Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Okay, My Last Thoughts on Greta Van Fleet

Basically, I prefer Jo Van Fleet.


No, but seriously, I had never heard of these guys (let alone had an opinion on them) until two weekends ago when they were on Saturday Night Live, and apparently pissed a lot of people off for being too blatant a Led Zeppelin knockoff.

So then I watched the SNL clips. And my immediate reaction was that they were more like a reasonably talented 1974 Southern bar band with a creepy lead singer than a Zep knockoff.



And yes, that's pretty awful.

But then I watched the second clip...



...and realized that the bass player had a) switched to actual Hammond organ(!) and b) was playing the bass part on the foot pedals, and my respect for the band went through the roof.

And then one of my much younger friends, who has actually seen them in concert and thinks they're awesome, turned me on to this song.



Which, yes, is about as much of a Led Zep homage as you can get, but frankly despite how derivative it is, I can't resist it.
,
And I don't even particularly like Led Zep.

Discuss.

[h/t Dan Fridman]





10 comments:

Blue Ash Fan said...

RE: SNL, they weren't my particular cup of tea, but they were an actual band, playing actual instruments, singing actual melodies. I give them props on that alone.

And, I say that as a big Led Zep fan.

But, man, that Safari Song is a full-on Zep pastiche, no?

Billy B said...

Pretty talented group. Every song I've heard from the bad is "heavily influenced" by Zeppelin.

I don't see where they can keep this up.

Anonymous said...

Hello all...no, please remain seated,

The Google tubes inform me that three of these guys are brothers. More often than not, not a good harbinger of things to come in a rock band.

If these guys float your boat, try Kaleo. Blues rock from Iceland (!) With a large dose of the Cult. This song, Glass Houses, just jumps out of the speakers:

https://youtu.be/shSKvEp3HFo

Best...RichD

Edward said...

I prefer Greta Gerwig;>

Anonymous said...

This band has Pete Best syndrome. Seriously

Tony J

MJConroy said...

The singer is horrible. Can he deliver more than one line without screaming? Not a bad Zep tribute band, but I can do without Robert Plant on helium.

pete said...

This illustrates the modern music conundrum. Original modern pop using modern instruments and techniques often leaves the music sounding cold and simplistic. But if you go for the warmth and cohesion of "bands playing real instruments" they're almost always going to sound derivative, because there isn't much that hasn't been done already with those instruments.

ge said...

hard to get past
the singer who should be waterboarded for his outfit choices-----sandals?! that 'vest'...
harm him o please gods of fashion, music

Anonymous said...

It's like Led Zeppelin and The Darkness had a one night stand and this is their bastard offspring.

mainuh said...


It's like Led Zeppelin and The Darkness had a one night stand and this is their bastard offspring...that's funny.

GVF is ubiquitous these days.
Having heard/read about them these past couple years I was glad to finally catch them on SNL.
The lead singer needs to study Jagger, Chris Robinson.

My preference for a contemporary rock band today -
Cage The Elephant.

rob