Robert Plant always felt Buffalo Springfield broke up at the right time
Robert Plant always understood that no band was meant to stand the test of time.
Even though they could try to reinvent themselves whenever they walk into the studio, there comes a point where every group has either said all there is to say or has lived long enough to watch their music erode over time. But even with years passed since the death of John Bonham, questions of Led Zeppelin are never truly going to go away.
And the more that was said about it, the more that Plant was less open to the idea. He’s never been one to rule out the idea of working with Jimmy Page again, but the idea of going back to those old tunes and trying to relive his glory days is a fantasy in his mind. No one lives to be a nostalgia act, and the more that Plant heard about it, he started to think it was better for him to follow his muse.
It’s not like he’s been living in Zeppelin’s shadow that much, either. Whereas John Paul Jones has ventured behind the scenes doing work for other artists and Jimmy Page guested with bands like The Black Crowes, Plant carved out a reputation a million miles away from what ‘Percy’ was supposed to be. He was interested in making music that he hadn’t heard yet, but not every one of his fans were ready for that.
It’s not a mistake that one of Plant’s most celebrated solo records is when he reformed with Page to do acoustic-flavoured Zeppelin tunes, but Raising Sand did give him a bit of separation. That was more in line with the kind of music he wanted to be playing at that age, but when looking at the other bands that had broken up around him, he would have killed to have the reputation that a band like Buffalo Springfield had.
Both Neil Young and Stephen Stills may have contributed one of the greatest counterculture rock songs of all time in ‘For What It’s Worth’, but Plant thought that their decision to call it a day couldn’t have come at a better time, saying, “I don’t know how many times Stephen Stills has been asked about whether or not he wants to go back to Buffalo Springfield. Maybe he and Neil got out in time before it actually had the same kind of effect.”
Granted, Stills and Young did have an ingenious plan when it came time for them to go solo. Young was always going to follow his muse and do whatever the hell he wanted, but the fact that their supergroup was only their last names smushed together half the time, they could all be recognisable and not have to carry around with ‘of Buffalo Springfield’ as their second last name for the rest of their lives.
It also didn’t hurt that the band kept making classics as well. Although Buffalo Springfield stood as a clear example of what the musical landscape looked like in the late 1960s, Young still had more than enough songs in his arsenal. ‘For What It’s Worth’ or ‘Mr Soul’ may have been staples of his catalogue, but it didn’t matter when people would also be clamouring to hear songs like ‘Ohio’ and ‘Heart of Gold’ when he started his solo years.
But no matter how many times people called for a Led Zeppelin reunion, Plant knew to take a few lessons from how Young and Stills operated. Both of them had been veterans of the rock and roll scene before going solo, but if they could follow their heart and continue making music that excited them, there was nothing stopping Plant from doing the same thing.
