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ROBERT PLANT: "THE WILD MAN OF BLUES FROM THE BLACK COUNTRY" COMES HOME


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GOLDMINE

Aug. 6, 1993, pp. 14+

Republished with permission from the author.

ROBERT PLANT: "THE WILD MAN OF BLUES

FROM THE BLACK COUNTRY" COMES HOME

by Ken Sharp

"Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove." Those immortal lyrics from Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" may seem banal on paper, yet when delivered with unparalleled passion and fury by Robert Plant, everyone goes home satisfied. In the annals of hard rock history no singer has been more imitated and revered than Robert Plant. Plant, with his long, unfurling golden tresses, bountiful charisma, sexual magnetism and unmistakable bluesy vocal acrobatics, was the perfect prototype for a hard rock singer.

The saga of Robert Anthony Plant began in the industrial town of Birmingham, England. Born August 20, 1948 in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England, Plant was the son of a civil engineer. Plant credits Terry Foster, a local white blues guitarist from Kidderminster, with turning him on to blues. Honing his burgeoning vocal chops at the Seven Stars Blues Club in Stourbridge, Plant ripped it up on such blues classics as "Got My Mojo Working." Hooked on the awe-inspiring sounds of blues masters Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters, Plant worked with a number of little-known groups such as the Delta Blues Band, the New Memphis Bluebreakers, the Black Snake Moan, Banned, Hobbstweedle, the Tennessee Teens, and the Crawling King Snakes.

Plant, known in his local environs as "The Wild Man Of Blues From The Black Country," later went on to form his own group, the Band Of Joy. Specializing in covers of many of Plant's favorite West Coast groups, including Moby Grape, Love, Buffalo Springfield and the Jefferson Airplane, the troupe also included Plant's long-time friend, drummer John Bonham.

During this period, Plant recorded several one-off CBS singles, including one with Birmingham-based group Listen (formerly the Tennessee Teens), a remake of the Young Rascals' "You Better Run." In 1967, Plant cut two solo singles for CBS Records, "Our Song" b/w "Laughing, Crying, Laughing" (which reportedly sold a measly 800 copies) and "Long Time Coming" b/w "I've Got A Secret." Additionally, Plant recorded a track called "Operator," which appeared on a double anthology album by British blues pioneer Alexis Korner. Slogging it out on the club circuit, it seemed Plant was headed nowhere fast.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Page, fresh from the breakup of the Yardbirds, was looking to put together the ultimate supergroup. The first addition to Page's dream was top session player John Paul Jones (Herman's Hermits/the Rolling Stones/the Yardbirds/Donovan) on bass. Page then went hunting for his vocalist. Legend has it that he first approached then-hot British blues-rocker Terry Reid to assume lead vocal duties for the soon- to-be-dubbed Led Zeppelin. Unable to take the job, Reid recommended a promising unknown singer named Robert Plant, who was then playing with Korner.

Just when it seemed this young, virile singer was destined to wallow in obscurity belting out the blues in the Midlands, Page rescued him, checking out this unknown sensation at a teacher's training college near Birmingham. Page was suitably knocked out, but not completely sold: he was a little perplexed that such an abundantly talented singer hadn't been discovered yet. But Page soon discovered, after inviting Plant back to his home, that he had found a kindred musical spirit. Ever the loyal friend, Plant recruited childhood pal John Bonham into the fledgling group, and Led Zeppelin was born, the name provided by punster Keith Moon of the Who.

From the opening raw notes of "Good Times, Bad Times" on from the band's self-titled debut album, issued in 1969, the music world was never the same. Led Zeppelin made their American debut in Denver, Colorado on December 26, 1968. In no time at all, Zeppelin went from being second on the bill to Vanilla Fudge to their undeniable status as America's premiere concert attraction and one of the most influential bands in rock.

Plant's creative role with Led Zeppelin, particularly on the songwriting front, was minimal at first; he didn't find his voice as a songwriter until penning the lyrics for the elegant "Thank You," a song written for then-wife Maureen. Plant's flowery poetic lyrics, best exemplified by "Kashmir" and "Stairway to Heaven," juxtaposed with the sonic assault of Page's lethal guitar riffs, proved the soundtrack for the '70s. At their peak, Zeppelin manager Peter Grant predicted in the May 1973 issue of FINANCIAL TIMES that the band would earn $30 million in the following year. The immense popularity of Led Zeppelin was so far-reaching that the daughters of then-U.S. President Gerald Ford told talk show host Dick Cavett that Zep was their favorite rock group.

A dizzying rapid-fire succession of sold-out tours, multi- platinum albums and a career that balanced equal doses of decadence and transcendent splendor, marked the career of Led Zeppelin. It was "Satyricon" come to life.

Yet just when it seemed everything the group touched turned to gold, a black web of tragedy enveloped the band. In August 1975, Plant and his wife were involved in a serious car accident while on vacation in Rhodes, Greece. A period of agonizing recuperation followed, with Plant recording all his lead vocals for the group's 1976 album "Presence" while on crutches. Then, to make matters worse, two years later, while on tour in New Orleans, Plant received the horrifying news that his beloved five-year-old son Karac had died. The group's U.S. tour was abruptly cancelled and Plant went into seclusion with his family.

It would be another year before the band regrouped to record the magnificent "In Through The Out Door" album. Issued in September 1979, the album would sadly prove to be the band's swan song. Having just completed a SRO European tour, Led Zeppelin was gearing up for their first live shows in America in over three years.

Sadly, the group never made the trek to the U.S. On September 25, 1980, drummer John Bonham was found dead at Jimmy Page's new home, the Old Mill House, in Mill Lane, Windsor, choking on his own vomit after a long night of hard drinking. Devastated, the band issued a press release which stated, "We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend and the deep respect we have for his family, together with the sense of individual harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were."

With Led Zeppelin a non-entity, Plant threw his heart and soul into his first solo album, "Pictures At Eleven," which was released in July 1982. Produced by Plant, the record burst with daring innovation and sheer electricity. A fierce declaration of purpose, it reaffirmed Plant's undying belief in rock'n'roll. It even included an affectionate nod to his former comrades with the Zeppelinesque "Burning Down One Side." Yet Plant was inexorably driven to create new music, not coast on the coattails of Zeppelin's signature sound.

It wouldn't be until the release of his second solo effort, 1983's "The Principle Of Moments" (his first album issued on his own record label, Es Paranza, distributed by Atlantic), that Plant returned to live performances. Supported by a band that comprised Robbie Blunt on lead guitar, keyboardist Jezz Woodroffe, bassist Paul Martinez and guest drummer Phil Collins, Plant's first solo tour began on August 29th, 1983. A side project, the retro Honeydrippers, found "Percy" in eternal '50s mode, belting out much loved gems from his youth. The album found Plant teaming up once again with Jimmy Page, along with such other notables as Jeff Beck and Nile Rodgers.

