![the honeydrippers rockin at midnight video the honeydrippers rockin at midnight video](https://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2017/08/Robert-Plant.jpg)
In an interview around this time, Robert Plant admitted that he and the Honeydrippers never expected this kind of success from a little side-project they created, basically on a whim.Ī few months later, in May of ’85, Robert Plant released his third solo album, Shaken ‘n’ Stirred.
![the honeydrippers rockin at midnight video the honeydrippers rockin at midnight video](https://d4q8jbdc3dbnf.cloudfront.net/user/381601/80b9e8578eee3bac6e481d92a1f0b9b3.jpg)
In early January, Sea of Love went all the way to #3 on the Billboard charts, while Rockin’ at Midnight made it to #25 a few weeks later. The Honeydrippers played a swinging extended version of Rockin’ at Midnight, as well as a cover of Santa’s Back in Town. But I programmed our (massive) VCR to record the show, then watched it right away the next morning. Unfortunately I was working that night at Godfather’s Pizza. The Honeydrippers were invited to play on “Saturday Night Live” in December that year. Rumors were already flying that Volume Two would be released soon, with more to come in the future. Thanks to my favorite VJ’s on MTV, I learned that the Honeydrippers consisted of not only Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, but also Jeff Beck, Nile Rodgers and Paul Shaffer, among others. Almost immediately, a second single, Rockin’ at Midnight, hit the airwaves too. This band and record were getting a lot of attention. And the video for the song started playing regularly on MTV. Amazingly, even though this was a 50’s ballad, it was getting airplay on the local classic rock station. This was the first single from the album, titled Sea of Love. It wasn’t much later that I first heard one of the Honeydrippers’ songs on the radio. Then I realized that it probably brought back memories of her high school years, from the 50’s. That concerned me – my mom wasn’t supposed to like my music. I played her a couple of the Honeydrippers’ songs, which she really liked.
![the honeydrippers rockin at midnight video the honeydrippers rockin at midnight video](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Nvpq_YSAEVU/hqdefault.jpg)
The following weekend, my mom came to my bedroom and asked what I was listening to. They sounded fresh, too, especially compared to their originals. I loved hearing Robert Plant’s distinctive voice, and there was definitely a lot of power in those songs. While it wasn’t my favorite type of music, I was impressed. And after a couple times through (it was a very short album), I still wasn’t sure what to think. Then I made a mad dash back home with my new purchase, The Honeydrippers Volume One, and immediately threw it on the turntable. I went straight to the record store after school that day, which happened to be my 18 th birthday. But not to be deterred, I bought the new album (yes, vinyl) when it came out in November of ’84. I was never too thrilled with 50’s music. Of course I didn’t stop to consider that a classic to those guys meant music from their youth, which was well before my time. So in the fall of 1984, as I began my senior year, I was thrilled to hear the latest MTV news that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were getting together to record an album of remade classics. During my junior and senior years in high school, I was a ridiculously proud – and perhaps occasionally obnoxious – Led Zeppelin fan (see my post Live in Peace for more on this).