Led Zepplin banned from playing in Singapore

in music •  5 years ago  (edited)

I find strange articles from a lot of the random shite I read on the internet. Mostly I steer away from "normal" news and head straight for the bizarre. It is more interesting.


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This happened in 1972 when Led Zepplin was really killing it as far as their career was concerned. They were on their way to perform a tour of Australia and just like is still true today, they figured they would do a stop at the most convenient large Asian city on the way there from Europe (all of us in the rest of South East Asia normally just get bypassed, this is still true today.)

Anyway, the reason why Led Zepplin was denied entry is more silly than anything else. It wasn't because of drugs or criminal records or not qualifying for work visas or anything like that. It was because it was almost completely forbidden for men to have long hair in Singapore during that time.


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Obviously, this applied to a great many more bands in the 70's than just Led Zepplin. Nearly all rock groups in the early 70's had men with long hair. LZ was just the first to find out about it. The Bee Gees were also denied but they got there 2nd. The BeeGees were actually right on the cusp of what is considered "long" hair in Spore.

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The craziest thing about the turning away of Led Zepplin was that the show was already booked and it wasn't until the band was already in Singapore, with their private jet on the runway, that they were told they would have to get haircuts or not come in. They weren't even allowed off the plane.

Needless to say, Singapore is slightly less authoritarian today.

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A short time ago, I lived in Singapore for a few years, and I remember reading about his bit of history.

Singapore is still rather "strict" today, but definitely not to this absurd extent. And in fact, most of the rules sensible, and are geared to making Singapore a great place to live.

Singapore is a nice place, I visit there a couple times a year.... but man oh man is it expensive. The friends I have there struggle with depression because they just can't get ahead. Most of them have already settled into a "working for the weekend" attitude and frequently visit happy hours as their only escape.

Lol reason sounds so ridiculous today

We need @xeldal to help me. Could you guide me on where to start?

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One of the icons bands are legend, they are a classic without precedents in any social meeting. How to forget the refrain more sounded in all social gatherings as it is: stairs to heaven. I think that his fame was not hard, what he had to last, he wanted to have them more time, like rolling stone ... All his songs to drink with a good cold beer. Do not you think?