Jimmy Page, It's time to call your lawyers?

I heard about 30 seconds of one song and let it go.

Agreed teo_audio!  To be clear, I love Zeppelin.  I respect how good of musicians these guys are, but the LZ body of work stands on its own.  I don't need more bands like LZ.  

The Zeppelin influences are obvious. 

Led Zeppelin were influenced by other artists, and they influenced many other artists, some who were probably more blatant in their attempts to try to sound "Zeppelinish".  Whitesnake and Kingdom Come are a couple that come to mind.

Early Heart was heavily influenced by Zeppelin and I love their music from their early albums.  They covered some Zep songs in concert, worked with John Paul Jones later in their career and clearly embraced their influence.

I don't mind the similar sound that they've cultivated, and I actually like that there are younger people trying to make new music that sounds like the classic rock I grew up with.  I think it's unfortunate that the band seems to have tried to distance themselves from Led Zeppelin.  They would have done themselves a favor by acknowledging their influence on their music.

At the end of the day, it's whether the music grabs you or not.  My girlfriend's son is really into them and gave me one of their EPs for Christmas, which I played last night.  There was one song I really liked, but overall, it's not something I'll go out of my way to listen to again and again.

With all the garbage on rock radio I think it’s refreshing personally. 

+1 pops. The Led Zeppelin influences are blatant but enjoyable and it will be interesting to hear what they do on future albums. 

I too am a LZ fan, with that said they are guilty of stealing a few riffs themselves from, I don’t know maybe Howling Wolf, Spirit and others before them. Just sayin.

They've played in clubs around here(4 or 5 yrs ) and used to do a LZ set.They were pretty upfront about being heavily influenced by them at the time.I think they're very talented but unimaginative.There's only one LZ.I think of them as a way overdramatic tribute band.

I grew up loving Zep myself but isn't anyone else amused at the irony of this post considering how heavily LZ "borrowed" from others, especially on their earlier albums????

https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-led-zeppelin-songs-that-led-zeppelin-didnt-write

@three_easy_payments, "borrow" is a very kind way to put it.

Listen to Leaf Hound, Growers of Mushroom and see if that is even closer in sound as an antecedent-- there were a few bands tapping into this sound back in the day.

@tooblue 

"borrow" was written in sarcasm font ;-)

Many many rock songs are reworked blues classics.It's nothing new.I also common for  musicians to sneak in riffs and sections from other songs to amuse themselves and other musicians.Musician geeky fun:)

While Zeppelin stole and borrowed, they didn’t copy. I don’t think Plant or Page tried to sound just like Bukka White, Wllie Dixon or the countless others they stole from. 

I’m making a nuanced but important point. Listen to the production. Listen to the drum fills. Do you hear the organ come in and fade out nearly exactly how LZ did it in the near exact same times of the songs?  Listen to the placement of the guitar in the mix.   I don’t think they are just capturing the “sound”.

Sure no no one patents this stuff. My point is it’s a near clone. 

Mellencamp once said he thinks everything is there to be stolen. I firmly agree. My question when hearing this group is why do you want to clone ideas?  

I would agree that van fleet appear to be trying to sound more like Zep that Zep themselves did, phasing, timings, warts and all.
However that does not prevent me from enjoying it.
Funny I met their drummer at a drum clinic a while back, at that time I had never even heard their music though.

They come and go, remember Kingdom Come? They were accused of exact same thing at the time but they stuck it out and changed pace a little.

My brain wants me to sing “Your Time is Gonna Come” during “Flower Power”. It’s so uncanny a resemblance. 

Read an article  on Robert Plant, and he mentions GVF, as a current band he likes.

I listened, and they didn't hold my attention. Perhaps if I were 16, and never heard Zeppelin or ANY "classic" hard rock , I would have a different reaction?

Definitely for 20 somethings. Must be exciting to those who dissent  listen their parents R&R. They're just doing all the R&R  moves from every band from the 70's. Just don't hear any original/fresh vibe with these guys.

A different thing from the 60/70's bands interpretation of what the Blues guys did in the 50/60's. To each his own. 

Imagine what new R&R will be like in another 20 years? Kinda sad.

Rock is dead?

Led Zep influences are everywhere. Jack White. Wolfmother. Red Hot Chili Peppers. Rush. Just to name a few others.

I think it is wonderful that a new generation of musicians pay homage to these great musicians. After all it is great blues music played with a funky style.

Anyone recognize these guys who cut their teeth playing LZ style

https://youtu.be/SZYr_J9H54I

They went on to become another great rock band.

I'm torn on this one.  As a drummer and over the top lover of all things Zeppelin, I kinda hate that these kids are the most exposed Zep cover band on the planet.  I applaud that finally, there is a group of young musicians who actually play their instruments and sing their songs.  I lament that the supply of good original rock music ceased to be written somewhere in the 80's.  If GVF is what it takes to keep the flames burning, then good for us.  Let's hope that they find their own sound on the next record while leveraging the influences of the greatest rock band ever.

I checked in with my friends who love music. They are evenly split on their opinions—like versus skip them. 

I’m closer on the spectrum to these opinions. 

