Rush
Rush is a band that needs no introduction, because if they had one, their sets would be so long there’d be a risk that some of the people in their audience would die of old age. The legendary prog-rockers have sold millions of records and changed how they sound more times than a drunk Valley Girl in the south over the years. As a result, their songs have been inspired by everything from philosophy to science fiction. We’d go on, but you already know that we’re just going to bring up LOTR again.
Songs showing how much the writers’ of YYZ enjoyed being called huge nerds in high school include the unimagintely titled Rivendell, a song so clearly inspired by Tolkien that the best quality version of it on YouTube is set to poorly edited Lord of the Rings footage (as seen above).
A more subtle nod to the series is the song The Necromancer, unless of course you’ve actually read the book and recognize that “The Necromancer” is another name Sauron (the big glowing eye), or listen to the lyrics, which reference such things as “three travellers” (a nod to Frodo, Sam, and Gollum) and multiple allusions to wraiths, and kick-ass giant towers from which to brood and survey the landscape. A link to the song can be found here. For anyone who’s unfamiliar with Rush, and is confused when they see that the song is 12 minutes long, don’t worry: they do that a lot.
Led Zeppelin
Fronted by, to quote Homer Simpson, “one of the greatest thieves of American black music ever to walk the Earth,” it’s probably not going to be all that surprising that the band has “borrowed” its fair share of inspiration from the LOTR mythology over the years.
Weirdly, though, fans of both the band and the LOTR series have been unable to agree on exactly which songs written by the aging rockers were wholly inspired by the series, though the songs Misty Mountain Hop and The Battle of Evermore usually come up the most. In regards to the former, the title is an obvious nod to the Misty Mountains in The Hobbit. However, the lyrics supposedly reference the marijuana legalization rally from the ’60s, because, you know, the ’60s. In regards to the latter, the case is a little clearer, with the song obviously referencing the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, making references to Aragorn, Eowyn, and Sauron so thinly veiled they might as well be draped over a Ring Wraith’s face. And don’t forget to listen closely in the video of Ramble On up above, where you’ll hear direct references to Mordor and Gollum.
Donald Swann
Unless you happen to have one of the most diverse tastes in music in the entire world, the name Donald Swann probably means very little to you, which is kind of our point about the range of genres and types of artists inspired by Tolkien. To explain, Swann is best remembered for being part of a comedy singing duo from the ’60s called Flanders and Swann, arguably the furthest thing away from the hard rock and heavy metal bands mentioned thus far.
After leaving the group to do his own thing, Swann became a prolific song writer, penning music for operas and plays, including one based on a book by CS Lewis. Again, all things you wouldn’t necessarily associate with the bands we’ve already mentioned. A lifelong fan of Tolkien, Swann took a break from writing opera and songs about how delightfully racist the English are, to write a bunch of songs based on the poems of Tolkien. A tonal shift so unexpected it wouldn’t seem at all out of place in a Prince song.
Ed Sheeran
Now, we know what you’re thinking: we’re cheating by putting Sheeran as our number one entry because he wrote the closing song of The Desolation of Smaug. He wasn’t so much “inspired” by the LOTR series, as he was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to write a song about it. To which we say: you have no idea just how excited Sheeran was to sing that song.
Sheeran is a huge LOTR fan who spent his early childhood having a first edition copy of The Hobbit read to him by his grandfather, which he enjoyed so much he eventually just taught himself to read so he didn’t need to wait for some other loser to read it to him.
When Sheeran met Peter Jackson’s daughter at a concert, he didn’t waste any time telling her how much he loved the LOTR films, while she simultaneously gushed about his music. This eventually led to Jackson’s daughter putting Sheeran forward as a possible candidate to write a song for the closing credits of The Desolation of Smaug. When Jackson agreed and called Sheeran, who was at a wedding at the time, the musician fought an epic hangover to make it New Zealand in less than two days.
After arriving, Sheeran was quickly ushered to a private, advanced screening of the film and told by Jackson to write a folk song about the last 10 minutes. Sheeran went back to his hotel room and wrote a song in less than a day. If you still have any doubts about how much Sheeran understands the LOTR universe, the song he wrote in a day sold half a million copies and dominated the “Sleep” playlist on Spotify, worldwide, for an entire year.
http://www.toptenz.net/10-bands-inexplicably-inspired-lord-rings.php