Led Zeppelin is widely regarded as one of the best bands to ever make music. Each member was praised as an expert in their chosen instrument, which meant that when they made music, they weren’t trapped into only dabbling in one genre.
The band displayed a healthy mix, leading to the progression of rock music and a style that nobody had heard before.
Even though a lot of the public was excited about the music Led Zeppelin was making, and record sales and tour numbers spoke for themselves on that front, they were also a band that found themselves at the centre of controversy. One of the major points of contention came from people saying that the band stole a lot of their material.
It was no secret that Led Zeppelin played a lot of covers; however, when they did this, they tended to make songs their own, adding a distinct twisted-down blues sound to the tracks. The vocals of Robert Plant and the outstanding guitar work of Jimmy Page were always exciting when it came to adding some unique elements to songs that already existed.
For instance, ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’ was a track that was initially written by Anne Bredon in the 1950s. Joan Baez covered the song first and it was released on her 1962 album Joan Baez in Concert, which is likely where Led Zeppelin might have heard it. They decided to deliver their own version of the song, which became one of the biggest tracks on their debut record.
Other covers that Led Zeppelin did were ‘You Shook Me’ and ‘Dazed and Confused’, not to mention ‘Whole Lotta Love’, where Plant lifted lyrics from the song ‘You Need Love’, which was initially written by Willie Dixon. The song was then made famous by Muddy Waters in 1962 and even more by Led Zeppelin.
Nobody was too famous for Led Zeppelin to take inspiration from either. One of the most notorious artists Robert Plant took lyrics from was Elvis Presley, as can be heard on their 1976 track ‘Candy Store Rock’. The song was released as a single for their album Presence, and while it didn’t chart, people who listened to it immediately picked out the lyrics, which Robert Plant took from a range of different Elvis songs.
A lot of people never batted an eye at Robert Plant lifting lyrics. It was seen by many as him paying homage to other artists that he liked by having them essentially collaborate with Led Zeppelin and have their words put onto a song that sounded largely different from the original. On the other hand, some people didn’t like Led Zeppelin taking lyrics and getting away with it.
For instance, Jimi Hendrix was always open about not being a huge fan of Led Zeppelin. “I don’t think much of Led Zeppelin,” he said. “I mean, I don’t think much about them.”
Carmine Appice, the drummer from Vanilla Fudge, recalls Jimi Hendrix speaking to him about Led Zeppelin. “Jimi Hendrix personally told me that he didn’t like Zeppelin because they were like excess baggage, and they stole from everybody,” Appice conclusively revealed. “’You Shook Me’ was on Jeff Beck’s record. ‘Dazed and Confused’ has a bit of Vanilla Fudge on it, and it has parts of ‘Beck’s Bolero’ in it. I think I was told by a member of the band that the ‘Good Times Bad Times’ riff came from Tim Bogart’s bass line.”
