It's been a long time, at least, for Rock 'n' Roll to have a new and equally-talented version of a famous rock band from the glorious era for rock that was the 60's. When fans of 60's Rock 'n' Roll heard there was a new millennial band that sounded just like Led Zeppelin, many were skeptical. How could one band ever replace the dynamic duo that was Robert Plant and Jimmy Page in Led Zeppelin? As much as fans of the 60's rock band wanted to admit no one could ever replace them, they found them in Greta Van Fleet. If you don't believe me, listen to Greta Van Fleet's song "When The Curtain Falls" for yourself.

By now you're probably saying, "Okay, yes they sound like Led Zeppelin, but what does this have to do about rock music influencing politics?" I'm glad you asked. As stated before, it's been a long time since the music community has seen a rock band that is almost identical to that of a 60's rock band. Not many of the numerous rock bands from the 2000's have had political messages to the degree as what has been written about from the 60's. Many of today's bands are fairly uneventful politically and culturally compared to the 60's. With the recent election of Donald Trump and the rapid advances in technology, as a society, we have seen an increase in people spreading information via social media and publicly protesting against the system. With today's youth culture looking more and more similar to that of the Baby Boomers in the 60's it only makes sense that the music world now has a band that has political themes in their lyrics. Greta Van Fleet may very well be on the cusp of the next political and cultural revolution.

To better highlight Greta Van Fleet's political themes, one can look at the lyrics to their song "Brave New World" off their new album. "Brave New World" states the following:

Take one look at your skies

And in the darkness realize

Kill fear, the power of lies

For we will not be hypnotized (Greta Van Fleet, Anthem of The Peaceful Army, 2018)

These lyrics are a cry for the youth of current society to get ready for the new cultural revolution: it is on the rise, and there's no stopping the force it will become. Once it happens, Greta Van Fleet says, you can not let fear stop you from taking part in the movements of the day because being politically active is how we, every common person with nothing but a voice, keep the establishment from using us, controlling us blindly. While Greta Van Fleet may be one of the latest additions to the rock music scene, they are very keenly aware of everything that's happening politically. In my opinion, the more music of this caliber that they put out in the years to come, the more traits we will see in them that are common to the political rockers and rock bands that came before them, such as Bob Dylan and Creedence Clearwater Revival.