Queen fronted by Led Zeppelin legend Robert Plant! You could not ask for a more gargantuan pairing in rock ‘n’ roll. When Robert joined forces with the English rockers to perform “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” to remember Freddie Mercury, the energy coming off the frontman was molten! In their early days, Queen drew big-time inspiration from Led Zep, so this was a dream pairing for fans. If only Freddie could have been there.
The Music Man has to say this is probably the craziest Robert Plant performance ever. I’ve watched a tonne of the Led Zep icon’s gigs and I’ve never seen him tear the stage up with this kind of out-of-control energy – and Queen matched that fire all the way. One thing that wasn’t out of control was Robert’s vocals, as he brought his own style in a compelling way while also paying his respects to the great Freddie.
Queen uploaded the performance to YouTube, featuring a passage from Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You” leading into “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”.
One of the highlights of Queen’s historic set at Live Aid in 1985 was undoubtedly “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”. Freddie famously wrote the song on guitar in “five or ten minutes”, so naturally he picked up the guitar once again here to play it live. Watching Freddie hold the packed stadium in the palm of his hand throughout the concert just leaves me in awe every time I rewatch it.
Queen released “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” in October 1979. The song was written solely by Freddie Mercury and was produced by Queen and Mack. The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that Freddie managed to write the song on guitar despite the fact that he admitted that he “can’t play for nuts”.
Curiously, the frontman declared that his lack of guitar ability is what made the song work. As he told Melody Maker in 1981: “I couldn’t work through too many chords and because of that restriction I wrote a good song, I think.”