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Jimmy Page, It's time to call your lawyers?

I'm pretty late to this party--as usual.  A Chicago radio station is starry-eyed over Greta Van Fleet.  I gave them a listen today.  All I could think was...

Is this a Zeppelin parody band? 

There are so many features to their sound, playing, and sonics that sound just like LZ--so much so that I cannot get into the music passionately.  These are (IMHO):  Vocals (phrasing mimics Robert Plant without stopping);  Lyrics (the themes seem, based on limited listening, to track LZ);  Lead Guitar (I cannot think of another guitarist who sounds like he's trying to sound like Page as much as this one).  

Does Greta Van Fleet sound like a facsimile to you?  I'm not hung up on punishing artists who copy, as I think it's part and parcel of the art form.  But I'm having real trouble getting past the photocopy nature of this.  Again, this is just one person's opinion. So curious to hear what others think and feel about this group.  I'd like to give them more of a chance and maybe others can help.  For now, I can't keep listening.

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chrisoshea
116 posts
 
Greta Van Fleet  is ok...sounds like a good bar band, nothing wrong with that, but not the next big thing....Back in the early 2000s there was a cool Led Zepp cover band called "Stairway Denied"  (they were letting you know up front they would not play Stairway) They were fantastic!! May still have a Facebook or another page where you could sample their work...
wolf_garcia
4,650 posts
 
Greta et all, although generally not writing songs that are particularly interesting to me, are already the next "big thing" in spite of curmudgeonly critics like those around here. The drummer isn't Bonham, the singer is sort of hilariously weirdly dressed, the songs are "meh," but the delivery is sincere and high energy and they seem to be having fun, as any 20 year old kid should when selling out shows all over the world. Note the bass player on a B3 playing bass pedals with his feet...yeah man...
tooblue
787 posts
 
While we are on the subject, give the Train redue of Led Zeppelin II a listen, it was recorded live I believe and all money donated to a charity that they chose. Never was a Train fan prior to me getting this LP but I have to appreciate their talent.
rlb61
362 posts
 
I kinda like these kids, but here’s the deal: Zep ripped off others and made a whole new and fresh sound out of it. GVF rips off Zep and sounds just like ... well, Zep. GVF provides us with nothing "new" in their blatant homage, whereas Zep did. To me, that’s the big difference. The kids in GVF have talent and write good songs. Hopefully, they’ll be able to shake off the LZ comparison at some point.
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celander
1,036 posts
 
After having survived a copyright infringement suit over the lead chords to Stairway to Heaven, I doubt Jimmy and LZ want to entertain similar suits against others. Copying the style of others is flattery, but it’s quite difficult to carry that flattery to court as a claim of copyright infringement.

A lot lot of bands sound like others. Who did Jimmy play with on tour for years? Black Crowes—a band sounding a lot like LZ. White Stripes sounds a lot like them, too.
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