Surprisingly, the mini-album "The Honeydrippers, Vol. 1" was a smash. Hitting #4 in BILLBOARD in 1984, the LP sported a cache of engaging tracks, among them the #25 "Rocking At Midnight" and a splendid rendition of the Phil Phillips chestnut "Sea Of Love," which reached #3 in BILLBOARD, higher than any Zeppelin single had ever placed (although, admittedly, Led Zeppelin was the consummate album group).

Other extra-curricular vinyl exploits include the one-off Crawling King Snakes, an incarnation which included Plant and drummer Phil Collins, who recorded a cut for the "Porky's Revenge" soundtrack. Plant's most esoteric and underrated solo work, "Shaken N' Stirred," followed in June 1985. Featuring the semi-hit "Little By Little," the album, while not a major success, was an unequivocal artistic triumph.

The ghost of Led Zeppelin still haunted Plant's career, though. Five years after their last performance together, Led Zeppelin, with the addition of drummers Tony Thompson and the ubiquitous Phil Collins, reunited on July 13, 1985 for the worldwide benefit event Live-Aid. With only one hour of rehearsal time, Led Zeppelin hit the stage at Philadelphia's J.F.K. Stadium to the rollicking, brutal sounds of "Rock And Roll." All good intentions aside, the performance was not up to par, marred by Page's out of tune guitar and Plant's hoarse voice, ravaged by weeks of live solo dates.

Yet Led Zeppelin's appearance at Live-Aid brought the former band mates closer. Unity between Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones was so strong that the band even convened in January 1986 in Bath, England to work on new material for a new Led Zeppelin album. Sadly, the project quickly fell apart.

Plant, blessed with a spanking new band including keyboardist Phil Johnstone, returned with a bang with the "Now And Zen" album, his most successful solo opus to date. The album wholeheartedly embraced the Zeppelin myth on such tracks as "Tall Cool One" (featuring Zep samples from "Whole Lotta Love" and later used in a Coca-Cola commercial, much to the consternation of Plant's devout following), "White, Clean And Neat" and "Heaven Knows." To cap off the Zeppelin aura, Jimmy Page added scorching guitar solos to "Tall Cool One" and "Heaven Knows."

Plant returned the favor by singing and co-writing "The Only One" on Page's debut solo album, "Outrider." Much to the thrill of Plant-o-philes everywhere, when he hit the stage in 1988 a generous helping of Led Zeppelin songs now occupied the set. Prior to this tour, Plant had steered clear of playing any tunes from the hallowed Zep canon of material.

In the midst of Plant's 1988 solo tour, Led Zeppelin reunited once again, this time with John Bonham's son Jason behind the drum kit. The occasion was Atlantic Records' 40th Anniversary Concert, held at New York's Madison Square Garden on May 14, 1988. Despite several problems with the sound, the band ran through a ragged yet charming 30-minute set which included such timeless gems as "Heartbreaker," "Misty Mountain Hop," Plant favorite "Kashmir," "Whole Lotta Love" and "Stairway To Heaven." With a cover story in ROLLING STONE, platinum album and SRO tour, Robert Plant was once again atop the hard rock fiefdom, right where he belonged.

1990's "Manic Nirvana" album followed up the overwhelming success of "Now And Zen," offering a sumptuous wealth of adventurous and raucous cuts including the pulverizing "Hurting Kind (I've Got My Eyes On You)" and a frenetic cover of Kenny Dino's "Your Ma Said You Cried In Your Sleep Last Night." Another whirlwind tour followed, this time taking in many small towns across America. Plant went so far as dubbing the jaunt "The Rand McNally Tour."

June 1993 saw the release of Plant's sixth solo album, "Fate Of Nations." From the mesmerizing Middle-Eastern intrigue of "Calling To You" to the pastoral acoustic textures of his cover of Tim Hardin's "If I Were A Carpenter," "Fate Of Nations" is Plant's most assured and effortless recording to date. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Plant hasn't lost his passion for rock'n'roll. Endlessly exploring new boundaries and possibilities within his new music and continually reinventing himself, Plant continues to be a vital force in the music world today.

The unforgettable legacy of Robert Plant's work as a member of Led Zeppelin and as a solo artist speaks for itself--loudly. While Plant imitators such as Whitesnake, Great White and Kingdom Come are among the innumerable acts that have haunted the airwaves with their unflagging desire to replicate every nuance of his vocal style, there's only one Robert Plant. He is a true rock original, unwilling to live in the shadow of his former band, and unrelenting in his quest for artistic truth and transcendence.

* * *

GOLDMINE: When did you first realize you had made it in America with Led Zeppelin?

ROBERT PLANT: When Linda Winter said she'd come back to the hotel I knew that something was going to happen. The earth was going to move and stuff and hey, presto, a second later it did.

GOLDMINE: But seriously...

ROBERT PLANT: On a serious level I don't think that I can remember. Every town that we played in viewed us with a kind of strange distance initially when we started playing. We were supporting Iron Butterfly or whoever it was, and what we were doing wasn't particularly that different to Cream or other people but the structure and actual presentation of the thing was quite a bit different, although the weight of the thing was similar.

So I guess there was a kind of strange period of observation and then suddenly we found... We started in Denver, Colorado on December 26th, 1968 and by the time mid-January had arrived, [due to] the power of the underground radio--the equivalent of college radio or whatever now--the word had spread and we got this remarkable kind of anticipation, which was phenomenal. It was something I obviously could never have anticipated.

GOLDMINE: Do you get a bigger rush hearing your new songs on the radio or the older stuff?

ROBERT PLANT: Well, the biggest thrill is to hear the current material. However, I'm always proud. It's such a gas to be in this country. There's such a kind of bump when you start talking about music here. The reaction to music, whether it's Led Zeppelin or not, is incredible and it makes me so happy.

GOLDMINE: How did you approach your latest album, "Fate Of Nations"?

ROBERT PLANT: I brought the whole record and the whole attitude really from the relief zone, that kind of place where you pull in when you're really tired and you get some new power. I think at the end of the "Manic Nirvana" tour I went straight back to England. I played with some major weighty guys like Faith No More, the Black Crowes and Alannah Myles and I really wanted to go someplace and pick up the thread. I thought that my music was powerful. I thought that "Manic Nirvana" was very edgy, very aggressive and very demanding on songs like "She Said," "Watchin' You" and "Anniversary."

I was really quite agitated as a guy. But when I got home I was satiated. I had my fill. I'd done it all. I'd sung and sung and sung. I'd gone to Muskogee and come home. I was on the tour that time forgot, with Faith No More opening up for me in a school gym. But I got home and started leaning back and wanted to know what do I wind down to and, you know, it can only be honest music, non-compromised and non-contrived.

So I found those old records of mine like Moby Grape and my memory started moving back to a kind of pastoral time when I wasn't trying too hard. I wasn't trying to keep up with anybody. I was just singing and writing lyrics like "Over The Hills And Far Away" and "Misty Mountain Hop," which, now they're cute. But then that was the best I could do. So I went back to the misty mountains. I drove into the hills and stayed in little tiny places and got up in the morning before the sun came up and hung out and just absorbed it all again.

