The “spectacular” band who defined America in the 1960s, according to Robert Plant
Before all else, Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant is a lover of music. Galvanised by the sounds of American rock and roll when just a child, he was shown the way into his future by stars such as Elvis Presley, who would provide him with a strong basis from which to grow as an iconic artist in his own right.
When speaking to Jools Holland, Robert Plant once recalled the first time he heard Presley, which happened to be the era-defining 1956 single, ‘Hound Dog’.
As with many of his generation, this experience changed his life. “There was this sort of haze behind me of English ballads,” he recalled. “The BBC wasn’t very kind to youth culture in those days, but every now and then on Two Way Family Favourites on a Sunday lunchtime, some servicemen would send messages back to Mom and Dad and request a song.”
“And it was ‘Hound Dog’. Elvis,” the Led Zeppelin frontman continued. “That was the kind of lock-in. It was an opiate. Something happened when I heard the sound of that record. It certainly made me put my stamp collection to one side for a bit.”
Whilst this moment would prove pivotal for several reasons, it also inspired the young Plant’s love for the exciting sounds coming out of America. Whilst in those days it was mainly rock ‘n’ roll, moving into the 1960s, the country would start to produce soul, psychedelia, folk-rock, and other genres that would be majorly influential on him when honing his now distinctive style.
“[The Byrds] epitomises to me the kind of way the Americans were sending out messages at that time.”
Robert Plant
In the 1960s, when Robert Plant was coming into his own as an artist and was nearing his destiny as the frontman of Led Zeppelin, who formed in 1968, he was a fan of many of the most exciting American artists. Yet, one act always stood out for him: folk-rock pioneers The Byrds. Known for their dream-like vocal harmonies, the jangle of Roger McGuinn’s 12-string guitar, and their penchant for a Bob Dylan cover, without them, there would have been no CSNY, The Flying Burrito Brothers or even The Smiths.
When speaking to the BBC’s Tracks Of My Years in 2021, Plant listed ten of his favourite songs and chose ‘Chesnut Mare’ from 1970’s (Untitled). Explaining why The Byrds were so important to him, he called them “spectacular” during the era that featured McGuinn and Crosby, which, strangely, his choice did not emerge from, and asserted that they epitomised the musical spirit of America at the time.
He said: “The Byrds were spectacular with David Crosby, Roger McGuinn. They’d gone through these sorts of translations and the re-reading of quite a few (Bob) Dylan songs like ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ and so on. So this song ‘Chestnut Mare’, just epitomises to me the kind of way the Americans were sending out messages at that time.”
“Beautiful musical messages in a culture that we could only vaguely relate to. There were not many chestnut mares running around in the Black Country,” Plant concluded.
Ultimately, Plant’s admiration for artists like Elvis Presley and The Byrds reveals the musical DNA that would later define Led Zeppelin’s sound. Long before he became one of rock’s most recognisable frontmen, he was simply a young listener captivated by the imagination and freedom flowing out of America’s evolving music scene.
Those early discoveries not only shaped his artistic instincts but also helped forge the restless curiosity that allowed Led Zeppelin to transcend hard rock and become something far more expansive.
