Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas

by Chuck Klosterman

The first night I watch Lez Zeppelin perform, I presume they are all lesbians. This seems like a valid assumption, inasmuch as (a) they were performing at a party for The L Word, and (b) they are in a band called Lez Zeppelin. After I interview the band in a Manhattan rehearsal space, I decide that my initial math was wrong; I decide that two of them are lesbians and two of them are not. When I see them a third time, I realize that three of them are totally straight (and at least two are totally married). In fact, they might all be straight, for all I know. This is their “mystery,” much like the way the real Led Zeppelin refused to admit whether or not they had sold their souls to the devil in order to receive supernatural rocking power and/or a higher royalty rate from Atlantic Records. “Definitely maybe not,” says drummer Wendy Kershen when I first ask if Lez Zeppelin are predominantly (or partially) homosexual. “But maybe. Maybe, or maybe not. Actually, I had to have a sex change to join this band.” As it turns out, the name Lez Zeppelin is a marketing tool.