Crunchy electro turned D.A.N.C.E. kiddy pop French duo Justice signposted a new musical direction this week declaring they’ll soon be seen as the electronic Led Zeppelin, when people hear their upcoming 70s themed album Audio, Video, Disco.
“It is not like we’ve gone off in an obscure direction,” Justice’s Gaspard Augé explained in the album’s accompanying press release.
“Music that's been to our taste during the making of the album - ELO, Black Sabbath, The Who – is made by some of the biggest bands in the world,’ he added. “Quite a few people like their sound. Maybe they will like ours too.”
Though few if any of Led Zeppelin millions of original fans would have owned up to liking dreadfully cheesy Beatles copyists ELO, the French duo more surprisingly name-checked Stephen Davis’s infamous Led Zep biography ‘Hammer of the Gods’ despite its graphic depiction of drugs and sordid sexual assaults.
Reviewing the book in 2007, the Independent newspaper highlighted the band’s appetite for ‘naked and bound groupies, brutal violence and underage sex including Jimmy Paige’s relationship with 14 year old Lori Maddox. She in turn singled out drummer John Bonham as the band’s most dangerous character.
“Maddox said Bonham was the nicest guy in the world when sober, but a maniac when drunk,” the Independent recounted.
“Once, in a Los Angeles bar, a woman looked at him and, apparently recognising him, smiled; he went over and punched her in the face.” (Independent: http://ind.pn/n3LT96 )
Bonham (aka Bonzo) was also involved in the band’s most infamous groupie encounter that has since passed into rock and roll mythology as ‘the Shark episode’.
“One girl, a pretty young groupie with red hair, was disrobed and tied to the bed. According to the legend of the Shark Episode, Led Zeppelin then proceeded to stuff pieces of shark into her vagina and rectum,” the tale’s Wikipedia entry says.
“Davis notes that Led Zeppelin's road manager Richard Cole, disputed this version, and quotes him as saying: It wasn't Bonzo, it was me. It wasn't shark parts anyway: It was the nose that got put in . . .’ (Wiki: http://bit.ly/i6xCH )
Despite such stories, Justice’s press release was explicit.
“Stephen Davis’s book ‘Hammer of the Gods’ tells the story of how Led Zeppelin, a group of young Englishmen never comfortable with their media stereotyping, took the sound of blues and folk, amped it up through the roof, conquered America, and eventually the world. It’s a saga wreathed in excess, explosive music and stadiums full of kids going totally nuts,” it says.
“One day someone will write a book about how two French guys who were never comfortable with their media stereotyping, took the sound of electro, pop and hard rock, amped it up, conquered America, and eventually the world. It will be a saga wreathed in excess, explosive music and stadiums full of kids going totally crazy,” it predicted.
http://on.fb.me/hqg19b (Justice on Facebook)
http://bit.ly/xRF (Justice - D.A.N.C.E: video)
http://bit.ly/knNraX ('Civilization' video)
Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff