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/greta-van-fleet-anthem-of-the-peaceful-army/

https://www.allmusic.com/album/anthem-of-the-peaceful-army-mw0003211112

Isnt it true though that critics didn’t buy LZ or Billy Joel at first either?  I’m not saying these guys are LZ or BJ but it’s worth noting. 

this gvf does have undeniable skill, but the whole exercise reminds me of the "steel dragon" tribute band from the mark wahlberg movie. zep are notoriously the biggest song thieves in the business, so they should be flattered rather than outraged. i do agree that the "stairway to heaven" lawsuit by the guy from spirit was misplaced.

Jbhiller-

Regrettably , I concur with the linked reviews.

I just refuse to get off the "classic rock"
bus. I view any new  band now, as simply a weak/bad cover of what was.

IMO- if there is room for R&R to progress,
It's NOT thru GVF. 

Almost cringeworthy moments watching the lead singer. 

As mentioned, there isn't, or I fail to hear, ANYTHING unique about these kids.

I just about fell out of my chair laughing when I read this line from the Pitchfork review:

"Brothers Jake and Sam Kiszka, on guitar and bass, are both wearing hippie costumes they 3D-printed off the internet. The singer, the wretched and caterwauling third brother, Josh, is in dangly feather earrings and vinyl pants, like he was dressed by a problematic Santa Fe palm-reader with a gift certificate to Chico’s."

big_greg you made me spit my coffee:D

The reviews are both serious and funny. 

I listened to Memphis Minnie and Bukka White on my ride home. Zeppelin did not copy anything but their lyrics and general chord progressions. The arrangements, production, vocals, and so on were theirs. That’s my problem with Greta Van—they are trying to sound just like every element of LZ. It’s sounds contrived. 

That Pitchfork review is priceless and spot on! In my opinion this is some of the worst music to come out in a genre I grew up loving so much!

This thread piqued my interest on this band Greta Van Fleet so looked them up on youtube.  Wow what a lovely refreshing Rock Band from youngsters!  I don't care if they sound like LZ, in a way that is the sound which helps them and the music scene is artisticly richer for their existence.  They make the Foo Fighters sound like utter moronic dross drowning in some sort of  lethargic quogmire.

I'm having trouble feeling sorry for Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin after listening to "Taurus" written by Randy California and Spirit.  It kind of ruined me for listening to "Stairway to Heaven".  I agree that many rock songs were reworked (copied) from blues songs, which served to introduce many of us to the works of earlier blues musicians, but that beginning guitar in "StH" was over the top.

Copping style is one thing, plagiarizing material quite another. The title and premise of this thread are amusing in that Page & Plant were successfully sued by Willie Dixon for just that. Shameless, knowingly stealing, and then lying about it. Burn their albums.

It is clear that Zep ripped off Willie Dixon (who also may have ripped off other writers in his stable) and others. That ripoff was direct--- in some cases word for word note for note. But I was and remain a fan. GVF is clearly copying the Zep sound in all respects including the sound of instrumentation and Plant’s vocal tone, inflections and style. That said, I don’t hate them. They clearly intend to pay tribute to Zep in their presentation. I find them to be a nice diversion, nothing more.

Three-easy-payments.
Great point and I agree. Been a fan of LZ for many years, but I know they were heavily influenced by many blues and rock artists to the point of stealing songs, melodies, riffs. The song does remain the same, but other artists steal it!!

Deep Purple sort of borrowed many tunes from previous artists to create their famous pieces, however the members of that band admit to it, so obviously they feel safe from any looming court proceedings....

What @bdp24 said, but do I have to burn their albums, I still like their music.

Vegas is FULL of musical look and/or sound alikes. It's the nature of the business. While some of us object, it's just the way it is folks.

When Zep came along they were perhaps trying to be as great as the Jeff Beck Group who had recently set the bar for live four piece Brit rock and roll bands (other than the Beatles of course), but Beck's band fell apart when they couldn't figure out how to write material (according to Beck) so Zep got that ball and ran with it. Van Fleet are very capable young dudes who somehow found an itch that needed scratching and with that singer can't help sounding Zeppy. They look great, are humble nice guys, and have been hugely successful even before their full size album was released, so hey...they're having fun. Sort of unstoppable at this point.

This thread is wandering..

IMO, R&R NEEDED the 60's American/British bands to "lift" from
the Blues legends.

That's how it developed. Page,Hendrix,Clapton,Beck...
took the riffs and expanded them to what R&R is(was)

If that didn't happen, the amazing sound, guitar riffs,groove...
wouldn't be there to shape EVERYTHING that IS R&R.

Here is what's troubling. After the 80's cheese factor of music, originality of R&R possibly has PEAKED?

GVF aren't taking Zep's  vibe to a new level  as the R&R founders did to the blues.
I think I even heard the lead singer do some audience interplay with a goofy English accent along with the Robert stance! Fail.

I'm trying to get past the cover band vibe and trying to hear something different.

GVF is embarrassing. I'm a hack living room guitarist, the musicianship is cover band level at best. Same guitar licks,moves we have all heard/seen at the neighborhood bar.

