Happy 70th Birthday to Jimmy Page!

[Fritzo]

Jimmy Page is the sole reason I became a musician, and my hero and mentor turns 70 today!

I became aware of Jimmy from an unlikely source when I was 12: the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High. There was a scene where the main character was told to play the second side of Led Zeppelin IV and his date would go crazy. By mistake, he played the wrong album and the song Kashmir was playing. The song's droning riff mesmerized me...I spent that entire summer trying to find the name of the song and what album it was on.

Keep in mind the Internet didn't exist back in the early 80's. If you wanted to know a song title, you had to wait for it to play on the radio and hope the DJ mentioned its name at the end. I finally ended up calling a local station's request line and asked "Hey, could you play that one Led Zeppelin song that goes 'dunadun...dunadun...DUNAdun...DUNAdun...DUNADUN...DUNADUN!!!'?

They DJ laughed, and then gave me the info: "You want Kashmir!", but he couldn't tell me what album it was on because he only had the single. Rats.

My next strategy was to start buying albums to find it. Columbia House used to have "Buy 12 albums for $.01" flyers in the Sunday paper. I don't know how they made money on those things because you only had to buy one album at regular price (which I always did, then cancelled. Columbia House was the original Napster!).

I never did find which album Kashmir was hiding on. In the meantime I acquired Led Zeppelin I, II, II, IV, Houses of the Holy, and In Through the Out Door...and they were all fantastic! The sounds, textures, and genres covered were unlike anything I heard before. That settled it- that year I asked for a guitar for Christmas.

For Christmas in 1982, I received my first guitar: An Ovation acoustic. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it was a start. I took 2 years of lessons at school, but couldn't really do anything with my friends because they all played electric guitars and blew me out of the water. I struggled on though, and by the time I got my first job in the spring of 1984, my first priority was to get a Les Paul...just like Jimmy Page's.

I found this little hole in the wall music shop in town called Penguin Music. It was ran by 60's hippies that were more interested getting instruments to people than making money. They listed a 1978 Les Paul Custom in the classified ads for $700. I went in and asked them if they would take $550, and they did. I made $50/week payments on it while they held on to it for me, and by summer it was mine.

That guitar was my pride and joy. I borrowed amps from friends, then finally got my own Traynor 100W combo amp (which I still have), and started playing around with friends at school. We played our first song at a high school talent show: Rock and Roll

After that, we started getting pretty good and played a lot of the local teen-bars (which were popular at time). The problem is I LOVED Jimmy's music, but the crowd wanted to hear crap like U2, Duran Duran, Flock of Seagulls, etc. So, other than an encore here and there, Zeppelin music wasn't our focus.

Around 1989, we were approached by a local recording studio to make a demo. When you make a demo, you need to bring your A-game so record producers can hear your potential. Our keyboardist just got a new Yamaha synth, so we rearranged and actually recorded a modern cover of Stairway to Heaven (this was before it was cliche).

At the time we thought it came out fantastic, but today it sounds like dated, over processed garbage. Obviously nothing became of the demo, and a few more years of seedy bar playing brought an end to my guitar playing. I was college bound and sold my guitar for tuition. I tried other arts during college, but nothing ever stuck with me as much as that damn guitar.

I hadn't picked up an instrument for 15 years after that, but still followed Jimmy's work. I went to Firm concerts, I went to Outrider concerts (and met him at a bar in Detroit!), I attended every Page & Plant concerts in the tri-state area. By about 2002, I got the bug again and bought another guitar. Les Pauls went through the roof in price, so all I could afford was a cheap Epiphone from a fire sale from Mars Music.

I started playing again with family and friends at parties, and actually found a group of guys that loved classic rock. We started practicing hard, and Jimmy's influence was once again coursing through my fingers. We had a lot of potential---but when you reach your 30's, life happens.

Members started getting married, having babies, working swing shifts...there's a saying that goes "You have to be married to your wife or your band." There's also a saying that says "The difference between a large pizza and a musician is a large pizza can feed a family of 4".

