Music How Vanilla Fudge helped to launch Led Zeppelin
In the pantheon of hard rock pioneers, American quartet Vanilla Fudge often doesn’t get the same respect as their peers. Best known for their heavy take on The Supremes’ Motown classic ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’, Vanilla Fudge was one of the biggest draws in the evolving psychedelic and blues rock genres of the late 1960s.
While playing shows across the country, Vanilla Fudge rubbed elbows with some of their fellow boundary-pushers. Everyone from Deep Purple to Blue Cheer managed to cross paths with the hard-hitting New Yorkers during their relatively short initial career. But the most notable opening act that ever shared the bill with Vanilla Fudge was none other than Led Zeppelin, who supported Vanilla Fudge during Zeppelin’s first tour of America in 1968.
“People can’t believe it now, but when they came over, they were green,” drummer Carmine Appice later observed to SongFacts in 2004. “They were a brand new band, nobody knew Robert Plant, nobody knew John Paul Jones, nobody knew John Bonham. Their first date with us was Vanilla Fudge and Spirit, and we were already sold out when they were added to the show. When they went on, the audience was yelling, ‘Bring on The Fudge.’ It was hilarious. I remember telling Robert Plant he should move around more on the stage.”
“In March [of 2004], we went to Europe, played England, and Robert came up to jam with The Fudge,” Appice remembered. “We told that story on stage and we both had a chuckle about it. Then they became so big.”
Appice was even responsible for getting John Bonham his first drum endorsement. “I got John Bonham a Ludwig endorsement, the same drums that I had, which were big 26 bass drums – a totally unique Ludwig kit that started all these crazy sizes,” he added. “Bonzo saw it and loved it, so I got him the endorsement.”
It wouldn’t take long for Zeppelin’s popularity to equal, and soon surpass, that of Vanilla Fudge. “Six months later when they came back to tour again, we toured together again, but this time it was equal bill,” Appice said. “They got so big so fast, then they went on to become the biggest band in the world. We played with Hendrix, Cream, The Who, and at times, we blew everybody off the stage. We were a very hard act to follow, we were known for being very aggressive live and different from anyone else. We were wondering who was going to blow us off – it was Led Zeppelin.”
