Plant Life: Led Zeppelin's former frontman, Robert Plant, is back with an intriguing new CD.

[Cat]

Title:Plant Life: Led Zeppelin's former frontman, Robert Plant, is back with an intriguing new CD.

What better time to ask about nasty band spats and what he really thinks of Stairway to Heaven Source:Entertainment Weekly (May 13, 2005):

Byline: Dalton Ross; Robert Plant

ROBERT PLANT HAS SOLD millions of records, tapes, eight-tracks, CDs, and DVDs over the past 36 years. The former Led Zeppelin frontman is what you'd call a rock legend. So it's a bit odd to see him moving around Bleecker Bob's record store in Manhattan like any record geek, perusing everything from blues-funk favorite Johnny "Guitar" Watson to '60s garage one-hit wonders Count Five. "I could spend all day in here," he sighs. "I used to live in the 10-cent stores."

And, like many fingers before his, he then combs the Led Zeppelin vinyl section. Flipping past bootlegs and records with images of exploding blimps and old men carrying sticks, he pauses after spotting his 1982 solo debut, Pictures at Eleven, featuring a cover photo of Plant lighting up a cigarette. "Uggh," he says. "That's when I used to smoke all day."

A lot has changed for the 56-year-old singer since Led Zep were the biggest band on the planet, but as we all know, some songs remain the same. He is still touring and putting out albums--the latest of which, Mighty Rearranger, drops May 10 and combines everything from Moroccan rhythms to psychedelic guitar swirls (his excellent new backing band, the Strange Sensation, includes musicians who've played with Portishead and Massive Attack, among others). He still has to endure fans begging for "Stairway to Heaven." And he still has plenty to say about his career both in and outside of one of the most important rock bands of all time.

Q: A few years ago you said you'd like to write a big rock anthem again. Is the new album's "Shine It All Around" that song?

A: There is a compulsion about it, and that lure is what I've been trying to deal in for a long time--for 30-odd years. But I'm getting there now. There have been times when it's been a bit flat and I've thought, Well, maybe the whole game is beyond me. And then I have great moments of explosive inspiration.

Q: How overstated--or understated--was the debauchery of those first Zeppelin tours?

A: Well, it depended on whose room key you had. There was a certain amount of youthful splendor in the grass, but it was pretty overblown. I guess we all got messed up. The drugs did kick in and out. For me, it always depended on whether or not it was really gonna affect the reason that I was here. And I'd had enough of what I'd had enough of quite early in the adventure. So by 1977, I made an absolute decision not to lose it again.

Q: Your 1984 hit album with the Honeydrippers was called Volume One. Usually that sort of implies a volume 2 is in the works. So I guess what I'm asking is, how's that Honeydrippers follow-up coming?

A: It's come and gone several times! [Me and a record executive] were at a sex club in Tokyo, where he's in a booth and the girls are making out. It's 4 o'clock in the morning and he says, "Man, you could have this forever. Just get some f---ing commercial music out!" So I said, "Okay, I can do 'Sea of Love' and all that." And off we went and we did it. And there will be a volume 2--without a doubt.

Q: What's it like dealing with fans at shows who call out for old Zeppelin tunes?

A: It's a bit of aggravation when you've already got a plan. But you can't really knock it, because I was doing it to Chuck Berry only six months ago in England. I was shouting out "Havana Moon!" You know, the guy probably hasn't played that since 1960! And I'm thinking, That poor guy. I know exactly what he must be thinking: "Why don't they ask for 'Bye, Bye Johnny'? I can play that."

Q: Honestly, at this point are you just sick to death of "Stairway to Heaven"?[Long pause]

A: In all honesty, there are songs, and there are books, and there are moments, and there are people that belong to particular times in your life, and then it's gone. I think that song is great. If I listen to it objectively from a distance, I really enjoy it. But to deliver it is something else.

Q: I know you and John Paul Jones had a falling-out over a comment you made at a press conference in 1994 that "he's parking the car." Has that been sorted out?

A: It's just so banal, and I imagine that he's feasted with acrimony for years on the fact that I said that, but I did apologize to him. I went down on one knee in an office some three or four years later and begged him to forgive me. And when he refused to forgive me, I tied my shoelace, just to pretend that I wasn't really that bothered.

Q: Nice save.

A: Yeah, I was trying desperately to save some face. If I was [someone else], I probably would have decked him. I gave him my first solo record, and I heard nothing back from him at all. So I rang him about three weeks later. I said, "John, what do you think about it?" He said, "Oh, yeah. I thought you could have done a bit better." And I went, "Wow!" So I think we carry all this stuff and really, we should just get together and count all our blessings and say, "Hey, I loved you a long time ago. What's going on now?" In the Zeppelin days, when Jimmy Page or John Bonham went into epic solo mode, did you ever think, Okay, what the hell am I going to do with myself for the next five minutes?

Oh, yeah! I had to learn how to snap my fingers, because that looked quite jazzy. And sometimes, when I was at a loss, I used to sit cross-legged on the piano looking like an interested gnome. *

"I think 'Stairway to Heaven' is great. If I listen to it objectively from a distance, I really enjoy it. But to deliver it is something else."

[lajoie]

Title:Plant Life: Led Zeppelin's former frontman, Robert Plant, is back with an intriguing new CD.

What better time to ask about nasty band spats and what he really thinks of stairway to heaven

Source:Entertainment Weekly (May 13, 2005):

Byline: Dalton Ross; Robert Plant

ROBERT PLANT HAS SOLD millions of records, tapes, eight-tracks, CDs, and DVDs over the past 36 years. The former Led Zeppelin frontman is what you'd call a rock legend. So it's a bit odd to see him moving around Bleecker Bob's record store in Manhattan like any record geek, perusing everything from blues-funk favorite Johnny "Guitar" Watson to '60s garage one-hit wonders Count Five. "I could spend all day in here," he sighs. "I used to live in the 10-cent stores."

