“Incredibly moving”: the singer Jimmy Page and Robert Plant agree is one of the greats
The crown of greatness is cracked and splintered into a million pieces for many an artist to share.
There is always something beautiful about the way music is passed down from generation to generation, as new artists receive the ultimate seal of approval from the idols who inspired them. But it is also fascinating to see how truly great peers interact, standing side by side while history is being made rather than reflecting on it later. For Led Zeppelin, working in the middle of the golden age of rock, moments like that were common.
It’s tough to even imagine what it must have felt like back then. Imagine being in your late teens or early 20s in the 1960s and ‘70s when all of that incredible music was coming out fresh. Imagine seeing the announcement for a new Zeppelin record and getting to hit play and hear something like ‘Immigrant Song’, or ‘Whole Lotta Love’ for the first time with no warning of what was about to boom through the speakers.
Seeing them play live when they were at the absolute top of their game, and then witnessing other idols of their era the next week, or the next month, or whenever, as they were all touring the world, still building to their peaks.
Even for those artists involved, it must have been an incredible period. Not only were they achieving their dreams, but at the end of the day, they were fans too, also getting to be thrilled and blown away by the music being released by other names. They will have been just as giddy and excited as their audience was, and that was certainly the experience for Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.
Obviously, both loved rock and blues and were tuned into what the other loud, rowdy bands of the moment were doing. But outside of that, both had a softer side, and if there was one singer they were making sure to pay special attention to, it was Joni Mitchell with her emotive lyrics, her unique vocal lilt and her even more unique guitar playing.
“That’s the music that I play at home all the time, Joni Mitchell,” Page said to Rolling Stone. When considering which artist achieved the lofty title of total greatness, he granted it to her, stating, “I don’t think there are too many people who are capable of it. Maybe one. Joni Mitchell.”
One album stands out as his favourite, released right in the middle of Zeppelin’s career as he picked out her 1974 offering, “Court and Spark, I love because I’d always hoped that she’d work with a band.“
Plant more than agrees, calling her “the queen of all that beautiful music that was written around that time for the late ’60s.”
To him, just as to his bandmate, Mitchell was the pinnacle of stunning lyricism and stunning sonics, adding, “Her catalogue – it’s incredible, and her concerts were really beautiful, incredibly moving.”
His favourite came slightly later though as Plant picked out ‘Amelia’ as his favourite, but proved the endurance of his love for her as he specifically picked out her 2002 rerecording, stating, “This song, ‘Amelia’, to me it’s the sound of a mature woman who visits her songs and gives them more brevity and perhaps even more beauty.”
For both, Mitchell still wears her crown, and no one could ever take it from her – it only gets shinier with age.
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.