Here is that tweetirade in full:
The increasingly popular rumor that Robert Plant is leaning toward a Led Zeppelin reunion is unfounded. First, the interview was on July 29.
Second, the out-of-context line people think means he'll be talking w/ other Zep members about reuniting actually means THEY AREN'T TALKING!
The Led Zeppelin members haven't been talking, much less playing. Why so hopeful based on a loose interpretation of a 2-month-old remark?
Hasn't Robert Plant given enough interviews over the last few months to give anyone a good idea of his thoughts on reuniting Led Zeppelin?
Now going into The Daily Show mode. Adding to the list of extreme voices today: the sites Antimusic and @Guitarless. Let's restore sanity!
The big offenders here: @Contactmusic (http://bit.ly/9C8vsx), @SPINmagazine (http://bit.ly/btpkV0) and @gibsonguitar (http://bit.ly/bfIJNX).
Seriously, read @The_AV_Club interview of Robert Plant from July 29, published Sept. 30: http://onion.com/cowjDv & prepare to be enlightened
But if you get a hold of the interview tape from @The_AV_Club and play Robert Plant's voice backward, he does say Led Zeppelin will reunite.[I was wrong when I said the AV Club's interview was published Sept. 30. It was actually published Sept. 28. It only seemed like it was published Sept. 30 because it took two days for idiotic Web editors to start misreporting anything about it.]
Coincidentally, the second anniversary of a statement from Robert Plant passed on Wednesday. It is the statement posted on his official website in 2008 that said, in part, "Robert Plant will not be touring or recording with Led Zeppelin. Anyone buying tickets online to any such event will be buying bogus tickets."
Mention of this appeared in the top right-hand corner of LedZeppelinNews.com for the entire day Thursday while the rumor was starting to pick up steam. It said, "On this day in 2008, a month rampant with Zep reunion speculation ended, Robert Plant having just stated they weren't getting back together."
And yes, I fully admit that a rumor I inspired less than a year ago went viral and created a widely held belief that Jimmy Page was joining a supergroup with Eric Clapton and Aerosmith. It got me a lot of hits on my website for a few days (not that my bank account noticed), but as soon as the truth of the matter was clarified to me and I realized how erroneous it all was, I retracted the inaccuracies of my original story because I felt remorse passing off inaccurate information.
Will Spin, Contactmusic, Gibson, Antimusic, Guitarless and everybody else feel any remorse and make a retraction in this case? Or, on the other hand, do they prefer passing off popular rumors that distort the truth? Let's see.
Update, 7:30 p.m.: I've authenticated the comment below from Gerry Hayes at Guitarless, who says a correction is on the way and encourages me to "continue to harangue lazy, non-fact-checkers like me."
Update, Oct. 6, 11:35 a.m.: Robert Plant has now quashed the rumor too.
Kudos, Steve.
ReplyDeleteI am suitably embarrassed for not checking further. I've checked through all of the source interview and will right the record tomorrow and restore sanity or at least some semblance (I'd do it now but it's late here and I'm sleepy).
Please continue to harangue lazy, non-fact-checkers like me. :-)
Gerry
Gerry, thanks for approving and helping me restore sanity, my friend. And thanks for the namecheck in your correction. Very generous of you!
ReplyDeleteI notice you were hoodwinked by the misleading coverage at Contactmusic.com. I wonder if the folks there were lazy non-fact-checkers or, y'know, intentionally sensationalistic.
Here's another great interview to read if you're interested in finding out just how happy Robert Plant is with the direction he's taken with the Band of Joy. This appeared in the Sunday Times in Western Australia: Durable Plant Not So Easily Led. First sentence: "ROBERT Plant is happy with an eclectic, prolific solo career." Put that in those sensationalistic pipes and smoke it!
And lest anybody be confused by my motive, I'm not rooting for or against a Led Zeppelin reunion. I'm simply explaining the truth.
No problem for the namecheck; you deserve it.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to give the other non-fact checkers the benefit of the doubt (I sort of have to). Even having read the original, I can see how a less-than-thorough read of it could give the wrong impression. I think lazy is probably the answer (Occam's Razor could probably push most human problems and mistakes into the 'lazy' category).
I'm with you on the motive vs. truth point. To atone, I'm off to notate every secret message heard playing Rolf Harris' version of Stairway backwards.
timing of this rumor is interesting...just in time when Robert Plant has released new album...to be in news for any reason is good, specially when is Led Zepp reunion is mentioned...Robert Plant's rocking days are over...
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to blame Robert Plant for starting the rumor; he didn't say anything in this case that was intended to get anybody's hopes up for a Led Zeppelin reunion.
ReplyDeleteIt's also hard to blame the Onion AV Club for starting the rumor; their coverage of the interview certainly didn't stress that one line a lot of people are reading into.
That's why I can't blame anybody except the people at Spin and this and that and that ...
Whether he said it or not, Robert always plays the "Led Zeppelin card" when he's promoting his latest's project.
ReplyDeleteNuvo911
Robert Plant only plays the Led Zeppelin card when it is good for Robert Plant. The problem with Robert Plant is that he is very selfish when it comes to Led Zeppelin fans. The reason he won’t do any shows or new music with Page and Jones is because he only cares about what makes Robert Plant happy and not a thing about what makes the international legion of Led Zeppelin fans happy. He is set for life from song royalties, and past ticket sales, he has already made his money from the Led Zeppelin fans. He won’t do a CD and/or show with Page and Jones, because he does not respect or care about the fans. He feels he is above his band-mates, the press, the record companies and his fans.
ReplyDeleteCorrection: He jumped in bed and sold out to the record companies when he jumped in bed with them and Alison Krauss.
Robert Plant quashes the rumor himself in an interview with Metro World News. When asked about the rumor, he replies, "You'd be better off reading Playboy. There's more substance in this magazine than all those sites on the web!"
ReplyDeleteAll those sites, Robert? You're not going to spare this one, which had it right from the beginning? Just ask the folks at Rock Insights what one site they trust for an accurate take on Led Zeppelin news.
To Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you.
Nuvo911
WOW! Such hub-bub and craziness!! I use a simple rule of thumb when these rumors start circulating. Robert Plant once said somewhere . . . Steve help me out here . . . that there would NEVER be a reunion of Led Zeppelin because one of the band mates is no longer with us, so in essence, it cannot be done because the band as it was no longer exists or can exist without Bonzo. In my mind that's the end of it. If the remaining members decided to work together and fill in that empty spot, it wouldn't be a reunion, it would be it's own thing, so I'm not sure why all these fans clamor for a reunion, when what Robert says really makes perfect sense, lol
ReplyDelete