And I found that it was all still there, all that inspiration. In fact, it's like a well, it doesn't dry up. It's just sort of an area that really inspires me so my whole music on this album comes from that sort of finding that easy path, that natural energy area that made me start writing the lyrics the way I've written them and developing a thing with new guys, to a degree.

GOLDMINE: Is the band pretty much the same as it's been for the last few records?

ROBERT PLANT: What you don't see from the credits on the record is that there's four guys drumming. There's Richard Thompson, Kevin MacMichael from Cutting Crew, Francis Dunnery from It Bites, Doug Boyle, who was with us before but he's not now. There's me playing guitar. I played sitar on one track that's not on the album.

GOLDMINE: Is it going to be a B-side?

ROBERT PLANT: I don't know. It's called "Hey Jane." It's really cute. It's like a hippie anthem.

GOLDMINE: Do you play a real sitar or a coral sitar?

ROBERT PLANT: Oh, a real sitar! I bought one in India and took it all the way back to England. I even bought a seat for it on the plane. I'd been recording with these Indian guys recently on "Network News" and "Calling To You." I got into the whole kind of Indian musician thing in England.

GOLDMINE: Back with Led Zeppelin, you and Jimmy Page were quite into Indian music. What led you into that initially?

ROBERT PLANT: It's another blues form. It's got all those blues notes (imitates Indian music sounds). It's got all those quarter tonic wails. It's great.

GOLDMINE: When you start writing for a record, are you writing solely for yourself or do you have the audience in mind as well?

ROBERT PLANT: Yeah, I have written for the audience. That's why with the "Now And Zen" album when I used "Tall Cool One" and all the Zep samples and stuff, there was a sense of humor in that. The sense of humor had to be a continuum. You don't take yourself too seriously but I did want desperately to be up there among the big boys 'cause I am a big boy.

But, you know, this time and probably last time too with "Manic Nirvana" with a different music form, this is for me. I don't give a hoot about anybody else, really. I'm talking this up now because I want it to be a success and I believe there's great songs here that mustn't be buried. It's for me. It's for me and it's for the guys who wrote it and it's for the people who want to hear "If I Were A Carpenter." It's beautiful.

GOLDMINE: What led you to cover Tim Hardin's "If I Were A Carpenter" on the new record?

ROBERT PLANT: Yeah, "Carpenter." Strong stuff, beautiful and so sweet. Some of my friends say, "Wow, you haven't sung like that since Zep or since very early Zep." It's not innocence, it's just inspired. I was the most impressionable English would-be hippie. I was like a weekend hippie. I thought that the insinuation of the music then was very honest and there wasn't a rock god in sight. There was nobody strutting around in a very expensive suit pretending that it's all new. It was all great stuff and people were inventing themselves and then moving along and doing some new shit that nobody ever heard of. In the middle of it all was Hendrix, the real king.

GOLDMINE: Did you ever see Hendrix live?

ROBERT PLANT: Yeah. I saw him in a club in New York. We used to jam there at night. I got a twinkle in my eye because I was there and I watched Bonzo [John Bonham, the late Zeppelin drummer] play unbelievably with Hendrix and Buddy Miles. But that was what you do. On the last tour I used to go out with the Black Crowes to clubs when we were touring in Canada. They were the only people who would let me play guitar on stage so we went out at night and I sort of became Neil Young, playing those kind of weird solos.

GOLDMINE: There's an innate sense of spirituality which pervades "Fate Of Nations," especially on "I Believe," which sports some gorgeous falsetto singing.

ROBERT PLANT: The whole thing is supposed to be lifting people up a bit without doing it by torment or without doing it by insinuating some kind of macho deal. I just suddenly became Glen Campbell on "I Believe" (laughs). It was such a cute move, the chords were, and I wanted to not have too many words, just something minimal. My best bit of singing on the record, I think, is at the end of "Come Into My Life," where the girl stops singing and the drums give way and you've just got a hurdy gurdy churning away. Maybe it's a snare drum, I can't remember.

Some of the vocal phrasing on the end of "Great Spirit" is great. It's unusual. I never thought I would sing like that but I guess I was visited for a minute.

GOLDMINE: Do you still surprise yourself as a songwriter?

ROBERT PLANT: I think the vocal phrasing on "Calling To You" is really strange. It's unusual because it's crossing an unusual time signature and it's a very, very tough, an uncompromising song with that violin solo at the end by Nigel Kennedy. That and the vocal and chorus on "Memory Song." Just the invention of the melody line. Not how great it is but just it was a neat thing to come up with.

GOLDMINE: Since becoming a solo artist you've certainly become tremendously involved top to bottom with a song's creation and final version on a record. When you come up with a song now can you visualize how it's going to sound fully produced?

ROBERT PLANT: Not really, no. Halfway through this record I got the plot. And I went, this is it. I want to use a lot of acoustic stuff, mandolin. I wanted to give it a trademark. I remember when "Zep III" [the "Led Zeppelin III" album] came out and everybody went, "Aww." And then we carried it along with "Battle Of Evermore" and "Stairway," that acoustic/electric marriage and the abstract lyrical content. I think that it's a kind of landscape of sound and color that I really have been trying to develop here and still keep it in the main pop idiom, but not lying on my back and opening my legs too much.

GOLDMINE: That brings up the point that there's almost a mythical view of Robert Plant the blond god with his shirt off, strutting around on stage. You're probably embarrassed to look at the pictures!

ROBERT PLANT: No, no! It was a weird thing to do but it was hot at those gigs. It was tongue-in-cheek. We were always giggling. Basically what happened was, I left some shirts in the hotel room and then so did Iggy (Pop). But about all these other guys who left their shirts at the hotel, I don't know. It was part of the kind of obvious macho strut that went with singing.

GOLDMINE: There was always a little wink on your part, where others bought into the macho thing completely.

ROBERT PLANT: Yeah, but we also wrote songs that were buying into it, like "Hot Dog" and "D'yer Maker," "Down By The Seaside." There was loads of stuff that came through, like "Black Country Woman," "Boggie With Stu," loads of bits and pieces that were around, saying that this is also quite funny. "Your Ma Said You Cried In Your Sleep Last Night."

GOLDMINE: "Wearin' And Tearin'"?

ROBERT PLANT: No, "Wearin' And Tearin'" wasn't funny. It was a definite slam. There was nothing funny about it, at least lyrically and emotionally for me--I was furious. It's all about drug abuse. The whole song is just my abhorrence that the use of the drugs distorted the joy of the music.

GOLDMINE: Nowadays in the rock world, new hard rock singers are often compared to you. Back when you started out in the '60s what singers were you compared with in the press?

