Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The controversy over Greta Van Fleet sounding a little too much like Led Zeppelin.
Podcast on Apple Podcasts
podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rock-n-roll-true-stories-podcast/id1876614383
My second YouTube Channel
youtube.com/@RockNRollTrueStories2
Have a video request or a topic you'd like to see us cover? Comment below or send in your idea: bit.ly/3stnXlN
A 1.6 out of 10. That’s the now-infamous score one of the world’s most notorious music publications gave this band’s debut album, calling them a clumsy and unforgivable imitation of Led Zeppelin. They were labeled an embarrassment, a pastiche, half-baked boomer fetishism. The takedowns were so brutal they became a story in themselves.
But while critics sharpened their knives, something else was happening. The same band was selling out arenas worldwide. Their albums were topping the Billboard rock charts. They won a Grammy. And a whole new generation of fans, who weren’t even alive for the golden age of rock, started calling them its new saviors.
So which one is it? Is this the most critically reviled young rock band of the modern era, a soulless ripoff cashing in on a formula written 50 years ago? Or, in an era starved for new rock gods, is the very thing people hate about them—that uncanny familiarity—the secret to their wild success?
From the moment “Highway Tune” hit in 2017, the comparison was instantaneous: Led Zeppelin. Josh Kiszka’s soaring wail sounded like a young Robert Plant. Jake’s blues-drenched guitar riffs felt ripped from Jimmy Page’s playbook. The rhythm section echoed John Paul Jones and John Bonham. The dynamics, the lyrics, even the sonic texture made it feel like a lost tape from 1971—and for many critics, that was exactly the problem.
The backlash peaked with Pitchfork’s 1.6 review of Anthem of the Peaceful Army, accusing the band of turning every impulse of late-60s rock into an interminable drag. The review joked they sounded like a band that “did weed exactly once, called the cops, and tried to record a Led Zeppelin album.” It went viral, became a meme, and turned into the main argument against them: this isn’t influence, it’s pure imitation. Other critics called them an embarrassment for rock and urged listeners to just go back to the real Led Zeppelin.
Some argued they were an “algorithmic franchise” band—a perfectly nostalgic product, polished and packaged by a major label before they’d developed their own identity. Whispers of “industry plant” followed. In this view, Greta Van Fleet weren’t just bad; they symbolized rock’s stagnation, a shallow boomer fetish cashing in on nostalgia without adding anything new.
And yet the numbers tell a different story. “Highway Tune” hit number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and stayed there for weeks. The same debut album that critics eviscerated debuted at number one on multiple rock charts. Their EP From the Fires won the Grammy for Best Rock Album. Later records like The Battle at Garden’s Gate and Starcatcher brought more big tours, strong chart placements, and Grammy nominations.
Their defenders argue you can’t fake that kind of connection. Fans aren’t stupid. To them, the band isn’t a ripoff; it’s a torchbearer. All great artists have influences: The Beatles loved Chuck Berry and Little Richard, the Stones built on American blues. In that tradition, Greta Van Fleet are seen as carrying a classic rock torch into a new era, especially for Gen Z hearing big riffs and wailing vocals for the first time through them.
So are they rock’s biggest ripoff, or its only hope? The truth probably sits somewhere in the messy middle: a band that’s undeniably derivative, undeniably talented, and, for better or worse, impossible to ignore.
CONNECT ON SOCIAL
TIKOK:tiktok.com/@rocknrolltruestory
Instagram: instagram.com/rnrtruestories
Facebook: facebook.com/RNRTrueStories
Twitter: twitter.com/rocktruestories
Blog: rockandrolltruestories.com
#gretavanfleet #ledzeppelin #robertplant #rush
These videos are for entertainment purposes only. DISCLAIMER rockandrolltruestories.com/youtube-disclaimer
The controversy over Greta Van Fleet sounding a little too much like Led Zeppelin.
Podcast on Apple Podcasts
podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rock-n-roll-true-stories-podcast/id1876614383
My second YouTube Channel
youtube.com/@RockNRollTrueStories2
Have a video request or a topic you'd like to see us cover? Comment below or send in your idea: bit.ly/3stnXlN
A 1.6 out of 10. That’s the now-infamous score one of the world’s most notorious music publications gave this band’s debut album, calling them a clumsy and unforgivable imitation of Led Zeppelin. They were labeled an embarrassment, a pastiche, half-baked boomer fetishism. The takedowns were so brutal they became a story in themselves.
But while critics sharpened their knives, something else was happening. The same band was selling out arenas worldwide. Their albums were topping the Billboard rock charts. They won a Grammy. And a whole new generation of fans, who weren’t even alive for the golden age of rock, started calling them its new saviors.
So which one is it? Is this the most critically reviled young rock band of the modern era, a soulless ripoff cashing in on a formula written 50 years ago? Or, in an era starved for new rock gods, is the very thing people hate about them—that uncanny familiarity—the secret to their wild success?
From the moment “Highway Tune” hit in 2017, the comparison was instantaneous: Led Zeppelin. Josh Kiszka’s soaring wail sounded like a young Robert Plant. Jake’s blues-drenched guitar riffs felt ripped from Jimmy Page’s playbook. The rhythm section echoed John Paul Jones and John Bonham. The dynamics, the lyrics, even the sonic texture made it feel like a lost tape from 1971—and for many critics, that was exactly the problem.
The backlash peaked with Pitchfork’s 1.6 review of Anthem of the Peaceful Army, accusing the band of turning every impulse of late-60s rock into an interminable drag. The review joked they sounded like a band that “did weed exactly once, called the cops, and tried to record a Led Zeppelin album.” It went viral, became a meme, and turned into the main argument against them: this isn’t influence, it’s pure imitation. Other critics called them an embarrassment for rock and urged listeners to just go back to the real Led Zeppelin.
Some argued they were an “algorithmic franchise” band—a perfectly nostalgic product, polished and packaged by a major label before they’d developed their own identity. Whispers of “industry plant” followed. In this view, Greta Van Fleet weren’t just bad; they symbolized rock’s stagnation, a shallow boomer fetish cashing in on nostalgia without adding anything new.
And yet the numbers tell a different story. “Highway Tune” hit number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and stayed there for weeks. The same debut album that critics eviscerated debuted at number one on multiple rock charts. Their EP From the Fires won the Grammy for Best Rock Album. Later records like The Battle at Garden’s Gate and Starcatcher brought more big tours, strong chart placements, and Grammy nominations.
Their defenders argue you can’t fake that kind of connection. Fans aren’t stupid. To them, the band isn’t a ripoff; it’s a torchbearer. All great artists have influences: The Beatles loved Chuck Berry and Little Richard, the Stones built on American blues. In that tradition, Greta Van Fleet are seen as carrying a classic rock torch into a new era, especially for Gen Z hearing big riffs and wailing vocals for the first time through them.
So are they rock’s biggest ripoff, or its only hope? The truth probably sits somewhere in the messy middle: a band that’s undeniably derivative, undeniably talented, and, for better or worse, impossible to ignore.
CONNECT ON SOCIAL
TIKOK:tiktok.com/@rocknrolltruestory
Instagram: instagram.com/rnrtruestories
Facebook: facebook.com/RNRTrueStories
Twitter: twitter.com/rocktruestories
Blog: rockandrolltruestories.com
#gretavanfleet #ledzeppelin #robertplant #rush
These videos are for entertainment purposes only. DISCLAIMER rockandrolltruestories.com/youtube-disclaimer
