When Robert Plant surprisingly compared Shannon Hoon to Grace Slick
He might be one of the definitive classic rock frontmen, but Robert Plant has always had his finger on the pulse of the latest developments. Not only did this allow Led Zeppelin to continue pushing on until their last moment, but it has seen their ex-vocalist try his hand at various genres since their end and provided many glowing accounts of newer acts.
Throughout his career, Plant has continually shown that he has better taste than many of his peers from the classic rock period. When others of his generation would disregard the latest developments in favour of some strange and misguided rock ‘n’ roll puritanism, Plant has always had his eyes wide open.
When speaking to Q Magazine, Plant showed fans how down he is with the kids by discussing some of the highlights in his record collection. Offering a compelling peek into his listening tastes, somewhat surprisingly, the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ singer revealed himself to be a fan of gothic heroes The Cure and the short-lived collective This Mortal Coil, who are best known for their 1983 cover of Tim Buckley’s ‘Song to the Siren’, featuring Cocteau Twins singer, Elizabeth Fraser.
While those titles were no doubt pleasantly surprising to many, the inclusion of alternative metal pioneers Faith No More’s second album, Introduce Yourself, took the crown for being the stand-out. The final record to feature the band’s original frontman, the late Chuck Mosley, the album is famed for its title track, which saw the Californians refine their sound and touch on the area into which ensuing leader, Mike Patton, would firmly pull them, with the weirdness at fever pitch.
From then on, Plant would be known as one of the most prominent adherents of alternative rock. He’s even revealed himself to be a big fanatic of Nirvana and their message, despite their late leader, Kurt Cobain, famously disparaging the motivations behind Led Zeppelin and peers Aerosmith when discussing his segue from classic rock to punk as a listener.
Ever the realist, that didn’t stop Plant from praising Nirvana’s take on the punk blueprint after the 1994 suicide of Cobain. He said: “Punk came up… you know what it was in England? That was the last time anything really important happened in England or came from England to affect anybody. You know what happened is that punk said, ‘We’re fed up of Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, the sort of skeleton of the Beatles, let’s have some music from the street,’ and what’s happened in America in 1991-90 is that you finally got your own punk.”
That statement clearly conveys that Plant deeply understands the ethos of punk and its spawn alternative rock. Since then, he has continued to champion musicians who convey a countercultural and innovative essence. He confirmed this later in the ’90s when appearing at a Page and Plant press conference and shed light on some further contemporary acts he’s a fan of.
Tying together his generation and that of the era’s tradition-defiers, he offered an intriguing take when he compared the late Shannon Hoon of Los Angeles outfit Blind Melon to Jefferson Airplane powerhouse Grace Slick. Notably, the alternative rock group are best known for their 1993 hit ‘No Rain’. The group released their celebrated self-titled debut in 1992 and its follow-up Soup in 1995, before Hoon died of an overdose on their tour bus in New Orleans in October of that year. The band then unsuccessfully searched for a replacement for the next four years and disbanded in 1999. They have since reformed and released 2008’s For My Friends, but are not the same without Hoon.
Given the band’s blend of psychedelia and alternative rock, you can see where Plant is coming from in his assertion that Hoon brought to mind Slick, as she always instilled real force into the idea of the hippie genre. In many ways, she was one of the very first punks, through both her musical choices and deeds, such as being the first person to utter the ‘F-word’ on American television. Without her defiance, there might have been no Cobain and following legends such as Hoon and other alternative rock stars.
“I like Blind Melon; I think the kid who sings in Blind Melon takes a lot from Glace? Grace Slick… strange teeth,” Plant laughed. “I want to like Rollins, but he won’t let me.”