I Was Shocked

Snowman999

Active member
Without looking up the answer. Who is playing guitar on this classic?

For me, until I just listened, I never even thought this song had a guitar. But, it's there.

 
Just looked it up. I'm not surprised. He was a session player on some other things one might not have expected.

Not even 20 and he was almost always allowed to do what he wanted.

While some say you can't hear him, he says if you listen closely in the background of the Who's I Can't Explain it's him playing the riff.

I find it funny how these songs are never promoted now as him playing guitar on them.
 
He's all over a bunch of Donovan and some early British Invasion songs. He did the signature riff on Nashville Teens' Tobacco Road. Once you know, it's so obvious.
 
He's all over a bunch of Donovan and some early British Invasion songs. He did the signature riff on Nashville Teens' Tobacco Road. Once you know, it's so obvious.

That's why IMO he's simply the best. He didn't stick with one style, and was proficient in all.

Well worth the time.

My friend George told me about the show and offered me a free ticket. But, Kate Miller-Heidke was playing a small club that night and I had to turn it down. Talking music with the greatest is special. Just not as special as actual music.

 
I'll never forget seeing Zep at the Forum in 1977 with my then 18 year old ace guitarist Dave Macias (of whom I've bragged about many times here)...and as if given to us as a gift from God, we were able to sneak up to the 7th row dead center for the whole show. It was amazing sitting there among all the rich, beautiful people of the LA scene... Hendrix and Paige were his biggest hero's and sadly that night Jimmy REALLY let us down ...I mean he got through the set but it was just just sloppy soul less playing.....we assumed he had to be strung out on heroine at the time... ....Sobering moment to see your hero fall from grace...fortunately he went on to do many great things and live to tell the tale of some of those not so great times in his incredible career
 
I'll never forget seeing Zep at the Forum in 1977 with my then 18 year old ace guitarist Dave Macias (of whom I've bragged about many times here)...and as if given to us as a gift from God, we were able to sneak up to the 7th row dead center for the whole show. It was amazing sitting there among all the rich, beautiful people of the LA scene... Hendrix and Paige were his biggest hero's and sadly that night Jimmy REALLY let us down ...I mean he got through the set but it was just just sloppy soul less playing.....we assumed he had to be strung out on heroine at the time... ....Sobering moment to see your hero fall from grace...fortunately he went on to do many great things and live to tell the tale of some of those not so great times in his incredible career

Zeppelin was my very first live concert (I'd seen Bob Hope at Nassau Coliseum a little earlier, but...) Opening night Madison Square Garden 1977. They came on an hour late, and to this day, and all these concerts later still my #1 show. I remember going to high school and running into a guitarist and she was at the same show and said "it sucked. Page sucked." Recently I got a 3 CD set of the entire show from the sound board. I was RIGHT, GREAT SHOW. Page is always sloppy live. But, look at what he's playing. He's not strumming A - C - E. He's a genius at work. I have many Zeppelin boots and I'm never disappointed. Mistakes and all, there's only one Zeppelin. Those songs, those albums. Simply the best.
 
Zeppelin was my very first live concert (I'd seen Bob Hope at Nassau Coliseum a little earlier, but...) Opening night Madison Square Garden 1977. They came on an hour late, and to this day, and all these concerts later still my #1 show. I remember going to high school and running into a guitarist and she was at the same show and said "it sucked. Page sucked." Recently I got a 3 CD set of the entire show from the sound board. I was RIGHT, GREAT SHOW. Page is always sloppy live. But, look at what he's playing. He's not strumming A - C - E. He's a genius at work. I have many Zeppelin boots and I'm never disappointed. Mistakes and all, there's only one Zeppelin. Those songs, those albums. Simply the best.

There has to be a bootleg of the Forum concert...I'll have to find, listen and see if I agree...By that time I had already seen a lot of great guitarist live..and a shit ton of great concerts ...BB King, Alvin Lee, Larry Coryell, Duane Alman, Fripp, Steve Howe, Dave Gilmore it's a long ass list..

