Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by TERRY O'NEILL

Counting down the Top 50 classic rock records which defined the decade, UCR has ranked two albums from Led Zeppelin‘s Robert Plant #2 and #3.

Robert Plant’s records may not be the commercial juggernauts of his Zeppelin years, but his commitment to musicality and his own creative impulse has paid off in the eyes of the internet’s largest rock-centric website.

The album which arrived third in UCR‘s list, was Plant’s 2014 album Lullaby … and the Ceaseless Roar. 

“Lullaby gave no quarter to his oldest fans’ built-in expectations while pushing with everything Plant can muster into a new place where textures from both West and East merge,” the publication writes. “If you were still wondering why Plant wouldn’t entertain the idea of a Led Zeppelin reunion, this album provided a definitive answer. Not just to why he won’t, but why he shouldn’t.”

The Zeppelin vocalists 2017 album Carry Fire ranked higher still at #2.

“For the first time in more than a decade,” UCR notes, “Robert Plant repeated himself… By this stage in his career it had become fully expected that the former Led Zeppelin singer would break up with each new band or collaborator after completing a touring and recording cycle. But he stayed with the Sensational Space Shifters for the follow up to 2014’s Lullaby … Carry Fire’s blend of instruments and styles is slightly more traditional, but still at least as powerful.”

Coming in at #1 was David Bowie’s Blackstar, which was released shortly before his death in 2016.

In a recent episode of his personal podcast, Robert Plant delved deeply into his contemporary creative process, including a fascination with microtonalities extending back to the time of Led Zeppelin III.

Plant, who recently shared he could no longer connect with Zeppelin’s greatest commercial success ‘Stairway to Heaven’, is also in the process of beginning a follow up to Carry Fire.

You can read the full UCR list here.