157. Hammer of the Gods!

157. "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin

Vikings!

Mjölnir!

Longboats!

Valhalla!

Geysers!

Blood-and-gore armed invasions of England!

What isn't there to like about this song? You can run to it. You can drive to it. You can sharpen your battle ax to it. You might even be able to win the Superbowl to it (if you're the Minnesota Vikings).

My favorite memory of this song is taking my son to see "School of Rock" in the Logan theater and both cracking up at Jack Black driving his smoke-belching van and shrieking "Ah, ah, aaaaaaahhh, ah! Ah, ah aaaaaaahhh, aaah!" Now I try to do the same whenever this song thunders through my car speakers. How good is that scene? It's so good that it's even funny in French.




That particular scene has forever tied Jack Black to the "Immigrant Song," much in the same way Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend" is now associated with Chris Farley. Jack was even asked to pay tribute to Led Zeppelin when they received the Kennedy Center Honors award. His best line: "They sang songs about love. About vikings. About vikings making love."




I think it's the connection with viking history and mythology that got this song into the top 200. When I hear the song, I can't help but think of the runes and the stone ships that I saw in Sweden. It's one of the few songs that I don't ever remember hearing in Sweden that still makes me think of Sweden. And lately, the song makes me think of "The Vikings" television show, which has become my second-favorite show on TV.

And what is my favorite show? "The Walking Dead." That's because of a Christmas gift I received a few years back of the book, "The Zombie Survival Guide," which is the greatest book ever on the subject. "The Walking Dead" show closely matches what the book says about zombies, so I'm a big fan of the show, and I don't see anything replacing it as my favorite in the near future. But if they made a show where vikings struggled to survive a Dark Ages zombie apocalypse, well then I'd be a very happy Swede, especially if the "Immigrant Song" played during the opening credits.