NEW BOOK, “LED CLONES: THE LED ZEPPELIN IMITATOR CRAZE OF THE ’80s…AND BEYOND,” REVEALS WHICH BANDS, AND SONGS, WERE INFLUENCED BY THE CLASSIC ROCK BAND

Music writer, Greg Prato, has a new book out, titled, Led Clones: The Led Zeppelin Imitator Craze of the ‘80s…and Beyond, which is available for purchase, here.

Prato, has released some highlights online, including, speaking with our very own Eddie Trunk, read some of the excerpt, below.

Whitesnake: Still of The Night:

While a bit of a tune by Elvis the Pelvis may have served as the guitar riff’s initial inspiration [Whitesnake singer David Coverdale has admitted being inspired by the tune Jailhouse Rock while writing Still of the Night], by the time it was laid down in the studio, it sounded 100% Zeppelin derived – seeming to be an amalgamation of Black Dog (the riff, the call and response between the vocals and riff, etc.) and Whole Lotta Love… with a dash of Kashmir (particularly the middle breakdown) sprinkled on top

However, radio host Eddie Trunk questions if the group’s brief merge into the Zep turning lane was not entirely Coverdale‘s doing. “I think also when 1987 [the UK title of the group’s self-titled release] rolled around, David decided to just rev everything up and changed the band and brought in John Sykes on guitar. And then Sykes comes in with these gargantuan riffs that were Zeppelin-esque, Coverdale just adapted to that. But if you really know the history of Coverdale and what he was doing prior – it was very much his own thing. And also, very much rooted in the blues.”

By the time a music video was filmed for Still of the Night, Coverdale was the only geezer from the song’s recording left in attendance, as Sykes was replaced by not one but two shredders – ex-Vandenberg‘s Adrian Vandenberg and ex-Dio‘s Vivian Campbell (with Ozzy‘s former rhythm section, bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummer Tommy Aldridge, also doing battle). And the video proved to be incredibly popular with still-major-tastemakers MTV – which prominently featured one of the era’s top music video vixens, Tawny Kitaen (who was briefly married to Coverdale), as well as Vandenberg incomprehensibly ripping off Jimmy Page‘s violin bow gimmick.

And although Whitesnake did succeed in claiming an enormous new audience stateside with their “Zeppelin pastiche,” it left older fans with a case of the blahs. Including Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante. “I used to really enjoy certain Whitesnake songs – especially the album before Slide It In[1982’s Saints & Sinners]… but I do like Slide It In, too. But I don’t understand how most people didn’t see this as a Zeppelin copy band. And then when I heard Still of the Night, I was like, ‘This is f-cking Whole Lotta Love.”

Read the section about Kingdom Come, here.