Additional Coverage:
- Led Zeppelin Singer Robert Plant Once Made The Most Hilarious Admission About His Signature Style (parade.com)
Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant Looks Back on His Iconic Rock Star Persona, From “Golden God” to “West Midlands Giraffe”
Robert Plant, the legendary frontman of Led Zeppelin, helped define rock star style during the band’s explosive rise to fame. With his signature mane of golden hair, bare chest, and an unmistakable swagger, he remains an electrifying presence on stage today.
Yet, when Plant reflects on his younger years, he doesn’t always see the “golden god” image many fans recall. In fact, he once drew a rather unexpected and amusing comparison for his younger self.
In a candid 1988 interview with Q magazine, Plant shared his thoughts on his early looks and stage movements as Zeppelin first skyrocketed to stardom. “I don’t know where it came from, my style,” he admitted. “I must have been pretty insecure when Zeppelin started to want to run around puffing my chest out and pursing my lips and throwing my hair back like some West Midlands giraffe.”
Some habits, it seems, are hard to shake. Plant confessed to still indulging in similar antics decades later.
“But I did it again last night,” he remarked, “And when I did it, I laughed so much. It was like self-parody; I was wiggling around like some ageing big girl’s blouse and I realize how stupid it all looks.”
He questioned his continued flamboyant stage presence: “What else am I going to do? Sleep with the board of directors of Coca Cola and make an ad?
I don’t know. I don’t want to end up playing in the back room of some pub in Wolverhampton waiting for the night match at Molyneux to end.
It’s a bit of a naff old game, life.”
Years later, Plant’s perspective on his younger self has evolved, taking on a more compassionate and appreciative tone. During a recent chat on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, he mused on whether he inadvertently helped create the “God of rock and roll or rock god archetype.”
“Well, I can’t remember what it must have been like,” he quipped, adding, “I’ve seen some photographs. I had some lovely jewelry.”
He views that period as a vital part of his development, a path that fortunately steered him away from a career as a chartered accountant. “So I look back, and I admire that kid,” he stated.
Plant admitted that in those early, whirlwind days, the concept of a distant future was nonexistent. “There was no conception of there being a future to look back at things,” he explained.
“You know, I couldn’t have imagined my existence beyond that very week that I was in…and never mind being 25, you know. So I think that whoever that kid was, he was definitely doing something special.
And he was having a very good time.”
Whether he saw himself as a “West Midlands giraffe” or the embodiment of a “golden god,” one thing is undeniably clear: Robert Plant was, and continues to be, a captivating force, ensuring that everyone watching was having a very good time indeed.