There are many reasons to love Robert Plant. Not only did he front one of the world’s most influential bands in Led Zeppelin, but since their end in 1980 he has continued to refine his artistry – exploring everything from blues to world music with the curiosity of someone who never stopped being a fan first.
Despite his status as one of rock’s genuine heavyweights, with one of the most distinctive voices the genre has produced, Plant has always remained a humble everyman. Unlike many of the global stars his generation produced, he is warm, approachable, and possessed of a dry West Midlands wit that has served him well through both triumph and tragedy.
He may have once jokingly described himself as the Midas-like “Golden God”, but beneath the otherworldly persona he built as Led Zeppelin’s figurehead, Plant is, before all else, a lover of great music in all its forms. While many of his peers have sought to dismiss those who followed in their footsteps, Plant has consistently done the opposite – championing bands breaking through and doing something genuinely different.
It was this spirit that defined Led Zeppelin themselves. Their willingness to blend psychedelia, metal and world music into something entirely their own allowed them to fill the void The Beatles left in 1970. Plant has never lost that openness, and it shows in the breadth of his record collection.
A past interview with Q Magazine offered a rare glimpse inside it. Alongside formative heroes such as Howlin’ Wolf, Elvis Presley and Ray Charles, Plant’s shelves held cuts by Television frontman Tom Verlaine and seminal releases by The Cure and This Mortal Coil. Eclectic, considered, and entirely characteristic.
But one record stood out above the rest for its sheer unexpectedness. Faith No More’s Introduce Yourself – their 1987 second album and the last to feature original frontman Chuck Mosley – is a wacky, dynamic fusion of rap and metal that set the template for everything the band would achieve with The Real Thing in 1989, and for the heavier sounds that Korn and Deftones would later build on. Tracks like ‘We Care a Lot’ and ‘Introduce Yourself’ remain as game-changing now as they were then.
Plant mistakenly referred to it as Faith No More’s debut, but his enthusiasm more than compensated for the factual slip. “Their first album,” he said. “It’s like, I, ME, listen to this! And if you don’t like it, fuck off!!! You can’t spend all your life whimpering away about the ex-wife. The vocal attitude – the hard, heavy garage rap – I like very much.”
It is not, on reflection, such a strange fit. The weird and wonderful fusions that Led Zeppelin built their legacy on paved the way for bands like Faith No More to push the boat out even further. Plant, it seems, was well aware of the connection – and thoroughly delighted by where it led.
