“Claptrap”: the Led Zeppelin genre Robert Plant refuted
Several narratives in music have become deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness over the years. Some, like the belief that The Beatles are the most consequential band of all time or that Nirvana transformed rock music for the better, are nearly untouchable. Another widely accepted notion is that Led Zeppelin is one of the pioneers of metal. However, upon closer inspection, this long-held assertion might not be as airtight as many think.
The ‘Black Dog’ band crafted a style of music that brought hard rock and psychedelia forward apropos the changing times and tastes, building on Jimmy Page’s original idea for a more expansive rock that he formed when playing in The Yardbirds. In doing so, they set the scene for much of the heavy music to come, whether it be Van Halen, Metallica, or Melvins. Even grunge can be traced back to their work.
When listening to tracks such as the aforementioned, as well as ‘Communication Breakdown’, ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and arguably the most heavy metal moment in their oeuvre, ‘Immigrant Song’, it becomes clear just how much of a sonic impact Led Zeppelin had on inspiring other heavy bands to emerge. At the time, there was nothing like it.
Even Ritchie Blackmore, the legendary guitarist of Deep Purple—another British band often credited as a pioneer of metal alongside Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath—once acknowledged the trio as the biggest bands of 1970, the year metal truly emerged. He attributed this to the release of Deep Purple’s In Rock, Black Sabbath’s first two albums (Black Sabbath and Paranoid), and Led Zeppelin III.
Despite this narrative about Led Zeppelin being pioneers of metal being famous, the band have always refuted it. In 1994, when speaking on the MTV special titled Unledded, Page and frontman Robert Plant sat down to discuss some of their old outfit’s classics and more cultish cuts. It had been nearly 15 years since their split due to the death of drummer John Bonham, and the pair had recently just joined forces under the banner of Page and Plant.
At one point, the pair were asked to discuss the invention of the term ‘heavy metal’ and if its early application to Led Zeppelin restricted how people perceived them. Given that heaviness only accounts for a small portion of their sound, both were in no doubt that it did restrict how they were viewed and were damning about the tag and its origins.
“Yeah, because it hones in on just one element of what we were doing,” Page said. “We were so multi-faceted; it’s a shame we got lumped in with any of those…”
However, it was the opinionated Plant who was more vitriolic. He interrupted his friend, saying, “It’s journalistic complacency and claptrap,” before explaining: “If it was us, and that period had a lot of people cavorting around using their manhood as the main weapon to sell records, then we have to be held responsible and used as a trademark for that period, when our better songs, apart from Black Dog and Rock And Roll, were more or less acoustic-based or Eastern-based anyway. But who cares?”
He suggested that the ‘Metal Innovator Award’ should go to Deep Purple, whom he deemed “imaginative” and “original” but utterly different from his own band. To be fair to Plant, his point is substantial; heaviness only accounts for a small portion of Led Zeppelin’s work. In many ways, they were more of a folk or prog outfit.
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