I like this. It’s not about tearing down these great singers, it’s about realising that they’re human too, which, as a singer, is very encouraging to see because it gives me faith that I could someday be just as good
In Robert's defense the majority of Led Zeppelin stuff is really high range and it must be unbelievably stressful to sing it night after night, but yeah in that '73 rock'n'roll live his voice was really really messed up. Great video!
it's not as stressful if you sing it more lightly with your head voice but it sounds like Robert plant might be using his full chest voice since he has a very powerful voice and a very high range.
@@Kinseliplier Yeah, and in those days they didn't really know much about how to protect and maintain their voices. He actually pretty much destroyed his voice in the 71 tour. He still had some power in 73 but his signature range was gone.
@@patrickmacleod2415 Early 1972 particularly in Auckland New Zealand, his voice was pretty much back to how it was in 1971, amazing performance. Perhaps the last classic Robert Plant performance.
Honestly, as a singer and touring musician, this is relatable. Life happens. We age, we get exhausted, and we all get pushed beyond our limits. We’re human beings. Great video!
I think Robert Plant is a perfect example of pure talent. His technique was far from being perfect, but God, the feeling, the power, all the love he gave in every song and all the effort he must have done to reach that level even without profesional training. No doubt he's one of the best in all history. Also, it's a great idea to add a spott number 0 here
imagine to sing to a LZ song, it would be nearly impossible -they had such a heavy sound, it was incredible to sing so loud and intense like Robert in a concert during 2 or more hours....
@@verenamenzel4701their concerts last between 3 & 4 hours just about nightly. Both Rock & Roll & The Immigrant Song were either of the opening song for concerts, to get the fans hyped up.
The imperfection is also one of the reasons for me loving Robert Plant so much. It doesn't really bother me when I listen to a lower octave version of Rock n" Roll live in MSG '73.
Yeah, Plant's voice changed over the years; it's obvious to any Zeppelin fan. In the early years he could hit those stratospheric notes with relative ease; but as the years wore on; he struggled to hit those and often lowered the key to hit similar notes. What most people don't talk about was the fantastic tonal quality of his voice in the slower ballads from Zeppelin. There was a warmth and humanness to his timbre in songs such as Going to California or Tangerine, that was just so pleasing. We still love you Robert despite dropping a couple of lemons along the way - is just shows you are human!
1:45 that Freddie reference is perfect 😂😂!!! the Queenesque version of Immigrant Song (Berlin 1986) was one of the most hilarious fails in rock history 🤣🤣🤣
As a person who likes punk music, it doesnt matter THAT much if your playing is good, as long as you have the energy, attitude and "power through" as you said in the video, you will put out a great show
His pairing with Allison Krause is absolute perfection; I've seen him perform with her numerous times, when it's time to hit the high notes, he backs off, she steps up. What a combo!
Agreed. I really love that song… ummmm The title is escaping me at the moment… But the lyrics start off as: “Queen of light took her bow and then she turned to Go, the Prince of peace embraced the gloom and walked the night alone…..”
Oh wait, that recording is somebody named Sandy Denny… But I imagine nowadays Alison Krauss does that for her? I don’t know… But yeah he does pair well with a strong female voice
The funny thing is I bet if you were actually there any of those nights you would have been so wrapped up in the energy of the song that you would have barely noticed any off notes. So much of performance is stage presence!!
That accident literally ruined his voice. Another thing he didn't cared for his voice. But now his voice is matured greatly, while he can't sing those zep classics he still is way better than most of the vocalists out there. Even at this age he's performing really great. While I suggest checking out his early stuff. At the age of 17 Robert could sing like a deep matured blues vocalist while hit those impossible high notes Robert Plant in his prime was phenomenon that'll never happen again
Most of the Zeppelin songs are on the bridge going in and out through the second passage way from chest register to head and back and as far as I know Robert didn't take care of his voice and he never really warmed up. A lot of the times he'd use the first song of the concert as a warm up excercise and not warming up for longer periods of time and then trying to go through your bridge you're gonna start hearing that crack or break again. Plant lost most of his higher head range by the time it was 73. As a fan I still believe that Robert Plant is the most influential and the greatest vocalist in the history of Rock.
@@rithulshelan He may have lost his super-high range by 1973, but Achilles Last Stand from 1976 is one of his best vocal performances ever, and his work on Physical Graffiti is also great.
@@dmitryowens I totally agree. He did what any great vocalist would do which is to evolve. He's not trying to be any of the guys he was in his past. He found his limitations and he's adapting to it and trying to put out the best he can do with his new technique. Which is what makes him one of the greatest of all time.
Lets not forget that Rock and Roll and Immigrant Song were the first songs of the setlist for these shows, often 3 hrs. plus set list played night after night. Cigarettes, booze and other pre-show hijinks likely substituted a proper warmup or soundcheck. Thanks for posting!
did it? I saw videos of him replacing Brian Johnson in AC/DC a few years ago and he sounded totally fine, hitting all the right high notes with very good intonation - he did a killer job. And Brian Johnson-era songs in general are higher range than GnR ones
You should do a video on Jeff Buckley. Jimmy Page said that he was “the greatest singer to appear in two decades” (‘70s - ‘90s), and Plant said that Jeff was a “much greater singer” than him.
