The legendary rock band Ronnie Wood rejected: “Bunch of farmers”
Ronnie Wood has been part of the furniture in The Rolling Stones for more than half a century; however, it could have been a very different story.
After cutting his teeth on the London club circuit, Wood announced himself to a broader audience upon joining the Jeff Beck Group in 1967, which also started a career-defining partnership with Rod Stewart. At this point, people began to sit up and take notice of Wood, which, in an alternate universe, could have changed musical history.
Significantly, the Jeff Beck Group were managed by Peter Grant, who also had his hand in another rock band in town: The Yardbirds. Following their demise, guitarist Jimmy Page evolved the group into The New Yardbirds, which became Led Zeppelin.
Page was joined for the ride by Robert Plant, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, and Jimmy Page, which was perfect. It’s hard to imagine anyone else taking on any role in that group, but it could have been incredibly different if things had gone to plan.
Initially, the late Terry Reid, who died in 2025, was their first-choice vocalist, but the singer-songwriter refused their advances. However, he did recommend Plant, which the Led Zepellin frontman remains grateful for. “It’s a waste of time to talk about it,” Reid later told the Observer about the missed opportunity. “They did really well. End of story.”
Following the recommendation, Plant then introduced Page to Bonham, who was an old friend that played with him in the Band of Joy and Jones, who the guitarist knew from working together on the session circuit, completed the line-up. Therefore, it seems hard to imagine how Wood would have slotted into the group.
The Rolling Stones guitarist made the surprising revelation in 2012. He held a great level of admiration for Page, as well as The Yardbirds, but working with his new bandmates from the West Country didn’t appeal to the city boy, labelling them a “bunch of farmers”.
Wood casually made the admission during a broadcast of his Absolute Radio show, sharing with listeners, “Peter Grant used to manage myself and Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart and Mickey Waller and Nicky Hopkins back in the good old days.”
The guitarist continued, “He was behind a band that was going to be called The New Yardbirds, which I had an offer to join, and I said, ‘I can’t join that bunch of farmers’. Anyway, they eventually changed their name and turned out to be Led Zeppelin, and he managed them as well.”
The details of the offer Wood had to join the group remain light. However, at the time, he was the bassist in the Jeff Beck Group, and it seems logical that the offer was to play bass rather than as an additional guitarist alongside Page.
While Reid didn’t live with regret about his decision to reject Led Zeppelin, the judgment did follow him around for the rest of his career, and he was forced to politely respond to questions about what could have been on countless occasions. On the other hand, this is only a footnote for Wood, and a potential sliding doors moment. He went on to have fun with the Faces before finally finding his perfect home in The Rolling Stones.
Although disregarding them as a “bunch of farmers” was the wrong reason for the rejection, it was the right decision nonetheless. It would not only have messed with the perfect formula of Led Zeppelin by taking Jones out of the equation, but also prevented Wood from playing his favourite instrument. Thankfully, nobody lived to rue this decision, and it all worked out for everybody involved just right.
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