Friday, June 02, 2006

Jimmy Page & The Prewar Bluesmen



I love Jimmy Page, and I love Led Zeppelin too. But I have always been disappointed by how they did not properly credit the prewar bluesmen & women for the music they played. Much of this music is traditional and it is difficult to know who should get the credit for it.

But one of the more disturbing practices of Zeppelin and Page is that they actually took the writing credits for much of the music that they played, when in fact they did little to create the music, but were really doing some great covers.

I have been in many arguments with those who love Zeppelin, and who do not know about the prewar blues performers. That is another one of the reasons that I started this blog, I wanted to document the accomplishments of the prewar blues musicians.

Well anyway I recently surfed onto a very informative article that documents some of history of Page's use of other's music and ideas THE THIEVING MAGPIES: Jimmy Page's Dubious Recording Legacy

I present this here not to take anything away from Jimmy Page or Led Zeppelin, because in my mind they were one of the greatest bands that ever existed, and Jimmy Page is one of my favorite guitar players of all time, but to pass along some great documentation. The fact that they are still being listened to, talked about, written about still today is a testament to their greatness.


3 comments:

mister anchovy said...

OK, here are some VERY SUBJECTIVE comments... I can take or leave most of the British bluesy rock & rollers (I like Led Zep OK, but I don't happen to have any of their music in the house), but I will say that they did create 'something else'. They may have used old songs and some old licks and so on, but what came out was quite simply, something else, something different. Part of it may have been the focus on monster solos and riffs rather than focus on 'the song' (do you know what I mean?). No matter how much these guys tried to copy from bluesmen, they made music that was absolutely of their time and place. My biggest criticism of Led Zep and many of their contemporaries was that there music seemed heavy handed and clunky to me - when on the other hand I listen to a Furry Lewis or a Tampa Red or Blind Willie McTell, I get a much different feel - it never feels forced. Sometimes I think that some of the young American performers in the 60s, like The Band and Bob Dylan were making music that to my ears, (in terms of feel), was much more connected to older blues music.

fitzgerald said...

Hey mister anchovy, thanks for your comments. I think you said that really well. And I agree with you for the most part. At one point I owned all the Led Zeppelin albums and I have a few of their CDs today. So I not only like them I bought their music back in the day. But my problem is getting some rock and roll fan boys to understand that they were playing blues (and did not give credit to those who created the music).

fitzgerald said...

Hey Massimo,

Thanks for stopping by. I check your blog out from time to time. I like Clapton, and I think he gave a little back to the bluesmen by playing with them.