shake. His most recent book is Listening to Popular Music: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Led Zeppelin. Yes, you read that right. He didn’t always love them. But in the end, their sense of humor won him over.

 

DAVE LEWIS first heard the music of Led Zeppelin in 1969 at the age of thirteen. The effect has been a lasting one. He’s now acknowledged and respected throughout the world as a leading chronicler of the group. He is editor of the long running Led Zeppelin fan magazine Tight But Loose. His books include Led Zeppelin: The Final Acclaim, Led Zeppelin: A Celebration, Led Zeppelin Celebration 2: The Tight But Loose Files, and Led Zeppelin: The Concert File. His work has also appeared in Record Collector, Q, Mojo, and Classic Rock. Dave continues to chronicle the work of Led Zeppelin and the solo projects of the ex-members via the Tight But Loose website (www.tblweb.com) and magazine. His latest book, Then As It Was: Led Zeppelin at Knebworth 1979—30 Years Gone, is a muchacclaimed monumental account of Led Zeppelin’s final UK gigs. To get hold of a copy, email davelewis.tbl1@ntlworld.com. Dave lives in Bedford, England, with his wife Janet, son Adam, and daughter Samantha.

 

EDWARD MACAN is Professor of Music at College of the Redwoods, Eureka, California. He is the author of Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture (1996), Endless Enigma: A Musical Biography of Emerson, Lake and Palmer (2006), and a contributor to Pink Floyd and Philosophy. He’s still awaiting that elusive Led Zeppelin reunion album so he can find out exactly what happened at the May Queen’s Spring Clean.

 

EMMA L.E. REES is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Chester in the U.K. A specialist in Renaissance studies, she has more recently published in the field of gender and representation. Although she grew up in the English Midlands, not far from where Led Zeppelin came from, it wasn’t until the summer of 1988 in a student house in Norwich that she first listened properly to the band. Prior to that she had believed music began with Motörhead and ended with Metallica. Pierced in twelve places, tattooed in three, and with bright red hair, she’s old enough to know better and young enough not to care. Her favourite drink is tea. Proper tea. As Proudhon once said: “Proper tea is theft.” The opening bars of “Kashmir” never fail to give her goosebumps.

 

THEODORE SCHICK, JR. is a Professor of Philosophy at Muhlenberg College and Director of the Muhlenberg Scholars Program. He has contributed to a number of volumes in the Popular Culture and Philosophy series including Seinfeld and Philosophy, The Matrix and Philosophy, More Matrix and Philosophy, Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, and Star Trek and Philosophy. When he’s not trying to contact his Holy Guardian Angel, he is trying to raise the dead with his guitar playing in his band, The Doctors of Rock.

 

PHILLIP SENG teaches philosophy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he tries to understand how students can listen to music on their iPods while also listening to class discussions. He has written for several Popular Culture and Philosophy books, and co-edited The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy. Since spending so much time listening to bands in small venues and Led Zeppelin through headphones he fears he might have damaged his ears, but he can easily hear his chi-gong ring tone for his cell phone from over the hills and far away.

 

RALPH SHAIN teaches philosophy at Missouri State University. He has published scholarly articles on recognition, the split between high and low cultures, and the philosophers Derrida and Wittgenstein. When he is publishing academic papers, he feels as if he’s dropping them in the ocean, and he can hear the ocean snore. It really makes him wonder: Has the ocean lost its way?

 

JOHN STONE-MEDIATORE is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago. He also teaches in the Philosophy and Humanities-Classics Departments at Ohio Wesleyan University. His dissertation, which he’s currently completing, is a study of postmodernist fiction and schizophrenia. In his parallel life, he has performed extensively around Ohio as lead guitarist in various rock bands. While he can convincingly play many of Jimmy Page’s riffs and solos, he has come to accept that he will never, ever look as cool.

 

JERE O’NEILL SURBER may not have attended the School of Rock but he paid his way through TCU and Penn State playing roadhouse rock. After that, he studied philosophy at the Rheinische-Universität, Bonn, where he wrote his dissertation on language in German Idealism. Since those days, he’s been a regular professor at the University of Denver with visiting gigs as such places as Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Oxford University, and the Johannes Gutenberg Universität, Mainz. He’s a veteran author in the ‘rock’ area of this series and publishes on such topics as German Idealism, ethics and aesthetics, comparative philosophy, and various themes in the ‘modernism-postmodernism’ debate. Was he a Led Zeppelin fan? Well, could Jimmy Page play the guitar?

 

MARK D. WHITE is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science, Economics, and Philosophy at the College of Staten Island/CUNY, where he teaches courses combining economics, philosophy, and law. His edited books include Watchmen and Philosophy (2009), Theoretical Foundations of Law and Economics (2009), Batman and Philosophy (with Robert Arp, 2008), and Economics and the Mind (with Barbara Montero, 2007). He has also written dozens of scholarly articles and book chapters, plus philosophical essays on Metallica, South Park, Family Guy, The Office, and the X-Men. Finally, he’s not afraid to admit that the Coverdale-Page album still shakes his tree.

 

RICHARD E. WILSON is Academic Director of a company in the UK which runs English Language courses for non-native speakers. He teaches academic writing and study skills and is also a dyslexia support tutor. People think this makes him a terrible pedant. He disagrees: he’s a very good one. He discovered ‘proper’ music when he heard Gillan’s Mr Universe at the age of fifteen. His record collection numbers almost five thousand items, many of which are 45s from around the world. He has previously contributed to an encyclopedia of Heavy Metal but this is his first full-length article. Standing 6’7” tall he can confirm that, having met Bruce Dickinson, Lars Ulrich, and even Ian Gillan, rock stars are in fact disappointingly short. Led Zeppelin’s range continues to enthrall him, from the mellowness of “Gallows Pole” to the energy of “Communication Breakdown.”