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Why did Robert Plant hate David Covedale?


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Hi all. I read from another poster that apparently Robert Plant called David Covedale, "David Coverversion". What's the story behind that?

I read a long time ago that when Jimmy Page recorded the "Coverdale/Page" album, it was a slap in the face to Robert Plant.

So what is the story of Robert's animosity towards David Covedale?

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...maybe because Coverdale is horrible? God even someone like Axle Rose has more class than him; and that's pretty low....

He's definitely not in the same class as Robert and the time Jimmy spent with Coverdale has to be the most embarrasing of his career. Jimmy has always stated that he hated to be called a heavy metal guitarist so what does he go and hook himself up with some cheesy hair band front man from the eighties and play pure cheese for....?....

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I don't think Robert ever hated David in the truest sense of the word. I think he was

filled with chagrin that Whitesnake had enjoyed such great commercial success in

1987 after refashioning David as a Plant-alike. Robert's own considerable success in 1988 afforded him opportunities to assert who the original king of cock rock was.

Jimmy has never considered his time spent with David to be an embarrassment. It

was arranged thru John Kalodner and it happened to work if only for a little while.

The two remain friends to this day. Jimmy has attended David's performances and

yes David was at the 02 for Led Zeppelin's reunion concert.

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David Coverplant is a Robert Plant wannabe.

Your painting with a very broad brush. David Coverdale has been a singer of songs and maker of music his whole life and continues to do so. One particular era of his career

copped Robert's style but that's as far as it goes so far as I'm concerned.

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I don't think Robert ever hated David in the truest sense of the word. I think he was

filled with chagrin that Whitesnake had enjoyed such great commercial success in

1987 after refashioning David as a Plant-alike. Robert's own considerable success in 1988 afforded him opportunities to assert who the original king of cock rock was.

Jimmy has never considered his time spent with David to be an embarrassment. It

was arranged thru John Kalodner and it happened to work if only for a little while.

The two remain friends to this day. Jimmy has attended David's performances and

yes David was at the 02 for Led Zeppelin's reunion concert.

I have to agree with everything you said here Steve.

I don't think that Plant hates Coverdale in the true sense of the word.

I have the Coverdale/Page CD and Pages guitar is smoking hot on there.

Page has his best muse on that disc then on anything else after the demise of JB and LZ, IMO.

Page has nothing but good to say about Coverdale. He said in an interview somewhere that Coverdale is a very nice man and it was a pleasure working with him.

Just my opinion, and I'm sure all you Plant lovers will be throwing tomatoes at me for saying this, but Plant has a hard time NOT bashing anybody else. He does it all the time.

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Just my opinion, and I'm sure all you Plant lovers will be throwing tomatoes at me for saying this, but Plant has a hard time NOT bashing anybody else. He does it all the time.

I think Robert's sense of humour sometimes gets misinterpreted. I wouldn't always take his poking fun at people so seriously. Robert commented that in his opinion, it's one thing to emulate people of the past - i.e. his doing some Elvis moves. But David is a contemporary and he felt it was in poor taste for him to copy Robert's moves. Obviously I don't know Robert so I can't speak for him but my suspicion is he just felt David wasn't being very original.

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Ohhhhh Noooooooo, don't get me started! :o

I have no idea how Robert feels about this subject. I know how I felt the first time I saw DC. I was so upset that he was so obvious about trying to ride Robert's coat tails. Plain and simple as that.

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I don't think Plant hates Coverdale. He was just of the opinion that Coverdale copied his style and to an extent he's correct. Coverdale has laughed the criticism off in the past though.

As for the Coverdale/Page album, I think it's a worthwhile release with some stellar tracks. Obviously it's nowhere near as good as any of the Led Zeppelin albums, but it is a decent post Led Zeppelin project for Page.

Personally I like Coverdale as a singer anyway, eveything from his work with Deep Purple, to his solo albums and of course Whitesnake, particularly the earlier stuff. Is any of it in the same class as Led Zeppelin? No, but it's decent nonetheless.

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i think it started with the hit " still of the night" most of the riffs are original but delivered in a whole lotta love fashion it even cops bonham's cymbal hits and david delivered his vocals in a plant manner (or he tried anyways). then you turn mtv on and you see he's taken your look as well. i'm sure robert must have had a gut reaction that coverdale was stalking him, possibly collecting his loose hair from combs and skin bits from his bathtub to make a mask to dance around in a moon lit farmhouse. next thing you know he has your former band mate under his evil spell. you wonder what will become of you in the end. what's next? your girlfriends? your bank account? will you wake up to look in the mirror and start singing "burn"?.

joking aside, robert probablly didn't feel hate towards him or even threatened in the least bit.

disappointment and disgust might be more fitting words words.it was a matter of him seeing something done in bad taste. his comments towards him were jabs to let him know "i see you, you're not getting by with this. i'm calling you out". that's my take on it.

