Greta Van Fleet borrows too heavily from Zeppelin

Posted Sept. 27, 2022

By Mila Romero

Entertainment Editor

The modern rock band, Greta Van Fleet, has an incredibly similar sound to the ‘70s rock band, Led Zeppelin, the band that changed rock music forever. The band of brothers seem to attract a younger audience much like Zeppelin did in the ‘70s. Both their guitar riffs and vocalist are a little too similar to Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Greta Van Fleet vocalist Josh Kiszka is hard to differentiate from Plant even if you were a hardcore Zeppelin fan. Though their music is fairly good, it is only good because Led Zeppelin did it first. Of course they will receive tons of recognition by teens because that audience was born after Zeppelin’s glory days. 

On a YouTube channel called REACT, a video was uploaded where they had elders react to Greta Van Fleet’s music. They played their music to the elders and most believed they were in fact listening to Zeppelin. All agreed that Greta Van Fleet and the infamous Led Zeppelin were hard to tell apart from each other. These people witnessed Zeppelin when they were at their peak, so they know what they're talking about.

Greta Van Fleet are definitely masters of mimicking the ‘70s rock sound but the copying of signature Plant screams and over use of the word “mama”, is just too much. Yes, “mama” is just a word but Kiszka uses it in a way Plant would iconicly do in his songs. The lack of originality and the lack of Greta Van Fleet fans knowing Led Zeppelin is what seriously gives them the fame they have now. If a fan got in to Led Zeppelin before they hearing Greta Van Fleet, they would easily admit that Greta Van Fleet is the cheap version of Zeppelin.

It’s incredibly rare to find a story critiquing Greta Van Fleet without seeing the words “Led Zeppelin” in it. There is no doubt that they have almost the exact Zeppelin sound. Greta Van Fleet could easily pass as a Led Zeppelin tribute band. They capture the essence and sound of Led Zeppelin but they defintley do not portray it better than Zeppelin did years ago. Though this band clearly angers some Zeppelin fans including myself, Plant seems to enjoy Greta Van Fleet. He feels glad that there is another band just lke the one in the ‘70s and praised Josh Kiszka for his vocal range. He jokingly says he hates Josh’s voice and calls him a ‘beautiful little singer’.

Greta Van Fleet’s Highway Tune sounds a lot like Led Zeppelin’s The Rover. It was almost like Greta Van Fleet took the song's main riff then switched a note up and made it their intro. They can get away with it because the majority of their fanbase are teenagers who do not listen to the ones who did it first, Zeppelin. They can’t be called out when fans don’t even know what to compare the song with or if it was even comparable to begin with. 

“They are Led Zeppelin 2.” stated Plant in an interview regarding Greta Van Fleet. 

From the very beginning of the young bands career, critiques have already been suggesting similarities between them and Zeppelin. The band denies that Zeppelin had a big influence on them and says that AC/DC had more of an influence on them rather than the band they sound identical to. It is hard to believe that the classic rock band AC/DC had a greater influence on Greta Van Fleet when their music is obviously Zeppelin inspired. Just admit it. If a band were to be compared to Led Zeppelin they should feel honored and be truthful about their influence rather than denying because then that just makes you look stupid. Every person that is willing to make rock music, knows who Zeppelin is and how they sound. If you make rock music without understanding Zeppelin’s fundamentals, what are you even doing? Even if this band had no idea they sounded exactly like Zeppelin, that would mean they are musically uncultured. There is no way they have gotten this far in to their career without someone telling them they are pure copycatsor hearing Zeppelin on the radio and thinking ‘Hey they sound just like us.’

“I think that we’ve become more conscious of it because I don’t think before we ever really realized, in a lot of senses, the similarities or the commonalities that we share with that group.” stated bassist Sam kiszka.

Not to mention the resemblance between Josh Kiszkas voice and Geddy Lee’s from Rush’s voice. Has rock music come to the point where new bands can no longer have an original sound? If so, is copying the music of the past our only way of saving rock music? There’s only so much musicians can do with a guitar. Uniqueness is crucial factor for any musical group so when people see a band like Greta Van Fleet, critics are quick to raise an eyebrow. 

“No one in this band offers anything in the way of personality that doesn’t sound like your average YouTube tutorial for a Jimmy Page-type pentatonic solo or a John Bonham-type shuffle.” said reviews editor Jeremy D. Larson from the New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Time, etc.