Before Black Sabbath released their debut album and ushered in heavy metal as we know it, Led Zeppelin was among the 1960s bands that had explored the darker sides of rock and roll. But the band always shied away from any association as a precursor to heavy metal, especially Robert Plant and Jimmy Page .
Considered an essential influence on the birth of heavy metal to this day, the band's intended sound was described as "a marriage of blues, hard rock and acoustic music with heavy choruses - a combination that had not been explored before," as the guitarist explained to Louder Sound .
Attempts by specialized media to link the band to the term were refuted, even with the undeniable heaviness present in the group's discography. When talking about Led Zeppelin IV (1971), Plant sought to explain to the Rock Magazine that the album's sound was not limited to the single "Stairway to Heaven". "There are some good and strong things, some really... We don't say 'heavy', do we?", he asked rhetorically (via Cheat Sheet ). "Well, I don't know if we use [the word 'heavy'], but it's strong and exciting material."
In part, the reluctance stems from the group's influences. "I'm not sure where we got that label from," Page lamented in a 2013 interview with Classic Rock Society . "There's no denying that the elements of what became known as heavy metal are definitely present in Led Zeppelin . But the reality is that it's about riffs, and riffs go back to the blues – the electric blues of the '50s and what was happening in Chicago."
Beyond the search for the best way to describe their art, the band members certainly had difficulty accepting the term because of how it had been used for many years. As Dee Snider of Twisted Sister , "heavy metal" was used pejoratively to refer to bands previously called "hard rock," and it took time for the style to be respected and understood as a lifestyle. "Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and the rest didn't like the term. The fans did," he posted on social media .
Even with the passage of time, rumors persist that Jimmy Page still doesn't want any connection to the metal genre. In 2018, a rumor shared on a fan page accused the musician of refusing to participate in the radio program That Metal Show , hosted by Eddie Trunk. The reason? "I don't want an association with metal," he allegedly said.
It's important to point out that there are no reliable sources on this case, and the Wikimetal podcast had the opportunity to conduct a legendary interview with the guitarist alongside Robert Plant and John Paul Jones in 2012, without the portal's name being seen as an obstacle.
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