Brian May doesn’t have a problem admitting Queen was influenced by some of their peers. One of those peers, in particular, is Led Zeppelin, and there’s a specific song May says was heavily inspired by Zeppelin.
May talked about this in an interview with Total Guitar saying “Now I’m Here” from the band’s 1974 album Sheer Heart Attack was definitely inspired by “Black Dog”.
The guitar icon said, “I owe a lot to Jimmy Page, of course – the master of the riff, and the master of getting lost deliberately in time signatures. I think that song was inspired, definitely, by the spirit of Zeppelin.”
May adds, “All those wonderful things that are happening when Bonzo [John Bonham] is throwing in things which sound like they’re in a different time signature – that stuff has always fascinated me … Those guys were not far ahead of us in age. But the first time we heard Zeppelin, we thought, ‘Oh, my God, this is where we’re trying to get to, and they’re already there!’”
May adds that Queen also admired Zeppelin from a business standpoint as well. He said, “The way they handled their image, the integrity, the way they built their stage show – so many things. I suppose between Zeppelin and The Beatles and The Who, you would see where we came from. That was the kind of platform that we bounced off.
Queen is currently on hiatus from touring. However, they made sure to wish their social media followers a Happy Valentine’s Day today and curated a playlist of their best love songs.
