Did Robert Plant really “copy” Roger Daltrey?
Across the 1970s, up until punk’s upending wrecking ball, there were really only two hard rock titans dominating the charts as the decade’s premier stadium monster. The Rolling Stones had started midway through a golden age peak before sputtering into the cusp of self-parody, but they were less ‘hard’ and more groovy blues strut to ever inspire future metalheads. It was ultimately a battle between The Who and Led Zeppelin as the most gripping rock theatre and immortal archetype.
Both bands’ featured members were giants in their respective positions. Keith Moon and John Bonham are percussive powerhouses that routinely top any ‘best drummers’ list, and John Paul Jones and John Entwistle were both praised for their versatile dexterity.
Jimmy Page nudges Pete Townsend out of the way for guitar chops, but hardcore Who heads would argue that what Townsend lacks in guitar virtuosity, he more than makes up for sheer force, plus doubling as the band’s principal songwriter and lyricist, while Page only tackled the music.
But what of their frontmen? Both proved charismatic swaggerers with an almighty bellow and, following The Who’s early stint as suited mods, shared an uncanny resemblance. Speaking to the Broken Record podcast in 2023, Townsend recalled the moment when Roger Daltry metamorphosed into a countercultural deity: “His wife ordered him this beautiful shammy leather jacket with fringes, encouraged him to stop bleaching his hair, to let it grow out. And it went into ringlets. And to display his body, because he was always very well-built”.
He elaborated: “And of course, the Woodstock film was huge. And in it, he was beautifully lit, beautifully photographed. And suddenly, we had a rock god. But at the same time, so did Zeppelin”.
Ringlet locks, chest on display, Adonis sexuality—one could be mistaken for exactly who’s being described here. Plant had been taking notes long before The Who’s Woodstock slot, when during the band’s rocky patch a teenage Plant had offered his frontman services while Daltry was routinely to turn up to live shows forcing Townsend and Entwhistle to share the mic and even cancelling shows in Worcester and Kidderminster. Townsend was tempted, especially after Plant prepositioned himself three nights in a row, but decided to stick with the haphazard Daltry.
Both The Who and Led Zeppelin would soar with similar trajectories despite the former’s 1960s head start. But perhaps Zeppelin owed it all to that mesmerising performance in upstate New York at the tail-end of the decade. “Robert based himself very much on Roger’s performance in the Woodstock movie,” Townsend would further state. “That was the point at which Roger transformed from being short-haired, not really having a job in the band (apart from) just singing the songs, to having a really important central function”.
It’s obvious Plant was paying attention, but copying is a stretch. Just as Iggy Pop took Jim Morrison’s feral example, Plant took Daltry’s “rock god” template and imbued his own penchants for mysticism and a reach for the fantastical that Daltry never touched in quite the same way.
