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

I'm pretty late to this party--as usual.  A Chicago radio station is starry-eyed over Greta Van Fleet.  I gave them a listen today.  All I could think was...

Is this a Zeppelin parody band? 

There are so many features to their sound, playing, and sonics that sound just like LZ--so much so that I cannot get into the music passionately.  These are (IMHO):  Vocals (phrasing mimics Robert Plant without stopping);  Lyrics (the themes seem, based on limited listening, to track LZ);  Lead Guitar (I cannot think of another guitarist who sounds like he's trying to sound like Page as much as this one).  

Does Greta Van Fleet sound like a facsimile to you?  I'm not hung up on punishing artists who copy, as I think it's part and parcel of the art form.  But I'm having real trouble getting past the photocopy nature of this.  Again, this is just one person's opinion. So curious to hear what others think and feel about this group.  I'd like to give them more of a chance and maybe others can help.  For now, I can't keep listening.

128x128jbhiller
jbhiller's avatar
jbhiller OP
1,399 posts
 
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. 
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
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!
stargazer3's avatar
stargazer3
135 posts
 
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.
cal91
233 posts
 
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.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,788 posts
 
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.
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