Robert Plant’s five favourite Led Zeppelin songs of all time: “This is it. This is what we had”
It might be expected that an artist picking a favourite song from their own discography would be like asking a parent to pick a favourite child. Or perhaps an artist might appear too humble to celebrate their own talent. However, neither of those things has ever been an issue for Robert Plant, who has talked about his love for several Led Zeppelin songs.
Rightfully so. Decades on from when Led Zeppelin stormed the music world, becoming one of the bestselling and most beloved artists in rock history, Robert Plant has more than earned the right to brag about his own talent or reminisce fondly on what he and his band created.
As the voice of the operation, so much of the band’s success lay on his shoulders. His rich vocals, incredible range and belting rock power made them a sensation. Alongside Jimmy Page’s electrifying guitar playing and compositional skills, John Paul Jones’ hooking basslines and John Bonham’s perfect foundational beats, the British band established themselves as a genre-shaking troupe, stepping outside of traditional rock and roll to do something new and something that has been referenced by bands ever since.
So many other artists talk about the influence and importance of Led Zeppelin’s work, so why should Plant himself get in on the conversation? In the past, he’s picked out a few tracks from his career in the band that remains, to this day, as his favourites and some of his proudest musical moments.
His first pick is an obvious one, and he’s well aware of that. ‘Kashmir’ had to be picked out as one of the band’s biggest triumphs. Despite it being a well-known cut, Plant believes it’s deserving of its position as one of their most popular tracks but also one of their best. He told Louder Sound, “I wish we were remembered for ‘Kashmir’ more than ‘Stairway to Heaven’”, adding, “It’s so right; there’s nothing overblown, no vocal hysterics. Perfect Zeppelin.”
But alongside that hit, he picked out two other singles as the band’s top moments. “[‘Kashmir’], ‘All My Love’ and ‘In the Light’,” he told Rolling Stone, “really were the finest moments.” All singles from the mid to late 1970s, he clearly joins his fans in loving Led Zeppelin at their peak era.
However, Jason Bonham, the son of the band’s late drummer, who has performed with all three surviving members of the group, provides a more personal insight into Plant’s favourite tracks. Gaining a more vulnerable look into the men’s true relationship to their music, Bonham picked out some other tracks as Plant’s go-to songs.
He recalled Plant saying to him, “’What you have to remember is sometimes some of these songs bring back a time in my life that wasn’t great. I was in a wheelchair after almost dying in a car crash at the time. So I was in pain.'” Harking back to the album Presence, recorded while Plant was in a wheelchair, Bonham said the personal connection to these songs makes them the singer’s favourites.
“His favourite was… ‘Tea for One,’ he still loves, and ‘Achilles Last Stand.’ He said, ‘If I ever play somebody something from Led Zeppelin… This is it. Listen to this, this is what we had.’ He’s very proud of that. So that was a wonderful thing to have.”
Robert Plant’s favourite Led Zeppelin songs:
- ‘Kashmir’
- ‘All My Love’
- ‘In the Light’
- ‘Tea for One’
- ‘Achilles Last Stand’
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Led Zeppelin Newsletter
All the latest stories about Led Zeppelin from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.