Jimmy Page Made the Most Obvious Comment When He Heard What Music the Yardbirds Wanted to Play
Music fans know and love Jimmy Page as Led Zeppelin’s founding guitarist. The band created timeless hits and underrated songs that stand up against other bands’ best work. But we might not have heard those tunes if the guitarist hadn’t been so steadfast in veering away from his first band’s desired direction. Page made an obvious comment when he heard what kind of music the Yardbirds wanted to play, and we’re thankful he went the other direction.
Jimmy Page formed Led Zeppelin when the Yardbirds fell apart
The Yardbirds launched the careers of guitar gods Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck before Page joined them as the bassist. (Beck gifted Page a guitar for turning down the Yardbirds and recommending him for the band instead).
The band faced internal strife despite several top-10 hits in Britain. Producer Mickie Most wanted the Yardbirds to stick to three-minute pop songs. Page and his bandmates preferred to explore album-oriented rock music that was starting to emerge, which they did when playing live. The band’s rigorous tour schedule added to the stress and painted a stark contrast between the two directions the band could go.
Despite Page’s efforts to keep the Yardbirds together, the band splintered. He had no interest in returning to his session musician days, but the guitarist didn’t want to continue with the Yardbirds when he heard what kind of music they wanted to play. Page made the most obvious comment when discussing that point in his career years later.
Jimmy Page made the most obvious comment when he heard the Yardbirds wanted to sound like a one-hit-wonder
A music world without Led Zeppelin is unimaginable. A world without the Turtles? Not so much.
But when the Yardbirds disintegrated and Page’s bandmates Keith Relf and Jim McCarty considered carrying on, the Turtles were what they had in mind. Page made the most obvious comment when he heard the news (via Guitar World’s YouTube channel):
“When the Yardbirds had sort of said, ‘That’s it. We want to do something really–.’ Well, I’ll tell you what they said. They said they wanted to do something like the Turtles. Do you remember that? ‘Happy Together?’ That’s what they wanted to do, and I thought, ‘Actually, I don’t want to do anything like the Turtles.’ So I was left to form [Led Zeppelin].”
Jimmy Page’s obvious comment when he heard his Yardbirds bandmates wanted to sound like the Turtles
Page cut his teeth as a session musician before joining the Yardbirds. He played guitar on pop singles in the mid-1960s, but the rote songwriting and simple tunes didn’t satisfy his creative hunger.
Page probably could have latched on to whatever Relf and McCarty chose to do next just to keep playing in a band. It might have been lucrative, but it probably wouldn’t have lasted long since he possessed a longtime desire to play heavy music. We’re surely not the only ones who believe Page made the right choice to turn his back on his former bandmates and pursue his passion in Led Zeppelin instead.
Led Zeppelin vs. the Turtles on the charts
Led Zeppelin secured its legacy as an all-time great rock band almost as soon as their debut album hit the shelves in 1969. The band added to its legacy with a string of hit albums and writing songs that brought Zep $2 million paychecks nearly 50 years later. Meanwhile, the Turtles’ sugar-sweet pop songs had a short shelf life.
Led Zeppelin was never a singles band, which broke from how many English bands in the 1960s operated. Page solidified his stance on not releasing singles when he heard the butchered version of one Led Zeppelin classic he rightly hated.
Zep didn’t appear on the charts until 1997 because of that approach, but their albums dominated in Britain. They sent eight straight albums (Led Zeppelin II through In Through the Out Door) to No. 1 in England; Led Zeppelin I and Coda were both top-10, per the Official Charts Company.
The Turtles produced a few top-20 songs in the United Kingdom, including “Happy Together” and “She’d Rather Be With Me.” They played both of those songs on separate 1967 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Yet they had just one album make the top 20, per the Official Charts Company.
In terms of lasting legacy and album performance, Led Zeppelin wins the tale of the tape vs. the Turtles. That statement might be as clear as Jimmy Page’s obvious comment after he heard what kind of music his Yardbirds bandmates wanted to play.
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