So, here I am today, fairly successful (with some rough patches before getting there), an equipment collection that a 16 year old could only dream of, and years of eternal memories and experiences, and they're all under the influence of one person's genius.

Happy birthday to you, Mr. James Patrick Page. You're 70 now, but your work is immortal. And Kashmir is on Physical Graffiti...which is a double album and I couldn't afford it

EDIT: As a happy ending, I ended up inheriting a rare early '70's Les Paul Black Beauty in 2004 and I bought one I could play 6 years ago. I WILL NOT be getting rid of either of these.

 

[Drako]

Most overrated guitarist ever.

<runs out of thread>

 

[OCGuy]

Ah yes, a man oft imitated by every young man with a guitar or old weird man at Guitar Center.

 

[Fritzo]

Ah yes, a man oft imitated by every young man with a guitar or old weird man at Guitar Center.

I have mixed feelings on that. Every amateur guitarist learns Zeppelin songs, but few learn the nuances and techniques that makes those songs shine. Jimmy had 5 years of session work under his belt, and is estimated to have played on 60% of all the albums coming out of the UK in the mid 60's. He played on Tom Jones "Not Unusual", the Who's "Can't Explain", the Kinks "You Really Got Me", Count Basie's "Goldfinger", and countless others. This experience allowed Zeppelin to explore so many different genres of music that it's hard to categorize them as strictly a rock band.

I'm not a fan of impressionists, but I do admire students.

 

[Kadarin]

Nice story, and thanks for sharing.

 

[JManInPhoenix]

I don't know if Jimmy Page is the best guitarist but he is certainly one of my favs.

 

[Fritzo]

I don't know if Jimmy Page is the best guitarist but he is certainly one of my favs.

He's not the best guitarist. It's the package that makes him unique. He was one of the best producers since Phil Spector, his avant garde techniques are now standard practice today in recording, he was a showman on stage, and he wrote the majority of Zeppelin's music. Even Eric Clapton doesn't have credentials like that.

 

[*kjm]

I don't know if Jimmy Page is the best guitarist but he is certainly one of my favs.

I don't think there is "the best".... You can only be one of the best and Jimmy is one of them for sure

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

May you have many more James Patrick Page. You are the reason MILLIONS of people picked up a guitar and wanted to play.

Listening to the HIGHLY underrated Presence album right now in honor of his b'day.

 

[William Gaatjes]

Nice story and a good musician. I felt a bit of :awe: when you had to sell your Les Paul guitar to pay for tuition.

 

[Fritzo]

Nice story and a good musician. I felt a bit of :awe: when you had to sell your Les Paul guitar to pay for tuition.

That was still, by far, the biggest regret of my entire life. It turns out it was a fairly rare Les Paul Custom in Blonde finish. It would be worth around $5000 today I think I got $800 out of it.

 

[7window]

Didn't they copy all their songs?

 

[Fritzo]

Didn't they copy all their songs?

No. At the time, all the bands were remaking blues standards. Half of the Rolling Stones catalog is actually remakes of blues songs from the 20's, 30's, and 40's. Blues rock was big at the time, and everyone was doing it: The Beatles, Allman Brothers, The Who, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix....you name it.

Zeppelin's issue was they didn't add song writing credit to the songs where their lyrics/music was reused. In most cases, they didn't have to: the songs were public domain. In some cases, that wasn't true. For example, Whole Lotta Love was completely original music, but Robert's lyrics were too close to Willie Dixon's "You Need Love". They got called out on it and settled out of court.

The music world was a different place in the 60's. Everyone borrowed from everyone else, and nobody cared. Once mega-millions started coming into play from supergroups, lawyers started seeing $$$$ and suddenly bands were getting sued.

There's actually websites out there devoted to saying Zeppelin stole everything they wrote. It's a stupid argument because we don't look at the world the way they did, and every one of their songs had some original aspect of it that made it more than a "cover".

