Nancy Wilson Recalls How Robert Plant ‘Scandalized’ Her and Ann: ‘We’re Like, ‘We Must Leave the Premises”

Nancy Wilson recalled how the innuendo of Robert Plant performing “The Lemon Song” “scandalized” her and her sister Ann in their teens and made them leave a Led Zeppelin show early.

For better or worse, Led Zeppelin established itself as the very epitome of rock ‘n’ roll during its heyday. This also relates to something that the British hard rock greats, and Robert Plant especially, ended up receiving a lot of flak for — machismo. Back in the day, however, the over-the-top, highly suggestive tracks and visuals were all the rage, so much so that the entire hair metal scene felt the need to outdo them many years later.

However, not everyone was equally amused by Plant’s antics even before the early ’90s brought about a radical shift in perspective. During a recent interview on Premier Guitar’s 100 Guitarists, Nancy Wilson recalled the shock of discovering Led Zeppelin as a teenager, saying (transcription via Guitar):

“The singer, he’s so suggestive. He’s got his shirt wide open, he’s got his bare chest, and his jeans were really low riders. He was moving in this way that was super-suggestive and we were kind of shocked. We’re like, ‘Oh, my God.'”

“We were in a little folk band at the time. We were from the suburbs. So we were kind of square, square little hippie chicks to be unenlightened, let’s just say. And so, they were like, ‘Oh, they’re so loud. They’re just being so suggestive and loud.

Hearing “The Lemon Song” proved to be too much for the young Wilson sisters, as Nancy recalls leaving the gig:

“Then, he sang ‘Squeeze My Lemon,’ and we’re like, ‘Oh, we must leave, we must leave the premises,’ because we were just shocked! We actually walked out… We were scandalized, and we walked away.”