Detroit’s greatest guitarist, according to Jimmy Page
Jack White was always frustrated with the stigma that was attached to Detroit, as he felt it made people view his music in a way that undermined the actual sound of it.
His issue was with the idea of authenticity and how music is left to one side if an artist doesn’t come across as authentic. When he would do interviews, he would often be asked what it was like growing up in Detroit and how that impacted him. He grew annoyed at these persistent lines of questioning, as he felt as though it detracted from how good his music was. It followed an ideology that if you didn’t have an interesting back story, you weren’t capable of making good music.
“Throughout history, we’ve been sold authenticity over and over. The English press are the kings of it. You’ve got to ask yourself about the White Stripe’s appeal to England had we been from Los Angeles instead of Detroit,” he said, “The story of the city of Detroit became our authenticity, that dirty, crumbling town. I don’t see a lot of other artists getting asked about where they live, but I get asked about where I live constantly.”
While the city may have been a hindrance when it came to White discussing his music in the early stages of his career, there is no escaping just how influential it has been on the industry as a whole. This isn’t something which White is ignorant of. While it annoyed him how much people seemed to focus on it when he was first making a name for himself, he admits that the likes of Motown and the rich blues scene in Detroit helped shape a lot of musicians, himself included.
“It was something I’d been missing my whole life,” he said, “That music made me discard everything else and just get down to the soul and honesty of the blues. There aren’t that many things left that haven’t already been done, especially with music.”
It’s not just White who believes this either. There are plenty of musicians who look back on the history of Detroit and recognise it as one of the most important cities in all of rock music. Jimmy Page is included in this, as while plenty of UK bands – Led Zeppelin, Cream, Black Sabbath – were credited with the expansion and evolution of rock music, they were all initially inspired by the blues and R&B scene that took over America throughout the ‘50s.
As such, when the rock scene branched out and went worldwide, it was hardly a surprise that fans still looked towards cities like Detroit for great musicians, following in the footsteps of those who had come before. Jimmy Page always held musicians to the highest possible standard, as he felt as though the term “genius” was thrown around a little too freely, to the extent that it became somewhat mundane.
“The only term I won’t accept is ‘genius’. The term ‘genius’ gets used far too loosely in rock and roll,” he said, “When you hear the melodic structures of what classical musicians put together, and you compare it to that of a rock and roll record, there’s a hell of a long way rock and roll has to go.”
Despite his reluctance to use the term “genius” Page admitted that one of his favourite guitarists from the city was Amos Garrett. He specifically loved his performance on the Marla Mulduar song ‘Midnight at the Oasis’, released in 1973 and still considered a huge tune by all those who heard it.
“On a totally different style—the control, the guy who played on the Maria Muldaur single, ‘Midnight at the Oasis’. Amos Garrett,” he said, “He’s Les Paul oriented and Les Paul is the one, really. We wouldn’t be anywhere if he hadn’t invented the electric guitar.”
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