ROBERT PLANT: In America then, the whole pop scene had only just transcended from the English post-Beatle boom. So the West Coast music, you had [Jim] Morrison and the Doors and we were definitely not alike at all. And as far as other front men go can I say that the Airplane had Grace Slick, Big Brother had Janis, Country Joe was a bit of a struggle to do that one. So I don't know, I suppose it was [Roger] Daltrey. There was nobody, really, who was actually doing that strut stuff. Daltrey used to spin his microphone around and around and around, which I thought was really cool. I tried it a couple of times with disastrous results. I got arrested in some state for knocking a cop out.

GOLDMINE: Listening back to some of your older songs, do they take on a different meaning for you?

ROBERT PLANT: No--very nice question--but no because the songs were very much of a pop sort of thing. The thing about English pop around the time you're discussing is that it wasn't cerebral. The lyrical content didn't have the abstractions. That's why I was so turned on by [Love's vocalist] Arthur Lee, Buffalo Springfield, with "For What It's Worth." I was using my head. Head music, man. Underground. When I was 17 making records, we weren't thinking like that. I hadn't written any poetry or anything then. I didn't know how to combine abstraction and ambiguity and epithets, stuff that you can't really say what it's all about. I mean, what in heaven's name is "Stairway" all about? I don't know.

GOLDMINE: Sometimes it's best to leave the interpretation open...

ROBERT PLANT: I actually do know what it's about. But if I wake up and ask myself the question, I don't know because it's always shifting--the idea of what it's all about. So I couldn't write like that then. I was a kid and I just wanted to go (sings), "Hey, hey mama"...because that one I do know, that's easy.

GOLDMINE: By the way, have you heard Tori Amos's version of "Whole Lotta Love"?

ROBERT PLANT: Yeah. She's great, isn't she?

GOLDMINE: She told me how much she loved you, growing up.

ROBERT PLANT: And I love her...and I told her I loved her.

GOLDMINE: Tori said when she was age 13 you were the man she wanted to lose her virginity to...

ROBERT PLANT: But how disgusting that she waits all these years to tell me that. She told me that and I said, "What a fine time to tell me," because she's older than that now. I said to her, "Don't let a few years come through your wishes and my ability" (laughs). But she ran away to Germany and left me standing all alone with my award in my hand 'cause I met her at the Q (U.K. rock magazine) award ceremony. I saw her and said I want to be her friend so I lost 20 pounds and told her I'd never leave her.

GOLDMINE: On the whole, are you satisfied with your vocal work on your solo albums?

ROBERT PLANT: Every time I make a record I make it on the back of doing nothing but writing. So I go into the studio and maybe I've only sung for an hour a week before. So I've got to try and get my voice in some kind of slick order. I never do it the right way around. So I've never got the best vocal performance on a record. It's crazy. There's so many singers I know in the same position. You should actually go and work out somewhere but I can't stand in a field and sing, "There's a lady who's sure." But do you know what I mean? It's hard work.

GOLDMINE: When you began playing music and singing, at one point did you get the bug and say, "This is it, music is going to be my lifeblood"?

ROBERT PLANT: What happened was I stood in for a guy who had a bad throat when I was in school and my friends were in a band and they were doing all this kind of Jackie DeShannon stuff like "Needles and Pins" and all that, 'cause the Searchers had all these hits. It was all pretty static music, sort of maroon suits with black velvet collars, a bit like the Beatles in Hamburg.

Anyway, this music was a bit too stiff, a bit too anally retentive. There was something up their bottoms. They were just standing there like the Searchers did. And I went, "What about 'Got My Mojo Working' by Muddy Waters." They said, "Well, what's that?" And I said, "Play a 12-bar in Eat This tempo." And I counted it out and started singing it and soon as I started being able to wail with my voice rather than stick with a straighter melody. Then the heavens opened and that was it. I thought this was great, I could go (sings) "I Can't Quit You Baby." I can bluff this or I can mean it or I can make it sail or fly or dive or stand still.

GOLDMINE: Can you recall the first time you made money from singing?

ROBERT PLANT: We used to get about eight pounds a night supporting all kinds of major American acts. That was quite later on. I must have been 16 then and we'd play in dance halls where Solomon Burke would come through or Wilson Pickett. When we used to play the festivals in the late '60s and early '70s with Zep those guys were still hanging around on these big shows. So you'd have the Doors, Janis, Zep, the Youngbloods, Wilson Pickett, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Creedence Clearwater. This would be one show. Tommy James. All on the same bill.

GOLDMINE: There's not a day goes by that I don't wish I had the chance to have seen some of those shows first-hand.

ROBERT PLANT: Well, everybody who's into music wants to have been there at that time. My deal is that I'm too young, too. [Jimmy] Page is a bit older than me and had been over here with the Yardbirds so he'd seen all that West Coast stuff.

GOLDMINE: From that West Coast sound, what group do you most wish you had seen?

ROBERT PLANT: I never saw Moby Grape. I'd have loved to have seen them. I'd like to have seen Buffalo Springfield because I think their material was kind of heady. They were doing stuff like "Flying On The Ground Is Wrong," "Broken Arrow," "Bluebird," "Expecting To Fly." "Broken Arrow" is brilliant. I thought, "Wow, this band is amazing." Neil Young has carried on all the way through from that point in time. All the way through, never flinches, straight ahead. Always moving: "Zuma," "Rust Never Sleeps." Tireless and brilliant and animated and Scorpio and fantastic.

GOLDMINE: Keith Richards spoke of his desire for rock'n'roll to evolve and not be solely a music for youth. You can be older and still vital playing like Muddy Waters until you drop. Do you feel that way?

ROBERT PLANT: I saw Keith play just before Christmas in England and he was absolutely brilliant. He had Steve Jordan on drums. It was fantastic and he was so happy. And when the Stones go out again he won't be that happy. And Jagger's made a record that could stand up and he could have stood up with his record but he's not going to do anything and it's mad. To spend so much time doing that and to find in the end that you just say, "Hey, that's it, now I'm going back there."

Keith is so accomplished and so there--and the way he played his chords and he kind of brought the plectrum up in his right hand. It was tremendous. I was so pleased. I've never really had much to do with the guy. We didn't have any affinities back then. I really wanted somebody to wail the blues in that band like Otis Rush might have done. We were kind of rubbing along like this in the same space but miles away, in the same margin but different parts of the page. I'm so pleased Keith has made those two [solo] records. They're so refreshing in the middle of all the kind of trumped-up pop, which is now starting to fade.

GOLDMINE: Just the fact that a band like R.E.M. can be popular is healthy.

ROBERT PLANT: For me, with the time that I've spent writing songs and performing, it would be ridiculous if the only thing that I could do is just stand there in some aging rock pose and say "Hey, this is what I do." You know what I mean? The thing is, you don't have to do all these macho things to appeal to people. There is a certain amount of style and anti-style to all aspects of commercial pop music...that you become "happening" by accident but the accident becomes contrived as soon as it's realized. There's very little spontaneity about it.

