“Teetering on the edge of total chaos”: How Jimmy Page became Dave Grohl’s favourite solo-playing guitarist
By now, Dave Grohl has seen just about every position in a band. He’s been behind the kit at the back of the stage and behind the mic in the spotlight. He can play drums, guitar, and bass as a veritable one-man band, so when it comes to the best players around, he’s not only often considered in their ranks but also has a good, well-rounded view on the matter. However, his opinion doesn’t come down to skill or technicality; it doesn’t even come down to whether a musician is as multi-talented as he is. Instead, Grohl’s affection is won by chaos; total and utter musical chaos.
It’s an affiliation that probably comes from his Nirvana days when his band went from garages to the world’s stage, pioneering at the forefront of grunge. That was chaos. So many of their songs were chaotic, and they felt ten times more chaotic when suddenly they managed to break into the big time and capture the mainstream with distinctly darker and heavier songs than the radio typically would have gone for. They were anarchic in their own way, carrying on the legacy of punk but in a new makeup, especially when it came to Kurt Cobain’s vocal protesting and political streak, always being unafraid to ruffle feathers.
That’s what Grohl seems to have always admired. When it comes to his musical heroes, technicality falls to the wayside in favour of feeling or excitement. He’s inspired by people who seem to totally lose control more than people who command total control over their instrument.
His feelings towards Jimi Hendrix sum this up perfectly as while he called Hendrix a “genius on fire”, that couldn’t hold a candle to his true guitar hero, Jimmy Page, who he called, “a genius possessed”, as if something from up above or down below takes his hands when he plays.
Grohl’s love for Page finds its bottom line right there. He’s obsessed with the Led Zeppelin player because of how he seems to completely surrender control and fall into a craze when he plays. “Jimmy Page, I think, is my favourite soloist. I love the way that he was always teetering on the edge of total chaos,” Grohl said.
It’s the bravery and boldness that hooks him in. “When you watch a movie like ‘The Song Remains the Same,’ or any live footage from 1971 or 1973, or 1975, and even the earlier stuff, he’s just going for it. It’s that sort of fearlessness that I respect most in musicians, not perfection or any sort of clean technical proficiency,” he said. While skill is obviously important, and Page has stacks of it, that’s not what impassions him. Instead, he’s ignited by mistakes or players who risk making mistakes in favour of an electrifying show, as he added, “I really like to see musicians right on the edge of falling apart. He did that in the most beautiful way.”
What it all comes down to is the question of what music is for. Is music simply made to impress, or is it made to connect people and reflect the power and creativity humans hold? For Grohl, it’s the latter, and a player like Page reminds him of that as he sees something distinct in the way he plays. “Page took it to a whole new level, and he did it in such a beautifully human and imperfect way,” he said, celebrating the humanity in Page’s god-like talent.
