Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant recently appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where he discussed the origins of his mystical lyrical style, confirming the profound and personal influence of author J.R.R. Tolkien.
Host Stephen Colbert, a well-known Tolkien aficionado, noted that songs like “Stairway to Heaven” contain references to the author’s work and asked if his bandmates—Jimmy Page, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones—were aware of the source material.
Plant explained that at the time Led Zeppelin was writing those songs, the books weren’t the cultural phenomenon they are today. “It didn’t exist at the time,” Plant said of the widespread popularity. “Tolkien had his moment, but I guess ‘The Hobbit‘ and ‘The Lord of the Rings‘ had subsided.”
For Plant, the connection was not just literary but geographical. The singer explained that he and Tolkien both grew up in England’s Midlands, and this shared landscape allowed him to connect deeply with the author’s vision.
“[Tolkien’s work] spoke to me because the points of reference were very close to where I live,” Plant explained. He described how his parents would take him through the very same terrain that inspired Tolkien.
“…you can read what the landscape gave you from the old times before there were highways and stuff like that,” Plant said, describing how the ancient history of the region resonated with him. He credited the author with unlocking that part of his imagination, stating, “Tolkien opened the door to all that sort of dark age meanderer of history.”
Plant‘s recent media appearance follows a stranger news item from earlier this year, where the animal rights organization PETA publicly urged the singer to change his name.
In a bizarre campaign, PETA asked the rock icon to legally change his name to “Robert Wool Plant” as a protest against the wool industry. The request was tied to Plant‘s life as a sheep farmer. PETA claimed that Plant, as a “kind” man, would be horrified by the alleged cruelty in the wool industry and that changing his name would be a powerful statement against “speciesism” and in support of “vegan wool” alternatives. Plant is not known to have ever responded to the request.
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