![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Robert-Plant-Singer-1979-Led-Zeppelin-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
(Credits: Far Out \/ Led Zeppelin)<\/p>\n
Sun 3 August 2025 14:30, UK <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were very fortunate in the Zeppelin camp,\u201d Robert Plant<\/a> said in 2019. \u201cThere was a lot of amazing variety of stylistic influence in everybody\u2019s playing.\u201d<\/p>\n When Led Zeppelin had their breakthrough, it seemed there would be no one on the globe who would dispute such a claim, especially not as an entity boasting names like Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham. If anything, they\u2019d become as esteemed as players much like The Rolling Stones or The Beatles, crafting a legacy that would no doubt drive rock into a brand new, exciting chapter.<\/p>\n But like most pioneers of history\u2019s most pivotal rock movements, Plant also regards their reign as something that flickered by in the blink of an eye, a fleeting explosion of a rock-induced haze without any real details to remember it by. He might have praised the contributions of each musician, but he also once said, \u201cIt was dumbfuck, a lot of it,\u201d adding, \u201cWe made great music. We had a great time. And then it stopped. That\u2019s all I know about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike most would in his position, Plant saw Zeppelin as a means to an end, a springboard for trying things out before getting into the reality of being a musician in his own right. History would naturally beg to differ, but it\u2019s hard to ignore all the reasons he developed this attitude to begin with. On top of this, the band came at the perfect time for both culture and Plant, who always saw music as an outlet for finding new standards of excellence. <\/p>\n Perhaps that\u2019s the main reason he sees Zeppelin almost as one of those amateur school projects where everyone\u2019s just figuring out before they go off to their big, real-world jobs. Or why he appreciated it sometimes, while regarding it as a somewhat ostentatious affair in the next breath, because he was always waiting for the next best thing, even when he was a part of it. Even when he was at the ultimate peak of it. <\/p>\n Because even as a solo artist, Zeppelin is a major facet of Plant\u2019s artistry. And nothing proves this fact more than the one song he\u2019s performed the most times live, across all tours and performances: \u2018Going to California\u2019. According to stats from Setlist, Plant has performed this song 469 times, 56 more times than the next most-performed, his own song \u2018In the Mood\u2019. This is particularly interesting considering the many Zeppelin songs Plant has praised over the years<\/a>, with very little to say about his feelings towards \u2018Going to California\u2019, other than that it means a lot for a band that went on to conquer the world.<\/p>\n That said, it\u2019s understandable why it\u2019s become such a popular Plant solo set staple, and that\u2019s not just because it\u2019s widely regarded as one of the band\u2019s best across their entire discography. Going back to Plant\u2019s earlier statement about each musician having their own \u201cvariety of stylistic influence\u201d, it\u2019s one of those songs that boasts each component, with Page\u2019s acoustic guitar and Jones\u2019 mandolin accompanying Plant\u2019s signature vocal. <\/p>\n It also leaned into the band\u2019s affinity for folk-leaning rock tropes, reportedly inspired by the hero of the folk singer-songwriter boom herself, Joni Mitchell, who, according to Plant, once she\u2019s got to you, \u201cyou\u2019ve really got to write about it now and again.\u201d But more than that, \u2018Going to California\u2019 is a song that represents a formative moment for the band, with Plant once telling Spin that it was a reflection on \u201cthe first years of the group,\u201d written \u201cwhen I was only about 20 and was struggling to find myself in the midst of all the craziness of California and the band and the groupies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n The Far Out Led Zeppelin Newsletter<\/p>\n All the latest stories about Led Zeppelin from the independent voice of culture.
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