Led Zeppelin doesn’t sound like Elvis Presley influenced them, but almost every rock band has a little touch of the king. The British band had a more hardcore sound than Presley did, but the members developed a love for rock n’ roll after listening to the Memphis singer. Lead singer Robert Plant once performed a cover of an Elvis song that the king said he appreciated.
Robert Plant called listening to Elvis Presley for the first time an ‘opiate’
Many rock stars who emerged in the 1960s and 1970s grew up listening to Elvis Presley. The American singer dominated the charts worldwide and was an edgy figure for youth culture during the 1950s and 60s. For Robert Plant, listening to Elvis for the first time was revolutionary since the BBC wanted to keep the youth more conservative.
In a conversation with Jools Holland, Plant said listening to Elvis was like an ‘opiate.’ The song specifically he listened to was “Hound Dog”, one of Elvis’ earliest hits.
“That was the kind of lock-in. It was an opiate,” Plant said. “Something happened when I heard the sound of that record. It certainly made me put my stamp collection to one side for a bit.”
Robert Plant did a cover of ‘Love Me’ that Elvis approved of
Led Zeppelin did go see Elvis perform live a few times and once had the chance to meet their rock hero. In Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Singers of All Time issue, Plant shared the story of the time he met Elvis. During the meeting, he told Elvis that he liked to perform “Love Me” during soundchecks.
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“When I met Elvis with Zeppelin after one of his concerts in the early ’70s, I sized him up. He wasn’t quite as tall as me, but he had a singer’s build, and he was driven,” Plant said. “At that meeting, Jimmy Page joked with Elvis that we never sound-checked – but if we did, all I wanted to do was sing Elvis songs. Elvis thought that was funny and asked me, ‘Which songs do you sing?’ I told him I liked the ones with all the moods like that great country song ‘Love Me’.”
He did perform a cover during a soundcheck but was worried Elvis didn’t hear him. Fortunately, the king of rock found him afterward and gave him a sign of approval.
“When we were leaving, after a most illuminating and funny 90 minutes with the guy, I was walking down the corridor,” he added. “He swung ’round the door frame, looking quite pleased with himself, and started singing that song: ‘Treat me like a fool.’ I turned around and did Elvis right back at him. We stood there, singing to each other. What he did was he made it possible for me, as a singer, to become otherworldly.”
‘Love Me’ holds a rare achievement on the charts
“Love Me” is an early hit from Elvis released in 1956. The song debuted on his second studio album Elvis. While the tune wasn’t released as a single, it reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, a unique achievement for a non-single.
Elvis performed the song on The Ed Sullivan Show and on his NBC Comeback Special. It was a favorite for the rocker during his live shows, and he performed it at his concerts years after it debuted.
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