(Credits: Far Out / Alamy / Magnolia Pictures / HBO Documentary Films)
Wed 10 December 2025 19:15, UK
Great minds inspire other great minds; it’s the wonderful cycle of the music industry, and something that both Freddie Mercury and Jeff Buckley were swept up in.
Both Mercury and Buckley contributed a great deal towards music in their own unique ways. They weren’t strangers to influencing others through both sheer talent but also a unique approach to music. While they’re not two artists you would necessarily put together in terms of style, they were both massively influenced by the same band: Led Zeppelin.
The way that Led Zeppelin embraced multiple genres was a new way of looking at music, and it subsequently inspired a great range of musicians. The way that they were able to blend the likes of acoustic music with blues, R&B, and rock led to the creation of a sound which nobody had heard before. They pushed the parameters of what rock could be, and as a result, their impact resonates across music and can be heard in plenty of different artists’ work, no matter how different they may sound.
Brian May once said that Queen were massively inspired by Led Zeppelin, along with The Beatles and The Who. “The way they handled their image, the integrity, the way they built their stage show – so many things,” the guitarist explained, “I suppose between Zeppelin and The Beatles and The Who, you would see where we came from. That was the kind of platform that we bounced off.”
It wasn’t just the band as a whole that people liked, though, they were also moved by the individual members of Led Zeppelin. Each band member was one of the best in their field, and as such, vocalists everywhere held Robert Plant on a pedestal. Mercury and Buckley were both such vocalists, as they agreed he had one of the best voices in rock.
Freddie Mercury said, “Robert Plant is one of the most original vocalists of our time. He was always my favourite singer. And he’s said nice things about me.” Meanwhile, when Jeff Buckley was talking about who influenced his music, he said: “Love, anger, depression, joy and dreams… and Zeppelin, totally.”
Buckley was such a big fan of Led Zeppelin that he once risked his life to go and watch them when Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were touring some of their old songs years after the band’s split. Buckley was playing at the festival and asked Ben Harper if he wanted to run to catch Zeppelin’s set later on in the day. Harper agreed, but couldn’t find Buckley anywhere when it was time to head over; as such, he went to watch Zeppelin and saw that Buckley had already made his way there.
“We looked up, out of my periphery… oh shit!” said Harper, “There’s Jeff, all the way up, off the scaffolding. Zeppelin is at full throttle, and Jeff is there with every decibel coursing through his veins. You could call it death-defying.”
Considering how much he admired them, Buckley would’ve been properly chuffed to know the feeling was mutual – turns out the members of Led Zeppelin held him in just as high regard. When Robert Plant spoke about Buckley as a vocalist, he had nothing but praise. It’s one of those proper musical tragedies that Buckley never got the chance to hear it for himself.
“Jeff Buckley’s voice […] was mind-altering,” said Plant, “Spectacular singing. And so much conviction.”
Related Topics
The Far Out Led Zeppelin Newsletter
All the latest stories about Led Zeppelin from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.