The band Joni Mitchell called more “courageous” than their contemporaries
American icon Joni Mitchell has become a household name not only in the world of folk music but in the broader arena as a global legend. Many, rightly or wrongly, describe her as the female answer to Bob Dylan due to her poetic songwriting skills and emotive arrangements spanning a career laden with legendary albums from Blue to Both Sides Now.
Through the 1960s, Mitchell rose to widespread acclaim with several milestone appearances at the famous Newport Folk Festival. Towards the end of the decade, she entered a relationship with Graham Nash, the founding member of The Hollies who, at the time, played alongside Neil Young, Davis Crosby and Stephen Stills.
Mitchell’s relationship with Nash boosted her collaborative influence, and crucially, its breakdown fuelled the melancholy material on her 1971 masterpiece Blue. Following this release, Mitchell was a global star and enjoyed a strong fanbase among peer musicians. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin were particularly enamoured with her work.
In the early 1970s, Plant and Page revealed their love for Mitchell; the latter had a chance to meet her in 1975 and reflected on the experience in an interview with Rolling Stone shortly after.
“[Joni Mitchell] is the music I play at home all the time,” Page said. “The main thing with Joni is that she’s able to look at something that’s happened to her, draw back and crystallize the whole situation, then write about it. She brings tears to me eyes; what more can I say?”
Meanwhile, Plant, who was in the same interview, revealed he had also had a chance to introduce himself to Mitchell but became uncharacteristically shy. At least he voiced a homage to the songwriter in the Led Zeppelin IV track ‘Going to California’.
Some 30 years later, Mitchell remembered the kind words from Led Zeppelin when revealing that many of her male peers would tread gingerly around their admiration for her music, some even finding her intimidating.
“Other artists would cross the street when I walked by,” Mitchell told Interview magazine in 2005. “Initially, I thought that was due to elitism, but I later found out they were intimidated by me.”
Continuing, she revealed that many “straight white men” appeared hesitant to show fondness toward her work. “They would come up to me and say, ‘My girlfriend really likes your music,’ as if they were the wrong demographic,” she added. “Led Zeppelin was very courageous and outspoken about liking my music. But others wouldn’t admit it.”
Hear Led Zeppelin’s ‘Going to California’ below.
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