Football is a truly global sport, adored by millions and played everywhere from the sun-bleached favelas of Rio de Janeiro to the perpetual drizzle of an English park. So, when the World Cup rolls around every four years, it is a global event that seems to capture the attention of everybody, even those who might not conventionally take an interest in the sport. Aside from the matches themselves, the World Cup also had a profound impact on the culture of the time, too.
In fact, even hard rock progenitors Led Zeppelin once used the competition as artistic inspiration.
Although not typically associated with the world of football, Led Zeppelin always maintained a keen interest in the sport. Frontman Robert Plant, for instance, is a lifelong fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Jimmy Page harbours an affinity for Chelsea. Still, the harbingers of hard rock excellence were hardly the kind of group to record a World Cup theme, or shill out for a cringeworthy pro-England anthem. However, the band did take a degree of inspiration from the 1978 World Cup for their own material.
Held in Argentina, the 1978 World Cup was a particularly memorable occasion, although not for England fans, given that the squad failed to qualify for the competition. More importantly,
though, the event was plagued by interference, corruption, and accusations of match fixing, owing to the military junta which ruled over Argentina at the time, and their determination to turn the event into a kind of nationalistic propaganda showcase. Admittedly, this tactic worked out quite well for them, as Argentina went on to win the competition, beating the Netherlands 3-1 in the final.
England might not have qualified for the Argentine World Cup, but that didn’t stop Led Zeppelin from tuning in to the matches. Seemingly, though, it was the music of the tournament which really captivated the band. Coverage of the event made heavy use of the traditionally Brazilian style of samba music, opening up new avenues of inspiration for the hard rock outfit as songwriters.
Rooted in the Afro-Brazilian communities of the 19th century, samba has provided Brazilians – and, to a lesser extent, wider South Americans – with a strong and vibrant cultural identity for hundreds of years. However, the dance-focused style was not something that Led Zeppelin were regularly exposed to while rubbing shoulders with their fellow rock stars. Perhaps if they had been hanging around with Sérgio Mendes, they would have been exposed to these infectious sounds sooner.
Either way, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones became infatuated with the samba sounds of the 1978 World Cup and quickly set about incorporating that energy into their own musical material. The product of this unexpected experiment was the track ‘Fool in the Rain’, a highlight from their much-maligned 1979 record In Through the Out Door, and the final single Led Zeppelin ever released in the US before disbanding in 1980.
Offering a stark departure from the typical sounds of Led Zeppelin’s early days, anthems like ‘Black Dog’ or ‘Rock and Roll’ are worlds apart from the laid-back, almost lounge-esque sounds of ‘Fool in the Rain’.
Still, the track is by no means unwelcome within the band’s discography. The samba influences of the song give it a fresh and enticing atmosphere which makes the tune a real stand-out from the band’s later material. Seemingly, though, it was all thanks to the coverage of the 1978 World Cup.
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