American blues music had a huge impact on many young British aspiring musicians such as Robert Plant who ended up becoming the frontman of Led Zeppelin. Inspired by that style, he wrote some of the most successful Blues Rock songs of all time alongside Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham.
Over the decades Plant gave his opinion on many British groups that were also influenced by the Blues, one of them being Fleetwood Mac.
What is Robert Plant’s opinion on Fleetwood Mac
Robert Plant is a fan of both eras of Fleetwood Mac and it was influenced by the band when he was still starting his career back in the 1960s. “I never really knew where I wanted to end up. For a long time I thought I just wanted to do Country Blues, maybe only two people, or a very straight blues band. The first time I heard Fleetwood Mac they were the very straight blues band that I wanted to be. That sort of Chicago tightness,” he told The Guardian in 2014.
That first classic era of the band had the late influential singer and guitarist Peter Green, who Plant called superlative and soulful. When he was part of a BBC Radio 6 radio show in 2022, he chose the Peter Green solo song “A Fool No More” to be played. He said: “Probably one of the most superlative, soulful singer/guitarists that Britain has been proud to call our own. This is from Peter Green, from his ‘In The Skies’ record, which was released in 1979. So this came out after Peter spent nearly a decade out there away from the music scene,” Robert Plant said.
Peter Green was a member of the group from 1967 to 1970. He was part of the albums “Fleetwood Mac” (1968), “Mr. Wonderful” (1968), “Then Play On” (1969), Fleetwood Mac in Chicago” (1969). He also appeared on “Penguin” (1973 – One song) and “Tusk” (1979 – One song). Some of his most famous Fleetwood Mac songs are “Albatross”, “Black Magic Woman”, “Oh Well” and “The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)”.
Robert Plant is also a fan of the Stevie Nicks era of the band
Usually, musicians who are big fans of Fleetwood Mac’s first era are not very keen on the music the band released after Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined them in the 1970s. However, Robert Plant likes those records, especially the American singer. He even considered inviting her to record with Led Zeppelin at the time.
When asked by Interview magazine in 1977 which other bands he liked, the musician mentioned her. “Uh, I like Little Feat, Fleetwood Mac — obviously. That little lady ought to come and sing on one of our albums. If she were to come sing on one of our albums—it would…What’s her name?—Stevie…” Robert Plant said.
Robert and Stevie had the chance to meet each other and become good friends. In her biography “Gold Dust Woman”, Nicks recalled when she covered the Zeppelin classic “Rock and Roll” and Plant was watching her on the side of the stage. “Robert Plant was there on the side of the stage, and he congratulated me after our performance.”
She continued:
“He told me I did a great job. That meant the world to me. (It was) one of the great rock-and-roll moments of my life. I think Robert Plant and I are kindred spirits. I think we are both connected to the mystical side of things, but on different sides of the world,” Stevie Nicks said. That performance happened in the summer of 2006 at the Montreux Music Festival in Switzerland. She played the song with Nile Rodgers and his band Chic.
Speaking with Huffpost in 2016, Nicks mentioned Plant while recalling how much her mother influenced her to be an independent woman. She learned to never stay in a place where she was not treated fairly and with respect. “My mom was seriously independent and she always had a job. She wanted that for me from the very beginning.”
Stevie Nicks continued:
“To have my independence. I think that’s important when talking to kids, especially women. Assert your independence. Christine and I knew that we would never be treated like second class citizens when standing in a room with Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. All of the famous men. If anybody ever treats us with anything but total respect we will just walk out and it is their loss. And that was implanted in my head by my mom long before I graduated from high school.” Mom always knows best. So does Stevie Nicks,” she said.
Curiously, Plant and Stevie were born in the same year, 1948. She is almost a month older than him, having been born in May, while Plant was born in August. Like Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac is also one of the most successful bands of all time. They have sold an estimated 120 million records worldwide.