“There was a certain sound”: the legendary performer Robert Plant always wanted to be

“There was a certain sound”: the legendary performer Robert Plant always wanted to be

Rock and roll frontmen don’t come much more iconic or archetypal than Robert Plant. Despite not being the first choice for Led Zeppelin, it is virtually impossible to imagine the hard rock progenitors or their beloved discography without the accompaniment of Plant’s distinctive tones. Throughout the band’s tenure, the vocalist laid many of the foundations and stereotypes adopted by multiple future generations of rock vocalists. However, his entire act was seemingly an attempt to emulate the stylings of one legendary performer.

If you wish to feel inferior about your own life achievements, remind yourself of the fact that Robert Plant was only 20 years old when he auditioned for Led Zeppelin. That audition, during which the vocalist performed a rendition of Jefferson Airplane’s hippie anthem ‘Somebody To Love’, would go on to alter the course of rock history forever. Over the next few years, Plant lent his voice to a litany of iconic hard albums, helping to establish himself and Led Zeppelin firmly in the upper echelon of British rock.

A key part of the band’s appeal was in their originality; nobody else sounded like Led Zeppelin, and nobody else had live shows quite as captivating as the band’s either. Of course, Plant and the gang took the bulk of their influences from the world of American blues, although those sounds were often buried under layers of wailing guitar solos and studio innovations. However, Plant also took a colossal amount of influence from another archetypal rock star: Elvis Presley.

This should come as no surprise; you would be hard pressed to find any rock and roll musician who does not owe a debt to Presley in one form or another. For Plant, like many children of the 1950s, the pioneering performer represented a bold new era of culture and music, hooking a young Plant onto the infectious sounds of rock and roll. “When I was a kid, I used to hide behind the curtains at home at Christmas, and I used to try and be Elvis,” the singer once remembered.

“There was a certain ambience between the curtains and the French windows. There was a certain sound there for a ten-year-old. That was all the ambience I got at ten years old,” Plant reflected, pinpointing the beginning of the rock and roll journey that would eventually see him front Led Zeppelin. “I always wanted to be a bit similar to that,” he added.

This hero-worship of Elvis Presley eventually came full circle when Led Zeppelin crossed paths with the iconic rock star in 1974. Plant and the boys were on the West Coast for the launch of their label, Swan Song Records, and went to see Presley perform at the Inglewood Forum the following evening.

After the performance, Zeppelin were invited to meet Elvis. “He stayed with us for two hours,” Plant later shared. “And he normally only saw people for ten minutes because we were all having a great time.” Zeppelin and Presley crossed paths a further two times before the legendary rock and roll star passed away in 1977.

Despite their differences in performance style and musical output, these brief encounters seemed to show that the two artists seemed to have a deep mutual respect for each other, which must have appeased Plant’s childhood emulation of the ‘All Shook Up’ singer. Plant managed to blaze his own trail as a frontman and vocalist, inspiring the next generation of performers, but the early influences of Elvis Presley can certainly not be overlooked in the context of his extensive and celebrated career as a rock god.