Nothing to say. Plant voice was indescribably beautiful until 1971. Then it started to get worse. As the video says, it is difficult to imagine how Robert (and the rest of the band) felt: he was at the top of the success and his voice began to deteriorate
Live performances really take their toll on singers. If you listen to Freddie Mercury live, he was more cautious, avoiding many of the highest notes but still sounding great. Obviously he didn't live as long so it is an unfair comparison, but his voice was great until the end. If only Robert Plant had taken a similar approach.
You just noted the difference. Led Zeppelin were never afraid to take risks and push the limits. That's why they were the greatest. Most other acts, including Queen, often played it safe. Zeppelin were a different animal.
@@lyndoncmp5751 Don't get me wrong, I'm not being critical of Plant. I wish more artists would take a few risks. On reflection though, it wasn't the healthiest thing for his voice, and I'm sure he'd admit that himself.
To be fair, I don't think that Freddie had to sing in powerful voice like that for 3-4 hours every night like Robert did for years. Lyndon, you hit the nail right on the head.
He was a great singer, I really like his vocals I found it very powerful specially in the 70s, you can tell how good he was in the Led Zeppelin double Dvd released in 2003, the one with the desert cover art
I didn’t know he had vocal surgery. His voice changed on ever album, and peaked on Zep 4. Bonham has tons of mistakes but it just makes it so much better. As for Plants early voice, PEOPLE GET COLDS
Well, for one thing, he had to struggle because he set the mark. With that said, he was still great after his voice changed. Jimmy Page started writing around Robert's change, and it worked. I think it worked the best with Physical Graffiti. Even with the lower singing, he was still a better singer than 99% of the others still could not match him. That style of music is hard to sing. On the bright side, for the most part, Robert did get it back! Either way, their songs were so awesome that Led Zeppelin stayed popular.
Guys a human being not a machine.can't be absolutely perfect every time on long tours,etc.Some nights it's going to take a little time to warm up the vocal cords !!Of course it's much harder to hit those higher notes as you get older.
You can actually hear the decline right after HOH. PG had a mix of older sessions in it, so that saved the reputation. Then it culminated on Presence with very weak falsetto's when going high. He never used to sing "whispy" falsetto's in the early days. By the time of ITTOD, it was clearly a different voice. Polar opposite of I,II,III, or IV.
plant screamed himself hoarse, and was never quite the same singer after his op, ps- (2:20) i always love how bonham used dressed up as a droog, hilarious / very much appropriate! LZ 4 / stairway released 50 yrs ago today, too!
I'm only here to talk about his *best* live performance I've seen. It's the performance of Kashmir from the recent LZ reunion. Yes, he only got better with age.
He still had an amazing voice. Here's how I look at it: He set the mark that no one could match, and then he went on to develop another singing style to compensate for a little less range. If you listen to him on Physical Graffiti, there are a lot of song on that LP where he still sings amazingly high. The Wanton Song is so hard to sing. He even hits some good high notes in The Rover. Like I said, Jimmy Page had to come up with something different to keep them going, and it worked because he is such a great composer of music.
@@guitarttimman The Rover was from The Houses Of The Holy sessions. His voice stayed great up to In Through The Out Door; and it was still better than 80% of other’s. But not like the “touched by God” years of 69-72.
@@scottwaszak698 Yeah but at least they found a way to write music that matched his later style. I know what you mean, but I liked the later style equally as much but in different ways. I guess it's because the change took place at just the right time. 1975, and people were really into a more punk sound in the vocals. At times he did nearly as good as the 72 stuff, but at others he put a lower rougher sound. It's because the times changed. Believed it or not, had Led Zeppelin never changed, they wouldn't have been as popular. It was a kind of hippie culture era. You would have had to be there to understand.
@@scottwaszak698 For the 2007 show, they tuned down for some of the songs, (notably, Black Dog, Nobody's Fault But Mine,) but Kashmir was done in the original key.
his prime years were 69 -72...anything after he struggled live to ever get to his upper register again...he had one of the greatest voices ever in his prime so I deal with it and he's one of my faves...he still was great on the albums after 72(albeit without the upper register of zep 1 to houses of the holy) physical graffiti on his upper register was gone although I love his singing on the albums anyway...live though it ruins shows from zep tours in 73, 75, 77, 79.....if you want an example listen to a live version of over the hills and far away from 72....he sings it like the album....from 73 on he sings it completely different and the song suffers for it. love plant though...in his prime noone touched him. I know Freddie mercury this and Ian gillan that etc....ill take plant in his prime over any of them...it wasn't an age thing either...he was still in his mid 20s...I will say from zep 1 to houses of the holy , live he was able to hit every note you heard on the record...he was amazing at that point
Great points, and completely in agreement. I never cared for OTHAFA live due to the way it was sung. Prime Plant, was as you said, 69/72, and he was pretty much untouchable then..but even by late '72 (Japan, UK tour) the cracks were appearing and his voice was becoming the way we'd hear it for the rest of Zep's career. In fact, the UK late 72 shows are very poor in places, vocally. As you say, not an age thing..the cigarettes didn't help either.
