The band Jimmy Page was honoured to play with: “You can’t be more privileged than that”
Rock and roll stars come and go, but few could ever hope to match the incredible career of Jimmy Page. A teenage disciple of rock and roll guitar, Page rose to the top of the hard rock pyramid with Led Zeppelin, spawning multiple generations of rock devotees in the process. Years before his wailing Zeppelin guitar solos hit the airwaves, however, Page entered the music industry as a session guitarist.
Lending his unparalleled skills to a wealth of different recording artists throughout the 1960s, Page became increasingly sought-after as the decade progressed. Before too long, his work allowed him to work with some of the biggest names in pop and rock music.
Page’s first paid recording session occurred way back in 1963 when former Shadows member Jet Harris employed the art school student on his track ‘Diamonds’. Over the next few years, the guitarist would work prolifically at recording studios all over England’s capital, lending his skilled tones to everything from Petula Clark’s classic hit ‘Downtown’ to a particularly trying muzak record, with Page’s own musical tastes rarely influencing his decision to take on a project or not.
Increasingly, however, Page was growing a name for himself within the world of rock and roll guitar music, with notable sessions including work for The Rolling Stones, Them, and The Kinks. What’s more, his work with Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate Records landed him in the epicentre of London’s youth music scene and the rock rebellion at its core.
A particularly enjoyable moment for Page as a session artist came when he was asked to record with Pete Townshend and The Who. Recruited to provide guitar backing for the band’s debut single ‘I Can’t Explain’ and its B-side, ‘Bald Headed Woman’ in 1965, Page stood in awe of the revolutionary mod rockers around him.
After all, The Who were the archetypal British rock band of the 1960s, capturing the spirit of post-war youth and causing a colossal generation gap between young music fans and their parents’ generation. The Shel Talmy-produced ‘I Can’t Explain’ would be the single that launched The Who into the musical mainstream, and Page played a role in its production.
Admittedly, Page’s guitar playing is not overtly noticeable when listening to ‘I Can’t Explain’ – although he is much more present on ‘Bald Headed Woman’. Nevertheless, his work with the band formed a key moment in the life of the guitarist, who used their rock and roll inspiration going forward in his own career.
Back in 2012, the legendary guitarist recalled those 1965 recording sessions to Rolling Stone. “I don’t know, really, why I was brought in,” Page mused. Seemingly, he recognises that his work is not all that noticeable within the final song. “I’m playing the riff in the background behind Pete Townshend. I didn’t need to be there. You can barely hear me. But it was magical to be in the control room, listening back.”
“You can’t be more privileged than that,” he added, revealing the great honour that playing with The Who was to him as a young session artist. Although he didn’t achieve much mainstream recognition for the hit single at the time of its release, it certainly spurred him on to lend his guitar work to other rock outfits of the era before eventually gaining a place in the groundbreaking blues rock outfit The Yardbirds. ‘I Can’t Explain’ was a far cry from ‘Immigrant Song’, but Page always understood the importance of those early sessions.
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