The music that you love and that I love came by sheer accident and was performed in an environment where nobody expected... Nobody expected the Electric Prunes to have their first hit--or The Thirteenth Floor Elevators--so really, a lot of those times were much more honest. I think no matter how unusual or how the scene is changing--it has, thank goodness--and there's a lot of rock puppets now who must be sitting in their dressing rooms wondering what the walkup's going to be like at the gig, if anybody's going to show. That can only be good because they've been there too long. They went to the wardrobe and pulled out Page's clothes and put them on.

You've got to say something and keep it positive and also a little bit of an imagination comes in handy, a bit of originality. But it still becomes a bit of a contrivance as well because anti-hip becomes hip. And you see the way videos are structured and you know we're all still going for the same thing; it's just making sure the way you keep your dignity and you make it fresh.

GOLDMINE: You once said the "Now And Zen" album closed a chapter for you and the "Manic Nirvana" album opened a new one. What did you mean by that?

ROBERT PLANT: It's the end and the beginning. "Now And Zen" just really showed the possibilities with tracks like "White, Clean And Neat" against "Why," two radically different tracks on an album that is different in every area. I'd broken the pain barrier in the writing capacity with new people. I was able to look at them and make mistakes. Everybody could make the biggest mistakes ever. It didn't matter about me being anybody special. The whole game was up and a new game had begun and it was great. I can't think of doing anything else because this is so formative.

GOLDMINE: One of your most memorable solo videos was for "I've Got My Eyes On You," with the professional wrestlers. It was real surreal and strange.

ROBERT PLANT: That was the idea of the guy who did the video. He was the guy who did the original Zep covers way back. He was from Hipgnosis. He did "Zep II," "Zep III," "Houses Of The Holy," "Physical Graffiti," and all that. "Principle Of Moments." He did the "Heaven Knows" video in Morocco and stuff, and "Big Log" and the "In The Mood" video as well. We just make silly films.

GOLDMINE: What was your first stab at writing lyrics? Was it "Thank You" from "Led Zeppelin II"?

ROBERT PLANT: No. It was for "Good Times, Bad Times." Songwriting can be a cleansing or at least it allows me to say what I want to say without me sort of saying, "My baby, she done left me, oh shit." Or, "I wish my baby would done leave me."

GOLDMINE: A lot of the '50s stuff does have great simplistic lyrics.

ROBERT PLANT: Oh yeah. "Mystery Train," great. Little Junior's Blue Flames, 1951.

GOLDMINE: Speaking of '50s music, I know you're a huge Elvis Presley fan. How did you get involved in [the tribute charity album] "The Last Temptation Of Elvis"?

ROBERT PLANT: It's nothing to do with liking Elvis, and in fact in a way the title is not that good for Elvis but it's great for charity. [british journalist] Roy Carr I know very well. He's [british music paper] NME's musicologist and freak and a good friend. He approached me and asked me if I wanted to do an Elvis tune from the movies and I didn't know whether to do something like "Viva Las Vegas" or "Do The Clam" or "Slicing Sam" or "Did You Ever Get One Of Those Days." I picked "Party" because I wanted to make it into a psychobilly kind of thing, and I used a guy from Johnny Kid and the Pirates on guitar named Mick Green. Have you heard it?

GOLDMINE: Oh, yeah.

ROBERT PLANT: It's great. I think Holly Johnson's version is awful. That's awful. It's so cheesy, it's terrible. But there's plenty of room for cheese.

GOLDMINE: Didn't Led Zeppelin meet Elvis?

ROBERT PLANT: It happened because we were selling tickets faster than he was and he wanted to know why and who are these people. That was basically what he wanted to know. But he'd got a friend from Germany from the army days, a kid I think he'd adopted who was a Zep freak. So he was there and we all went to the hotel and met him and had a great time.

I can't really talk in great detail about it, it would take hours. But the great thing about the whole meeting was that Elvis's sense of humor was sharp as a razor and his actual street sensitivity was really fine-tuned. But he was surrounded, as everybody knows, by a kind of sugar-coated existence. If we could have taken him out of the hotel with us and said, "C'mon, we'll take you down to some den of iniquity that we know just down the strip," he would have been fine. He could have been rescued.

The funniest thing about the whole night, apart from the fact that he stayed with us for two hours and he normally only saw people for 10 minutes because we were all having a great time, is that our manager, Peter Grant, who weighed about 360 pounds at the time, walked in and sat down, but not looking properly, and he ended up sitting straight on Elvis's dad's lap, which was hilarious because he nearly broke Vernon's legs.

So it was a good way to start the evening. We just talked about Elvis impersonators and Zeppelin impersonators. We didn't know it was going to happen then but we said it might. We sang together, it was great because Zeppelin said, "We don't do soundchecks very often and when we do they're very disgusting because we only do your songs," and he said, "Oh, yeah, which ones do you like?" And I said, "I like (sings), 'Treat me like a fool, treat me mean and cruel but love me.'"

So we go in and say goodbye and it's an hour later and we've had a drink and a laugh and I'm in the corridor getting to the elevator and Elvis calls me back and he sang it to me down the corridor. He sang the first bit and there's me singing the answers to him. It was great! It's like he should have came away with us or someone else and gone away from all those wallies.

GOLDMINE: Tell us about some of your post-Zeppelin appearances with Jimmy Page. First off, what are your recollections of [the 1985 charity concert] Live-Aid?

ROBERT PLANT: We weren't together. I was hoarse. Page's roadie had just took the guitar out of the case and just didn't tune it up so it was terrible, really. Now, of course, we should have done it but in a way we had to be the tools for everybody's desires. That's the thing about a reunion, is that you end up being more for people's property. Your decisions are always based around other people's emotions. You can't live life and operate just on your own selfishness but at the same time you don't have to be a slave to it all.

And I suddenly saw myself up there reigniting all the legends and dreams. Golum the medieval one was there and Strider and Gandalf and the Butter Queen and the Chicago Plaster Casters and everybody was there all put back together again and I grinned because I could see it all like a never-ending journey.

GOLDMINE: How about [the] Knebworth [Festival in England] when Jimmy Page joined you for several numbers?

ROBERT PLANT: It worked well because I was playing with my band and Jimmy joined me in the situation where everything was covered. We knew what we were doing, we knew it would sound good. We'd taken all the physical and logical efforts to make it sound good in a modern arena rock'n'roll situation. And we tuned up. It had to be right. It was a case of putting the story straight for Jimmy as well because he didn't sound good the last two times [Live Aid and Atlantic Records' 40th Anniversary concert in New York] 'cause he had a f--king dumb road manager who he just couldn't get rid of. You can't have a career destroyed by a fit of nerves and a bad roadie. So it was really good.

GOLDMINE: What's the writing process like with [band member] Phil Johnstone?

