Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and Eminem? The multiplatinum rapper who loves nothing better than shocking the planet is claiming that his upcoming third album, The Eminem Show, was influenced by the classic rock he listened to while growing up.
In an interview in the British magazine The Face, Eminem cites Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and Jimi Hendrix as reference points for his new tracks: “I don’t know if I succeeded or not, but I was trying to capture like a ’70s rock vibe for most of it. We treated this record like it was a rock record in so far as how it’s produced. It’s, like, loud. There’s a lot of guitars in it. There’s a lot of hip-hop s-t, too…I tried to get the best of both worlds. But I listened to a lot of ’70s rock growing up, when I was real little. When I go back and listen to them songs, like Led Zeppelin or Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix…’70s rock had this incredible feel to it.”
The Eminem Show, due out June 4, will be preceded by the mid-May release of the first single, “Without Me.” Other tracks include “Dream On,” “Collapse,” “Without Me,” “Hailie’s Song,” and “Business.”
Eminem plans to tour after the album’s release, and his feature-film debut, 8 Mile, hits theaters this fall.