By the way, I absolutely LOVE that we have for posterity a different singing style on Over The Hills And Far Away. The 1973 version is funky. Its still great. We have TWO beautifully recorded versions of the same song. Both quite different to the other. Isn't that a good thing, or do we want note for note facsimiles every year?
Hello Marc! A great video, again. You haven't been uploading on the other channel recently, so I was thinking what you've been up to. Glad to see you're just uploading over here.
Have you ever been to a rock and roll stage on 1971? Have you ever been singing those high tuning songs 5x a week with not enough hours of sleep? Do you know the variety of PA sound system on the stage, in different ambience every 2 days? In our current days, we have technology to adjust perfectly the sound you can hear on the stage. So, singing under low instrumental volume on a stage is easy. Go back to early 60's and 70's, use those equipments and play an out loud rock and roll volume. Then, come back here and tell me how you felt!
And Zep often played for three hours. Plant had to be heard above Page, Bonham and Jones. That was never easy. So much power in that instrumental trio. Not like fronting a folk band.
If you think 73 is bad, 75 is infinitely worse. Not only had he lost a significant part of his range, he was sick most of the tour. Its incredible they even made it through the parts of that they did get through.
My musical friend, I am a musician and have been fro almost 40 years, maybe you are too, but this is the reality, legends are exactly that - They Are Legends! There is no "Greatest" or "Best" of All Time, there are only people who have good moments, bad moments, very good moments and sometimes very bad moments.
Some other ocasions I remember some 'fails' (I'm huge zep fan btw, I just don't see as a problem making mistakes sometimes! It's nice to see that even Golden Gods are humans after all) The Rain Song - Knebworth 79 (I believe it's in the 1st night) the last songs at the last day in earls court 75
People have all sorts of theories as to why Robert Plant lost his range. Partying/smoking etc. had little to do with it. A male's voice "settles" at around 22 to 23 years old, which is exactly when he started to lose his range. The TONE of his voice started changing however because of the nodules, and nodules happen usually because of voice overuse. The surgery didn't do him much good, as it often doesn't. Cigs or not, or partying or not, his range was bound to go down.
It’s crazy to see just how quickly Plant’s voice deteriorated from 1971-73. Sample the BBC Paris Theater show, How the West Was Won and The Song Remains the Same for reference. Regardless, he was a wizard with his voice right through their final tour. A rock god among mortals!
Sheffield in early Jan/1973 is very bad,too. Plant had got a cold while hitchhiking on his way there. His habitual smoking & hectic tour schedule might have affected his voice badly. Rare case of his bad day in 1970 was Phoenix,AZ. I can’t believe that Blueberry Hill(1970/9/4) show was the final night of the 5consecutive nights.
For me, the peak of Led Zeppelin as a band, was the double lp Physical Graffiti in 1975. As far as I am concerned, everything about it, including Robert Plant's voice, sounds perfect. So never mint the surgery and its results.
He may have had some vocal issues from time to time because of their massive touring schedules and I’m sure didn’t have proper warm-up techniques he also didn’t have the luxury of the monitoring systems we have today
1973 in Liverpool. We need to cut Robert some slack here, as he had caught a bad case of the flu a week or so earlier, when his car ran out of gas on the way to the Sheffield show that night. He and Bonzo had to hoof it to get to the arena. He ended up sicker than a dog for nearly the entire month of Jan. 1973. The exact same thing happened right at the beginning of the '75 North American tour (flu again) and having to sing through shows sick like that for 3-4 hours every night made things even worse that year. All in all though, Robert NEVER warmed up his voice before a show. By 1973, the shows' opener ('Rock N Roll') was frequently marred by Plant's voice cracking at the beginning of most of the entire 1973 European & N. American tour. His voice would "normalize" after a few or more songs. I don't know why he didn't at least warm up his vocal chords a little bit before ripping into 'Rock And Roll'. I know that he often sipped on tea with honey backstage. But I wonder if that was too little, too late. Not to mention, smoking heavily and snorting cocaine back then didn't help the situation either. I listen to LZ bootlegs all the time, but I purposely skip 'Rock N Roll' 99% of the time due to his voice. Getting the nodules removed changed his voice forever, but it was getting to be a problem long before that. I do want to add that once his voice got warmed up, he still did some remarkably fantastic singing...truly.
I thought most of this list would be from 1975. Poor Robert caught the flu at the beginning of Zep’s US tour that year. He still chose to power through it like the trooper he is
Hi, could you please make a video covering some of Geoff Castellucci’s best vocal lines? He’s an incredibly talented bass singer with some notes reaching as low as B0
Not very sure but it would appear that Robert Plant shred his larynx twice and had vocal surgery twice... This must be in the end 1972 or early 1973 and the second time in 1975 for sure. I just can add that he had a car accident in 1976 and record the album "presence" in wheelchair. So with all this bad luck, Robert Plant still the best singer of rock history, nobody did what he did in the beginning of his career with the best band ever, Led Zeppelin.
