Sketchy session: Did Jimmy Page almost replace Pete Townshend in The Who?
Being a session musician must be interesting. Your job is to help other artists nail their recordings and get the best version of work done; however, you can often be met with scorn from those artists. Bands don’t want somebody else playing on their albums; they are recording songs they have written, and as such, they want to be the ones playing them. Having some outsider who has no knowledge of the band or the song take over feels wrong, and as such, there is a general lousy outlook on session musicians. This is precisely how Pete Townshend felt towards Jimmy Page when The Who was recording one day.
Jimmy Page started his career as a touring musician, but after his health deteriorated on tour with Neil Christian and the Crusaders and he collapsed, he decided to spend time in the studio rather than on the road. He was always a maverick when it came to experimental playing and recording styles, which meant it didn’t take long until labels everywhere asked him to help out on different songs.
One of the tracks that Jimmy Page was nearly brought in on was one of The Who’s first recordings. When the band went to record ‘I Can’t Explain’, producer and songwriter Shel Talmy, apparently not having much faith in Pete Townshend’s playing ability, had Jimmy Page wait outside the studio with his guitar in case he needed to step in. It must have been a horrible feeling for Townshend. Luckily, Page was never required, as The Who guitarist nailed his take.
The event makes you think, though, how different The Who might have sounded if Page had played that day and subsequently replaced Townshend in the band. Given Townshend was one of the driving forces behind The Who’s creativity and attitude towards nailing the concept album, the group would have been entirely different, but they would still have likely been successful.
Roger Daltry’s expressive vocals over the complicated guitar style of Jimmy Page would have been a match made in heaven. It would also be interesting to hear how The Who’s stories about real-world people would translate if archetypes were replaced with creatures of a more mythical background.
This is a pairing we will have to imagine, though, as Townshend was able to perform his guitar parts exceptionally well, and Page was left outside the studio. It’s probably for the best, though, as we now have experienced The Who and Led Zeppelin in their fullest form, creating pieces of music that are considered classics today and have impacted the shape of rock music as a whole.
As is the curse of the session musician, despite being an excellent guitarist many modern players have been inspired by, in the 1960s, people would see Page with a guitar in hand and wince, as it likely meant they wouldn’t be playing anything that day.
Listen to ‘I Can’t Explain’ by The Who below.
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