Music fans can often remember where they were when they first heard their favorite artist. It’s a transformative moment that usually hits like a ton of bricks. Even our favorite artists remember where they were when they heard theirs. Robert Plant can remember the first time he heard Elvis Presley. Like everyone else in his generation, Plant thought The King was the paradigm of what a rocker should be. His first introduction to Presley was so impactful that he likened it to a drug trip.
Robert Plant Remembers Hearing Elvis for the First Time: “It Was an Opiate”
Like many musicians, Plant was interested in music from a young age. He once recalled listening to the radio, hoping to hear something that wowed him. According to the Led Zeppelin member, the BBC wasn’t interested in what the “youth” wanted to play. But, every so often, he’d get lucky and hear something invigorating.
“There was this sort of haze behind me of English ballads,” Plant once recalled. “The BBC wasn’t very kind to youth culture in those days, but every now and then on Two Way Family Favourites on a Sunday lunchtime, some servicemen would send messages back to Mom and Dad and request a song.”
Plant went on to talk about a particular day when the request was for a Presley staple, “Hound Dog”.
“Elvis,” he added. “That was the kind of lock-in. It was an opiate. Something happened when I heard the sound of that record. It certainly made me put my stamp collection to one side for a bit.”
Led Zeppelin and Elvis Presley
Fortunately for Plant, he didn’t have to admire Presley from afar like the rest of us. According to the vocalist, Led Zeppelin attended many Presley concerts. They even met him backstage, wherein Plant got to sing a Presley staple to the icon himself.
“We [Led Zeppelin] went to see him several times,” Plant continued elsewhere. “He was talking to us, and he said, ‘Well, how do you get on with soundchecks and stuff?’ Led Zeppelin didn’t really do a lot of things like that. But when we did [it was to] try out new equipment or whatever it might be. I’d wanted to sing an Elvis song, and he said, ‘What is it?’”
Plant often used “Love Me” as a warm-up. Fishing for the chance to sing this song with his hero, Plant mentioned his affinity for this track to Presley.
“So we talked about things and said good night and walked down the corridor,” he added. “Suddenly, I’m hailed, and I turn around, and Elvis is swinging out of the room on the doorframe and does an Elvis to me, which we all do, and start singing this song. So the two of us are like the ultimate pub singers that night.”
The only thing better than meeting your hero is your hero giving you adoration in return. We can’t imagine a better feeling as music fans.
(Photo by Watal Asanuma/Shinko Music/Getty Images)