Really good mini doco. Kudos on not getting some dunb programme to Americanise your voice.(Those robot style voices get annoying as they mostly all sound the same lol Really good to see you appreciate the singer & their problems like vocal chord surgery. I totally agree with your Rock & Roll selection as being particularly awesome in delivery. On fire in Belfast!~
I actually have a video request if you’d be willing to-could you do a before & after comparison of singers who’ve had vocal cord surgery? I’m a big Elton John fan and bootleg collector so I’m very familiar with his voice and it’s changes. But I don’t know much about Robert Plant and how his voice changed after the surgery. It would be cool to do maybe a comparison of them in their prime vs. during the damage vs. after surgery. Just an idea! As a singer who dealt with nodule issues the topic is very interesting to me, especially how voices changed afterward! Thanks for your cool videos :)
This is GREAT "Constructive" Criticism! Robert DID have Vocal surgery and it affected him afterwards. Some of examples here ARE opinions, from a singer and should be respected. Though Zep is my Fave, There is a raw quality that goes into their live performances. Understanding this makes this musician, very human. Vocal Chords are precious and need to be well maintained. Robert clearly needed more warming up here. His Vocal style requires incredible level, of conditioning, to hit "The Immigrant Song", howls. Good Job, Thanks!!
@@josephf426 I'm 100% convinced it was Freddie but have given up debating it hahaha since the Immigrant Song video. Most people seemed to agree the “ahhhh ahhhh ahhhh” part was Roger & then Freddie started singing the lyrics. For me, it’s all Freddie's tone. Plus Roger would never struggle with this imo
@@CrazySinging exactly lmao. and no register of roger's voice sounds like the "ahhhhhs" at the beginning. I have no idea why people think it's Roger. It's clearly Freddie in falsetto
Another thing to note: Plant was a smoker. And he rarely warmed up. But i like thag even when his voice failed, he still tried. Gave the effort and performed until he was physically sick
I have always been aware of the strain that lead singers put on their voice... It's one thing to be in the studio, take your time, have a vocal coach or doctor nearby...But when you're on stage it's a different story...
In that description it says "...a harsh timbre on the 1975 album Physical Graffiti". I don't know man, I don't hear any harshness on songs like "Ten Years Gone" or "In the Light".
They toured so much and there wasn't vocal effects of today. Give the guy a break. Absolutely no way every performance was gonna b "perfect pitch". This is ridiculous!!!!!!
Good rock and roll singing is bout taking risks and making the best effort to get to where you need to and not always succeeding. I’m sure those Zeppelin tours were brutal on the whole band.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
I like this. It’s not about tearing down these great singers, it’s about realising that they’re human too, which, as a singer, is very encouraging to see because it gives me faith that I could someday be just as good
Love your comment! I agree with you so much and I’m glad you got the intention of the video
Agreed!!
Everybody makes mistakes, that's the beauty of music, improvisation, mistakes, being human, expressing the feelings
Hahaha in ur dreams man..... but keep the faith if thats ur thing!
@@julianfelipe4322 that’s rather presumptuous of you ;)
I noticed that too. It was a very respectful, supportive & compassionate comentary.
In Robert's defense the majority of Led Zeppelin stuff is really high range and it must be unbelievably stressful to sing it night after night, but yeah in that '73 rock'n'roll live his voice was really really messed up. Great video!
it's not as stressful if you sing it more lightly with your head voice but it sounds like Robert plant might be using his full chest voice since he has a very powerful voice and a very high range.
@@Kinseliplier Yeah, and in those days they didn't really know much about how to protect and maintain their voices. He actually pretty much destroyed his voice in the 71 tour. He still had some power in 73 but his signature range was gone.
@@Kinseliplier I think he also damaged his head voice though
@@patrickmacleod2415 Early 1972 particularly in Auckland New Zealand, his voice was pretty much back to how it was in 1971, amazing performance. Perhaps the last classic Robert Plant performance.
@@lrn_news9171 oh really? Damn That must suck.
Doing 3-4 hour shows almost every night for nearly a decade would eff anybody's vocals up. And he's STILL a far superior singer than I'll ever be!
Honestly, as a singer and touring musician, this is relatable. Life happens. We age, we get exhausted, and we all get pushed beyond our limits. We’re human beings. Great video!
Lol his “mistakes” are better than 99% of the planet’s vocalists best attempts
He is a golden god of vocalists haha
Agreed! He's amazing
@@CrazySinging wait how did you do that?
Biased
Ian gillan was a better singer
@@matjust5523 DP never had the songs. Child in Time vs Dazed and Confused? 🤣
I think Robert Plant is a perfect example of pure talent. His technique was far from being perfect, but God, the feeling, the power, all the love he gave in every song and all the effort he must have done to reach that level even without profesional training. No doubt he's one of the best in all history.
Also, it's a great idea to add a spott number 0 here
imagine to sing to a LZ song, it would be nearly impossible -they had such a heavy sound, it was incredible to sing so loud and intense like Robert in a concert during 2 or more hours....
@@verenamenzel4701their concerts last between 3 & 4 hours just about nightly. Both Rock & Roll & The Immigrant Song were either of the opening song for concerts, to get the fans hyped up.
The imperfection is also one of the reasons for me loving Robert Plant so much. It doesn't really bother me when I listen to a lower octave version of Rock n" Roll live in MSG '73.
That's actually my favorite version. Robert's dictation is a big part of it for me. No one speaks/sings like that.
@@34LOLWTF I agree, I like the lower melody on Over the hills and Far Away more too.
