Whole lotta crap: The guitarist’s Jimmy Page ripped off
Jimmy Page is often cited as the greatest guitarist of all time, and when you listen to the work of Led Zeppelin, it’s a pretty hard statement to deny. He is one of the most multi-faceted and undeniable talents ever to pick up a six-string, and his approach towards music is so free-flowing that it’s impossible not to be moved by him.
Of course, where there is talent, there is also always going to be some controversy. One of the biggest controversies that plagued Led Zeppelin (other than theories that they were possessed by the devil) was that they ripped off other musicians. A number of artists who made music throughout the same period that Zeppelin did often voiced discontent with their willingness to let inspiration travel from their sleeves to the strings and completely dominate a song.
“Jimi Hendrix personally told me that he didn’t like Zeppelin because they were like excess baggage and they stole from everybody,” said Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice. “’You Shook Me’ was on Jeff Beck’s record. ‘Dazed and Confused’ has a bit of Vanilla Fudge on it, and it has parts of ‘Beck’s Bolero’ in it. I think I was told by a member of the band that the ‘Good Times Bad Times’ riff came from Tim Bogart’s bass line.”
While this critique is often misplaced, there is no denying that in spite of their brilliance, Led Zeppelin was guilty of ripping off some other artists while making music. Even Jimmy Page, with his vast arsenal of guitar-playing ability tucked in by his wayside, stole from other guitarists when putting together music. Here, we will look at some of the most prolific guitarists the Led Zeppelin lead was guilty of stealing from.
The guitarists that Jimmy Page ripped off:
Howlin Wolf
Howlin Wolf inspired many guitarists in the ‘50s and ‘60s. His style of guitar playing was completely inspiring, and many fans of rock and R&B music took lessons from his playing. On the track ‘The Lemon Song’, however, Jimmy Page may have taken a little bit too much from the guitarist.
While the song’s title was a lyric taken from Robert Johnson’s ‘Traveling Riverside Blues’, the most notable rip-off was Howlin Wolf’s guitar style in his song ‘Killing Floor’. The inspiration was so apparent that some copies of Led Zeppelin II listed the song as ‘Killing Floor’, and Howlin Wolf now has a songwriting credit on the track.
Jake Holmes
‘Dazed and Confused’ was a song Jimmy Page brought over from The Yardbirds; however, even that version was taken from Jake Holmes, the original writer of the track. Page claimed to have never heard the track and was only ever influenced musically by what he did with The Yardbirds; however, there is no denying that the guitar work on this record was the product of Holmes.
It took Holmes a while to press charges for the rip-off of his song. When he originally heard the track, he was nonplussed and settled on letting Led Zeppelin have it. In 2010, he finally pressed charges against the song, and on the live Led Zeppelin album Celebration Day, the band credited the song as written by Jimmy Page but “Inspired by Jake Holmes”.
Bert Jansch
Jimmy Page has always made it clear that the Scottish folk musician Bert Jansch is a big inspiration. While there is nothing wrong with being influenced by artists, Page took a bit too much of Jansch’s style on some of his songs, to the point that there are Led Zeppelin tracks that sound like borderline replicas.
This can be heard specifically on ‘Black Mountain Side’, which borrows a lot from ‘Down by Blackwaterside’; additionally, ‘Bron-Y-Aur Stomp’ is a clear rework of Jansch’s song ‘The Waggoners Lad’. Jansch never pressed charges against Zeppelin, but his bandmate, Jacqui McShee, said, “It’s a very rude thing to do. Pinch somebody else’s thing and credit it to yourself.”
Sonny Boy Williamson
On the final track of Led Zeppelin’s second album, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant put together the song ‘Bring It On Home’. The beginning and end of the track are made up of independent blues sections, which are a complete rip-off of the guitar style of Sonny Boy Williamson’s band.
Jimmy Page always acknowledged this copy, saying it was supposed to be a homage to Williamson. “The thing with ‘Bring It on Home’,” said Page, “Christ, there’s only a tiny bit taken from Sonny Boy Williamson’s version and we threw that in as a tribute to him.”
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