The one guitarist Jack White and Jack Black agree is a rock god
There is a lot that goes into making a good rock band, and while we might be somewhat diplomatic in our praise, there is no escaping the fact that the genre wouldn’t be what we know it to be today without the guitarist.
Call me out if I’m wrong, but I’ve always said I think The Yardbirds helped shape what we now consider the standard rock guitarist. Every single lead guitar player that the band ever had was influential in a way that didn’t just impact the band, but the sound of rock music on a much wider scale; allow me to explain.
Firstly, you have Eric Clapton, who helped inspire other guitarists because he showed that genre didn’t need to be linear. You had the blues and R&B, which were inspiring lots of rock guitarists, but none of these guitarists were taking the style of artists that came before them and merging them, which is what Clapton did, thereby showing that if you want to make rock music, you don’t need to pick a lane; you can wear all of your influences on your pick holding sleeve and allow each of them to work together in deciding what notes you play.
Steve Van Zandt put it best when he said, “Eric Clapton is the most important and influential guitar player that has ever lived, is still living or ever will live. Do yourself a favour, and don’t debate me on this. Before Clapton, rock guitar was the Chuck Berry method, modernised by Keith Richards, and the rockabilly sound, Scotty Moore, Carl Perkins, Cliff Gallup, popularised by George Harrison.”
The E Street guitarist continued, “Clapton absorbed that, then introduced the essence of Black electric blues: the power and vocabulary of Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin and the three Kings, BB, Albert and Freddie, to create an attack that defined the fundamentals of rock and roll lead guitar.”
When he left the band, you got Jeff Beck, who was equally influential, and while his playing style was also something to be mesmerised by, it wasn’t just how he played that inspired people but how he looked and acted while playing. A lot of guitarists would have been hesitant to come to the front of the stage, look a crowd in the eye, and act flamboyantly while performing were it not for Beck normalising doing so.
Then, finally, you have Jimmy Page, whose contribution to music didn’t necessarily come in the form of The Yardbirds, but rather, through Led Zeppelin; however, the ideas that he took into the latter were the result of him being allowed to improvise and explore different styles while playing in the former. This freedom gave Page the idea to make a band that didn’t just play this new age of rock music, but also blended influences from other cultures, along with styles that sat completely outside the realm of rock.
The influence of Page speaks for itself, and it seems that while something as subjective as ‘good music’ is enough to bring out the most heated debates in people, the majority of music lovers can agree that Page is one of the best to ever pick up a six-string. Just ask Jack White and Jack Black, both of whom have said that Page is one of the greatest contributors to the guitar in recent memory.
When talking about Led Zeppelin, White called them “an immovable force in music”, and, pointing to Page specifically, discussed the song ‘Whole Lotta Love’, saying, “I still think that break is probably some of the greatest guitar notes ever played, if not the greatest. I rewound it so many times that there was a fuck up on the tape before the guitar solo. Just that little section is so powerful, and it was powerful to me when I was five years old.”
His namesake, Jack Black, has never let his love for Led Zeppelin be a secret, with Page featuring brightly in this love and celebrated as one of the greatest to put a pick to the string. “Led Zeppelin…the greatest rock and roll band of all time. Better than The Beatles, better than The [Rolling] Stones,” he said,
Adding, “And if you don’t agree with me, that’s because you haven’t done the Zeppelin marathon. It’s when you sit your ass down and listen to all nine Zeppelin albums in a row. The jams of Led Zeppelin are second to none.”
The Yardbirds might have paved the way for the modern guitarist, but if you were to ask Jack Black and Jack White, only one of their members has ascended to the level of rock god.
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