Yeah, Plant's voice changed over the years; it's obvious to any Zeppelin fan. In the early years he could hit those stratospheric notes with relative ease; but as the years wore on; he struggled to hit those and often lowered the key to hit similar notes. What most people don't talk about was the fantastic tonal quality of his voice in the slower ballads from Zeppelin. There was a warmth and humanness to his timbre in songs such as Going to California or Tangerine, that was just so pleasing. We still love you Robert despite dropping a couple of lemons along the way - is just shows you are human!
Right on 👍👍
I agree. His solo work with songs like Liars Dance and Sixes and Sevens also outlines that.
No one but Robert ever sang so beautifully. Yesterday and today he sounds like heaven❤️🌹💋
1:45 that Freddie reference is perfect 😂😂!!! the Queenesque version of Immigrant Song (Berlin 1986) was one of the most hilarious fails in rock history 🤣🤣🤣
As a person who likes punk music, it doesnt matter THAT much if your playing is good, as long as you have the energy, attitude and "power through" as you said in the video, you will put out a great show
You missed You Shook Me from the Toronto Rockpile August 18, 1969. His voice cracks so badly at the end that even Robert says. "Oh f*ck".
His pairing with Allison Krause is absolute perfection; I've seen him perform with her numerous times, when it's time to hit the high notes, he backs off, she steps up. What a combo!
Agreed. I really love that song… ummmm
The title is escaping me at the moment…
But the lyrics start off as:
“Queen of light took her bow and then she turned to Go, the Prince of peace embraced the gloom and walked the night alone…..”
Oh wait, that recording is somebody named Sandy Denny… But I imagine nowadays Alison Krauss does that for her? I don’t know… But yeah he does pair well with a strong female voice
The funny thing is I bet if you were actually there any of those nights you would have been so wrapped up in the energy of the song that you would have barely noticed any off notes. So much of performance is stage presence!!
Agreed!
That accident literally ruined his voice.
Another thing he didn't cared for his voice. But now his voice is matured greatly, while he can't sing those zep classics he still is way better than most of the vocalists out there. Even at this age he's performing really great.
While I suggest checking out his early stuff. At the age of 17 Robert could sing like a deep matured blues vocalist while hit those impossible high notes
Robert Plant in his prime was phenomenon that'll never happen again
ay
Most of the Zeppelin songs are on the bridge going in and out through the second passage way from chest register to head and back and as far as I know Robert didn't take care of his voice and he never really warmed up. A lot of the times he'd use the first song of the concert as a warm up excercise and not warming up for longer periods of time and then trying to go through your bridge you're gonna start hearing that crack or break again. Plant lost most of his higher head range by the time it was 73. As a fan I still believe that Robert Plant is the most influential and the greatest vocalist in the history of Rock.
@@rithulshelan 100% agreed! He is without a doubt, the Greatest Rock Singer of All Time ,PERIOD!
@@rithulshelan
He may have lost his super-high range by 1973, but Achilles Last Stand from 1976 is one of his best vocal performances ever, and his work on Physical Graffiti is also great.
@@dmitryowens I totally agree. He did what any great vocalist would do which is to evolve. He's not trying to be any of the guys he was in his past. He found his limitations and he's adapting to it and trying to put out the best he can do with his new technique. Which is what makes him one of the greatest of all time.
Lets not forget that Rock and Roll and Immigrant Song were the first songs of the setlist for these shows, often 3 hrs. plus set list played night after night. Cigarettes, booze and other pre-show hijinks likely substituted a proper warmup or soundcheck. Thanks for posting!
You should also do a video about Axl Rose's voice and how it disintegrated over the years because of his style of singing
did it? I saw videos of him replacing Brian Johnson in AC/DC a few years ago and he sounded totally fine, hitting all the right high notes with very good intonation - he did a killer job. And Brian Johnson-era songs in general are higher range than GnR ones
Not really. I saw Axl live with AC/DC and he was note perfect the whole way through. Better than Johnson on the Back In Black stuff.
It’s a shame he destroyed it. I would kill for top tier RP vocals on TSRTS concert or Kashmir.
Go Noles!
Well done for finding those difficult moments, I've never heard them.xxxxxx
You should do a video on Jeff Buckley. Jimmy Page said that he was “the greatest singer to appear in two decades” (‘70s - ‘90s), and Plant said that Jeff was a “much greater singer” than him.
Yes ive asked this. Let's get Jeff Buckley
yes¡¡Jeff was amazing¡¡ even page wanted to do something with him¡¡
I’ve published Jeff Buckley's vid today!
Nothing to say. Plant voice was indescribably beautiful until 1971. Then it started to get worse. As the video says, it is difficult to imagine how Robert (and the rest of the band) felt: he was at the top of the success and his voice began to deteriorate
Live performances really take their toll on singers. If you listen to Freddie Mercury live, he was more cautious, avoiding many of the highest notes but still sounding great. Obviously he didn't live as long so it is an unfair comparison, but his voice was great until the end. If only Robert Plant had taken a similar approach.
You just noted the difference. Led Zeppelin were never afraid to take risks and push the limits. That's why they were the greatest. Most other acts, including Queen, often played it safe. Zeppelin were a different animal.
