The artist Steve Albini called as an “irritating” singer
“Pure”, “raw”, “powerful” and “unrelenting” are all words that have regularly been employed in discussions about Robert Plant’s vocal theatrics over the years, and he is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers of all time by rock fans the world over (not including this writer, though).
Punk-rock guitarist and sound engineer—don’t call him a producer!—Steve Albini had another adjective in mind when discussing Plant’s histrionics, however. “Robert Plant, as irritating as his vocal style could be”, Albini once said, “Fucking owns it. Like, nobody could shake him from any of that stuff. There’s something about a dude that is so completely convinced of his greatness that you’re just like, ‘You know? You’re right!’”
And in a sense, Albini is right. It does take some level of self-conviction for a scrawny kid growing up in England’s Black Country to take on, bastardise and sell the Black music of America, and to subsequently convince a whole generation of listeners that he’s better than the bluesmen he ripped off.
Despite Albini’s indifference to some of the singing on Led Zeppelin’s songs and records, he had high praise for the rest of the group. “John Bonham, widely regarded as the greatest rock drummer of all time? I think he’s totally underrated!” Albini said in the same discussion in which he called Plant’s singing “irritating”.
He added that, “I think he’s like a fucking landmark musician” before adding that he felt the same about Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.
Albini was not someone to dish out praise where he didn’t feel it was deserved, and was not afraid to let fire on subjects and artists who he felt didn’t justify the hype they’d received, even when his own handiwork was involved, including one of the records which is most widely associated with him for his contributions, Pixies’ Surfa Rosa. After working on the record, he described the group as “a band who at their top dollar best are blandly entertaining college rock”, before adding, “Never have I seen four cows more anxious to be led around by their nose rings.”
Elsewhere, he turned his eye-of-Sauron-ire on acts like Steely Dan, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth and Courtney Love. He could raise as well as he could bury, though, as evidenced by his admiration for Led Zeppelin, and he was also on record as being a fan of groups like the Ramones, real-deal legends like Johnny Cash, Bill Withers and Clarence Carter as well as some more surprising names such as The Proclaimers and Dolly Parton.
While inspiration from the Ramones can be heard in his own work, it’s harder to spot any crossover between his enjoyment of The Proclaimers, Bill Withers, Clarence Carter or, especially, Dolly Parton and his own output. Led Zeppelin, though? Sure, they’re in there. How could a man who described them as simultaneously being the greatest rock musicians of all time and also underrated not have taken inspiration from them?
From their music and their “I believe that I’m great and important, so you’d better think so too” posturing. For the man with the iron tongue, and someone who was once described by Dave Grohl as “a cynical prick”, to look past Robert Plant’s “irritating” voice and see only greatness was no small deal.
Taking into account the long-rumoured and highly corroborated 1970s exploits of the members of Led Zeppelin with groupies of all ages in tow and Steve Albini’s later, sickening writings for PURE Magazine, it’s no wonder that the self-described “edge-lord” engineer found inspiration in Led Zeppelin. If only it had been purely from the music, though.
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