James Hetfield’s opinion on Robert Plant

James Hetfield is one of the most influential singers and songwriters in the history of Heavy Metal and has fronted Metallica, the biggest band in the genre, for more than 40 years. They are one of the few bands in the world right now that can play to sold-out stadiums all over the world.

He has always praised the artists who came before him and influenced him at some point in his life. Over the decades, he has given his opinion on many of them, including Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant.

What is James Hetfield’s opinion on Robert Plant

James Hetfield is a big fan of Robert Plant and believes he is one of the greatest singers of all time. He was really thrilled when he finally had the chance to meet him in 2015, saying it was one of the best things that happened to him that year. He shared a list with Metallica’s fan club at the time and one of the items read “Meeting Robert Plant”.

When asked by Rolling Stone to list the best singers that ever existed, he placed Robert Plant in the 10th position, in front of names like Steven Tyler, Ronnie Van Zandt, Freddie Mercury and Johnny Cash. The Led Zeppelin vocalist was behind Ozzy Osbourne, Glenn Danzig, Lemmy Kilmister, Paul Di’Anno, Bon Scott, Chris Cornell, Rob Halford, Layne Staley and Ronnie James Dio.

Although Black Sabbath, for example, was a bigger influence to him, he is a fan of Led Zeppelin and acknowledged that “Stairway to Heaven” is probably the greatest song in history. He mentioned the track, co-written by Plant and Page, in an interview for the podcast Metallica Report in 2025. “There is a (best) song for every mood, every day, every action. You know, when I’m driving ‘Ace of Spades’ (Motörhead) is the best song.”

He continued:

“But the best song written… I mean, as far as songwriting goes there’s so many avenues to go down. As stupid and simple as it sounds, I think ‘Stairway to Heaven’ is just one of those songs that so many bands have tried to emulate. You start off light and end up heavy. (Lynyrd Skynyrd) ‘Free Bird is that (way), ‘One’ (Metallica). There’s so many songs that have emulated that,” he said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

He had previously mentioned the song as one of his favorites, recalling a funny story about learning how to play it. “When I first got a guitar, I figured out the first couple of fingerings to this. I ran around the house saying, ‘Check it out! I can play this!’ My family was like, ‘Where’s the rest of the song?’” Hetfield told Rolling Stone in 2004. He was only five when they released their debut album, so he grew up seeing the evolution of their songwriting.

He used to cover their songs with his first band called Obsession, one of them being “Rock and Roll”. Were also part of their sets, Black Sabbath’s “Never Say Die”, UFO’s “Lights Out” and Deep Purple’s “Highway Star”.

“Led Zeppelin III” is one of his favorite albums

Besides liking ‘Led Zeppelin IV,’ the album that features songs like ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and ‘Rock and Roll,’ Hetfield is also a big fan of the previous record. He mentioned it when asked about all the criticism Metallica received after releasing ‘St. Anger’ in 2003.

“We feel good about every record, but this one (Death Magnetic) seems to be getting extra good response. With (2003’s) “St. Anger”, time will tell. Not to consider us like Led Zeppelin or anything. But the third ZEP album they were talking smack about, but now it’s one of my favorites.”

“Time will tell. It has to erase all the other stuff attached to it. Like ‘Load’ and the (album cover) photos. And “St. Anger” and the whole movie about the collapse of Metallica. This one, right out the gate. Pretty amazed,” James Hetfield told Sun Media in 2008.

“Led Zeppelin III” had heavy tracks like “Immigrant Song” but was filled with Folk songs and ballads. Other famous ones are “Celebration Day”, “Since I’ve Been Loving You”, “Gallows Pole” and “Tangerine”. In the 1990s, Hetfield mentioned Led Zeppelin’s three-LP compilation “Remasters” as one of his favorite ones. Released in 1990, it features famous songs from their entire discography.

When his kids were growing up, Hetfield would drive them to school. He used those trips to educate them musically by introducing them to his favorite bands. One of them was Zeppelin, but according to his children, they didn’t like some of the ‘heavier stuff’ as much.

James Hetfield never played with Robert Plant but shared the stage with Jimmy Page

It took James Hetfield more than 30 years in the music business to finally meet Robert Plant, but he had the chance to meet and play with Jimmy Page a few years earlier. When Metallica was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Jeff Beck was also inducted and he was presented by Page.

During the ceremony, they got together to perform The Yardbirds’ version of ‘Train Kept A-Rollin’,’ which was extremely influential for a whole generation of rock musicians. “This is rhythm guitar player heaven. I don’t have to compete with this (I just do the rhythm),” Hetfield said before they played the song. However, Metallica grew up listening to other eras of Rock music and didn’t know how to play that track during the rehearsals. So Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck had to teach them how the song went.

Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, who was also present that day, recalled how they learned the song. “When Metallica was inducted into the Hall Of Fame they had Jimmy Page and I think that Jeff Beck was being inducted too and me coming up to play with Metallica. The song is ‘Train Kept A Rollin’, Metallica didn’t know it. They did not know ‘Train Kept A Rollin’”.

James Hetfield continued:

“It was like a drummer not knowing ‘Wipeout’ (By The Surfaris). Jimmy and Jeff kind of looked at each other like ‘Okay, we will have to run through for them’. They had the teleprompter and of course it was no pun intended, but it was a trainwreck after Jeff brought the ‘train’.”