Led zeppelin

This article appeared in the December 24, 2009 – January 7, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone. At the turn of the century, Jack White was thinking hard about the blues. “A hundred years had passed since the beginning of it,” White says, “and it was an illusion in my head at that moment that on a very small level, there was a new blues emerging in the scene we were from. That was enough to compel me to keep going — but I had no illusions about the mainstream ever thinking it was interesting.” As it turned out, White’s vision was exactly what rock & roll needed. With the homespun, stripped-to-its-skeleton minimalism of the White Stripes, he found a way to plug the music back into the folk and blues roots that fed the Stones, Zeppelin and Bob Dylan — and make it sound cool again in the process. “Anything I do is 1,000 percent the blues — that word is synonymous with the truth to me,” says White. “I could play outdoor … [Read more...] about Jack White, the Decade’s Dirty Bluesman

This week in rock history, Jimmy Page hit the stage with the Yardbirds, the Beatles told the world that “All You Need is Love,” Steely Dan broke up, John Lennon’s murderer pleaded guilty, and the Ronettes took Phil Spector to court. June 21, 1966: ­ Jimmy Page makes his live debut with the Yardbirds Before Jimmy Page became the quintessential guitar player with mystique, he was a bass player with ambition. In 1966, Page joined one of the most influential and up-and-coming British bands of his era, the Yardbirds. At only 22 years old, he was already a respected session musician in London – in fact, the blues-leaning rock band had approached him two years earlier to replace then-guitarist Eric Clapton, but Page declined in loyalty to his pal. A year later, when Clapton quit, the group solicited Page again, who in turn recommended another friend, Jeff Beck (because Page was raking in the cash sitting in with Decca Records artists, including the Rolling … [Read more...] about When Jimmy Page Debuted With the Yardbirds and Steely Dan Broke Up

Jim Morrison, 1981: Renew My Subscription to the Resurrectionby Rosemary Breslin Kelly’s mother picked up the phone for the fifth time that night. It was for sixteen-year-old Kelly. “Who’s speaking?” the mother asked. “Eddie,” the boy answered. “I’ve got it,” Kelly shouted. When Kelly hung up the phone, her mother inquired, “Who’s Eddie?” “A friend,” Kelly replied. “Where’s he from?” She didn’t like the sound of the accent. “Oh, I think he’s from Spain,” Kelly said and slid out of the den. Puerto Rican, the mother worried. Just what she wanted for her blond-haired, green-eyed daughter. The next day, she was cleaning Kelly’s room. In a small wooden frame on the bureau was a picture of a young man. His hair was long and curly. He wore no shirt. His arms were spread out as if he were being crucified. When Kelly arrived at her Long Island home that afternoon, … [Read more...] about Jim Morrison Lives: The Legacy of the Lizard King

Who’s Next, regardless of what you may have been led to believe to the contrary, is neither the soundtrack to the realization of Pete Townshend‘s apparently-aborted Hollywood dream, the greatest live album in the history of the universe, nor a, shudder, rock opera, but rather an old fashioned long-player containing intelligently-conceived, superbly-performed, brilliantly-produced, and sometimes even exciting rock and roll. Having said which, I will digress . . . If, instead of a Heavy!-loving barbiturated kid who discovered in the wake of all the jumpin’ and jivin’ that accompanied the release of their last two albums that the Who resemble Led Zeppelin and so on on a gross aural level and must therefore be far-out!, it’s an age-long admirer of theirs you are, you’ll doubtless have noticed that the Who’s stage act, snazzy as it remains, has toned down subtly over the last couple of tours. Most noticeably, they’ve discarded the dazzling fop … [Read more...] about Who’s Next