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Sat 15 August 2026 16:23, UK
Howard Stern didn’t become the most prominent broadcaster of the pre-podcast age in the United States without being an assertive voice on every subject under the sun, especially classic rock music.
Despite his lack of musical talent, Stern still blagged his way to become a judge on America’s Got Talent. He may not have any Grammys in his trophy cabinet at home, but that has never stopped the bushy-haired presenter from speaking with an authority that suggests he owns a dozen.
As much as he’s prepared to blast Tool as “assholes“, Stern is not always negative about bands. Regarding music, when Stern likes it, he really does. Furthermore, the DJ is a particular aficionado of all things classic rock, as this momentous cultural period was when he spent his formative years and took his first steps into becoming the widely influential voice on the radio that he is today.
As with many of his generation, Stern is a lifelong fan of the eclectic sounds of The Beatles. After all, they were the group that opened the floodgates to the future with their aversion to tradition and dedication to creative innovation. Accordingly, in early 2022, when Stern launched into one of his most significant conversations about the best album of all time, he named his favourite record by the Liverpudlian lads, which was his choice.
After rightly slamming a caller for naming Meat Loaf’s 1977 debut Bat Out of Hell as one of the greatest records ever, Stern maintained, “The hits were great—not the entire album,” before revisiting the measures of what makes a body of work better than others. “You’re saying, what are the … best albums where every song is fucking killer.”
Then, Stern offered his picks for the greatest album ever, with his initial suggestion being The Beatles’s 1967 psychedelic masterpiece, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. “If you were going to pick number one, it would have to be a Beatles album. I’d probably say it’s ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’” he said.
As much as his love for The Beatles is unparalleled, Led Zeppelin’s second album, Led Zeppelin II, is on a similar level as Sgt. Pepper’s for him, adding, “The other album that comes to mind, the second Led Zeppelin album [Led Zeppelin II], you know, with ‘Heartbreaker’ into ‘Living Loving Maid’… if I put that whole album on, it’s mesmerising.”
Further reading: From The Vault
Stern also gave an honourable mention to the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s 1967 debut album, Are You Experienced, which had to settle for a bronze medal. However, Stern being Stern, it couldn’t be all love, meaning he had to call “bullshit” on anyone who considers The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds worthy of a place in the conversation.
Stern has had everybody in the hot seat on his radio show over the years, including Paul McCartney on multiple occasions, and almost never gets flustered. However, due to his love of Led Zeppelin, Stern found himself acting like a teenager all over again rather than a professional broadcaster.
Before Plant arrived in the studio, Stern giddily shared his excitement with listeners, explaining, “I love this guy. I fucking love Led Zeppelin. I’ve got to talk to him about so much.”
Once Plant came on air, the conversation began with a lengthy dose of Led Zeppelin chat, which Stern could have happily continued with all day, but the rock veteran was unimpressed, even semi-jokingly saying at one point, “Where’d you find this guy?”
In 2019, Stern admitted to the New York Times that he wasted the opportunity to speak with Plant, conceding, “I am such a fan of that guy, and I took the wrong approach. He came in, and I’m dying to ask him about Led Zeppelin. I wanted every detail. After a while, he says something like, ‘I don’t want to talk about Led Zeppelin.’ Then I go back and back and back because I was hyper-focused on thinking that’s what the audience wanted. So, in some ways, I blew it with him. But some people are just open books.”
While Stern and Plant may not be the best of friends, the broadcaster is old enough in the tooth to hold his hands up and shoulder the blame for that one. Plant could have called him every expletive under the sun, and it would still take nothing away from his love of Led Zeppelin II, which gave the world ‘Whole Lotta Love’.
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