From Wiki

Guitarist Jimmy Page's ongoing heroin addiction also caused him to lose a noticeable amount of weight on this tour, and arguably began to hamper his performances. During a performance in Chicago on 9 April, Page fell ill and needed to sit in a chair to play "Ten Years Gone" before leaving the stage with severe stomach cramps. The show was concluded after only sixty-five minutes, with Page's illness later being attributed to a case of food poisoning; shortly thereafter, a makeup concert was scheduled for 3 August on the final leg of the tour.

It appears LA was the last stop of the 2nd leg of their massive tour and they played fricking 6 shows at the forum I am not sure which night but I know it was towards the end...All their asses had to be dragging. Overall the night we saw them it was still Zep and to be there hearing all those songs was awesome.....But Page was not on the top of his game by any means...Understand I was in a bad ass rock band with a really bad ass guitarist. Eddie and Randy were the other 2 unsigned but considered great guitarist in LA at the time..I'm serious when I tell you he was is on par with them and respected as such among the locals. I'll have to ask him now and see if he recalls it the same as I do but I remember him being disappointed and me thinking ( not giving credit to Jimmy's songwriting ability ) Damn Dave blows him away.. very biased / naïve perspective but truly how I felt.


Oh yeah...on the pissing match of this guy is better than that guy thing...of which I am totally guilty of more than I like to admit... A great musician friend once told me 'Music is not a competition"
 
There has to be a bootleg of the Forum concert...I'll have to find, listen and see if I agree...By that time I had already seen a lot of great guitarist live..and a shit ton of great concerts ...BB King, Alvin Lee, Larry Coryell, Duane Alman, Fripp, Steve Howe, Dave Gilmore it's a long ass list..

From Wiki

Guitarist Jimmy Page's ongoing heroin addiction also caused him to lose a noticeable amount of weight on this tour, and arguably began to hamper his performances. During a performance in Chicago on 9 April, Page fell ill and needed to sit in a chair to play "Ten Years Gone" before leaving the stage with severe stomach cramps. The show was concluded after only sixty-five minutes, with Page's illness later being attributed to a case of food poisoning; shortly thereafter, a makeup concert was scheduled for 3 August on the final leg of the tour.

It appears LA was the last stop of the 2nd leg of their massive tour and they played fricking 6 shows at the forum I am not sure which night but I know it was towards the end...All their asses had to be dragging. Overall the night we saw them it was still Zep and to be there hearing all those songs was awesome.....But Page was not on the top of his game by any means...Understand I was in a bad ass rock band with a really bad ass guitarist. Eddie and Randy were the other 2 unsigned but considered great guitarist in LA at the time..I'm serious when I tell you he was is on par with them and respected as such among the locals. I'll have to ask him now and see if he recalls it the same as I do but I remember him being disappointed and me thinking ( not giving credit to Jimmy's songwriting ability ) Damn Dave blows him away.. very biased / naïve perspective but truly how I felt.


Oh yeah...on the pissing match of this guy is better than that guy thing...of which I am totally guilty of more than I like to admit... A great musician friend once told me 'Music is not a competition"

He might have sucked that night, anything is possible. If he had food poisoning (or heroin poisoning) that would affect his performance. In the video interview he spoke about not playing the songs the way they recorded, they could go anywhere at any time. Which could be off putting. Music is different for everybody. If I saw that guitar player from school and played her the show now, she'd probably still say it sucked.

I've seen Zeppelin and the two off shoots Unledded and Plant and Page, and all those shows were magnificent. I've also seen The Firm and Page Project and both those shows sucked. His ARMS performances were excellent and there's a video of them doing Stairway to Heaven at some show at MSG (it was a benefit or anniversary show) and I swear Page didn't solo. Maybe they cut it out of the broadcast it was so bad. But, it just seemed to be a wrong chord and back to the vocals. That's expected when you don't copy your records live. Page on a bad night is still better than many at their best. Though not that night at MSG w/Stairway. I think he mentions it in the video. I have to see if I can find it.

On who's the best is absolutely subjective. But, in Page's case, there is an argument to be made he's the full package. There are many excellent guitarists out there. But, there are few at his caliber. Most vote Hendrix the greatest. He died young, and if he lived, would he have remained a God like figure? There are things Zeppelin accomplished that everyone else has failed at. But, of course that's just my opinion.
 
