Why Robert Plant’s Music—And Long, Curly Hair—Has Stood the Test of Time

When Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant arrived on the British rock scene in the late ’60s, he was a sight to behold. Bare chest on full display in unbuttoned silk blouses, razor-blade hip bones peeking out from low-slung, impossibly tight blue jeans, and wild, Pre-Raphaelite blond curls cascading down his back—his onstage look was as disruptive as his heavy-metal falsetto.

Two years ago, Plant released his latest solo album, Carry Fire, which saw him wistfully unpacking life, love, and current political affairs while returning to his love of Appalachian music. Since then, the rocker, who turns 71 today, has been touring intermittently, performing Zeppelin classics, as well as his latest solo ballads, percolating in North African rhythms and the deep blues. His latest chapter marks yet another triumph in his post-Zeppelin career, which has won him awards and traversed several decades and genres. Meanwhile, we’re reminded that it’s not just his music that stands the test of time, but his golden curls, too. Though now saturated in silver, his fringed mane is still as long, buoyant, and spiraled as it was when he spent his nights head-banging alongside Jimmy Page, who would harmoniously shred guitar solos with his own shaggy, shoulder-grazing waves. And while his most recent sonic offerings cement the fact that Plant’s sound, with help from his band, Sensational Space Shifters, will never stop evolving, his untamed cloud of flaxen ringlets, which invoke both his feral rock star days and his more serene ones, is a constant that will keep him forever young.

Originally Appeared on Vogue