SNL Slotting Greta Van Fleet Proves The Show’s Music Direction is as Tone-Deaf as Ever

By now, you’ve probably formed an opinion about Greta Van Fleet, the controversial Michigan rock band made up of three brothers, Josh, Jake and Sam Kiszka, and their friend Danny Wagner. They’ve caught some (read: a whole lot of) flak for their Led Zeppelin-esque sound, which many would argue is nearly identical to the bluesy hard rock rendered by Robert Plant and co. Music critic Jeremy D. Larson wrote in a now-infamous Pitchfork review of their debut album, Anthem of the Peaceful Army, that “Greta Van Fleet sound like they did weed exactly once, called the cops, and tried to record a Led Zeppelin album before they arrested themselves.” In a recent episode of the podcast Switched on Pop, hilariously titled “Stairway to Hell,” Larson joins the hosts as they match the sounds and/or lyrics of each track on Anthem to a specific moment in the Zeppelin discography. The similarities are that apparent. All this, and Greta Van Fleet are the hottest thing in rock right now. They have a massive fanbase (apparent in more than 2 million Spotify listeners), a handful of Grammy nominations and a world tour that’s selling out faster than you can say Kiszka.

I’m not here to try and change your mind about Greta Van Fleet. What you listen to is your own business, and I, like most tasked with writing about this issue, am still trying to work through what this band means for music in 2019. But I will say this much: Greta Van Fleet are not rock ’n’ roll’s saviors. They’re riding in on a wave of Baby Boomer nostalgia, not reinventing guitar music, which is why yesterday’s news of their booking as the first Saturday Night Live music guest of the year—for Rachel Brosnahan’s Jan. 19 episode—was so disappointing.

Saturday Night Live is not necessarily the best barometer for musical forecasting—no one is looking to SNL for the next best thing in music, or even in comedy, these days—but their decision to slot Greta Van Fleet still feels like a new low. It would seem the stalwart sketch show is capitalizing on the controversy, and in doing so they’re missing out on a great chance to highlight an actual original act, in rock or otherwise.

But Greta Van Fleet are original, you say! Their songs exist in an entirely different dimension from Zeppelin’s, and we need them in order to restore real, honorable rock music to the charts! I’m not so sure. It’s probably true that all art is derivative in some form or another, but GVF’s—with its Plant-ish fantastical imagery, sweltering electric guitar and eerily familiar screams—is just a little too derivative to sit comfortably with this music fan, even as we remember Zeppelin themselves weren’t entirely original, as they borrowed time and time again from black blues musicians. Working from that frame of mind, I’m merely attempting to acknowledge Saturday Night Live’s myopia, not disavow Greta Van Fleet altogether.

SNL’s status as a cultural touchstone fluctuates from season to season, cast to cast, election year to election year. And with that variation, their music direction wobbles, too. It seems the show’s team mainly looks to the pop charts for which characters to cast, but, in sporadically occurring pleasant surprises, they bring up-and-coming artists to the stage. Season 42, which aired in 2016 and 2017, was especially good for hot new acts and genre diversity: Solange, A Tribe Called Quest, The xx, Sturgill Simpson and LCD Soundsystem were all welcomed to Studio 8H. With so much political chaos to work with, SNL were on a huge kick, and the show’s music felt exciting and fresh. And season 43 was pretty good, too—rising stars like SZA and Dua Lipa showed up, as did industry titans like U2 and Nicki Minaj.