Highlights
- Led Zeppelin never had a No. 1 single, but their song “Whole Lotta Love” reached No. 4 on the Billboard charts.
- Led Zeppelin made $2 million by allowing their song “Immigrant Song” to be used in Thor: Ragnarok.
- “Immigrant Song” has an eerie connection to the movie, as it was written during Led Zeppelin’s tour to Iceland and Germany in 1970.
Formed in 1968, Led Zeppelin became one of the biggest English rock bands of all time. With their heavy, guitar-driven tracks, they’re considered one of the originators of the hard rock and heavy metal genres.
Moreover, they are one of the best-selling bands of all time, with record sales of 200 to 300 million units across the world. But, believe it or not, Led Zeppelin never had a No. 1 single! Their biggest track, ‘Whole Lotta Love,’ only made it as far as No. 4 on the Billboard charts.
Despite this, the band has made millions with their songs. Led Zeppelin received a $2 million paycheck by allowing one of their songs to be featured in a popular superhero movie.
Led Zeppelin Made $2 Million For Their ‘Immigrant Song’ To Be Used In Thor: Ragnarok
For a long time, Led Zeppelin were reclutant to allow their songs to be featured In movies or TV shows. Luckily, the band got rid of this strict rule over time. Their 1970 song, ‘Immigrant Song,’ for instance, has been featured in many movies. In 2003, Jack Black begged the band to allow him to use the song in School of Rock. The song was also featured in movies such as Solider (1988), Shrek (2007), and most recently, Thor: Ragnarok (2017).
According to the film’s director Taika Waititi, it took nearly two years of planning to secure the rights to ‘Immigrant Song’ for its use in Thor: Ragnarok.
“I remember Kevin being really excited about the song right from the early meetings,” Waititi told Business Insider of his first meetings with Marvel Studios’ president, Kevin Feige back in 2015. “He was like, ‘We should explore that song because it could be perfect for the film.’”
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Ultimately, the dirctor managed to convince the band to let them use the song. “When we had the first cut of the trailer and showed [Led Zeppelin], they understood how perfect the song was for this character,” Waititi explained. “I think it wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t start the conversation with them really, really early on.”
Ultimately, Marvel Studios had to pay Led Zeppelin $2 million for the rights to this song, which was approximately one percent of the budget for Thor: Ragnarok. “I have a feeling if you want to entertain that idea of using their music, you have to have the money,” the director said. “No negotiations. Offer it to them straight up.”
Led Zeppelin’s ‘Immigrant Song’ Had An Eerie Connection To Thor: Ragnarok
It’s no wonder why Taika Waititi was so headset on getting the rights to ‘Immigrant Song’ for Thor: Ragnarok. After all, this Led Zeppelin song has an eerie connection to the movie’s characters.
As it turns out, Led Zeppelin wrote the ‘Immigrant Song’ during their 1970 tour to Iceland, Bath, and Germany. Vocalist Robert Plant got the inspiration to write the lyrics for this song during their opening date in Reykjavík, Iceland. “We weren’t being pompous; we did come from the land of the ice and snow,” Plant said in an interview (via Far Out Magazine).
“We were guests of the Icelandic Government on a cultural mission. We were invited to play a concert in Reykjavik and the day before we arrived all the civil servants went on strike and the gig was going to be cancelled. The university prepared a concert hall for us and it was phenomenal. The response from the kids was remarkable and we had a great time. ‘Immigrant Song’ was about that trip and it was the opening track on the album that was intended to be incredibly different.”
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The lyrics of the song are filled with references to the Nordic culture, from the “hammer of the gods” to the mention of the Valhalla.
“I think ‘Immigrant Song’ was great,” Plant explained. “Having been to Iceland, where we wrote it, I could understand exactly how it caught me musically and the agitation of the music too. It was smooth, cool.”
Six days after he first got inspired to create this song, Led Zeppelin performed the ‘Immigrant Song’ for the first time during their performance at the Bath Festival.
Thor: Ragnarok Boosted The Sales Of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Immigrant Song’ By Over 900 Percent
Led Zeppelin’s ‘Immigrant Song’ is the band’s third highest-grossing song of all time, with a total revenue of $1.3 million as of 2019. Surprisingly, most of the sales from this song came thanks to it being featured in the 2017 superhero film Thor: Ragnarok.
When the movie first premiered, this Led Zeppelin song quickly rose to No. 1 on the Billboard charts. Moreover, sales of ‘Immigrant Song’ increased by 977 percent, with over 18,000 units sold the year Thor: Ragnarok came out. Additionally, the song saw a 133 percent streaming boost, with 2.1. streams in the U.S. alone. Surprisingly, this all happened 47 years after the song was originally released!
Source: NewsFinale
