Jimmy Page is a legend of the game and makes a solid claim to being the greatest classic rock guitarist of all time, grappling with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton for the throne. Its’ a difficult struggle but one that he has more than enough weight to deal with.
Page is revered as a creative genius, and what he’s done for guitar playing and popular music as a whole cannot be understated. It’s not just with the six-string that Page became a notorious name. He is also a complete songsmith and spent many of his 1970s days causing mischief.
Musically, without Jimmy Page, the world would look very different, and many acts, ranging from Pearl Jam to more contemporary artists such as Royal Blood, would not have had the foundations to thrive.
Page’s story is a well-known one. As a session guitarist in London, he cut his teeth and quickly rose to become England’s most sought-after studio man. The reputation he established earned him a place in the capital’s hottest band, The Yardbirds, and during his short stint, he made considerable strides in turning rock music into a much darker, more expansive field.
When The Yardbirds ended, he wasted no time in forming ‘The New Yardbirds’, soon to be known as Led Zeppelin. In 1968, and by the dawn of 1970, they were the biggest band on earth, even unseating the kings of popular music, The Beatles.
As the band developed, so did Jimmy Page, which is no coincidence, as he masterminded all of their efforts, musically and production-wise. Together he and frontman Robert Plant formed a formidable songwriting partnership that went to places fans had always thought impossible back in the days when The Beatles were singing about yellow submarines.
Given his status, Page has a lot to say about music. He has seen the industry develop from the big bang of The Beatles into the multi-faceted beast that it is today, witnessing the dawn and destruction of many eras, from psychedelia to grunge. One of the most consequential times he has experienced was that of the first wave of punk, and understandably, Page has many thoughts on the matter, which may surprise some.
When speaking to The Guardian back in 2015, Page discussed the advent of punk and namechecked two of the British movement’s most lauded outfits, Sex Pistols and The Damned, with him revealing that he was actually a fan of the scene. Page even went as far as to label the former “superb”; however, he did maintain that being a punk fan wasn’t enough to make him change his creative course.
Page recalled: “Here’s where it goes with Led Zeppelin. It didn’t matter what was going on around us, because the character of Led Zeppelin’s music was so strong. I really enjoyed punk music: I went to hear the Damned, and Robert came along. The two of us went to see the Damned here in London. He’d probably run a mile from something like that now, but I’d still embrace it. I liked the Sex Pistols’ music, I thought it was superb.”
The powerhouse energy of the Sex Pistols was an intoxicating mix. It managed to gather up thousands of fans, even if they were drenched in spittle. The band operated with such flagrant disregard for anyone else that they endeared themselves to a whole section of adoring music fans. But while Page certainly appreciated their appeal, he wasn’t sold on the music.
The guitarist concluded, “I liked it, but that didn’t mean to say I was going to give up on the way I was going. But you do, you appreciate other music along the way. You could see the link back to Eddie Cochran. But I don’t want to take anything away from what they did, or try and link it into something else – that’s almost as annoying as people trying to link Led Zeppelin into something. It was just really good music”.
Sex Pistols may have formed in direct retaliation to the kind of music Jimmy Page made, but even they would have to, if interrogated, hold their hands up to his massive influence on their band and music at large. Likewise, Page saw their brilliance. He was never going to get up on stage just to play three chords.