MUSIC
The guitarist Jimmy Page couldn’t look in the eye
When considering the greatest guitarists of the 20th century, it is impossible not to think of Jimmy Page. Page, guitarist for Led Zeppelin, has been inspiring and delighting audiences for countless years as the driving force behind one of the biggest rock bands of the 1970s.
Learning his trade as a session musician in the early 1960s before joining The Yardbirds, on the recommendation of one Eric Clapton, Page cemented himself as a certified guitar hero; the sight of the man standing with his famous double-necked Gibson in hand is still enough to excite music fans worldwide. While his band has long since split up, playing their final concert in 1980, shortly before the death of drummer John Bonham, Page has remained active in the world of music, playing with various different bands and supergroups throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
The London-born musician has always been open about the musicians that influenced his much-loved playing style, including his contemporaries, “Out of all the guitarists to come out of the sixties,” he told Rolling Stone in 1975, “Beck, Clapton, Lee, Townshend and I are still having a go. That says something”. He also heaped praise onto Jimi Hendrix, who he called “the best guitarist any of us ever had”. In addition to his 1960s peers, Page was influenced by blues guitarists like Muddy Waters and, of course, electric guitar pioneer Les Paul.
Although open about his influences, Page has repeatedly been accused of borrowing riffs or outright ripping off other guitarists. The aforementioned Muddy Waters, along with the likes of Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, and Willie Dixon, all have valid claims against the Led Zeppelin guitarist. To put it lightly, plant borrowed heavily from the Delta blues scene during his time with the band.
Of course, this is not unheard of. Countless popular bands from the 1960s and ’70s were inspired by, and often pinched from, underappreciated Black blues artists. The Rolling Stones took credit for the gospel song ‘The Last Time’, Elvis’ version of ‘Hound Dog’ eclipsed the original by Big Mama Thornton, and the Beach Boys essentially stole their entire sound from rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Chuck Berry. Just because it was unfortunately commonplace, though, does not make it any less shameful. There was one artist, in particular, that caused Page embarrassment when accused of plagiarism.
Scottish folk musician Bert Jansch has been idolised by guitar players for decades, and this was no exception to Page. The Led Zeppelin guitarist was a huge fan of Jansch, “It was so far ahead of what everyone else was doing,” he once told The Guardian, “No one in America could touch that”.
Page let his love of Jansch get the better of him, emulating his playing style on the tracks ‘Bron-Y-Aur Stomp’ and ‘Black Mountain Side’ – the latter is even titled similarly to Jansch’s track ‘Black Waterside’.
This influence did not escape Jansch, who commented on Page, “The thing I’ve noticed about Jimmy whenever we meet is that he can’t look me in the eye,” he told Ultimate Classic Rock.
Continuing, the Scottish musician added: “Well, he ripped me off, didn’t he?”.
It is hard to disagree; listening to those tracks side by side, there is an undeniable similarity and so it is understandable that Page would be embarrassed about ripping off one of his heroes.