Edited by zero
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Interview excerpt from Chicago Tribune (March 6th 1988):

Ironically, Plant is returning to the rock arena at a time when the band`s brand of melodic heavy metal and hard rock is once again riding a wave of popularity, with the lead singer of one hugely popular rock group-David Coverdale of Whitesnake, whose album by the same name has sold more than 5 million copies so far in the United States-seeming to pattern himself more than a little after Plant in terms of appearance and stage style.

Plant`s not only acutely aware of the situation, he isn`t shy when it comes to talking about ``David Coverversion,`` as he refers to Coverdale. ``I know the guy,`` says the singer. "I`ve spent nights occasionally talking to him in the past. I find him a good man, but I feel that his integrity is now questionable. ``If Whitesnake was a real young band who had just seen `The Song Remains the Same` (a mid-1970s Zeppelin film rockumentary that mixed live concert footage and fantasy sequences) and decided, `OK, this is it, let`s imitate them,` I could understand it,`` says Plant, warming to the subject.

``There was a time, years ago, that I tried to mimic Elvis Presley. That`s quite acceptable. But David Coverdale`s nearly my age. He is of my genre, even if he was in a lot of substandard groups. Really, you shouldn`t do it to your own gang, you know. ``When I aped somebody, they were so remote, it was like they were millions of miles away,`` he continues. ``When somebody you know, somebody you`ve bought a drink for, suddenly comes out and looks like you and is you, you start wondering-well, maybe it wasn`t me who went out with that girl in Dallas, maybe it was him!

``Of course, he`s only been doing this recently,`` adds Plant with a laugh. ``Before that, he was (imitating British rocker) Paul Rodgers. Sure, I`ll probably bring the matter up next time I see him. But I shan`t even bother to say anything. I`ll let my right foot, which has scored a hundred goals, do the talking.``

And where will that right foot be placed? ``In my cowboy boot. No, look, I like the guy. I just think it`s time to have some fun with the situation.`` Plant, by his own assessment, is laughing more these days. ``I`m too close to me to really know for sure how I`ve changed as I`ve gotten older,``he says, ``but I do know that I laugh a lot more now, which is a great relief. I`ve got a sharper sense of humor. And I laugh at myself more, which is crucial.``

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Interview excerpt from Chicago Tribune (March 6th 1988):

Plant`s not only acutely aware of the situation, he isn`t shy when it comes to talking about ``David Coverversion,`` as he refers to Coverdale. ``I know the guy,`` says the singer. "I`ve spent nights occasionally talking to him in the past. I find him a good man, but I feel that his integrity is now questionable. ``

That's perfectly understandable; anyone who tried to steal Jimmy Page naturally would have questionable integrity.

Edited by eternal light
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That's perfectly understandable; anyone who tried to steal Jimmy Page naturally would have questionable integrity.

He didn't steal Jimmy Page since Jimmy and Robert weren't working together. That was Jimmy's choice to work with him as Robert had his own band and projects going :rolleyes:

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Because he felt that David tends to sound like other singers as in the 70s whitesnake he had a simular sound to Paul Rodgers .Then in the 80s he did the song In the still of the night and did a lot of the Robert moans and such had a major Zep sound its kind of true.Not saying i dont like David because i do

I have saw him several times hes a great front man but Robert will always be the best.

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That's perfectly understandable; anyone who tried to steal Jimmy Page naturally would have questionable integrity.

Some of the guitarists who have been in Whitesnake:

John Sykes

Steve Vai

Adrian Vandenberg

Doug Aldrich

Why would Coverdale want to steal Page? The only advantage is in the realms of publicity.

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You all need to understand that the people in the U.S. do not know anything about David Coverdale other than the "Whitesnake 1987" and "Slip Of The Tongue" so they view them as a hair band because they are ignorant. They know nothing about the great music before and after that period that he did with his world total sales of at least 40 million which say what you want is NOT shabby. "Coverdale/Page" is so good that I am waiting for them to do new material...and NO I am not joking. It was a brilliant project except for the fact that Mr. Coverdale does not know how to communicate with his audience and drops the "f" bomb all over the place.

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You all need to understand that the people in the U.S. do not know anything about David Coverdale other than the "Whitesnake 1987" and "Slip Of The Tongue" so they view them as a hair band because they are ignorant. They know nothing about the great music before and after that period that he did with his world total sales of at least 40 million which say what you want is NOT shabby. "Coverdale/Page" is so good that I am waiting for them to do new material...and NO I am not joking. It was a brilliant project except for the fact that Mr. Coverdale does not know how to communicate with his audience and drops the "f" bomb all over the place.

Have you seen the Whitesnake DVD that was released a year or so ago? Excellent show recorded in London with the old bugger still in fine voice. Well worth a look.

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