10 Classic Rock Songs That Were Likely Inspired From Other Songs

For as much as Led Zeppelin may have covered other artists, it did leave an impact on almost every single rock star that came after them. As much as Zeppelin may not have been the most original band in the world some of the time, there are legions of fans who wouldn't have gotten into the bluesier side of rock and roll were it not for Zeppelin exposing them to the music first. Zeppelin had their delicate side too though, and it was enough to catch Mike McCready's ear in the late '90s.

Even though Pearl Jam were trying to move past the radio rock format of their early days, Yield was a bit of a course correction to the traditional Pearl Jam, with this smooth piece of breezy acoustic rock being used as the breakout single. If you take a listen to the figure that Mike is actually playing, it does sound similar to what Jimmy Page was playing on the song Going to California, being in the exact same key and Eddie Vedder even using a similar melody to what Robert Plant used on the original version.

Then again, this doesn't feel like a song that was meant to copy the feel of Going to California. Mike already had the idea of writing a song that felt like waves crashing, and both of those songs do invoke that kind of beachy atmosphere. Pearl Jam have always maintained that they were children of the '70s, and having a song like this may have just been a way of saying thank you to one of their main influences.