Happy birthday, Robert Plant! Revisit our 1988 cover story on Led Zeppelin’s former frontman
do that every night.”
You can hear the old snap, crackle and pow all over “Tall Cool One,” a high-tech rockabilly raver featuring ingeniously deployed computer samples of platinum Zeppelin wax like “Black Dog.” “Dazed and Confused” and “Whole Lotta Love.” At the end of “White, Clean and Neat.” Plant slips in a brief vocal reprise of the 1970 Zep blues “Since I’ve Been Loving You.” The album is also a Zeppelin reunion of sorts; Jimmy Page plays guitar on both “Tall Cool One” and the single “Heaven Knows.
As part of coming to terms with his past, Plant and the band have cooked up new versions of “Misty Mountain Hop,” “Trampled Underfoot,” “The Wanton Song” and “In the Evening” for theJohnstone says Plant’s reconciliation with history did not come easy. “We were working on ‘White, Clean and Neat,’ and I had this neat riff to go with it. He said, ‘But, aw, man, that’s‘ And I said to him, ‘But that’s what you are. You’re a blues singer.’ He’d denied that he was a blues singer for so long.
If nothing else, the Zeppelin revival has certainly loosened Robert Plant’s tongue. “If you had asked me a year ago about Led Zeppelin or my relationship with Pagey,” he says, “I’d have just beat around the bush, given you the runaround.” He smiles broadly. “But it feels okay to talk about it now.” Tall Cool One,” with its computer samples from “Black Dog” and “Whole Lotta Love,” is the first overt reference to Zeppelin you’ve made on record since the band split. Although the song was done with tongue firmly in cheek, a sense of affection for your past comes through.
We had a week together with Tony Thompson. This was the following January, ’86. The guy who’s now my tour manager was brought in to look after the drums, to help Tony Thompson leave Heathrow Airport and travel to this secret destination.Isn’t it crazy? “Secret destination.” It was just off the motorway near Peter Gabriel’s house in Bath. We took a village hall, filled it with parachutes to take all the angles and corners off the room and set up the equipment.
No, nothing. It was the most bristlingly embarrassing moment, to have all that will and not knowing what to play. Jonesy played keyboards, I played bass a bit. I feel regenerated singing them. I feel that power and simplicity, like “Misty Mountain Hop.” The lyrics are so hippie-dippie – “Lots of people sitting on the glass with flowers in their hair/Saying, ‘Hey, boy, do you want to score?’ ” It’s very hard to sing that now, but at the same time it’sI wouldn’t dream of it. I actually wouldn’t enjoy doing it. I could do it, I suppose, with Page now and again.We were working at Headley Grange, an old alms-house, with Ronnie Lane’s mobile recording truck.
Describe your immediate post-Zeppelin life, particularly coming to terms with John Bonham’s death in 1980.I don’t know what they thought or how strongly they thought it. But that’s exactly how I felt. Sometimes I still shout up there at that mass of blue and go, “That was not a very good trick.”It was devastating. It’s relative, isn’t it? All deaths before senility are senseless. All I could think was that there was a great big hole there.
I haven’t read the book. I read the end to see what the summary of the whole thing was, to see whether or not my solo career was mentioned. How much of your denial of Zeppelin in your early solo days was a byproduct of being embarrassed by the band’s reputation for X-rated road debauchery?But it’s true. There were so many things. Think about it – we spent so long in America. I can remember a stream of carpenters walking into a room as we were checking out. We’d be going out one way, and they’d be going in the other way, with a sign, CLOSED FOR REMODELING, being put on the door..
Suddenly I was without anybody from those days, holding the whole thing on my own. But we did well. I was so proud of the hard work, of the refusals to pander. There are enough guitarists out there now, leaning back with their tongues wagging, playing “Black Dog” every night. I’ve ferreted around, working incessantly, trying different things out. If I made a record tomorrow that sounded like parts of R.E.M.’sI also listen a lot. I don’t know whether Jimmy goes out and listens. It’s his business. But all he has to do is play guitar on a contemporary-sounding track, like “Heaven Knows,” and it sounds great.
Then, suddenly, we were side by side. And he didn’t quite like that. Occasionally I could feel it. If the shoulders were a little close, you could feel the flinch a bit. Especially if we were sitting at the same table and one woman went by and we both liked her. It was “Oh no, here we go.”You did put ‘Volume I’ on the EP.
They’re all different, aren’t they? I can’t tell you honestly whether Bon Jovi is better than anybody else. I know that the success ratio is fantastic. And I think that’s what counts to them. The aesthetics of the thing have nothing to do with it. What’s your opinion of producer Rick Rubin and what he did with the Led Zeppelin sound on the Beastie Boys’ album? He seems to be one of the few people trying to take that thing out on a different tangent.
There were some neat little moves, but I was stuck in the middle of them. Now, when I look back, I don’t get any sense of great achievement out of the fact that people still like it a lot. I get achievement out of the fact that it was good.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Robert Kraft Sex Spa Video Blocked Again, Prosecutors Lose AppealAnother huge victory in court for Robert Kraft ...
Read more »
UAE's nuclear power plant connects to the national grid in a major regional milestoneA reactor at the Arab world's first nuclear energy plant has connected to the UAE's power grid, as the oil-rich country works to diversify away from its reliance on fossil fuels.
Read more »
Trump says 'we'll look at' treating COVID with untested, toxic plantOleandrin has been pitched to the president on the recommendation of major supporter Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow.
Read more »
Netflix’s 'The Devil All The Time' Sees Robert Pattinson Finally Lose ItThe adaptation of Donald Ray Pollock's novel looks like it could be an award-worthy role for the Twilight star.
Read more »
A power plant carved out of a mountain in the Scottish Highlands gets £1 million upgradeThe planned works are set to take three years to complete.
Read more »