Robert Plant Revealed Why He Wouldn’t Have Wanted to Work With Prince
Prince was an incredibly influential artist, something that Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant readily recognized. He said Prince was impressive and even noted that his bandmate Jimmy Page should partner with him. Despite this, he said he would not want to collaborate with the American musician. Here’s why he said this.
The ‘Purple Rain’ singer admired Led Zeppelin
When discussing his 1985 album Around The World in a Day, Prince said that he didn’t necessarily mind that people said it seemed like a step back in time. He particularly didn’t mind people using the word “psychedelic” to describe it.
“I don’t mind that, because that was the only period in recent history that delivered songs and colors,” he told Rolling Stone. “Led Zeppelin, for example, would make you feel differently on each song.”
He took a slightly chillier attitude when talking to Mojo Magazine in 2015.
“Jimmy Page was cool, but he couldn’t keep a sequence without John Bonham behind him,” he told the outlet when they compared him to Led Zeppelin.
Robert Plant said he wouldn’t want to collaborate with Prince
When discussing Prince in 1988, Plant told Rolling Stone that he admired him for “sheer entertainment and audacity.” He also noted that he considered Prince one of the most impressive artists he knew.
“I’m not really intimidated by too many people, but I’m very impressed by people,” he said, per Ultimate Classic Rock. “Prince is probably the most impressive single person … he’s incredibly inventive, but he’s using a lot of old … he’s coming from all sorts of areas of the past, and he’s really pushing them all through a blender. So they come out oozing and dripping with honey — sex.”
Despite all this, Plant said that he wouldn’t want to actually collaborate with Prince. He found him so impressive that it would overwhelm him. While he said that he didn’t get intimidated by many people, he would be worried about working with Prince.
“I don’t know if I’d like to work with him because he’s so powerful,” he said. “He’d probably intimidate me a bit.”
Robert Plant and Prince would have been a strong pair
When discussing Prince, Plant said that he could envision a world in which he collaborated with Page.
“Prince and Page together would be great,” he said.
Despite what Plant may have believed about Prince’s intimidation factor, though, a collaboration between the two artists would have been a strong one. Plant had worked with Page, who is widely considered to be one of the strongest and most influential guitar players of all time. Prince has a similar reputation for his skill as a guitarist. Plant has proved that his voice is well-matched to this kind of skillful playing.
Beyond this, though, Prince was extremely inventive as an artist. In his solo career, Plant has also been willing to push the envelope and try different musical styles. Together, they could have created boundary-pushing music that reflected both of their massive talents as artists.
