again. His initial touring and playing experience with Neil Christian and the Crusaders, coupled with his invaluable studio expertise would serve him well in the days ahead.
Rock’n’roll would never be the same.
The Yardbirds:
Jimmy Page’s Musical Migration
In June of 1966, The Yardbirds’ bass guitarist, Paul Samwell-Smith, quit the group. Jimmy Page was eager to join The Yardbirds as his replacement on bass guitar. The fact that he’d never even played bass guitar didn’t faze him at all! He adapted and quickly learned to do it. He had already missed an earlier opportunity when his friend, Eric Clapton, had left the group and Jeff Beck had signed on. He wasn’t about to miss his second chance.
The future Led Zeppelin’s lead guitarist soon switched from bass guitar to lead and, for a short but very impressive period, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck both played lead guitar on several Yardbirds numbers. Late in 1966, Jeff Beck left The Yardbirds to pursue an independent career. Page took over the lead guitar spot and Chris Dreja joined to replace Page on bass guitar. Jimmy Page played on songs that The Yardbirds recorded such as Happenings Ten Years Time Ago and Psycho Daisies.
The Yardbirds’ popularity grew into 1968 with Page playing lead guitar. At the height of the group’s career, an album was recorded live in New York City in March 1968. It was understood beforehand that, if The Yardbirds did not like Live at the Anderson Theatre, Epic Records would not release it. The record label agreed. As it turned out, The Yardbirds weren’t satisfied with the quality of the live recording and asked that it not be released. Epic Records agreed and they shelved it. However, in 1971, the album was released to capitalize on Jimmy Page’s new-found success with Led Zeppelin. Page quickly slapped a court injunction on its release and Epic Records quickly ceased selling the album. As a result, The Yardbirds: Live At The Anderson Theatre has become a highly-sought after collector’s item.
The Yardbirds continued their U.S. Tour in April, May and early June of 1968. But despite the group’s success and growing popularity in the summer of ’68, personal and career ambitions made some of the band members want to leave the nest. Jimmy Page tried desperately to keep the flock together but to no avail. Everyone seemed to want to fly off in different directions. The Yardbirds’ last-ever performance was on July 7, 1968 at Luton Technical College in Bedfordshire, England.
The Yardbirds are widely recognized for having made a significant contribution to popular music. From the start, the group was heavily influenced by the blues. Songs such as I’m A Man and New York City Blues are two examples in their repertoire. But their technical prowess extended well beyond their blues roots. They were innovators who used fuzz effects, Page’s violin bowing and advancements in amplification. They pioneered the artful use of feedback and distortion in both live performances and recordings and used backwards echo in their recordings.
The Yardbirds also treated “pop songs” in their own special way, infusing them with a decided mystique that was largely psychedelic in nature. Watching the group over forty years later, especially in the days of Page and Beck together, the band had an incredible aura of “cool” that was much greater than most of its contemporaries.
Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page pioneered the Yardbirds’ concept of dual lead guitars, which would inspire countless bands including Lynyrd Skynyrd and Aerosmith.
Hits for the group included For Your Love, Heart Full of Soul and Over, Under, Sideways, Down. The latter two meld Eastern and Western music in a masterful way. The blend really caught the ear of the record-buying public. The Yardbirds are also noted for fusing psychedelia and rock. Songs like I’m Confused and Shapes of Things had a noticeably psychedelic feel both instrumentally and lyrically.
Perhaps The Yardbirds are less famous for what they achieved musically than for the technological advances they hatched in the 1960s and for the super guitarists they incubated: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Who knows what might have happened if the group had stayed together?
But then, there would never have been a Led Zeppelin.
The New Yardbirds:
Birds of a Different Feather
When his fellow Yardbirds flew the coop, Jimmy Page was left with an empty nest just when the group’s popularity had started to soar. Should Page return to the session work that was stifling his creativity? Should he embark on a solo career? He had already proven to himself and the world that he was one of the best guitarists on the concert stage. Maybe he should return to art school? Or focus on honing his already considerable skills as a record producer.
He loved playing in a group format where he was musically comfortable. All the hassles associated with touring were somehow worth it, when a band clicked musically. Fate was to help him decide.
The Yardbirds had a number of outstanding dates and were contractually committed to a short Scandinavian tour in September 1968. It was only weeks away. Page had to do something and do it fast or risk potential legal action. With phoenix-like resolve, he rose from the ashes of The Yardbirds and started to build a new band from scratch.
Jimmy Page would fulfill The Yardbirds’ contract with a new line-up of talent: Robert Plant (vocals), John Bonham (percussion), John Paul Jones (keyboards/bass guitar) and himself (lead guitar). The Yardbirds were extremely popular and they had already been advertised as appearing in Scandinavia under that name. So, in order to take advantage of the equity in the group’s name – and because he had dearly loved his association with that band, Page and his manager, Peter Grant, decided that the new group would tour Scandinavia (and at least one known venue in England) as The New Yardbirds.
Like the band itself, the logistics of touring were put together in a hurry. Richard Cole was its permanent tour manager and a small crew of people helped with equipment on the road. When Led Zeppelin toured Scandinavia as The New Yardbirds, Jerry Ritz – who worked for promoter, Bendix Records – assumed the many duties of tour manager and escorted the group on its first-ever tour.
Led Zeppelin:
Raised and Airborne (1968)
The New Yardbirds were a sensation in Scandinavia that September of 1968. Audience response was overwhelming throughout their short tour. All four members realized that the new group they had formed was a completely different animal from The “New” Yardbirds. They needed a new name of their own. They considered several, including The Mad Dogs and The Whoopee Cushions. But none seemed suitable.
Jimmy Page recalled a name that Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, had suggested in jest: Lead Zeppelin. It referred to a common English joke then in vogue that bands would bomb or go over like a lead Zeppelin (or, as we say in North America, a “lead balloon”). Peter Grant decided to drop the “a” in order to avoid mispronunciation of the new moniker. And so, Led Zeppelin took flight.
Led Zeppelin’s name suited the group for other reasons. It embodied the “light and heavy” connotation that is metaphorically associated with the band’s music. Jimmy Page’s short and long-term plans which had materialized within weeks after having formed the group were going extremely well. Next on the agenda was to record an album – and as soon as possible.
With the band hot off its Scandinavian Tour of September 1968, the group was well rehearsed and prepared to make such a recording. They had performed live many of the numbers they intended to record in the studio.
