Why is it OK that Greta Van Fleet is being successful?

When mentioning Greta Van Fleet in any rock forum, you'll find two kinds of people. The ones who love the band's classic rock influences and the ones who utterly hate the band for copying Led Zeppelin's style. I, for one, am part of the first group. So, why is it OK to have a band like them achieving success? Easy, because rock needs them.

Before half of you curse me for saying something so "absurd" because this band is sh*t, think about this for a second. Rock is still one of the best-selling genres in music. It's not the best-selling anymore, but it is in a better position than many others. But analyze the situation thoroughly. Rock is not important for mainstream anymore, and it's losing importance as days come and go.

You may think, well, rock doesn't need mainstream. In a very important sense, it actually does. Without mainstream support, there is no money, without money, touring and recording gets more difficult, with difficulty fewer bands will be able to do music for a living; if so, they'll get less dedicated to their bands and end up offering poorer music or they'll disband.

Greta Van Fleet is not the best rock band out there, but the fact that this band that carries a very classic guitar-driven sound achieves a #3 in Billboard, participates in important talk shows in America, and can tour around the world, even with announced dates in Japan (the second music market in the world) is something we must support.

Of course, that wouldn't justify plagiarism, but they haven't plagiarized a thing. Led Zeppelin was very experimental, with long instrumental parts with lots of effects courtesy of Jimmy Page for example. They visited lots of genres, but Greta Van Fleet, if anything, it's similar in the singing. And even that is not that similar. But the music is straightforward rock and hard rock. A kind of rock we should support so other young people can feel motivated -- so they can feel being in a band is worth it.

Once you get passed the prejudice of the alleged copying, you'll enjoy a band that's just enjoying playing some old school rock and roll.