@@lyndoncmp5751 Don't get me wrong, I'm not being critical of Plant. I wish more artists would take a few risks. On reflection though, it wasn't the healthiest thing for his voice, and I'm sure he'd admit that himself.
I understood you, no worries. All good.
Cheers.
To be fair, I don't think that Freddie had to sing in powerful voice like that for 3-4 hours every night like Robert did for years.
Lyndon, you hit the nail right on the head.
He was a great singer, I really like his vocals I found it very powerful specially in the 70s, you can tell how good he was in the Led Zeppelin double Dvd released in 2003, the one with the desert cover art
Mean this ?
ruclips.net/video/iSXakz4by3A/видео.html
I didn’t know he had vocal surgery. His voice changed on ever album, and peaked on Zep 4. Bonham has tons of mistakes but it just makes it so much better. As for Plants early voice, PEOPLE GET COLDS
John Lennon vocals on Twist and Shout are so difficult.
Well, for one thing, he had to struggle because he set the mark. With that said, he was still great after his voice changed. Jimmy Page started writing around Robert's change, and it worked. I think it worked the best with Physical Graffiti. Even with the lower singing, he was still a better singer than 99% of the others still could not match him. That style of music is hard to sing. On the bright side, for the most part, Robert did get it back! Either way, their songs were so awesome that Led Zeppelin stayed popular.
He got a lot of his range back in the 1990s, sang the original melody to rock and roll.
Walking into Clarksdale album was at times painful, but so glad he recovered his voice and ever since, he has been unmistakably himself.
Guys a human being not a machine.can't be absolutely perfect every time on long tours,etc.Some nights it's going to take a little time to warm up the vocal cords !!Of course it's much harder to hit those higher notes as you get older.
The Belfast concert is the band at their absolute peak. Pity there isn’t a decent soundboard of this gig.
Whatever's small...has to grow.
And it always grows!!!!
You can actually hear the decline right after HOH. PG had a mix of older sessions in it, so that saved the reputation. Then it culminated on Presence with very weak falsetto's when going high. He never used to sing "whispy" falsetto's in the early days. By the time of ITTOD, it was clearly a different voice. Polar opposite of I,II,III, or IV.
Thats because he needed vocal surgery in 1972 from touring so much and singing all the time while sick.
Keep rocking 👏🔥
plant screamed himself hoarse, and was never quite the same singer after his op,
ps- (2:20) i always love how bonham used dressed up as a droog, hilarious / very much appropriate! LZ 4 / stairway released 50 yrs ago today, too!
Still the best front man ever led zeppelin on there worst day where still better then the rest.
Props for using the bootlegs! Most of these stick to the studio material. Plants voice declined so much in 72-73. 75 was rough too
i like most of these. they have some artistic value to them
I'm only here to talk about his *best* live performance I've seen. It's the performance of Kashmir from the recent LZ reunion. Yes, he only got better with age.
I believe they tuned down for that concert, which they should’ve done by 1975.
He still had an amazing voice. Here's how I look at it: He set the mark that no one could match, and then he went on to develop another singing style to compensate for a little less range. If you listen to him on Physical Graffiti, there are a lot of song on that LP where he still sings amazingly high. The Wanton Song is so hard to sing. He even hits some good high notes in The Rover. Like I said, Jimmy Page had to come up with something different to keep them going, and it worked because he is such a great composer of music.
@@guitarttimman The Rover was from The Houses Of The Holy sessions. His voice stayed great up to In Through The Out Door; and it was still better than 80% of other’s. But not like the “touched by God” years of 69-72.
@@scottwaszak698 Yeah but at least they found a way to write music that matched his later style. I know what you mean, but I liked the later style equally as much but in different ways. I guess it's because the change took place at just the right time. 1975, and people were really into a more punk sound in the vocals. At times he did nearly as good as the 72 stuff, but at others he put a lower rougher sound. It's because the times changed. Believed it or not, had Led Zeppelin never changed, they wouldn't have been as popular. It was a kind of hippie culture era. You would have had to be there to understand.
@@scottwaszak698 For the 2007 show, they tuned down for some of the songs, (notably, Black Dog, Nobody's Fault But Mine,) but Kashmir was done in the original key.
Its not a biiiig fails that still sound good
really nice editing
He definitely had nodules in all of these cases, so I feel like it's a lesson to singers to take care of their voices.
Love every video
his prime years were 69
-72...anything after he struggled live to ever get to his upper register again...he had one of the greatest voices ever in his prime so I deal with it and he's one of my faves...he still was great on the albums after 72(albeit without the upper register of zep 1 to houses of the holy) physical graffiti on his upper register was gone although I love his singing on the albums anyway...live though it ruins shows from zep tours in 73, 75, 77, 79.....if you want an example listen to a live version of over the hills and far away from 72....he sings it like the album....from 73 on he sings it completely different and the song suffers for it. love plant though...in his prime noone touched him. I know Freddie mercury this and Ian gillan that etc....ill take plant in his prime over any of them...it wasn't an age thing either...he was still in his mid 20s...I will say from zep 1 to houses of the holy , live he was able to hit every note you heard on the record...he was amazing at that point
Great points, and completely in agreement. I never cared for OTHAFA live due to the way it was sung. Prime Plant, was as you said, 69/72, and he was pretty much untouchable then..but even by late '72 (Japan, UK tour) the cracks were appearing and his voice was becoming the way we'd hear it for the rest of Zep's career. In fact, the UK late 72 shows are very poor in places, vocally. As you say, not an age thing..the cigarettes didn't help either.