He might have sucked that night, anything is possible. If he had food poisoning (or heroin poisoning) that would affect his performance. In the video interview he spoke about not playing the songs the way they recorded, they could go anywhere at any time. Which could be off putting. Music is different for everybody. If I saw that guitar player from school and played her the show now, she'd probably still say it sucked.

I've seen Zeppelin and the two off shoots Unledded and Plant and Page, and all those shows were magnificent. I've also seen The Firm and Page Project and both those shows sucked. His ARMS performances were excellent and there's a video of them doing Stairway to Heaven at some show at MSG (it was a benefit or anniversary show) and I swear Page didn't solo. Maybe they cut it out of the broadcast it was so bad. But, it just seemed to be a wrong chord and back to the vocals. That's expected when you don't copy your records live. Page on a bad night is still better than many at their best. Though not that night at MSG w/Stairway. I think he mentions it in the video. I have to see if I can find it.

On who's the best is absolutely subjective. But, in Page's case, there is an argument to be made he's the full package. There are many excellent guitarists out there. But, there are few at his caliber. Most vote Hendrix the greatest. He died young, and if he lived, would he have remained a God like figure? There are things Zeppelin accomplished that everyone else has failed at. But, of course that's just my opinion.

Your a fan but may find it hard to believe that most people would know very little of them and if they did may only know of one song. 'Stairway to heaven'.
 
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Your a fan but may find it hard to believe that most people would know very little of them and if they did may only know of one song. 'Stairway to heaven'.

That's because most people listen to the music made between their teens to mid twenties. Zeppelin rarely got radio airplay with the exception of Stairway. They changed a lot in the music industry, their ruthless manager Peter Grant had a lot to do with that. They have so many individualistic songs that could only be written by those four. There aren't many bands you can say that about.

Page said it in that interview (I'm paraphrasing) we were four master musicians pushing each other to do better. It's so true.

One of my favorites -

 
That's because most people listen to the music made between their teens to mid twenties. Zeppelin rarely got radio airplay with the exception of Stairway.

Possibly but even when I was a teen we had zero interest in dinosaur's from the 60's. Music moves on. If it wasn't for another band releasing 'stairway to heaven' in 85 (very good version), most people would know nothing of it or them. To most people they were just 'another' 60's band' like Creme, The Move, Small Faces etc.
 
Zeppelin rarely got radio airplay with the exception of Stairway.

Not in my memory. Stairway was just the most played, but we heard lots of Zep songs on the radio back before "classic" got added to the description of rock stations. Rock and Roll, Black Dog, Kashmir, The Ocean, Nobody's Fault But Mine, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Bring It On Home, Communication Breakdown, Dancing Days, Heartbreaker and quite a few others were all over the radio. Even All My Love and Fool in the Rain got a ton of play.
 
If it wasn't for this there would be a lot of people who would have no idea. Reached No8 in UK charts 1985.

 
If it wasn't for this there would be a lot of people who would have no idea. Reached No8 in UK charts 1985.



From my U.S. world view that's a really bizarre statement. Before you posted this video...I sure had never heard of them or it...I am pretty sure it is safe to say not one member here from the U.S. has ever heard that version...maybe big in the UK but it DID NOT get airplay at all in the U.S....unless it was during that period where I was abducted by the Xenium's and taken to their dimension for what to me only seemed like 10 years but when they brought me back it appeared that I'd only been gone for one or two seconds...or so my atomic clock indicated...you just can't trust the atomic clocks ...:D

Also at least in LA stairway to heaven got burned out pretty quickly ( too long for radio) but tons of other Zep was played daily..
 
Not to be argumentative but unless it was given that '80's beat' at the time. I doubt if it would have been a hit, because otherwise it is just a mediocre song. It has that 60's screaming voice and it goes on too long. There really is nothing special about it and it gets a bit repetitive. Its average at best.

Of course if you are a Led Zeppelin fan you think different. Like I said earlier.....music changes.

 
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