YouTube shows us a glimpse of the past

The internet has so many useful tools that we can use. It can not only help our future but our understanding of the past as well. As I sit in my chair listening to one of my favorite songs, “What Is and What Should Never Be” by Led Zeppelin, I wonder what I would be listening to if the internet and websites like YouTube did not exist. I might not even be listening to music at all. My opinions on a large portion of everyday life originated from ideas and clips posted on the web. I believe that it is important that we analyze today’s reality and also yesterday’s reality.
The video of interest I found was the first interview by an English television station of John Bonham and Robert Plant (two members of the band Led Zeppelin). This interview was conducted in 1970, so this might fall under the “fan-made videos” category, but I would say that it is more of a “look back into history” video.
I think that someone like Jennifer Ringley (jennicam) posts her photos for a variety of reasons, but one of the more significant reasons is to see if her life is interesting. A pattern that I have noticed in a lot of the online blogs and video diaries is that each person considers themselves unique (which they are), but there always seems to be a question left at the end: “Am I normal?” “Would you do the same thing?” etc.
The person that uploaded the Led Zeppelin video onto YouTube has a similar sort of questioning theme that could be gathered from the post itself: “I thought this video was really cool; what do you think?” “I wonder how many people still enjoy the music as much as I do and are interested in the history of the band?” It, in a way, makes him or her feel justified in enjoying the interview.
The YouTube “revolution” could potentially help us delve into other bits of history as well. Just a simple search of a few key words can definitely show multiple links to any event that happened within the last thirty years. There are even some that date farther back; some of these even include a slideshow format of pictures to include the days before television. This will help us preserve our history because the videos can be uploaded by an unlimited number of users. So many events (many that will not even appear in history books but are still essential in our culture) are a few keystrokes away.
In an article by a local newspaper in Ocala, Florida, the author gives Frank Sinatra as an example. He then goes on to describe the different types of videos that are available and says that just about any type of video on Frank Sinatra that someone could want is within his or her reach.
The above scenario is very similar to what happened when I did a search for Led Zeppelin. Live concerts, various interviews, people blogging about the band, and modern day covers are just a few of the different types of videos that appear. The video I linked stood out to me because it is an early interview (the first ever in England), and much can be gathered about the year 1970 from this clip. One major thing that I noticed is that both John Bonham and Robert Plant smoked in the interview. If a band (no matter who they are) tried to do that today, it would not happen. It amazed me how accepting people were of second hand smoke at that time. The interviewer also played a smaller role than modern day interviewers do today. He let them speak and did not interrupt (for the most part). In current interviews, it usually reaches a level where the interviewer does more speaking than the person being interviewed.
Something else that I’ve noticed in these interviews of the band is that people put a great amount of emphasis on their passing up the Beatles in polls and charts. I see some similarities between this and the second Doonesbury comic strip we read in Convergences. The comic strip focuses on Alex wanting to get more drama in her live webcam post. She tries to get her dad to argue with her because she thinks that this will get her more hits on her site. The posted video is similar to this because of their focus on Led Zeppelin breaking the Beatles eight year streak of being the Top World Group in Melody Maker (a music newspaper). By posting the interview that happened right after they were voted to this position, it adds a source of drama to a certain extent because the Beatles are still considered one of the greatest bands of all time. It is not as extreme as the comic strip in the harshness of the drama. There is no name calling or any intentional tension. The drama presented in the interview is more of a surprise type tone. The people at the news desk even joke about having never heard of Led Zeppelin which can be interpreted quite harshly. At first, I thought they were making fun of the band, but later on in the news cast I realized it was just for humor.
Overall, I think that this video and other clips of bands that no longer exist will continue to enrich our current society. The larger the pool we have to pull our ideas, the stronger we become.
Bibliography:
Atwan, Robert (Ed.). (2005). Convergences: message, method, medium. Boston, MA:
Bedford/St. Martin's.
The video revolution known as YouTube; You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy it. Retrieved October 4, 2007, from www.ocala.com http://www.ocala.com/article/20070629/FEATURES06/206290320/1022/BELLEVIEW0103

by Alana Lively