Led Zeppelin is a band that can’t be questioned regarding each individual’s musical ability. When conversations about who the best rock vocalist, guitarist, and drummer are, you can guarantee that each member of Led Zeppelin will have their name mentioned and be considered a serious candidate. The fact that each individual member was so talented and that they could cohesively merge their sound is, in no small part, a massive contributing factor towards the band’s success.
If you ever needed proof that Led Zeppelin is made up of some of the most talented musicians in heaven and earth, then all you need to consider is how many people have attempted to cover them. Despite their tracks being well known and a staple of rock music, very few people try to give their own renditions because the sound is too hard to achieve.
Consider the time the band had their music played to them at the Kennedy Center Honors. While playing ‘Stairway to Heaven’, the Kennedy Center had a full choir partake in the singing of the track to achieve the full magnitude of the song in the same way that Led Zeppelin could. This is the musical equivalent of one Robert Plant.
With that in mind, who was the first artist brave enough to tackle a Led Zeppelin cover? You would think it came from one of the band’s rock n roll counterparts, but you’d be mistaken, as the first cover actually comes from a very unlikely place. As part of her 1969 album Reviewing the Situation, Sandie Shaw covered the Led Zeppelin track, ‘Your Time Is Gunna Come’.
Though Shaw is often considered a pop musician, she was an incredibly rock-oriented performer. In fact, the entire Reviewing the Situation album has a psychedelic rock sound to it. It certainly wouldn’t be categorised as pop music today in a world with many different sub-genres. Her cover of ‘Your Time Is Gunna Come’ is excellent, too. Originally on Led Zeppelin’s self-titled LP that came out in the same year, Shaw stays pretty faithful to the original, taking on Plant’s vocals in a way that does them justice but doesn’t come across as if she is trying to imitate him.
This wasn’t the only time Shaw would cover rock music, either. Almost two decades later, she claimed a place back in the UK top 40 thanks to her excellent rendition of The Smiths track ‘Hand in Glove’. This was one of The Smith’s more rock-heavy tracks, and as such, given her track record, it’s hardly a surprise that Shaw opted to sing it.
The exceptionally high bar set by Led Zeppelin meant that few people were willing to take on covering one of their tracks. However, the rock adjacent pop star Sandie Shaw took up the challenge on her 1969 album and delivered it to a great extent.