68 to 72. His singing on the first album, recorded October 1968, is incredible.
By the way, I absolutely LOVE that we have for posterity a different singing style on Over The Hills And Far Away. The 1973 version is funky. Its still great. We have TWO beautifully recorded versions of the same song. Both quite different to the other. Isn't that a good thing, or do we want note for note facsimiles every year?
I really enjoy to watch every video you make i hope all the best and i thinsk it's really hard work
great piece !
It was nice of Joe Cocker to stand in for Robert for Rock and Roll!
Hello Marc! A great video, again.
You haven't been uploading on the other channel recently, so I was thinking what you've been up to. Glad to see you're just uploading over here.
Thanks for checking in! How have you been?
@@CrazySinging All good. How about you?
Oh look the crazy singing channel is about to hit 8k subs
Yay! We’re there
Have you ever been to a rock and roll stage on 1971? Have you ever been singing those high tuning songs 5x a week with not enough hours of sleep? Do you know the variety of PA sound system on the stage, in different ambience every 2 days? In our current days, we have technology to adjust perfectly the sound you can hear on the stage. So, singing under low instrumental volume on a stage is easy. Go back to early 60's and 70's, use those equipments and play an out loud rock and roll volume. Then, come back here and tell me how you felt!
I’m aware of these things! Modern singers have lots of advantages as to avoid forcing their voices, for instance like in ear monitoring
And Zep often played for three hours. Plant had to be heard above Page, Bonham and Jones. That was never easy. So much power in that instrumental trio. Not like fronting a folk band.
3 Craziest Layne Staley's vocal lines pls
If you think 73 is bad, 75 is infinitely worse. Not only had he lost a significant part of his range, he was sick most of the tour. Its incredible they even made it through the parts of that they did get through.
My musical friend, I am a musician and have been fro almost 40 years, maybe you are too, but this is the reality, legends are exactly that - They Are Legends! There is no "Greatest" or "Best" of All Time, there are only people who have good moments, bad moments, very good moments and sometimes very bad moments.
There are crazier fails than this, there's one particular show Plant could barely even make a sound with his voice and it was in 1973
Some other ocasions I remember some 'fails' (I'm huge zep fan btw, I just don't see as a problem making mistakes sometimes! It's nice to see that even Golden Gods are humans after all)
The Rain Song - Knebworth 79 (I believe it's in the 1st night)
the last songs at the last day in earls court 75
TRS: in the part "I felt the coldness of my winter...." and on
why do i love the first fail..it’s so raw and emotional 😂
People have all sorts of theories as to why Robert Plant lost his range. Partying/smoking etc. had little to do with it. A male's voice "settles" at around 22 to 23 years old, which is exactly when he started to lose his range. The TONE of his voice started changing however because of the nodules, and nodules happen usually because of voice overuse. The surgery didn't do him much good, as it often doesn't. Cigs or not, or partying or not, his range was bound to go down.
The only thing worse for a rock 'n roll star would be to point out a bad hair day!
Plant didn’t have that problem, his golden mane is beautiful.
Robert is the best.
The best shit ever
It’s crazy to see just how quickly Plant’s voice deteriorated from 1971-73. Sample the BBC Paris Theater show, How the West Was Won and The Song Remains the Same for reference. Regardless, he was a wizard with his voice right through their final tour. A rock god among mortals!
This loss of his voice was our loss, too.
Also "Ten Years Gone" 1977
Sheffield in early Jan/1973 is very bad,too. Plant had got a cold while hitchhiking on his way there. His habitual smoking & hectic tour schedule might have affected his voice badly. Rare case of his bad day in 1970 was Phoenix,AZ. I can’t believe that Blueberry Hill(1970/9/4) show was the final night of the 5consecutive nights.
omg the last one made me cry
For me, the peak of Led Zeppelin as a band, was the double lp Physical Graffiti in 1975. As far as I am concerned, everything about it, including Robert Plant's voice, sounds perfect. So never mint the surgery and its results.
Talk about the vocals of Klaus Meine ( Scorpions)
Do you think the same thing will happen to Josh Kiszka?
He may have had some vocal issues from time to time because of their massive touring schedules and I’m sure didn’t have proper warm-up techniques he also didn’t have the luxury of the monitoring systems we have today
1973 in Liverpool. We need to cut Robert some slack here, as he had caught a bad case of the flu a week or so earlier, when his car ran out of gas on the way to the Sheffield show that night. He and Bonzo had to hoof it to get to the arena. He ended up sicker than a dog for nearly the entire month of Jan. 1973.
The exact same thing happened right at the beginning of the '75 North American tour (flu again) and having to sing through shows sick like that for 3-4 hours every night made things even worse that year.
All in all though, Robert NEVER warmed up his voice before a show.
By 1973, the shows' opener ('Rock N Roll') was frequently marred by Plant's voice cracking at the beginning of most of the entire 1973 European & N. American tour.
