Jimmy Page is one of the most iconic musicians to ever come up in the music world. He is a renowned English musician, known primarily for being the guitarist and founder of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin totally changed the momentum from the usual Brit-pop with their entry.
With Jimmy on guitars, John Paul Jones on Bass, and John Bonham on the drums, Led Zeppelin became a major pioneer of hard rock and heavy metal. Before Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page was a member of The Yardbirds from 1966-1968. He wanted to form a band, which would be better than The Yardbirds.
According to Far Out Magazine, Jimmy was turned down by his first-choice frontman candidate, Terry Reid. But, Terry sent him to Robert Plant who was the singer for the Band of Joy and Hobbstweeedle. Robert also recommended his friend John Bonham, who became the drummer of the band.
John Paul Jones, the bassist was the only missing piece of the puzzle. Jones and Page knew each other for a while and even worked together occasionally. It is revealed that Jones enquired about the vacant position at his wife’s suggestion, and Page welcomed him.
After the band was complete, Jimmy started the recording of their debut album almost immediately. They even toured Europe and North America within their first six months. The debut album was a huge success and opened with the track ‘Good Times Bad Times.’ It also included other greatest hit tracks such as ‘Communication Breakdown’, ‘Dazed and Confused’ and ‘You Shook Me’.
However, according to Page, it was no surprise. Page knew that from the very beginning. He had blueprints right from the start which would take the band to the very top. His main intention was to showcase the guitar without taking the spotlight from his bandmates.
In an interview with The Guardian in 2014, he revealed, “You’ve got all these layers and depths, but you still need to capture people’s attention within the first few seconds, really. So when you’ve got something like ‘Good Times Bad Times’ and you’ve got the sort of accents and the bass drum coming in and people going ‘What the hell is that?’ that’s what you want.”
The debut album only took about a day and a little more to make. Page mentioned this while talking with Fender Guitar Factory.
“We have a rehearsal in London, and then I get them to my house to rehearse everything we’re going to need for a set and everything we’re going to need for ‘Led Zeppelin I.’ So when we went in the studio, we were going in on the downtime of the studio. The first [session] was at 11:00 at night, then the second one was at 10:00 at night. And you know, it’s definitely the downtime. We were going in there, and collectively, the whole album was done in 30 hours.”
The debut album was a huge success and was certified gold by RIAA six months after its release. Everyone had a positive response to the album and reached number 10 on the Billboard chart. This debut album defined the whole legacy of Led Zeppelin and paved the way for greater success.