ROBERT PLANT: The way it works is it's very quick. You just say "Public Enemy, think about it," and then there it comes. The thing about it being premeditated is that it is premeditated but it's a little extravaganza. It's four minutes of like a ludicrous department over here swinging around to some acoustic stuff which could never be premeditated. I mean, a song like "Liar's Dance," it's impossible to get too technical or career-oriented about something like that.

GOLDMINE: What was the first song you wrote with Phil Johnstone?

ROBERT PLANT: "Tall Cool One." In one afternoon we wrote that and "White, Clean And Neat." Not bad for an afternoon's work. I'm not a great songwriter per se. I hadn't ever been eloquent enough to write lyrically about political problems or my feelings or anything like that, but I feel I'm probably touching on the Alan Freed syndrome, something really close to my heart, rock'n'roll roots and the kind of misinterpretation by the authorities and stuff.

GOLDMINE: Speaking of rock'n'roll roots, are the Honeydrippers [Plant's short-lived post-Zeppelin rockabilly/R&B experiment] finished?

ROBERT PLANT: I don't want to bring back the Honeydrippers for years yet, and when I do I'd like to be doing it in a very rock'n'roll way. The thing is, if I use those elements and bring them into what I do anyway, then that satisfies my yen.

GOLDMINE: One of your favorite recordings is "Love Me" by the Phantom. Who's the man behind the mask?

ROBERT PLANT: They say it was Pat Boone's kid brother but I don't think it was. I did an interview in New York and a guy sent me a Phantom album. I haven't played it yet but I will soon. What I liked about it was that it was so ramshackle and everything was so over-affected that you had to search to find out what the f--- was going on inside the song. In the middle of it all there's a radical singer huffing and puffing and swaggering and swirling and twirling his hips and grinding himself into infinity, who now drives a truck somewhere in Illinois, probably. The Meteors did a version of it, a psycho-billy version, but it ain't so good.

GOLDMINE: What's the best rumor you've ever heard about yourself?

ROBERT PLANT: Hah! That I stabbed somebody in the Atlanta airport and I was arrested. I read it in the local newspapers in England; that was a funny one. But the usual one is like I'm having a love affair with somebody from the Bangles or something like that.

GOLDMINE: Fairly recently a collection came out in England with a newly discovered Band of Joy [Plant's pre-Zeppelin band] track that was found. What can you tell me about it?

ROBERT PLANT: There are several Band of Joy tracks that I've got. I think the one on that record is called "Adriatic Sea View." Actually, it's a version of "Sweet Mary Blues" by Leadbelly. That's the song Leadbelly wrote for Governor Pat O'Neef after he [Leadbelly] was jailed for murder, and he sang it to the judge and the guy let him out from jail and paroled him. It's great, it's ridiculous.

GOLDMINE: One of your most underrated albums was "Shaken N' Stirred." How do you assess it today?

ROBERT PLANT: It was some kind of real milestone and masterpiece, probably more in terms of musicianship more than anything. It wasn't a commercial record and we were lucky to get the kind of radio reaction we got. People did actually enjoy it to a degree. I toured with it and that was the last tour I did with the other band. I've stopped denying things from the past. I've kind of cleansed myself of all those problems.

GOLDMINE: "Heaven Knows" is one of your most popular solo songs yet you didn't write it. How did you find the song?

ROBERT PLANT: That was one of the 110 demos I heard for the "Now And Zen" album. What attracted me to the song was the kind of mood and the drama and the whole lure of the song. It's a sexy song.

When they took the structure of "Heaven Knows" and they played it to me, it's "Kashmir." The chord progression, if you slide down and play it at a different tempo, it's "Kashmir."

And I said, "You bastards! What thieves!" And they said, "Yeah, and you didn't thieve?" So we thieve together now. All the kind of love of Led Zeppelin and that thing is confined to one or two areas of the musical sensibility department. What I'm trying to do is trying to live life without Zep. "Now And Zen" was a very important record because it does have all the Plant/Zeppelin elements without Zeppelin, but with contemporary computers chattering, drum samples, and it's a ballsy record.

GOLDMINE: Jimmy Page plays a great solo on that.

ROBERT PLANT: The studio afternoon with Jimmy could have been a lot more relaxed. Everyone from everywhere in the building came and were kind of climbing off the walls as he played over the top of the song. The session took about three hours for him to do two solos. Most of the time we were hampered by the fact that everybody was so keen. There were people showing up, tour managers who were just going off to work with Yes who suddenly turned up to say goodbye. It was very funny, clamorous and it could have been a bit more comfortable.

GOLDMINE: You returned the favor when you appeared on "The Only One" from Jimmy Page's "Outrider" solo album.

ROBERT PLANT: "The Only One" is humorous from my angle because I called it "The Only One." I had to call it that. In exchange for his endeavors on my record I said I'd sing a song, but he omitted to tell me that it hadn't been completely written yet. So he gave me the backing track and I went, "Oh, I don't hear anything." And he said, "No, man, that's for you." And I thought, well, that's a bit of emotional blackmail there because I was in the middle of making my own record, but I took it home. (recites some of lyrics:) "It's all it fits, it's all that ever really, really was and who could resist because you're the only one." It's funny but of course it's very serious.

GOLDMINE: Twenty years after Led Zeppelin played London's famed club the Marquee you returned to play there as a solo act. What was that like for you?

ROBERT PLANT: I was petrified. I mean, going back and playing somewhere which is a bit bigger than my dining room is a bit of an odd choice to do. But I wanted to do it because I have to distance myself to a degree from the big event. Ten weeks at Wembley, the Dire Straits approach, is wonderful. If I can ever aspire to it and develop and regain an audience properly instead of meandering around on the perimeter of rock'n'roll saying, "I'm the king of anti-pop," if I could do that then that's great. But if I could do it so it's not so much like going to work. I think a lot of musicians tend to make it going to work almost, and I don't do that.

GOLDMINE: Being a member of the, quote, legendary Led Zeppelin, have there been exceedingly high expectations placed on you as a solo artist?

ROBERT PLANT: Sure. See, media and my approach to my career, a lot of reporters don't think or do their homework. They think, "Oh, he was in Led Zeppelin and we'll ask questions about him going back." And really, the media keeps playing on the fact that it could reform. Somebody could rebuild Stonehenge but it's not gonna happen. Like Spinal Tap. I mean, wouldn't it be just like that, everybody's granddads going out on tour again getting lost looking for the stage.

GOLDMINE: Obviously you saw the movie "This Is Spinal Tap." I ask a lot of musicians to share their most "Tappish" touring experiences. Do any come to mind?

ROBERT PLANT: Well, you know the one about getting lost on the way to the stage? That's where they got it from, I'm sure. A lot of that stuff is from when we toured with the Fudge [Vanilla Fudge]. We did get lost. We used to play Baltimore Municipal Auditorium or whatever it was and there was a way under the street from the hotel to the gig where you could actually go on this path under the road. We wound up in some bloody kitchen where some guy went (imitates drunken guy with American accent), "Hey, man, have you come for the rubbish?" I said, "No, do I look like I'm dressed for rubbish collecting? I've come to give it out."

