Paying attention to your contemporaries not only clues you in to what you should do for your career; it also hints at what you shouldn’t do, like the observations Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant made about two notable rock bands’ third albums.
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The hard rock singer was a fan of these soft rock counterparts in the States, but he noticed they made a career move that, in his opinion, was a crucial mistake.
Plant monitoring this “mistake” is unsurprising, since it’s a professional approach to which Led Zeppelin dedicated themselves and for which they received a lot of flak.
Robert Plant Said This Band Fumbled Their Third Album
During a 1974 interview with New Musical Express, Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and interviewer Roy Carr strolled through the grounds of Whitley Court, the remains of a country mansion nearly lost to a fire. Carr asked Plant about the hard rock band’s recording process, including the fact that caused countless Led Zeppelin fans to groan throughout the 1970s: the band took their sweet time recording an album, often spreading their releases out over a year or more. That was a glacial pace even in the still-analogue 70s.
To defend their approach, Plant used a band he enjoyed as an example for why it’s important to take one’s time in the studio. “I’ve been following Steely Dan’s progress,” he explained. “Now, I thought that their first two albums were really great. But they fell into the trap of making their vitally important third album far too quickly. What their third album amounted to was nothing more than a weak restatement of what they’d done much better on previous outings.”
Plant continued, “Unfortunately, they hadn’t given themselves sufficient time to work out a logical progression.” The Led Zeppelin singer used The Eagles as another example of a band that worked themselves into an uncreative rush. Plant said that while “Take It Easy” was his “National Anthem when I’m driving to the west,” the band “blew it with [their third album], On the Border.”
What Led Zeppelin Chose To Do Instead
Chronologically speaking, it wouldn’t make sense that Robert Plant and the rest of Led Zeppelin looked to bands like Steely Dan and The Eagles when they were figuring out how to release their third record. Led Zeppelin’s third release came out in 1970, while the aforementioned bands’ third albums both came out in 1974. Instead, Plant used the lackluster success of Steely Dan and The Eagles’ third releases as retrospective justification for Led Zeppelin choosing to keep their album output slow and steady over the years.
“When you’re recording, it’s absolutely no good thinking that the tracks will just about do,” Plant argued. “If you take that attitude, you’re finished. In the studio, we get everything as good as we can possibly make it. It’s no use me moaning to you that we could have made a much better album once it’s on sale. Thankfully, we know if things aren’t right, and as such, we have the enthusiasm and enough pride in what we’re doing to make sure that everything we do is properly played, recorded, mixed, and cut. It’s no good putting out an album for the sake of putting out an album.”
Led Zeppelin’s third album, Led Zeppelin III, came out in October 1970, almost exactly one year after their sophomore release, Led Zeppelin II. During that year-long process, Led Zeppelin came up with some of their most iconic hits, including “Immigrant Song”, “Tangerine”, and “Since I’ve Been Loving You”.
Photo by Mark Sullivan/Getty Images
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