Jimmy Page: Laying the Foundations of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal

Jimmy Page

Best known for his legendary songwriting and guitar work with the powerful band Led Zeppelin, guitarist Jimmy Page is considered one of the most important all-around musicians ever to hit the rock scene. Nearly every guitarist from the latter part of the 1960’s and the early 1970’s has drawn inspiration from Page’s work, and his raging guitar riffs laid the groundwork for what would become heavy metal. Still, as a guitarist he did not want to be attached to any one genre and utilized aspects of folk, country, funk, blues and everything in between in both his songwriting and guitar-playing endeavors.

Jimmy Page was born on January 9, 1944 in Heston, Middlesex, England and started playing guitar at the age of 13, like so many other of his contemporaries, inspired by an Elvis Presley tune, more specifically “Let’s Play House.” Although Page took some structured guitar lessons, he was mostly self-taught. Instead of going right to college from high school, Page joined Neil Christian & the Crusaders, a band that toured England. Unfortunately, he became seriously ill with glandular fever and was forced to stop playing music in order to recover from his illness. Frustrated, he initially decided to give up on music entirely and focus on painting, deciding to attend an art college in Sutton, Surrey to pursue his other passion.

Spurred on by emerging bands such as the Rolling Stones in the early 1960’s and other bands in the blues-rock style, he began playing guitar again. Instead of immediately forming a band, while still a student he played live with bands such as the Cyril Davis All Stars, Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated and with fellow guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. During one of these performances, John Gibb of the band The Silhouettes saw him and asked him to become a session guitarist and record some singles for EMI. This launched his career as one of England’s top session guitarists and producers, and his first recording for EMI was of the song “Diamonds” by Jet Harris and Tony Meehan; the song went to Number 1 on the British singles chart in 1963.

Because he has been involved in so many recording sessions over the years, the specifics of which ones he took part in have been obscured. He did however work with many of the top groups of the 1960’s, including the Who, Them, Donovan, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones. In 1966, he decided he was ready to start playing in a band full-time and accepted an offer to play bass with the straight blues-rock band the Yardbirds. Shortly after he joined as a bassist, he replaced Eric Clapton on guitar and was paired with guitar legend Jeff Beck. When he first joined the band, it was strictly a blues and rock hybrid, but during his tenure he helped the group experiment with both psychedelic and hard rock.

When Beck left the Yardbirds, soon after Page joined, the band was on its way out. Though Page recorded the band’s album “Little Games” with them and joined the group on many tours, it was over in 1968. Because there were still tour dates that had not been satisfied in Europe even after the group had disbanded, Page created a new band called the New Yardbirds that included his friend John Paul Jones on bass along with new musicians Robert Plant on vocals and drummer John Bonham. After this first tour, the band dubbed themselves Led Zeppelin and started their journey through the unexplored realms of hard rock and heavy metal.

In what seemed like a matter of minutes, Plant and Led Zeppelin became an enduring and highly successful band and released a long line of critically-acclaimed albums between the years of 1969 and 1975. “Led Zeppelin I,” “Led Zeppelin II,” “Led Zeppelin III,” “Led Zeppelin IV,” “Houses of the Holy” and “Physical Graffiti” showcased Plant’s apparent guitar virtuosity and songwriting talent and included such hits as “Immigrant Song,” “Black Dog,” “Stairway to Heaven” and “Kashmir.” The band’s live performance became legendary, and the band launched into stardom, influencing absolutely every band that came afterwards and even developing its own record company. “Guitar World” magazine has even dubbed Page’s guitar solo in “Stairway to Heaven” the greatest guitar solo in rock history.

Around the time the band decided to start its own recording company, Swan Song, Page began to experiment with alcohol, heroin and other hard drugs, which led to a full-blown addiction by the end of the 1970’s. Because of rampant drug abuse, his technical skill and artistic guitar playing suffered immensely. He also took a strong interest in the occult, which became troubling for those closest to him. Plant continued putting out albums and writing songs with Led Zeppelin until the first part of 1980’s, including “The Song Remains the Same” and “Presence” in 1976, followed by “In Through the Out Door” in 1979. However, Plant’s young son died in 1977, severely disjointing his productivity as a musician and Bonham died tragically from alcoholism in 1980. These events combined caused the quartet to disband in 1980, and Page took a long hiatus from music in an attempt to get his life back on track.

In 1982, after not even touching his guitar for two years, Page formed a group with ex-Yes members Chris Squire and Alan White intended to be named XYZ, but the group did not produce anything significant. In the same year, he started composing music again and played on the movie soundtracks for Death Wish I and Death Wish II, along with put out a compilation of Zeppelin outtakes entitled “Coda.” He made a stage come-back with the ARMS (Action Research for Multiple Sclerosis) charity concerts in 1983, honoring Small Faces bass player Ronnie Lane.

In 1984, Page reunited with Plant to form The Honeydrippers, a band that included Beck and Nile Rodgers and spun out a hit album of rock and roll oldies. Fully back into music and once again desirous to explore new realms in his guitar playing, Page played with projects such as The Firm, with Paul Rodgers and returned to his studio guitar roots to play with Graham Nash, Box of Frogs and Robert Plant, along with a live album and tour with the Black Crowes.

In 1985, the surviving three members of Led Zeppelin reunited along with drummers Tony Thompson and Phil Collins for the Live Aid at Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium. While this performance was very under-rehearsed, the band reunited again in 1988 to perform at the Atlantic Records 25th Anniversary Concert at Madison Square Garden. Bonham’s son, Jason Bonham filled in for his father behind the drumkit, and while the performance was again somewhat sloppy, it was a hit with Zeppelin fans. During the same year, Plant and Page reunited to work on Plant’s solo album, “Now and Zen.” Plant also released his first solo recording “Outrider” and bolstered it with a tour that spanned songs he had written during his long career. By the early 1990’s, Page attempted to assemble Led Zeppelin for yet another reunion, and when Plant declined, asked David Coverdale of Deep Purple/Whitesnake to join him. This project only spanned one album in 1993 and only enjoyed a few sparse tour dates in Japan.

In 1994, Plant and Page collaborated on an acoustic set “No Quarter” and created an MTV Unplugged special along with a world tour. In 1995, Led Zeppelin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, heralding the second time one of Page’s bands was inducted; the Yardbirds were honored in 1992. Although Page continues to explore new territory and play across genres, he has become slightly less active since a back injury he suffered in the late 1990’s. He has turned his attention towards music production work and has recently been remastering all of Led Zeppelin’s catalogue along with focusing on charity work. In 2005, Page was awarded the Order of the British Empire to honor the work he has done for Brazilian charities and was also made an honorary citizen of Rio de Janeiro.

Jimmy Page most often used a 1959 Gibson Les Paul in performances and recording. He was given this instrument early in 1969 by guitarist Joe Walsh, who reportedly also taught him how to play the slide guitar, although Page has never acknowledged that as fact.

Guitar tabs and sheet music for music created and performed by Jimmy Page can be found at Jimmy Page guitar sheet music

DISCOGRAPHY

“Outrider,” released 1985

Jimmy Page has appeared on countless other albums as a guitarist, and is responsible for producing many others.