So anyway, all those things, loads of things. Richard Cole, who was the tour manager in Zep... In those days we traveled in a station wagon on the first or second tour of America. That's the best way to travel and also you could communicate. It got a little harder later. We were in San Francisco looking for the Fillmore. We were down somewhere by Fisherman's Wharf in the fog in this Oldsmobile cruiser. Me and Bonham fooling around in the back and Jimmy saying, "Close the window. My hair, my hair!" (laughs). Cole was backing up and suddenly the car wasn't going anywhere but he was accelerating really hard and backed up on the capstan, those things that they tie up the boats with. Had he missed that by nine inches either side we would have reversed quite merrily into the San Francisco Bay.

Ricardo [Cole] could never find anything. He never knew where anything was. So this kind of information he gave to these various people who've written books is phenomenal because if he couldn't find his way around a town he'd been to 400 times how could he remember all this stuff with such clarity and dialogue as well?

GOLDMINE: I guess if you treat it as a fictional story with some basis in fact it's okay.

ROBERT PLANT: Yeah, well, the fact is that the people were there and they don't say anything now. It's easy to talk like that 'cause there's nobody going to refute it.

GOLDMINE: While we're spinning weird tales, what were some of the weirdest concert bills you've been part of?

ROBERT PLANT: Woody Herman played with Zeppelin, an odd combination. We played with Roland Kirk at Winterland in San Francisco. He played three instruments at the same time. It was that time though. John Paul Jones was experimenting in one corner and Roland Kirk was playing three instruments in the other. Some strange stuff.

GOLDMINE: Paul McCartney has fans of his work with Wings who aren't too aware of the Beatles. You must have some big Robert Plant solo fans who judge you on your work today, not the past with Zeppelin. How does that make you feel?

ROBERT PLANT: It's alright. I don't have to compete with one part of my career with the other or worry too much about the attention factor because I'm doing this anyway. And I'm doing it whether people like it or not. I'm very proud of the whole Zep thing because I've now grown up and I can look back at it without intimidating my career.

GOLDMINE: One of my favorite headphone songs as a kid was "What Is And Should Never Be." It was a mindblower for a 10-year- old kid. What goes through your mind hearing a song like that today?

ROBERT PLANT: "What Is And What Should Never Be" is such an important song for me at that time in my life. It was about a girl who I loved so dearly and have loved since regularly and surreptitiously. It was so cheesy. (Sings). "Into a castle I will take you..." But it's like the whole fairy tale imagery was saying, "Baby I've just got to have you." I remember the session, I remember cutting it, I remember thinking about her and I remember the first time that I played it to her.

GOLDMINE: On the last two solo tours, you've played Led Zeppelin songs live again. What prompted your reconciliation with the past?

ROBERT PLANT: I had to distance myself from the whole Zeppelin thing. I had to be seen not walking away, but respectfully tipping my hat to it. But meantime I was in the Band of Joy before that and I sang [Jefferson Airplane's] "White Rabbit" and "She Has Funny Cars." So I've got to get back into being Robert Plant because otherwise what am I going to do? I can't just sing "Stairway To Heaven" for the rest of my life to keep everybody happy. So I did distance myself and I did pretend that I didn't really have much time for it but I had to do that to shut people up for awhile. It didn't work; they just shut up when they were around me.

GOLDMINE: Are you flattered by the Zep imitators such as Whitesnake, Kingdom Come and Great White or do you laugh?

ROBERT PLANT: I laugh. You've got to have a laugh. However, a 17-year-old kid who sees Robert Plant on the cover of ROLLING STONE, or whatever, says, "Hmmm, he doesn't look like the king of cock rock but that German immigrant who signs with Kingdom Come does. I'll butt him and I'll go with that because I want to be seen to be associating myself with young virile rockers." Unfortunately, young virile rockers, from what I remember, came up with something quite original. That was great. I'm concerned with doing something fresh and they're concerned with aping me and Jim.

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ROBERT PLANT: I had to distance myself from the whole Zeppelin thing. I had to be seen not walking away, but respectfully tipping my hat to it. But meantime I was in the Band of Joy before that and I sang [Jefferson Airplane's] "White Rabbit" and "She Has Funny Cars." So I've got to get back into being Robert Plant because otherwise what am I going to do? I can't just sing "Stairway To Heaven" for the rest of my life to keep everybody happy. So I did distance myself and I did pretend that I didn't really have much time for it but I had to do that to shut people up for awhile. It didn't work; they just shut up when they were around me.

That explains everything; thank you for the article.

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Yes, :thanku:

So articulate--and despite this dating from 1993, much is still true I'm sure, while other thoughts will have changed. So no point everybody quoting bits of it to prove their personal theories--this was 15 years ago! :lol:

Though I have to say--Alannah Myles as a "major weighty guy"? :huh:

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Yes, :thanku:

So articulate--and despite this dating from 1993, much is still true I'm sure, while other thoughts will have changed. So no point everybody quoting bits of it to prove their personal theories--this was 15 years ago! :lol:

Though I have to say--Alannah Myles as a "major weighty guy"? :huh:

She was in his life for a few years.On german google you can find a poem from a thread --that was written to her :in the poem it talked about how this woman watched this man go crazy with longing every March 5........she has been known to have penned under different names. On the former electric Led Zeppelin official website(by webmaster,not on forum) they had posted a copy of a quote of a statement she claimed in an interview Dec.1998---she said Robert wanted to have married me.....I could have been Mrs.Robert Plant----I left for America to persure my music career....which another fact is..her Father all her life was a huge player in radio&tv production so .....she did have a hit that her boyfriend at the time of the name of Chris wrote.Blackvelvet..regardless to her claim

of marriage Led Zeppelin posted after her statement a video clip from the original footage of The song remains the same ----Roberts fantasy scene:after resueing the blonde damsel....he is home by the fire with his little lady.......not only with dark long hair, but brown eyes.March 5 ,holds signification to many many different world myths......two I will give you ,the The scared chalice "WELL" at Glastonbury---the other is The chalice itself--the Holy grail legends.....that`s it for now* PEACE

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She was in his life for a few years.On german google you can find a poem from a thread --that was written to her :in the poem it talked about how this woman watched this man go crazy with longing every March 5........she as been known to have penned under different names. On the former electric Led Zeppelin official website they had posted a copy of a quote of a statement she claimed in an interview Dec.1998---she said Robert wanted to have married me.....I could have been Mrs.Robert Plant----I left for America to persure my music career....which another fact is..her Father all her life was a huge player in radio&tv production so .....she did have a hit that her boyfriend at the time of the name of Chris wrote.Blackvelvet..regardless to her claim

of marriage Led Zeppelin posted after her statement a video clip from the original footage of The son remains the same ----Roberts fantasy scene:after resueing the blonde damsel....he is home by the fire with his little lady.......not only with dark long hair, but brown eyes.March 5 ,holds signification to many many different world myths......two I will give you ,the The scared chalice "WELL" at Glastonbury---the other is The chalice itself--the Holy grail legends.....that`s it for now* PEACE

She was actually in his life for less than that--but I was querying the description of her as a "major weighty guy." And I fail to see the relevance of TSRTS, which predates their meeting by years.

