Robert Plant has never shied away from being brutally honest, even when it comes to his own legacy. While his confidence in Led Zeppelin’s immense power has always been clear, he’s also been surprisingly self-critical—often wrapped in that sharp West Midlands wit of his.
Reflecting on Zeppelin’s early days, Plant once told Rolling Stone about the moment he realized the band wasn’t just good—they were unstoppable. “When we kicked in with a bunch of songs that nobody really knew, ‘Train Kept A-Rollin’… I knew that I was in a room full of giants, really. And that was it.”
He continued, “By 1973, what happened in that one room had exploded into some of the most adventurous non-rock rock that you could ever wish to find. It was just the sum of the parts. Those guys were just insanely good. It was as if everybody had just been waiting for each other. It was just like, bang!”
Plant’s admiration for his bandmates—Jimmy Page, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones—has remained consistent over the years. But perhaps the most revealing moment came in a 2019 episode of his podcast Digging Deep, where he opened up about feeling like the weak link in Zeppelin during the recording of ‘Achilles Last Stand’.
“If you think of Led Zeppelin as a trio, really, with a kind of wedding singer up front… my enthusiasm was a good contribution, but in fact, those guys were amazing,” he admitted.
The track, pulled from 1976’s Presence, was recorded during a difficult chapter in Plant’s life. Still recovering from a devastating car crash, he spent much of the album’s sessions in a wheelchair. He described Presence as “not always the most comfortable listen,” shaped by the physical and emotional turmoil he was facing. Yet he still marveled at the band’s chemistry: “The interaction and fusion of musicality of these three guys in this song is insane.”
Despite the discomfort, Plant said ‘Achilles Last Stand’ was born out of a deep yearning for freedom and escape. “I began to compose about freedom and escape. The desire throughout this song is to be in a place that is a reward,” he said. “We’re basically the Atlas mountain range and return to Morocco.”
Even through pain and self-doubt, Plant’s voice helped deliver one of Led Zeppelin’s most epic performances—and he never stopped giving credit to the giants around him.
