I Feel Bad for Greta Van Fleet
Last October, when Greta Van Fleet released its debut album Anthem of the Peaceful Army, the Michigan rock band immediately became the most polarizing new act of 2018. An oft-quoted-and not-at-all-wrong-Pitchfork review described the band “like they did weed exactly once, called the cops, and tried to record a Led Zeppelin album before they arrested themselves.”
This score from the tastemaker site of 1.6 out of 10 (a score even lower than Ed Sheeran's ÷) launched an ongoing debate about the merits of a throwback rock band whose love of Led Zeppelin strays into- as many have argued-plagiarism territory. There were impassioned takes about the future of guitar music. There were fans throwing themselves to defend the young band. Greta Van Fleet had either killed rock music or saved it, depending on who you asked.
And meanwhile, I found myself feeling bad for these boys between the ages of 19 and 22. Because, you see, I also was once in a post-high school rock band that wanted nothing more than play Zeppelin tunes and write songs that were basically Zeppelin rip-offs. Two of our go-to covers at the time included “Whole Lotta Love” (I could only really pull off about 1 percent of John Bonham’s drumming) and “No Quarter” (which required immense patience for our audiences during the four-minute key solo). Once we won a local battle of the bands in Denver, which deeply pissed off the fans of our competition-a band called 9/10ths of the Law, which was like some sort of aging prog-metal outfit.
Why did we love playing Zeppelin music so much? Well, it was fun, and we didn’t know any better. Eventually, as we were expanded our music tastes, we moved on to ripping off Radiohead and The National like respectable adults. But up until that point, if someone had handed us a major label offer, we would have gladly taken the money and become whatever rock throwback act the music execs wanted.
The point is, ripping off Led Zeppelin is a right of passage-a phase that many young, horny, and stupid boys go through in the early stages of playing music. Greta Van Fleet just happened to be so good at it that they got a record deal and recorded 11 Zeppelin-lite tunes for the entire world to hear. And now, they are in the not-at-all enviable position of hearing everyone else’s opinion about a phase in their music careers that five years from now will be somewhat embarrassing. Their music is subject to heated debates on Reddit, and been torn apart by the most respected critics from major publications. Even Robert Plant himself was snarky about the band’s similarities to his. Haters reveled in the band’s bad reviews and band press. Rolling Stone even listed the band among the problems with modern rock music in 2018, alongside the likes of the abysmal Imagine Dragons.
I understand why music critics are annoyed with this derivative sound and its immediate pervasiveness. Much of this has to do with the major label push behind Greta Van Fleet. Republic Records is actively trying to turn this band into the next rock music tentpole, as Pitchfork notes in its review. And it's also the state of guitar music in general, which has been waiting for another Black Keys or Kings of Leon to come along to revive interest in a rapidly aging sound. There are also people like myself who would scoff at the type of audience that this band appeals to-the person with little to no critical thinking about contemporary popular music or anything that informed it. But that doesn’t change the fact that a lot of people really like it. The band’s album has been tremendously successful, and a recent appearance on Saturday Night Live-also controversial-gave the band an even bigger boost.
But I still don’t necessarily think the band deserves the hatred. Unlike other immensely commercial breakout acts of the 2000s, Greta Van Fleet isn’t doing anything that bad. Take The Chainsmokers for example, whose misogynist lyrics and quotes about their dick and getting laid only helped propagate toxic masculinity. And when Justin Bieber was their age, he was getting DUIs and punching photographers.
The only thing Greta Van Fleet is guilty of is flippantly broadcasting a naive sort of uncoolness because they don’t know any better. Do they see the irony in lifting from a band that is known for stealing the ideas of black blues musicians? Do they have a musical knowledge outside of Led Zeppelin and the scores of acts the band has influenced in the last few decades? They absolutely don’t.
These poor kids are out there giving quotes to magazines that talk about modern radio and rap music with contempt. In fact, they only know about the Black Keys because, as bassist Sam Kiszka told Rolling Stone, “Our dad brought the Magic Potion album home, and we’re like, ‘Wow, this is contemporary music?’” Having no respect for rap music in 2019 is among the dumbest takes a musician could have. But, in what world do we expect a 19-year-old to do anything not completely bone-headed? Who among us expect these kids to have cultivated a deep and diverse musical knowledge?
The band is made up of twin brothers Jake and Josh Kiszka and their younger brother Sam, along with drummer Danny Wagner. Growing up, these boys were incubated in an isolation tank of classic rock, and obviously have no taste for anything outside of those strict confines. Like sweet little dorks, Rolling Stone describes them as "a group of kids who go around dropping references to Vanilla Fudge’s Carmine Appice and Free’s Paul Kossoff."
Before they could develop any sort of expanded musical knowledge, they were whisked away by music exec Jason Flom, who signed them to a major label deal. The problem here is that bands often need time to seek out their own footing as musicians. This comes from a few years on the road, bad shows, bad songs, exposure to diverse music scenes and genres. The Black Keys-one of the few bands Greta Van Fleet apparently knows or respects-even came to its own on indie labels and had years to define itself before signing to Warner Bros.
Now, the band is nominated for three Grammys-including Best New Artist, Best Rock Performance, and Best Rock Album. And, given the Recording Academy’s tendency to give awards to the most commercially successful act and whatever act appeals to aging fans of guitar music, they’re likely to win. Even if they don’t win, their presence at music’s most prestigious award show will be controversial in itself.
Expect this debate to pick up once again this week. But keep in mind that these guys are just kids who don’t know any better. They’ve proven themselves to be competent musicians with no ideas of their own. Maybe in a few years, once they expand their musical knowledge, they’ll write better songs and prove themselves worthy of all the attention.
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