I don't know why I'm bothering! :rolleyes:

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She was actually in his life for less than that--but I was querying the description of her as a "major weighty guy." And I fail to see the relevance of TSRTS, which predates their meeting by years.

I don't know why I'm bothering! :rolleyes:

I do remember hearing that he was dating Alannah Myles. I too don't see the relevance to the TSRTS. Is she Jessie's (Plant's 16 year old son) mom or was it just a rumor? I don't mean to get too personal and I know it is really none of my business but I was just wondering. She is a good singer too. Of course I remember her hit song "Black Velvet" that gets played alot, but she had another song out after that called "Song Instead of a Kiss". It is just beautiful. Haven't heard it in years though.

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I do remember hearing that he was dating Alannah Myles. I too don't see the relevance to the TSRTS. Is she Jessie's (Plant's 16 year old son) mom or was it just a rumor? I don't mean to get too personal and I know it is really none of my business but I was just wondering. She is a good singer too. Of course I remember her hit song "Black Velvet" that gets played alot, but she had another song out after that called "Song Instead of a Kiss". It is just beautiful. Haven't heard it in years though.

No, she isn't Jesse's mom. But you're right, this isn't really our biz. ;)

Sorry, all, I didn't mean to derail this thread into talking about Alannah Myles--the rest of the interview was much more interesting!

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No, she isn't Jesse's mom. But you're right, this isn't really our biz. ;)

Sorry, all, I didn't mean to derail this thread into talking about Alannah Myles--the rest of the interview was much more interesting!

Thanks and I agree the entire interview is very interesting indeed. Since her name came up in the interview, I couldn't help but ask.

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Yes, :thanku:

So articulate--and despite this dating from 1993, much is still true I'm sure, while other thoughts will have changed. So no point everybody quoting bits of it to prove their personal theories--this was 15 years ago! :lol:

Though I have to say--Alannah Myles as a "major weighty guy"? :huh:

Very true Aqua. I remember reading that when it came out. Revisiting it some years later, it could very well have been done recently. One of the better interviews for sure.

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Very true Aqua. I remember reading that when it came out. Revisiting it some years later, it could very well have been done recently. One of the better interviews for sure.

The man has got his principles...and principles don't change. ;)

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I do remember hearing that he was dating Alannah Myles. I too don't see the relevance to the TSRTS. Is she Jessie's (Plant's 16 year old son) mom or was it just a rumor? I don't mean to get too personal and I know it is really none of my business but I was just wondering. She is a good singer too. Of course I remember her hit song "Black Velvet" that gets played alot, but she had another song out after that called "Song Instead of a Kiss". It is just beautiful. Haven't heard it in years though.

Online there is a story about his tour during that time ,it said she toured a leg of the tour then was off & later was back on for another part,it also stated he seen another woman during some of that time,however he did see Miles a bit more for a period longer.As for Jesse he uses the last name of Garcia, which may be the Family name of his mother, SteveA.Jones may be able to verify what is accurate out of his archives.

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Yet Led Zeppelin's appearance at Live-Aid brought the former band mates closer. Unity between Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones was so strong that the band even convened in January 1986 in Bath, England to work on new material for a new Led Zeppelin album. Sadly, the project quickly fell apart.

I've always wondered, what became of this new material? Or did everything fall apart before they got pen to paper?

Oh and, not to sound slow, but what's an SRO tour?

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Online there is a story about his tour during that time ,it said she toured a leg of the tour then was off & later was back on for another part,it also stated he seen another woman during some of that time,however he did see Miles a bit more for a period longer.As for Jesse he uses the last name of Garcia, which may be the Family name of his mother, SteveA.Jones may be able to verify what is accurate out of his archives.

Garcia is one of his middle names, not his last name.

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I would like to thank "Cat" for posting this , I`ve never seen this interview prior to this post .If you get a chance please post what this article is from. Thank you!

You're welcome. Through my local library, I have online access from home to all kinds of newspaper and magazine archives. I did a search for Robert Plant, and voila!

As I find more info I will post it.

Cat

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She was in his life for a few years.On german google you can find a poem from a thread --that was written to her :in the poem it talked about how this woman watched this man go crazy with longing every March 5........she has been known to have penned under different names. On the former electric Led Zeppelin official website(by webmaster,not on forum) they had posted a copy of a quote of a statement she claimed in an interview Dec.1998---she said Robert wanted to have married me.....I could have been Mrs.Robert Plant----I left for America to persure my music career....which another fact is..her Father all her life was a huge player in radio&tv production so .....she did have a hit that her boyfriend at the time of the name of Chris wrote.Blackvelvet..regardless to her claim

of marriage Led Zeppelin posted after her statement a video clip from the original footage of The song remains the same ----Roberts fantasy scene:after resueing the blonde damsel....he is home by the fire with his little lady.......not only with dark long hair, but brown eyes.March 5 ,holds signification to many many different world myths......two I will give you ,the The scared chalice "WELL" at Glastonbury---the other is The chalice itself--the Holy grail legends.....that`s it for now* PEACE

added these facts --Myles has also had music out there for years,and the STH Lady (3/5/64)---Showed up at a Rock event in NYC--OCT.15.06--she spoke openly--while some press caught what she said ,there is a photo of her with one of the stars that performed that night------ .As for the previous mention TSRTS footage it is relevent ----Robert Plant is an Extremely Brillant visionary ,nothing he does is in vain.
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added these facts --Myles has also had music out there for years,and the STH Lady (3/5/64)---Showed up at a Rock event in NYC--OCT.15.06--she spoke openly--while some press caught what she said ,there is a photo of her with one of the stars that performed that night------ .As for the previous mention TSRTS footage it is relevent ----Robert Plant is an Extremely Brillant visionary ,nothing he does is in vain.

Also will state I am aware myles & her crew are able to read all my posting,and perhaps she already has read the ones I posted on the ROCK n ROLL HALL OF FAME (thread on this forum)! By all means do read the one posted under HEART on the ELLEN SHOW.Truth is Ann Wilson & Pat Benatar were the singers who were on the scene when Myles was out there ,so the things I`ve read in the past that she her self has said .....she acts like there was some big conspricasy keeping her back from sucess on a different level----truth is in the ears.If the ATLANTIC record company didn`t want to go any further with you ,it certianly was not some big paranoid heist. (adding this to clarify I have for YEARS both online & publicly made simular comments that I am refering to that I posted on the thread about the rock-n-roll hall of fame in regards to my thoughts on the state of the music industry so as they were public it is obvious others have copied many of my original words.Some even state they are in the habit of stealing off others.That they are fake.)

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