And, like many fingers before his, he then combs the Led Zeppelin vinyl section. Flipping past bootlegs and records with images of exploding blimps and old men carrying sticks, he pauses after spotting his 1982 solo debut, Pictures at Eleven, featuring a cover photo of Plant lighting up a cigarette. "Uggh," he says. "That's when I used to smoke all day."

A lot has changed for the 56-year-old singer since Led Zep were the biggest band on the planet, but as we all know, some songs remain the same. He is still touring and putting out albums--the latest of which, Mighty Rearranger, drops May 10 and combines everything from Moroccan rhythms to psychedelic guitar swirls (his excellent new backing band, the Strange Sensation, includes musicians who've played with Portishead and Massive Attack, among others). He still has to endure fans begging for "Stairway to Heaven." And he still has plenty to say about his career both in and outside of one of the most important rock bands of all time.

Q: A few years ago you said you'd like to write a big rock anthem again. Is the new album's "Shine It All Around" that song?

A: There is a compulsion about it, and that lure is what I've been trying to deal in for a long time--for 30-odd years. But I'm getting there now. There have been times when it's been a bit flat and I've thought, Well, maybe the whole game is beyond me. And then I have great moments of explosive inspiration.

Q: How overstated--or understated--was the debauchery of those first Zeppelin tours?

A: Well, it depended on whose room key you had. There was a certain amount of youthful splendor in the grass, but it was pretty overblown. I guess we all got messed up. The drugs did kick in and out. For me, it always depended on whether or not it was really gonna affect the reason that I was here. And I'd had enough of what I'd had enough of quite early in the adventure. So by 1977, I made an absolute decision not to lose it again.

Q: Your 1984 hit album with the Honeydrippers was called Volume One. Usually that sort of implies a volume 2 is in the works. So I guess what I'm asking is, how's that Honeydrippers follow-up coming?

A: It's come and gone several times! [Me and a record executive] were at a sex club in Tokyo, where he's in a booth and the girls are making out. It's 4 o'clock in the morning and he says, "Man, you could have this forever. Just get some f---ing commercial music out!" So I said, "Okay, I can do 'Sea of Love' and all that." And off we went and we did it. And there will be a volume 2--without a doubt.

Q: What's it like dealing with fans at shows who call out for old Zeppelin tunes?

A: It's a bit of aggravation when you've already got a plan. But you can't really knock it, because I was doing it to Chuck Berry only six months ago in England. I was shouting out "Havana Moon!" You know, the guy probably hasn't played that since 1960! And I'm thinking, That poor guy. I know exactly what he must be thinking: "Why don't they ask for 'Bye, Bye Johnny'? I can play that."

Q: Honestly, at this point are you just sick to death of "Stairway to Heaven"?[Long pause]

A: In all honesty, there are songs, and there are books, and there are moments, and there are people that belong to particular times in your life, and then it's gone. I think that song is great. If I listen to it objectively from a distance, I really enjoy it. But to deliver it is something else.

Q: I know you and John Paul Jones had a falling-out over a comment you made at a press conference in 1994 that "he's parking the car." Has that been sorted out?

A: It's just so banal, and I imagine that he's feasted with acrimony for years on the fact that I said that, but I did apologize to him. I went down on one knee in an office some three or four years later and begged him to forgive me. And when he refused to forgive me, I tied my shoelace, just to pretend that I wasn't really that bothered.

Q: Nice save.

A: Yeah, I was trying desperately to save some face. If I was [someone else], I probably would have decked him. I gave him my first solo record, and I heard nothing back from him at all. So I rang him about three weeks later. I said, "John, what do you think about it?" He said, "Oh, yeah. I thought you could have done a bit better." And I went, "Wow!" So I think we carry all this stuff and really, we should just get together and count all our blessings and say, "Hey, I loved you a long time ago. What's going on now?" In the Zeppelin days, when Jimmy Page or John Bonham went into epic solo mode, did you ever think, Okay, what the hell am I going to do with myself for the next five minutes?

Oh, yeah! I had to learn how to snap my fingers, because that looked quite jazzy. And sometimes, when I was at a loss, I used to sit cross-legged on the piano looking like an interested gnome. *

'Stairway"I think to Heaven' is great. If I listen to it objectively from a distance, I really enjoy it. But to deliver it is something else." AND DELIVER IT HE DID ! DEC.10,2007 at the 02 arena ! ROBERT PLANT WROTE THAT SONG FOR REASONS ,over the years he became weary & fustrated those reasons would never come to light ,more recently he became aware there still may be an oppertunity to see them be fulfilled. So,readers as well as individuals who find various old statements from different articles&such ought to keep in mind the man himself is the one who knows why he does what he does.The other night at the MSG he was asked which song would he sing? " KASHMIR " IS what ROBERT said......... the day when all will be reveiled.(that is a line from that song,my add )

[mordor_maiden]

Q: Honestly, at this point are you just sick to death of "Stairway to Heaven"?[Long pause]

A: In all honesty, there are songs, and there are books, and there are moments, and there are people that belong to particular times in your life, and then it's gone. I think that song is great. If I listen to it objectively from a distance, I really enjoy it. But to deliver it is something else.

[lajoie]

KASHMIR...................KASHMIR................kashmir..............kashmir............kashmir..........kashmir.... ..KASHMIR........KASHMIR.............KASHMIR..............kashmir.................kashmir.........kashmir........ ......KASHMIR....................KASHMIR.............kashmir.............kashmir..........kashmir..........kashmir.. KASHMIR................KASHMIR................KASHMIR...........KASHMIR.............kashmir....................... ?