Home posts Jimmy Page’s wholesome meeting with Jeff Buckley: “They actually cried”
It’s every musician’s dream to try to find their musical soulmate. As hard as it can be trying to get the right amount of people together in a band, there’s a certain gelling period that happens with most bands that leads to them going from decent to one of the best in their field. Although Jimmy Page already had that synergy come and go with Led Zeppelin, he remembered hearing wisps of his older self when listening to Jeff Buckley for the first time.
By the time the 1990s rolled around, though, any chance of a Led Zeppelin reunion was a thing of the past. Since the band had moved on after the death of drummer John Bonham, most of their greatest material tended to come from whatever they were getting up to in their solo careers, from Page working in The Firm to Robert Plant making solo efforts and resurrecting The Band of Joy.
Even though Zeppelin was never going to be considered the greatest band in the world like they were back in the day, they still had a major influence on the growing 1990s alt-rock trend. Despite not wearing their Zeppelin influence as much on their sleeves, it’s hard to imagine a band like Soundgarden getting to become one of the biggest bands in the world without Page and Plant breaking down doors first.
Out of all the 1990s rock singers, though, no one could hold a candle to what Buckley was doing. Having already started playing music at an early age, much of his finest work took rock all over the place, working in jazz harmony while also conjuring up demons from his soul and screaming out in pain on songs like ‘Dream Brother’.
Once Buckley got the chance to meet Page, though, everything started to fall into place. After years of worshipping their records, Buckley was stunned to find out how much Page had admired what he had done.
Backstage at one of Buckley’s gigs, musician Chris Dowd remembered just how much of a special moment it was for Page to see Buckley, recalling, “Jeff told me they cried. They actually cried when they met each other. Jimmy heard himself in Jeff, and Jeff was meeting his idol. Jimmy Page was the godfather of Jeff’s music”.
If you listen to Buckley’s guitar tone for more than two seconds, it’s easy to see how much Page has rubbed off on him. While there are definitely some tributes to Page in the way he plays leads, the mentality of putting different musical fragments together and somehow making them work is indebted to the kind of song craftsmanship that Page did on tracks like ‘The Rain Song’ or ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’.
While Buckley looked like he was going to pass on the legacy of Zeppelin to a new generation, time would come calling for him far too quickly. After venturing into a river after a gig, Buckley would eventually drown in 1997, with his body not being recovered until the morning after he jumped in. Buckley may not have had the chance to capitalise on his success, but Page knew that he was already a master of his craft from the first song he sang.
