Robert Plant: Gender Norms In Led Zeppelin

Black and white teenagers listen alike to rock music on the radio and attended clubs to hear it, together. Rock ‘n’ Roll’s roots helped accustom white teens to black music through the lenses of white, male vocalists—a normalcy to ground these drastic changes in race relations. The stars, like Elvis Presley—know for his sexual and riveting performances—began to blur the line between different forms of music and more importantly, black and white music.3 Rock ‘n’ Roll music was a blend of these two different cultures, demonstrating the enormous consumer power of this emerging youth culture and giving it the power to unite an entire

The Rolling Stones, self-acclaimed and fan-supported, is “The World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.” The Rolling Stones is well into its fifth decade performing together as a group. They are the longest lived, continuous performing band in the history of music. From the band’s early British beginnings through the present, The Rolling Stones has continued to adapt its music to the sounds and styles of the past five decades, to remain ever visible and popular in the eyes of the world. The “Stones,” as the band has become known by, was formed by the blues-loving London born, childhood friends, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Over the period following Jagger’s and Richards’ chance reunion on a train at the Dartford

However the arguments put forward on the notion that the social and political context of the 1950’s was the reason behind the emergence of rock n roll is undermined by Peterson who states that the birth of Rock n roll can not be purely based and credited to the individuals mentioned above. That is not to say he is undermining their talent but instead such talent can be found on a wider scale, however only a few make the forefront.

Women’s music came from radical, grassroots origins in the 1970s thanks to contributions by brave women, mostly lesbians (Mosbacher, 2002). These women used non-violent, peaceful force to forge their own way into the music industry. It was a peaceful yet political revolution of togetherness and liberation. It brought together women of different backgrounds who produced easy-listening, mellow harmonies played with lyrics filled with tumultuous

When the majority of the population thinks of rock 'n ' roll, most tend to correlate the beginnings of the rock genre with Elvis Presley or The Beatles. However, the greater part of the start of rock 'n ' roll must be attributed to the influence of African American culture and music. The African American culture initiated and impacted so many of the first genres in music that stemmed off into be many of the genres we still listen to today. Due to racism and discrimination many “race” artists were not recognized for their artistic abilities. Most African American musicians have become discredited due to white musicians covering African American songs and making it more popular. Rock ‘n’ roll was a collective effort of white and black culture and musicians but little credit has gone to the African American side of the genre. To truly understand how “race” artists were the people to help mold rock ‘n’ roll, you must go back to the very beginning of the start of the music business.

Before Led Zeppelin was founded, each of the members had previous experience playing different styles of music that contributed to the sound of Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant's main influences were blues player, Willie Dixon and the influences found in the country of Morocco. Both men played in many other bands including Jeff

Rock ‘n’ roll presented us with the emergence of a cultural phenomenon, which the book lays out for us. Altschuler sees rock as a “metaphor for integration, as the focal point for anxiety that cultural life in the U.S. had become “sexualized”, a catalyst

Censorship has long been an issue in Rock and Roll music. Although our American society celebrates “classic” rock that emerged in the 60’s and 70’s, today, artists such as: The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Doors, The Sex Pistols, and Bob Dylan were harshly judged for their music and image they projected because some members of society feared they were too suggestive, or just completely inappropriate. These rebellious artists fought against their music being censored in the best ways for their bands.

Rock and roll has developed a long way throughout the years from a dance craze in the 1950’s to a political and cultural landscape that is recognized worldwide. Rock and roll has come to define the roots of teenage rebellion, people who don’t follow the norms, and have disrespect for authority. The style of rock and roll itself is a melting pot of music, a combination of sounds that include jazz, country, blues, ragtime, gospel, swing, classical, and ethnic music. It can be a simple variation of three chords to a complex chromatic scale combination. It can convey emotions such as love, hate, fear, lust, sadness, joy, disillusion, or a strong sense of reality. Many things can be said about rock but the fact is that it is the most widely

The emergence of Rock and Roll was one of the most pivotal moments of our nation’s history. The impact that this genre of music made is still evident in our culture. However, before this genre was able to gain momentum, it faced many cultural conflicts. The book, All Shook Up: How Rock ‘N’ Roll Changed America by Glenn C. Altschuler analyzes the impact that rock and roll music has made on American culture. It explores how the Rock and Roll culture was able to roughly integrate and later conflict with preceding cultural values. This is especially apparent in chapters regarding race and sexuality. Overall, Rock and Roll was extremely controversial amongst parents and educators. This new music genre was condemned by the previous generation as

Rock music has come a long way since its development in the early 20th century. The genre, defined “as a merger between rhythm&blues and country” (Scaruffi, The History of Rock Music:1955-1966), started out more as an underground market, but ended up becoming a significant aspect of American popular music history. Rock-n-Roll music produce many legendary artists who will for ever be known as innovators of the genre. Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry were some of the many artists in Rock-n-Roll who will always live on in their music.Many teenagers were also to identify it due to its rebellious nature their disapproval of the cold war. Towards the end of the 1950s, Rock-n-Roll was ending on a particularly bad note, with a brief decline:

In 1980, Led Zeppelin could have had the biggest tour in the history of rock and roll, although this never happened because one of the members, Rob Plant, refused to be a part of it. He rejected to reunite with the rest of the group because he believed that “no amount of money is worth having to sing Stairway to Heaven.” To begin with, when asked about Rob Plants interpretation of the song, he responded with-“I still interpret the song a different way and I wrote the lyrics. “In addition, he believed that the lyrics took some rough shots, but in the beginning of the song it’s meant towards a woman who strives for money, only to find out the rough way that is was going to be keeping her from reaching her stairway to heaven. Rob Plant had no other reason for stating what his meanings words towards writing the song, but he did note that he saw it as “a woman getting everything she wanted without giving anything back.” According to an article by

When one hears the word “feminist”, many different things may come to mind. One may think of the “bra burning” feminists of the 1960s or the “riot grrrl” feminists of the 1990s. It can bring to mind issues such as abortion, birth control, and unfair wages. There are many different aspects of feminism, some of which are understood only by those involved in the movement. But like most things people are passionate about, feminism has held a strong place in music since its very beginning, and can be seen in its festivals, its politics, and in the average American’s everyday life.

For many people raised during this period, demeaning the music of Led Zeppelin is a desecration of a most

Focusing on aspects of the female body, gender in music and sexuality, I will be discussing why Betty Davis was omitted from the histories of American popular music, as well as analyse Davis’s songs “Shoo-Bloop and Cop Him” and “Don’t Call Her No Tramp” both from her album, They Say I’m Different (1974). Through both the discussion and analysis of her songs