The genre that Robert Plant said makes him feel “so enriched”
Though Led Zeppelin is often described as a rock band, and though there are undoubtedly rock elements in their sound, to pigeonhole them as artists who only make that kind of music seems somewhat unfair. The fact is that Led Zeppelin stood out for so many people because they enhanced the genre of rock by adding elements from various cultures and styles from across the world to achieve a blend of sound that was cohesive but completely original.
Consider their track ‘Dancing Days’, which came about following a trip that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page took to Bombay. On it, they heard an Indian song, the melody of which stuck in their head because of how beautiful they found it. The track was embedded with light and happiness, utterly addictive in how it was put together, and so enticing that the two had to make their own track centred around it.
The result was ‘Dancing Days’, a song aptly named because the moment it was put together, the band ran outside and started dancing to it. This is only one occasion in many when the music of other cultures has influenced the band, and it continued to do so even after they embarked on relative solo careers.
When Plant started his solo career, North African music played a massive part in establishing the sound and rhythm he wanted to embody in his music. Moving away from the standard approach of rock music enticed him, and the music he heard in North Africa was one of his favourites.
“It helps get rid of the whole rock four-on-the-floor rhythm, which I liked,” he said when talking about the allure of the sound and the fact the majority of the percussion carried out within it is done with the hands. “It forces you away from that world. Although playing them has wrecked my thumb-bone completely.”
During his visits to Morocco, Plant often listened to the music and felt enamoured by it; however, he also grew slightly more reluctant to listen when elements of Western music started to creep into the sound. “I hear the chord progressions of Coldplay in Marrakech now, which I’m trying to get away from,” he said, “But Berber music burrows into me, and why it does fascinates me. Why would I feel so enriched by hearing it? Can I try and do something with it that is a part of me, part of the band, part of everything?”
It’s unsurprising that such an array of sounds appealed to Robert Plant as these became an intrinsic part of what made Led Zeppelin great. Once he branched out into his solo career, he could explore all of the different genres that appealed to him and lean into them when making new music—his career following the split from Led Zeppelin resulted from multiple influences and one musical vessel.
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