Jimmy Page felt insulted when a Led Zeppelin film was first pitched to him by an ‘idiot’

Jimmy Page, 81, is the guitarist and laminitis of Led Zeppelin, the iconic stone set behind Stairway To Heaven and Whole Lotta Love.

As the group’s archetypal authoritative documentary, Becoming Led Zeppelin hits cinemas, in 60 Seconds he talks astir the band’s enduring popularity, reunions and moving with Shirley Bassey…

Have you had a batch of radical proposing Led Zeppelin films?

Yeah…Warner Brothers, who were trying to interval this thought with an implicit idiot. We had a meeting, and helium was saying, ‘Oh, well, it starts disconnected astatine the Continental Hyatt Hotel. And it’s successful the lobby and there’s tons of groupies and past you travel down successful the lift…’

Excuse me? What radical is it you deliberation are doing this? You’re not talking to Led Zeppelin? Is it Mötley Crüe? Or Quiet Riot?

It was truly insulting due to the fact that I’m astir what the euphony is about.

Why bash you deliberation the set caught occurrence successful the mode it did?

It’s not ever casual to get 4 musicians astatine their peak, but with Led Zeppelin the stars aligned. We had nary prime successful it almost.

Is determination immoderate infinitesimal you tin constituent to wherever it each clicked?

Well, I knew what the momentum was from the constituent wherever we deed the States. The
first grounds was conscionable astir to travel retired successful January 1969 and by that clip we were connected the West Coast, playing the Fillmore… yeah, it was conscionable benignant of meant
to be.

When they say, ‘Led Zeppelin selling 5 cardinal records’, it doesn’t mean thing to me. What it meant to me
was each nighttime going connected the signifier and being capable to amended connected what I’d done
the nighttime before.

Were you ever a spot of a power freak with the band?

I wouldn’t person anyone successful the studio!


I didn’t adjacent similar photographers successful the studio, which of people is not a precise bully happening for america present erstwhile we’re looking for each the photographs and things but that’s however it was. I wanted conscionable full attraction connected what we were doing.

How did you larn to play guitar?

I’m self-taught. This benignant of worldly couldn’t beryllium taught – you had to larn it yourself oregon marque your ain mentation of what you thought it was.

So I learned from these fantastic guitarists I heard, whether they beryllium rockabilly, blues oregon adjacent classical oregon jazz, whatever. I learned from each of this and
I couldn’t play the aforesaid arsenic these people but I’m trying to play successful the spirit.

What makes Led Zeppelin’s euphony unrecorded on?

It was unique. There was thing similar it. Each medium was different. I made a constituent of doing that, truthful we conscionable kept growing. It kept mutating. In a unrecorded concern we were making up euphony each night. So the way
I spot it, the Led Zeppelin legacy, with the 4 musicians, is conscionable a textbook for young musicians. It’s wonderful.

David Fincher utilized Immigrant Song successful The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Do you consciousness radical are rediscovering your songs on the way?

Oh sure. They’ve had Good Times Bad Times and When The Levee Breaks [in films]. But
I mean, with Levee Breaks, it’s truthful dramatic, conscionable from that drum intro… to enactment successful a movie radical volition go, ‘Oh my God, what is this? Oh it’s Led Zeppelin!’

Is it existent that you play the guitar connected the taxable for Goldfinger?

Well, I got contracted in. So you would get a telephone telephone to say, ‘Oh, tin you beryllium here?’ In this lawsuit it was EMI Studios. And it was John Barry who was conducting the orchestra. When it started, erstwhile helium counted them in, it was similar ‘Oh my goodness gracious. This is marvellous!’

But astatine that point, Shirley Bassey hadn’t travel successful to sing. And past she came retired and did this unthinkable performance… phenomenal.

And she truly fainted?

Yeah, yeah. Because you could perceive this precocious enactment going on. And seemingly she’d been told to bash a prolong astatine the end, but not however long.

This is her communicative afterwards. So basically, she runs retired of enactment and conscionable collapses. So it’s marvellous. As a kid, I’m similar 17-18. What an acquisition to beryllium portion of that!

The movie stops astatine the making of the medium Led Zeppelin II. Could you spot different doc down the line?

I privation to spot however this does – spot the ripples from it and the feedback. Hopefully, radical volition re-access Led Zeppelin’s musicand they’ll perceive this aboriginal stuff.

Can you spot a aboriginal for Led Zeppelin? A reunion maybe?

I deliberation the aboriginal of Led Zeppelin is the past. Because the past… you can’t reason with it. It’s similar Abba. You can’t reason with what they did. It’s conscionable truthful good. It was truthful cleverly enactment together. And it’s the musicianship – it’s a textbook for musicians. It is what it is. Pretty damn good.

But I’ve nary idea. I mean, possibly successful astir different 20 years, I could bash it!

Becoming Led Zeppelin is successful cinemas from today.

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