David Coverdale

It’s never easy to see a bandmate move on to another outfit. Although Led Zeppelin would never reform after John Bonham’s death, Jimmy Page’s way of dealing with grief was to form other bands, working with Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers for the band The Firm. While Plant was fine with his endeavours, he took offence when Page teamed up with Whitesnake’s David Coverdale for a Zeppelin-esque project.

When asked what he thought about Coverdale as a frontman, Plant wasn’t as kind to his contemporary, remarking: “I find him a good man, but I feel that his integrity is now questionable. If Whitesnake was a real young band who had just seen The Song Remains the Same and decided, ‘OK, this is it, let’s imitate them,’ I could understand it”.

Despite dragging him through the mud, Coverdale still had a massive respect for Plant, saying, “I hold him [Plant] in the highest esteem as a human being, and as an artist, and I really would like to, you know, sit down, buy him a drink, shake hands and say: ‘I’m really sorry,’ you know, ‘Can we be friends again?’”. Coverdale may have had his own identity before and after working with Page, but all Plant saw was a Led Zeppelin cover band with one original member.

Early Led Zeppelin

For any artist, listening back to old records tends to feel like looking at old baby pictures. Even though it might be fun to listen to at the moment, true artists will always want to grow from want they’ve done. And as for Plant, he can’t help but look back on his old band and wince slightly.

When asked about some of his first attempts at singing, Plant thought that he didn’t know what he was doing on the first handful of Led Zeppelin albums. When talking about their debut record, Plant recalled, “I realised that tough, manly approach to singing I’d begun on [Listen’s] ‘You Better Run’ wasn’t really what it was all about. Songs like [Zeppelin’s] ‘Babe I’m Going to Leave You’ … I find my vocals on there horrific now. I really should have shut the fuck up!”.

Little did Plant know that his signature vocal style would end up being copied worldwide, with millions of imitators trying to come close to what he had done on songs like ‘Communication Breakdown’. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Plant might not like people judging him on his youthful arrogance.

Every older rock band

For every great artist, there will come a time when they need to bow out gracefully. No one can be doing the same thing forever, and Plant has rolled with the punches by operating in different musical realms throughout his career. During his first stint in the bluegrass world with Allison Krauss, he took some time to air his grievances at some of his contemporaries.

When discussing his latest record, Plant grew increasingly annoyed with bands that decided to tour the nostalgia circuit. While Plant liked trying new creative directions, he hated those trying to keep their band from their 20s together, explaining: “The good thing about Alison and I is that we’re a couple of kindred spirits. Most musicians form a band, then they stay in the band until it’s over — 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, whatever it is — and it starts to look sadly decrepit. It’s like people hanging onto a life raft or staying in a comfortable place”.

Instead of staying in a comfortable place for most of his career, Plant has been content following his muse, even if it will never equal Led Zeppelin’s heights. Despite his peers regrouping for reunion tours, this attitude confirms why Plant never wants to tour as Led Zeppelin ever again.

Greta Van Fleet

It’s no secret that Greta Van Fleet holds acts like Zeppelin fairly close to the chest. Although their record collection was full of the same blues records Plant and Page had at their disposal, just as many fans are lining up to call them Zeppelin ripoffs before hearing more than two songs. And one such fan is Robert Plant himself.

When asked about the up-and-coming band in an interview with Loudwire, Plant didn’t hold back his bias. Outside of saying that they sound “like Led Zeppelin I”, Plant also mentioned that he had issues with vocalist Josh Kiszka, adding, “He borrowed his voice from somebody I know very well, but what are you going to do? At least he’s got a bit of style because he’s said he based his whole style on Aerosmith”.

Although Greta Van Fleet may have meant their music to be a homage to Led Zeppelin, Plant was always unhappy with them gaining notoriety through a style he helped to invent. They might be talented musicians, but as far as Plant is concerned, the old Zeppelin records haven’t gone anywhere and are still just as good.

The Who

There are far more common threads between Led Zeppelin and The Who than most casual fans realise. Outside of both cutting their teeth in the British club scene, Jimmy Page offered John Entwistle and Keith Moon the opportunity to join his new band, which Moon mentioned would go over as well as a zeppelin made of lead. With that, the band got their name, and when Plant saw The Who perform live, he got a new punching bag.

When asked about some of his contemporaries, Plant remarked that he felt disappointed in the latest incarnation of The Who, telling Rolling Stone:“I saw the Who trundled around the stadiums of America, and I found it so dull, obvious and sad. The fact that they carried on without Keith Moon was always a mystery to me, but the fact that they did it again and again, augmenting it with more and more musicians … I don’t want to be a part of that aspect of entertainment. I’ve played Vegas already”.

While The Who moved on in the late ‘70s after Moon’s tragic overdose, Plant knew not to make the same mistakes with Zeppelin, not wanting to reform after losing the power of John Bonham. Whereas most artists see the latest incarnation of The Who as a celebration of their music, Plant just sees a shell of what they once were.