 

[88keys]

Honestly, given the formulaic nature of Rock/Guitar music similarities between other works are bound to come up. Also considering that alot of high profile musicians happen to be acquainted with each other, there is a high probability that the jammed out together and that their works shares their respective origins in those sessions.

 

[7window]

No. At the time, all the bands were remaking blues standards. Half of the Rolling Stones catalog is actually remakes of blues songs from the 20's, 30's, and 40's. Blues rock was big at the time, and everyone was doing it: The Beatles, Allman Brothers, The Who, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix....you name it.

Zeppelin's issue was they didn't add song writing credit to the songs where their lyrics/music was reused. In most cases, they didn't have to: the songs were public domain. In some cases, that wasn't true. For example, Whole Lotta Love was completely original music, but Robert's lyrics were too close to Willie Dixon's "You Need Love". They got called out on it and settled out of court.

The music world was a different place in the 60's. Everyone borrowed from everyone else, and nobody cared. Once mega-millions started coming into play from supergroups, lawyers started seeing $$$$ and suddenly bands were getting sued.

There's actually websites out there devoted to saying Zeppelin stole everything they wrote. It's a stupid argument because we don't look at the world the way they did, and every one of their songs had some original aspect of it that made it more than a "cover".

Thanks for the perspective. Restored my faith on this band. I saw song remains the same in theatre.

 

[Pocatello]

Every artist is a thief.

 

[classy]

I don't know if Jimmy Page is the best guitarist but he is certainly one of my favs.

He is one of the top 5 that's for sure.

 

[ringtail]

He's not the best guitarist. It's the package that makes him unique. He was one of the best producers since Phil Spector, his avant garde techniques are now standard practice today in recording, he was a showman on stage, and he wrote the majority of Zeppelin's music. Even Eric Clapton doesn't have credentials like that.

That's absolutely false. Jimmy Page STOLE nearly everything.

E.G.: the Leveee song is a cover of an original Negro blues song authored by Memphis Minnie. Etc Etc.

The lz guys got rich stealing the creative originality of American Negro bluesmen, and selling it right back to AMerican youth. Jimmy Page is a slimeball IP thief.

 

[stargazr]

That's absolutely false. Jimmy Page STOLE nearly everything.

E.G.: the Leveee song is a cover of an original Negro blues song authored by Memphis Minnie. Etc Etc.

The lz guys got rich stealing the creative originality of American Negro bluesmen, and selling it right back to AMerican youth. Jimmy Page is a slimeball IP thief.

They should have given credit to the originals. The Rolling Stones always did, and they were extremely respectful of the old blues guys. Still are to this day.

Having said that, there is a tradition in old folk and blues of taking older songs and sometimes refining them somewhat; musically and lyrically. Some of these songs are so old nobody even knows anymore who actually wrote them.

But have you ever actually listened to old blues? Zeppelin reworked this stuff to the extent that they arguably came up with their own modern sound. I can tell you the first time I heard Black Dog on the radio there was nothing out there like it. They're not my favorite band but I do really love some of their stuff, and sure am glad Mr Page picked up the guitar.

 

[Fritzo]

That's absolutely false. Jimmy Page STOLE nearly everything.

E.G.: the Leveee song is a cover of an original Negro blues song authored by Memphis Minnie. Etc Etc.

The lz guys got rich stealing the creative originality of American Negro bluesmen, and selling it right back to AMerican youth. Jimmy Page is a slimeball IP thief.

I'm going to call you out on this, because that is flat out wrong. "IP Thievery" did not exist until sometime around the late 70's when lawyers started running the music industry.

In your example, "When the Levee Breaks" was around since the 1880s, well before Memphis Minnie recorded it (the song is public domain).

Here's Minnie's version
Here's Zeppelin's version

Totally stole it, didn't they?

