Revisiting "Kingdom Come," or "I Can't Believe It's Not Led Zeppelin!"

The 1988 debut album by German/American hard rock act Kingdom Come was constantly compared to Led Zeppelin, with many accusing the band of plagiarism.

Kingdom Come – Kingdom Come

Polydor Records, 1988

10 tracks, run time: 47:08

Kingdom Come was one of the most controversial success stories in late '80s hard rock. Their self-titled debut album was an instant hit upon its release in 1988, but as the band gained fame, they also endured serious backlash from rock critics and fans, who berated the German/American five-piece for their sonic similarities to Led Zeppelin. Granted, just about every hair-metal band of the era owed some level of debt to Zeppelin, but in the eyes of many naysayers, Kingdom Come weren't just inspired by Zep; they were flat-out copying them.

I hadn't thought about the band in quite a few years, but when I came across a cheap copy of their debut CD in a used-record store recently I decided to risk three bucks and find out how well—or not—Kingdom Come had aged. The album turned out to be a pretty enjoyable listen in spite of its well-documented derivative nature.

So Who the Heck Was Kingdom Come, Anyway?

Kingdom Come was formed by German vocalist Lenny Wolf after the breakup of his previous band, Stone Fury, who'd released two unsuccessful albums on the MCA label. Backed by a new lineup of American musicians (guitarists Danny Stag and Rick Steier, drummer James Kottak, and bassist Johnny Frank), Kingdom Come's self titled debut (recorded with future Motley Crue and Metallica mega-producer Bob Rock) hit #12 on the Billboard album charts and achieved Gold Record status in the U.S. (500,000 copies sold) thanks to singles like "Get It On" and the power ballad "What Love Can Be."

Led Zeppelin comparisons dogged Kingdom Come virtually from the moment "Get It On" first hit the air waves. Apparently when some listeners heard Kingdom Come on the radio, they made the erroneous assumption that the track came from a reunited Zep...and when they learned that it was NOT Plant & Page reborn, their claws came out.

The band tried to brush off the accusations of plagiarism, with Lenny Wolf going so far as to tell Kerrang magazine that he'd "never even heard of Led Zeppelin," which caused much hilarity in the rock press.

I didn't get caught up in the K.C./Zep controversy back in '88. I was only eighteen years old at the time and wasn't a particularly big Led Zeppelin fan anyway, though I knew enough about them to recognize the obvious Robert Plant influence in Lenny Wolf's howling voice. Since Zeppelin was no longer around, I reasoned, there was no harm in these guys picking up their mantle. I even saw Kingdom Come live once when they opened for the iconic "Van Halen's Monsters of Rock" stadium tour in the summer of '88, but honestly I recall very little about their mid-afternoon set. If memory serves, they were met with polite indifference by the audience, who just wanted them to get out of the way so Metallica could come on.

Kingdom Come (the album) turned out to be a pretty fun listen. The opener "Living Out of Touch" is catchy as hell, with a thumping bass line and some cool guitar trickery from the Stag/Steier tag team. "Pushin' Hard" is a cool, pile-drivin' song with a killer solo. The ballad "What Love Can Do" is probably the first song that I would call a legit "Zeppelin-esque" rip-off; seriously, it sounds like it could've come off of Presence. From there, the remainder of the album continues to quote from the Book of Zep, especially on the churning "17" (some great bass work on this one), and the bluesy stomps of "The Shuffle" and "Get It On."

"Now Forever After" and "Hideaway" are middling AOR rockers -- not great, but not terrible -- and the acoustic noodling on the overblown ballad "Loving You" owes so much to "The Battle of Evermore" that I think Lenny might owe Page and Plant some royalties. The album comes to a high energy close with "Shout it Out," which actually reminds me more of High-N Dry era Def Leppard than Zeppelin, for whatever that's worth.

All in all, I'd say that Kingdom Come still holds up a worthy listen for fans of 80s hair metal/melodic rock, even if it's obviously not the most original thing ever to come down the pike. Hell, in this day and age, current retro rockers like Greta van Fleet are consistently praised for their similarities to Led Zeppelin, so it's a mystery to me why poor Kingdom Come got so much flack for it.

The Aftermath

Kingdom Come got off to a strong start, but their ride didn't last long. Their second album, In Your Face, was released to little fanfare in 1989, and then the band abruptly split up. Lenny Wolf headed back to Europe and formed a new Kingdom Come lineup, keeping the name alive through the 1990s and into the 2000s on a string of albums recorded with rotating cast of back up players.

Lenny Wolf retired from the music biz in 2016, but two years later the other four members from the debut album announced that they were reuniting as Kingdom Come, with former Montrose vocalist Keith St. John taking Wolf's place.

Drummer James Kottak passed away in January 2024, which was followed a month later by the departure of Keith St. John. The remaining members of KC vowed to carry on with two new members.