The album that cemented Robert Plant as one of the greatest vocalists of all time
If you have ever entered into a debate with someone about who the greatest singer of all time is, despite the answer being completely subjective and individual, there are some names which are almost universal in their placement. The likes of Freddie Mercury, Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone will always come up at some point or another, and often joining them is vocal acrobat and Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant.
There is no question that Robert Plant is one of the best rock singers of all time. When Jimmy Page initially set up Led Zeppelin, he wanted to start a band that dabbled in various areas of rock music, which meant playing acoustic numbers, blues and hard rock, sometimes all within the same song. He was lucky to find a singer like Robert Plant who could cater to all of these different styles.
Because he made a name for himself in Led Zeppelin, many people would consider him great within the realm of rock music but not outside of it. They wouldn’t tolerate the idea of having Plant in the discussion for best vocalist of all time because he could only sing rock songs.
When Led Zeppelin split up following the passing of drummer John Bonham, many fans were understandably disappointed, but there were some benefits that came from the band calling it a day. One of the major ones was that Robert Plant opted to lean away from rock music throughout his solo career and dabbled with various styles and sounds to see what he could contribute his unique vocals to.
One of the albums where we saw Robert Plant really experiment with the kind of music that he wanted to make was Now and Zen. While we were used to him making heavy rock music and dabbling in some more stripped-back instrumentation from time to time, Now and Zen saw him experiment with electronic music. This was a completely different sound for Plant, but the choice to try with electronic music was very intentional.
The album came out in 1988, and throughout the ‘80s, despite the rise in popularity of electronic music, many music critics belittled it. The argument was that it was devoid of emotion, and people struggled to connect with electronic music in the same way they could connect with other genres. Plant thought this critique was unfair, and so he set out to make an electronic album that backed up his iconic gritty vocals.
Now and Zen was a triumph. Many critics shed their preconceptions about electronic music and praised Plant for being able to add another layer to the sound. Not only did this open new doors for electronic music, but it also opened new ones for Plant, who proved that his vocals could exist outside the world of rock music. No longer was Plant considered just one of the best rock singers of all time, but he was part of the conversation for the best vocalist period.
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