Jimmy Page broke his golden rule to call one songwriter a “genius”
What is a genius? Is it somebody that you occasionally read about in the news who gets accepted into Oxford University aged 12 and has a digit above 200? Or, a songwriter who lights the world up with their music and enriches the souls of millions?
Ultimately, the definition is in the eye of the beholder. One person’s ‘genius’ may mean nothing to somebody else, especially in a musical sense, when it is entirely subjective. For example, I know Jacob Collier is, technically, a virtuoso of the highest order, but his material leaves me utterly unmoved.
Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page has been one of the most outspoken figures of the ‘genius’ epidemic in music. “The only term I won’t accept is ‘genius’. The term ‘genius’ gets used far too loosely in rock ‘n’ roll,” he explained to Rolling Stone.
While he does believe the term is acceptable for some musicians, Page is against using it for those who operate in the rock realm, stating, “There’s a certain standard in classical music that allows the application of the term ‘genius‘, but you’re treading on thin ice if you start applying it to rock ‘n’ rollers.”
Considering his comments on the liberal use of the word, it’s no surprise that Page hasn’t called an abundance of his peers a ‘genius’. But, while discussing the talent of the late Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson, there’s no other term that does him justice.
Wilson put his career before everything else, including his own sanity, while he gifted Pet Sounds to the world. Very few would have what it takes to push themselves to that extreme limit in order to achieve artistic greatness. However, for Wilson, music was always his primary function, and everything else was secondary. It was a singular mindset that he possessed, which altered songwriting as we view it today.
Wilson is an artist who’s difficult to define by any other metric than genius. His music existed outside the parameters of traditional genre, and while Page typically refrains from calling anyone linked to rock ‘n’ roll a ‘genius’, arguably, Wilson, despite not being classically trained, is more of a genius than any Juilliard alumni.
On Wilson’s official website, a quote attributed to Page reads: “The man’s a genius! Actually, when you hear other people doing his numbers, it makes you appreciate just how good those original songs are.”
Page and Wilson do share a history, too. Following the disbandment of Led Zeppelin, Page had an ample amount of free time on his hands, which led to him being able to live out dreams that were impossible when he was part of the rock powerhouses. When the opportunity arose for him to join The Beach Boys for two performances in 1985 on Independence Day, he couldn’t resist sharing a stage with Wilson.
Decades later, Page shared an image of himself with The Beach Boys on social media and recalled of that special day: “On this day in 1985, I played Independence Day with The Beach Boys. Philadelphia and Washington were played on this memorable day. We travelled by train between the two cities.”
“It was an honour to meet Brian and Carl Wilson and play with The Beach Boys on this historic day. However, we don’t celebrate July 4th in England,” he added.
When Wilson sadly departed the world in 2025, it was a reminder that he was truly inimitable. Most bands or artists are merely a reincarnation of somebody else that has come before, but that’s not the case with Wilson.
Nobody was remotely like him before The Beach Boys rose to prominence, and despite inspiring countless others, it would take an army of artists to come close to replicating the genius of his musical mind.
