Led Zeppelin songs like 'Stairway To Heaven' used to scare crickets away from US crops

May 17 2009 by Kat Keogh, Sunday Mercury

THE hits of Midland rockers Led Zeppelin are being blasted out to rid a small American town of BUGS.

Residents in Tuscarora, Nevada, are so fed up with swarms of Mormon Crickets that they have resorted to cranking up the volume on songs such as Stairway to Heaven to scare them away.

The pesky insects have been causing a Whole Lotta trouble for the town, leaving behind a path of destruction in their search for food.

Millions of the bugs hatch every April and march through the region in two-mile long columns from May until August, destroying crops and crawling over houses.

Youll wake up and therell be one sitting on your forehead, looking at you, said resident Laura Moore.

But it seems Midland supergroup Led Zeppelin have proved better at driving the insects away than more traditional methods of chalk dust and poison bait.

Residents have been playing the bands songs, plus a few Rolling Stones classics, from dawn to dusk during the peak cricket season.