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Robert Plant Performs Big Band Cover of ‘Rock And Roll’

Robert Plant has been known to put unique spins on classic Led Zeppelin songs when performing solo. The latest example comes from a recent appearance on the BBC’s Later with…

Robert Plant performing on stage.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Robert Plant has been known to put unique spins on classic Led Zeppelin songs when performing solo. The latest example comes from a recent appearance on the BBC's Later with Jools Holland.

Embedded below is Plant joined by Irish singer Imelda May performing a big band rendition of "Rock And Roll." The piano and horns sound absolutely incredible, as do Plant and May.

Plant was recently honored with three Grammy Award nominations along with Allison Krauss for their 2021 album Raise the Roof, the follow-up to their 2007 album Raising Sand which won five Grammys including Album of the Year. This time around, Plant and Krauss are nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Going Where The Lonely Go,” Best American Roots Song for “High and Lonesome” and Best Americana Album.

Led Zeppelin: All 92 Songs Ranked

Led Zeppelin and their catalog as a whole have become more beloved and revered with time as they've been passed down through generations and become standards for which future bands are measured.

So, how do you honor one of the greatest, most influential bands of all time? Hunker down with a fifth of Jack Daniel's, a 2-liter of Coke and dive headfirst into the "Zep-a-Thon." Dubbed so by Jack Black when the band received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012, the "Zep-a-Thon" is a musical binge session where you listen to all of Zeppelin's eight studio albums (plus the 1982 compilation album Coda) in one sitting.

"Led Zeppelin: The greatest rock and roll band of all time," said Black. "Better than The Beatles, better than the Stones, even better than Tenacious D."

Black continued, "If you don't agree with me, it's because you never did the 'Zeppelin Marathon.' The 'Zep-a-Thon' is when you sit your ass down and listen to all nine Zep albums in a row ... [It's] the thing every true fan must do at least once in their lifetime. The pilgrimage to heavy metal Mecca."

 

For the author, this binge wasn't all for pleasure, even though it was oddly fulfilling. The purpose of doing this was for research in order to rank all 92 original Zeppelin tracks.

Exhausting? Yes. A bit much? Maybe, but crazier things have likely been committed in the name of Zeppelin throughout the past five decades. We're positive a simple Google search will yield many things that prove this statement correct. However, we're almost too afraid even to find out what those things are.

Where do your favorite Zeppelin tracks rank? Scroll through the gallery below to find out!

Additional song descriptions by Brian Ives.

 

Erica Banas is a news blogger who's been covering the rock/classic rock world since 2014. The coolest event she's ever covered in person was the 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. (Sir Paul McCartney inducting Foo Fighters? C'mon now!) She's also well-versed in etiquette and extraordinarily nice. #TransRightsAreHumanRights