Robert Plant performing with Led Zeppelin in the US c. 1975

Credit: Far Out / surrealuv

The punk album Robert Plant called a “real favourite”

Sat 18 November 2023 16:30, UK

During the 1970s, Led Zeppelin were an unstoppable force that had reached the pinnacle of the music industry. Led Zep were already the hot property going into the decade before dominating the era with their authentic brand of hard rock. However, the tragic death of John Bonham in 1980 ended their tenure, leading the rest of the group to pursue solo endeavours.

The music scene had significantly changed during the time Led Zeppelin was active. One meaningful development was the birth of punk, which intended to kick classic rock bands from their perch. While they started by playing the club circuit, punk soon outgrew those venues and began performing in arenas across the globe, which was inaccessible for many.

Punk was a reaction to the ongoing state of rock music and appealed to a younger generation. Despite Led Zeppelin’s mass popularity among the wider general public, the youth were largely disinterested in them, instead turning to acts like The Clash and the Sex Pistols, who were writing about topics that spoke to a new generation.

Plant understood why Led Zeppelin fell out of favour with the younger demographic, later admitting to Q: “Those accusations that were levelled at Zeppelin at the end, during punk, those accusations of remoteness, of playing blind, of having no idea about people or circumstances or reality, of having no idea about what we were talking about, of being deep and meaningless and having vapid thoughts – there was a lot of substance in what was being said.”

Later, Plant revealed himself to be a fan of the American punk group Hüsker Dü and Television frontman Tom Verlaine. After going solo, Plant opened up his palette to new areas, and upon discovering these two artists, he couldn’t believe they weren’t two of the most successful artists of their generation.

During an interview with Creem in 1988, he said: “I want to cut through radio with a hot knife. This idea where they say, ‘We’re only gonna play stuff guaranteed on being a big hit.’ I wanna stretch it out some. People like Tom Verlaine and Hüsker Dü are making quite important music right now. (But) people aren’t hearing it because it never gets played.”

Additionally, in a discussion with Q in 1989, Plant detailed his love for Verlaine’s 1984 album Cover, noting: “This album is a real favourite. I play it a lot and it’s really scratched. I like albums – much better than CDs.”

While Verlaine didn’t directly influence the sound of Plant’s 1989 album Now and Zen, the discovery helped liberate the former Led Zeppelin frontman on his highly acclaimed solo release. At that moment, he’d stopped caring about whether radio stations would play his songs, which allowed him to return to form.

Listen to Cover below.