His voice would "normalize" after a few or more songs. I don't know why he didn't at least warm up his vocal chords a little bit before ripping into 'Rock And Roll'. I know that he often sipped on tea with honey backstage. But I wonder if that was too little, too late.
Not to mention, smoking heavily and snorting cocaine back then didn't help the situation either.
I listen to LZ bootlegs all the time, but I purposely skip 'Rock N Roll' 99% of the time due to his voice.
Getting the nodules removed changed his voice forever, but it was getting to be a problem long before that.
I do want to add that once his voice got warmed up, he still did some remarkably fantastic singing...truly.
I thought most of this list would be from 1975. Poor Robert caught the flu at the beginning of Zep’s US tour that year. He still chose to power through it like the trooper he is
Hi, could you please make a video covering some of Geoff Castellucci’s best vocal lines? He’s an incredibly talented bass singer with some notes reaching as low as B0
Not very sure but it would appear that Robert Plant shred his larynx twice and had vocal surgery twice... This must be in the end 1972 or early 1973 and the second time in 1975 for sure. I just can add that he had a car accident in 1976 and record the album "presence" in wheelchair. So with all this bad luck, Robert Plant still the best singer of rock history, nobody did what he did in the beginning of his career with the best band ever, Led Zeppelin.
FACTS!!
Really good mini doco. Kudos on not getting some dunb programme to Americanise your voice.(Those robot style voices get annoying as they mostly all sound the same lol
Really good to see you appreciate the singer & their problems like vocal chord surgery. I totally agree with your Rock & Roll selection as being particularly awesome in delivery. On fire in Belfast!~
Best vocal ever.. for many people
I actually have a video request if you’d be willing to-could you do a before & after comparison of singers who’ve had vocal cord surgery?
I’m a big Elton John fan and bootleg collector so I’m very familiar with his voice and it’s changes. But I don’t know much about Robert Plant and how his voice changed after the surgery. It would be cool to do maybe a comparison of them in their prime vs. during the damage vs. after surgery. Just an idea! As a singer who dealt with nodule issues the topic is very interesting to me, especially how voices changed afterward! Thanks for your cool videos :)
I caught your sneaky little reference to a certain other legendary rock vocalist whom tried “Immigrants Song” live…with mixed results ;)
Great video. Can you do this with James Hetfield's vocals? Keep it up!
This is GREAT "Constructive" Criticism! Robert DID have Vocal surgery and it affected him afterwards. Some of examples here ARE opinions, from a singer and should be respected. Though Zep is my Fave, There is a raw quality that goes into their live performances. Understanding this makes this musician, very human. Vocal Chords are precious and need to be well maintained. Robert clearly needed more warming up here. His Vocal style requires incredible level, of conditioning, to hit "The Immigrant Song", howls. Good Job, Thanks!!
1:44 nice touch, but the one that actually tried was Roger Taylor. And yes, he failed miserably 😁
it was Freddie lmao
@@josephf426 I'm 100% convinced it was Freddie but have given up debating it hahaha since the Immigrant Song video. Most people seemed to agree the “ahhhh ahhhh ahhhh” part was Roger & then Freddie started singing the lyrics. For me, it’s all Freddie's tone. Plus Roger would never struggle with this imo
@@CrazySinging exactly lmao. and no register of roger's voice sounds like the "ahhhhhs" at the beginning. I have no idea why people think it's Roger. It's clearly Freddie in falsetto
Plant had too many vocal short circuits to count from late 1972 onwards . Twist and Shout here is hardly a fail...
I am his biggest fan ever lol, and I love him even mute😀
Can you make a Craziest Sebastian Bach vocal lines?
Another thing to note: Plant was a smoker. And he rarely warmed up. But i like thag even when his voice failed, he still tried. Gave the effort and performed until he was physically sick
Non stop touring early on will do that.
dont forget he's doing an Elvis impression whilst powering through all that i say boy!
I always thought they toured so much in 69 and he probably wasn't taking care of his voice.
I thought for sure their 1975 live cover of "San Francisco" would be in here
You need to do one of Jim morrison
plant had some bad moments in 1975 and 1979 too, you should do a part 2
I have always been aware of the strain that lead singers put on their voice... It's one thing to be in the studio, take your time, have a vocal coach or doctor nearby...But when you're on stage it's a different story...
Still one of the best vocalists ever!
Even the best singers have off days. But, Robert is known for improvising, changing things up too. Maybe, that is what some of these sound clips were.
My favorite part of this video was John Bonham dressed up like a droog from clockwork orange.
In that description it says "...a harsh timbre on the 1975 album Physical Graffiti". I don't know man, I don't hear any harshness on songs like "Ten Years Gone" or "In the Light".
Wild that nothing from 1975 here, there’s much worse than these that whole year
They toured so much and there wasn't vocal effects of today. Give the guy a break. Absolutely no way every performance was gonna b "perfect pitch". This is ridiculous!!!!!!
please do a video, Kurt Cobain vs Autotune
You need to do Jim Morrison screams
Live Aid 1985 show was their biggest fail
Some days you catch the bus and some days the bus runs you over.
Good rock and roll singing is bout taking risks and making the best effort to get to where you need to and not always succeeding. I’m sure those Zeppelin tours were brutal on the whole band.
Well said!
The Beatles twist and shout was also a cover