The Firm: Why did Jimmy Page’s supergroup flop?
A band break-up is never easy, but perhaps some of the worst circumstances to ever surround such a situation are those which swirled around Led Zeppelin.
Led Zeppelin weren’t just famous when they opted to part ways; they were one of the biggest bands on the globe. Equally, they didn’t split up because of creative differences; they did so because one of the founding members, John Bonham, had passed away, and they weren’t sure they would be able to continue without him.
“When we lost John, we agreed unanimously that that was that,” said Plant, looking back on the moment the band decided to call it a day. “I had to go and find out if I really want to do it. Did I want to do it, or did I just want to sit back there like a croupier at a gambling thing, and just kind of rake [the money] in. Or, did I want to actually continue this kind of gig of finding out where I’m going? I wanted to take all the trappings away, because I’d lost my best mate.”
Jimmy Page also struggled following the passing of Bonham, stuck in a creative rut. “Oh, well, obviously,” he said, reflecting on that tricky period, “I was shattered at the time. I lost a very, very close friend.”
The band had broken up, and Jimmy Page was absolutely lost as an artist. He knew he didn’t want to stop making music, but it seemed that music didn’t want anything to do with him. Apart from a few guest appearances at certain gigs, Page remained pretty dormant for four years after Bonham passed away. It wasn’t until he put together the supergroup The Firm that he was able to start flexing his creative muscles once again.
The band came about because Page was good friends with Paul Rodgers from Bad Company and Free, and Rodgers found himself in a similar position to the Led Zeppelin guitarist. “I believe the first time I met Jimmy was at the Swan Song office on Kings Road,” Rodgers recalled. “He was friendly and supportive. We often crossed paths out on the road in the US and the UK. I remember one particular night playing at the Rainbow in Finsbury Park, and the entire Zeppelin band came up for a jam. That was a wild night.”
Page said that Rodgers was probably one of the only musicians who could somewhat relate to what he was going through. Rodgers himself had split from Bad Company and, as a result, found himself in a creative black hole. In a bid to get back on their feet, the two agreed to start making music together, and so started The Firm along with the former drummer of Uriah Heep, Chris Slade, and the bassist for Roy Harper, Tony Franklin.
The band was an essential moment in Page’s career, but it wasn’t a success. Rodgers described The Firm as “a vehicle”, saying that it was “to help Jimmy get back on his feet, musically”. Each band member compromised for one another, meaning no particular artist could shine in their chosen speciality, but that didn’t matter. It wasn’t a band designed to do well; it was a band designed to get the band members playing again and falling back in love with music.
The Firm didn’t succeed, but it was never supposed to. Each member was somewhat trapped by the layout, but so long as they could make music once again, that didn’t matter. The Firm may not have been one of Jimmy Page’s most successful endeavours (or even good for that matter), but there’s no escaping it was one of his most important.
