Why People Hate Grammy Award Winners 'Greta Van Fleet'

Greta Van Fleet are bringing pure Rock and Roll back to life, with the Michigan band being one of the best up and coming Rock Groups in the world right now, but not all would seem to agree. Formed in 2012, the Four-Piece only signed a Record Deal in March of 2017, and have since released 2 EP's and a full length LP, 'Anthem of the Peaceful Army', the latter releasing in October 2018. They're smash hit, 'Highway Tune', topped the Billboard 200 for 4 weeks in a row, so it's been a one way rocket ship ride in the past two years for Greta Van Fleet. They were nominated for 4 Grammy Awards this year, taking home the very prestigious 'Best Rock Album' Award at last weeks ceremony, beating out Alice in Chains and Weezer, for their 2017 EP, 'From The Fires'. They're a pretty big deal right now.

Greta Van Fleet performing on SNL in January 2019.

So with a No. 1 hit and a Grammy Award Winning EP, it seems Greta Van Fleet are on top of the world. But there has been online uproar for the past two years about this band, with so many claiming that they are a blatant rip off of rock legends, Led Zeppelin. And it is this comparison that's plagued GVF's career so far, unable to escape the shadow of one of their influencers and having have their music be criticised with plagiarism claims.

Led Zeppelin performing Live; 1973.

Now, if you listen to GVF, the similarities to Zeppelin are very much there, with dirty sounding genius guitar riffs, pounding drums and a lead vocalist scream that will just blow you away, literally. But Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant, himself has praised Greta Van Fleet, comparing their sound to Zeppelin's first album, 'Led Zeppelin' (1969). Plant has also complimented GVF lead singer, 22 year old Josh Kiszka, on his voice in an interview which you can watch a short clip of below. Notice how in it, Plant is comedic in the way he talks about GVF, claiming he 'hates them' for being so young. He's obviously kidding if you watch the video, but that hasn't stopped countless idiotic Music News sites taking it completely out of context, which I'll get onto next.

                                                               

From that interview, too many articles have been posted in this 'clickbate' age we are in, making it seem that Plant is talking about GVF and/or Josh in a negative way, whereas in reality he praises them. So within that, is our issue. The exact same people out there right now, probably with Twitter accounts, who constantly complain that music today is awful, that they hate Hip Hop, Rap, R&B, Grime, everything that is currently popular, they will also say that Rock and Roll is the greatest genre, and that nobody makes good Rock Music today and that that is a 'disgrace'. These are the same type of people who are hating on Greta Van Fleet, saying that they are ripping off Led Zeppelin. THE IRONY, IS ACTUALLY PAINFUL.

Headline from GuitarWorld.com.

Now I myself tend to dislike most of the new music pumped out today, as I feel it's very artificial, and you'd be hard pressed to find a No. 1 song from the past 2 years that didn't have an army of 10 ghost-writers behind it, but when it comes to Greta Van Fleet, I see nothing but positives. The Zeppelin sound is there, yes, but it's this constant comparison and slander thats' pushed the band to be aggravated when being compared to a group they considered their idols. But it's those people who crave a return to the mainstream for Rock and Roll who are criticising GVF that annoy me, as GVF are literally giving you what you want, and you're throwing it back in their face, f*cking idiots.

But aside from Twitter trolls, this is what has irritated me the most. Pitchfork Magazine is an online News Outlet for everything music, but mainly offering up reviews on the latest albums from every genre out there. They reviewed GVF's debut LP, 'Anthem of the Peaceful Army', and slated it. 1.6/10 is what they rated it. The album is great, it's fantastic actually, everything a rock fan would want. Memorable riffs, fantastic melodies, overall great songs, and for 2019? It's a godsend for Rock and Roll. So why did Pitchfork hate it? Here it comes again, for sounding like Led Zeppelin. Ridiculous.

Pitchfork.com's Review of Greta Van Fleet's 'Anthem of the Peaceful Army' (2018).

I needed to cut off the first paragraph of that review, as it is just all unnecessary criticism for a fine piece of work, from a journalist stuck in the 70's who needs to open his ears, and realise that Greta Van Fleet are part of the solution to Rock Revival. It's incredibly unfortunate that this fine band is constantly given hate and criticism, for actually doing good work. Now they're only young, so I strongly believe in time they'll outlive the Led Zeppelin comparisons and find they're own identity, which I actually think they already have, just nobody has cared to realise. Thank you for reading.