I dig a good cover band. Led Zep Again, how about Dread Zeppelin?
https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=AwrDQ3LHRjJc1ToArNe5mWRH;_ylu=X3oDMTByN2RnbHFoBHNlYwN...

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=AwrDQ3LHRjJc1ToA5Ne5mWRH;_ylu=X3oDMTBzMHZ1YnZvBHNlYwN...



I agree with Wolfie's remark that GVF scratched an itch. I guess the scratch isn't for R&R snobs as myself.

GET OFF MY ROCK AND ROLL LAWN!

Led Zep once sued a band called Goldbug for using 'whole lotta love' .. when that song was effectively written by someone else. 

Didn’t Zeppelin steal whole lotta love from Savoy Brown? The original song was by Willie Dixon.

Watch the Youtube video of the Van Fleetsters playing live on some radio show where the bass player plays piano...kind of amazingly well. Regardless of the opinions of non fans, they do a kick ass live show and yes, they can actually play their instruments. 

My bugaboo with Led Zep revolves around Abel Ferrara's 1992 film "Bad Lieutenant".  A critical element in the film is Schooly D's song "The Signifying Rapper".  The song is from 1988 and it sampled LZ's "Kashmir", but it did so without getting clearance from LZ's publisher.  Everybody knows how the band outright stole whole songs from other artist, but LZ had the nerve to go after the film and the rapper.  Every copy of the movie with "The Signifying Rapper" had to be destroyed.  Legally they were fully within their rights, but I think, particularly with their own legal history, it reflects poorly upon them.

Ferrara re-edited the movie to remove the song, but he thought the film was ruined.  He said:

"Signifying Rapper" was out for five years, and there wasn't a problem. Then the film had already been out for two years and they start bitching about it. [...] It cost Schoolly like $50,000. It was a nightmare. And meanwhile, "Signifying Rapper" is 50 million times better than "Kashmir" ever thought of being. [...] Why sue? You should be happy that somebody is paying homage to your work.

To some extent you have to separate the artist as people from the art.  I may not be the biggest, but I have always been a fan of Led Zeppelin.  My problem with the band is "I'm talkin' about character. I'm talkin' about - hell...I ain't embarrassed to use the word - I'm talkin' about ethics."

What Howlin Wolf cut does Zep reference with the"Lemon Song?"
Or is it some other Blues cat? 

This thread has become a music history class... like!

I can't get enough of El Becko's  bad ass cover of this tune,which also was covered by the great Freddie King.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=AwrEzeptejJcOKYAMT3BGOd_;_ylu=X3oDMTEybGJkdjBoBGNvbG8...

"Killing Floor" is the song LZ ripped off with "Lemon Song".  They also paid homage to Robert Johnson.

There seems to be a bunch of these bands making a living off of Zep.

www.gtlorocks.com

There’s nothing new here and I’ll bet someone copied the guy or gal who invented the wheel too.

Where there’s copyright infringement, let lawyers duke it out.

No one complained of all the Beatles spin offs and copy cats and wanna bees after they broke up. A publishing company sued John Fogerty for copying one of his own songs. This stuff happens in every industry where someone does something original and lazy non-creative people want to cash in on other’s successes.

The Brit’s popularization of black American blues sparked considerable interest in the original artists and in many cases helped their careers. You didn’t see that happening from this side of the pond. Even Hendrix had to go to England to be appreciated, and then of course the pile-on soon followed in the US.

I love Zep but they just flat out stole riffs and lyrics from the old blues and folk players without giving any credit or payment until forced into it by legal suits. Clapton the Stones and others on the other hand credited artists and made sure they got paid.

I've never cared all that much for Zep albums for serious listening as, especially in the 70s, I was more into The Band, Little Feat (seemingly Zep's and every UK band's fave, and considered by many as the best live band of the 70s), Joni, Steely Dan, Jimi, blah blah (especially blah blah)...personal taste, although I get the musicianship factor. This said, the impression Zep had on me the first time I or anyone else I knew had seen them (second part of what was essentially their first US tour blitz when my band opened for them in May '69) was that they had a GREAT live act...this dissipated somewhat when I saw 'em again later, but still worth mentioning as at that time most bands seemed to be simply loitering on stage...later in '69 Jethro Tull also seemed like they were from another planet as their live show was also astonishing for its time. So the Fleetsters, regardless of their not inventing anything, get props from me for at least live gusto, which relative to the Shoe Gaze or "Americana" or hipster bands I think mostly suck from pretentious faux seriousness ("We wrote this so it must be good!"), I can say You Go Greta, although I won't be listening to any of their albums either.

Well said Wolf! 

LZ is the last band that should point fingers at other bands for copying music.  They have made a career out of it. Most bands call it “influence”, but let’s call it what it really is.

Agreed with all pointing out that the legal system would collapse from the irony (heavy metal pun!) if LZ sued these guys but I see no point in listening to GVF. I listened to Zep so much when I was young I hardly have to hear it any more.

Heart is another Zep tribute band to my ears - but with enough of their own emphasis to make it completely enjoyable. I listen to Heart and I hear affection (for LZ). I have listened only a little to GVF but so far I hear affection for $$.