Dave Headlam, in an article entitled "Does the song remain the same? Questions of authenticity and identification in the music of Led Zeppelin", suggests that "...in the course of studies on the music of Led Zeppelin, it has become apparent that many songs are compilations of pre-existent material from multiple sources, both acknowledged and unacknowledged." He contends that "...songs like 'Whole Lotta Love' and 'Dazed and Confused' are on the one hand not "authored" by Led Zeppelin, but [rather are] traditional lyrics..." However, noted blues author and producer Robert Palmer states "It is the custom, in blues music, for a singer to borrow verses from contemporary sources, both oral and recorded, add his own tune and/or arrangement, and call the song his own". Folklorist Carl Lindahl, refers to these recycling of lyrics in songs as "floating lyrics". He defines it within the folk-music tradition as "lines that have circulated so long in folk communities that tradition-steeped singers call them instantly to mind and rearrange them constantly, and often unconsciously, to suit their personal and community aesthetics".

In an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine in 1993, Page commented on the band's use of classic blues songs:

As far as my end of it goes, I always tried to bring something fresh to anything that I used. I always made sure to come up with some variation. In fact, I think in most cases, you would never know what the original source could be. Maybe not in every case -- but in most cases. So most of the comparisons rest on the lyrics. And Robert was supposed to change the lyrics, and he didn't always do that -- which is what brought on most of the grief. They couldn't get us on the guitar parts of the music, but they nailed us on the lyrics. We did, however, take some liberties, I must say [laughs]. But never mind; we did try to do the right thing.

In another interview, Page responded to the suggestion that Led Zeppelin used a lot of traditional and blues lyrics and tunes and called them their own:

The thing is they were traditional lyrics and they went back far before a lot of people that one related them to. The riffs we did were totally different, also, from the ones that had come before, apart from something like "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You," which were attributed to Willie Dixon. The thing with "Bring It On Home," Christ, there's only a tiny bit taken from Sonny Boy Williamson's version and we threw that in as a tribute to him. People say, "Oh, 'Bring It On Home' is stolen." Well, there's only a little bit in the song that relates to anything that had gone before it, just the end.

 

[stargazr]

Another point: at the time of the British Invasion, blues had fallen out of favor and was losing its audience to more modern sounds. The generation of Muddy Waters , Howlin' Wolf etc enjoyed a revitalizing wave of new fans. Muddy, B.B King and several others have often stated that they were grateful for guys like Clapton and Richards for bringing attention back to them.

 

[Squisher]

You made the hairs on my neck stand up and not in a good way when you mentioned Columbia House.

Happy BD Jimmy, yes one of the best.

 

[Fritzo]

You made the hairs on my neck stand up and not in a good way when you mentioned Columbia House.

Happy BD Jimmy, yes one of the best.

Here's an interesting article on them Heh...they nailed it with the "14 year old that owed $47"

http://mentalfloss.com/article/28036/its-steal-how-columbia-house-made-money-giving-away-music

 

[Xonim]

OP

<snip>

Very well written post, I enjoyed it :thumbsup:

Most overrated guitarist ever.

<runs out of thread>

I do have to agree with you to an extent. His riffs aren't super complicated, but they're catchy as hell. So props to him for that.

As for myself ... took ~1 year of lessons a few years ago, stuck with it another 6 months or so but didn't really progress during that time. Haven't picked up either my acoustic or electric in over a year. I still would like to learn how to actually play, but right now I just can't get myself to put in the work. So .... someday?

EDIT: Loved the Celebration Day performance, but the editing on the bluray could use some work. I'm not a fan of the fast cuts, but it's great to just listen to.

 

[Fritzo]

Very well written post, I enjoyed it :thumbsup:



I do have to agree with you to an extent. His riffs aren't super complicated, but they're catchy as hell. So props to him for that.

As for myself ... took ~1 year of lessons a few years ago, stuck with it another 6 months or so but didn't really progress during that time. Haven't picked up either my acoustic or electric in over a year. I still would like to learn how to actually play, but right now I just can't get myself to put in the work. So .... someday?

EDIT: Loved the Celebration Day performance, but the editing on the bluray could use some work. I'm not a fan of the fast cuts, but it's great to just listen to.

Try this

Someone bought it for me over Christmas and it's actually kind of fun. It's like Rock Band, only using a real guitar instead of those stupid 5 button toy things.