What the members of Led Zeppelin say about the famous

[kaiser]

While in my constant search for quotes in Super Dave's "What The Famous Say About Led Zeppelin" thread I always find just as many quotes that the members of Zeppelin say about others, musicians mainly but others come up as well ranging from Salvador Dali to Jeff Beck, from Queen Elizabeth to the members of Queen. So this is the inverse of Super Dave's thread, where the members of Zep give their opinions on famous contempories, musical influences, politicians, artists & authors they like, televison shows & movies they like, etc

Feel free to share your quotes. The only thing I ask is that they are actual quotes & not what you think that one of them may have said, for example "I think Jimmy Page once said somewhere, at sometime, that he thought so & so was this but I don't really remember". Lol, that's always infuriating because it starts ridiculous speculation, rumors with no basis, 5 pages on a specific thread that leads nowhere, & countless other threads get started because of this inaccurate recollection. A complete domino affect. Also if there is another thread like this buried somewhere I am to lazy to search for it. Anyway to start it off:

Jimmy Page on the Rolling Stones in Mojo magazine September 2007:

"I used to see the Stones in the early days when people hadn't caught on to how good they actually were. I'd seen Brian Jones jamming with Alexis Korner, over in Twickenham, and I think I first saw The Stones in Sutton. They were doing versions of the good Chess artists, Bo Diddley and the like, but it was the right Bo Diddley, like Bring It To Jerome, with Brian and Mick playing harmonica, which I don't think they ever recorded. It was fantastic when they started doing the Chuck Berry stuff. They did Carol and it sounds raw as fuck, they were really spitting it out. The whole vibe of it was just great. Carol was the sort of thing we'd been listening to for a number of years, and all of a sudden there's a band of guys doing it in your living room. Amazing."

[kaiser]

Jimmy Page on Andy Warhol & The Velvet Underground in Creem Close Up: Metal Rock 'N' Roll magazine 1985:

Creem: Let's talk about the 60's. Remember coming down to the Scene Club?

Jimmy Page: That was incredible. Warhol did all these interior decorations with baker's foil, what you cook turkey's with...

Creem: Aluminum foil.

Jimmy Page: Yeah, silver paper everywhere, and the Velvet Underground were there. And they were brilliant. We used to go down there. I tell you, it was marvelous to witness them playing. They were fantastic. They were brilliant, every single one of them, from Maureen Tucker, Lou Reed, to John Cale. Every single one of them was brilliant. That really was sort of a band I could always relate to and always will relate to.

[kaiser]

Robert Plant on Steve Winwood, interviewed by Dia Stein in 1988, reprinted in Masters Of Rock #4 1991:

Dia Stein: Did you feel competetive with Steve Winwood?

Robert Plant: I thought he was leagues and streets ahead of me, and he was because he made records before I did. I was 17; he was 16. His records were succesful on a pop thing, and mine weren't. I was always the kind of guy that it took me two more years to break than him. He was so much more fluid and comfortable. I was still developing the style as a solo singer. He has always been the instrumentalist/singer, but brilliant. I mean, "Can't Find My Way Home" from Blind Faith, and "No Face, No Name, No Number" from Traffic are absolute zeniths of white soul singing.

[Dr Death]

Jimmy Page - when told that Jethro Tull was releasing a live album... "What are they going to call it? 'Bore 'em At The Forum?'"

[Janet]

Jimmy Page - when told that Jethro Tull was releasing a live album... "What are they going to call it? 'Bore 'em At The Forum?'"

[beatbo]

"well, I think he's a fucking idiot. horses for courses: i've worked with phil johnstone - nobody's perfect." - robert plant, on david coverdale, in the december 1994 issue of mojo...

[beatbo]

Jimmy Page - when told that Jethro Tull was releasing a live album... "What are they going to call it? 'Bore 'em At The Forum?'"

"ian (anderson) is a pain in the ass. we toured with `jethro dull' once and i think he probably spoke three words to jimmy or i at any one time... (page) had a title for a live album when jethro was playing in l.a. : `bore 'em at the forum.' " - john paul jones, guitar world

[Walter]

"well, I think he's a fucking idiot. horses for courses: i've worked with phil johnstone - nobody's perfect." - robert plant, on david coverdale, in the december 1994 issue of mojo...

Interesting - did he and Phil J. have a falling out?

[JoshZoso]

Jimmy Page on Steven Tyler after he tried out to be their new singer

"Buy him a plane ticket home"

[kaiser]

Jimmy Page on Eddie Van Halen in Guitar World Special Collector's Edition #4 July 1986:

GW: Do you listen to someone like Edward Van Halen and the way in which he uses the tremelo arm?

Page: I am extremely aware of him, actually, and I take my hat off to him for working out that technique (referring to Van Halen's pioneering of the hammer-on technique). You know, you talk about what I've done on the guitar and what he's done on the guitar. As far as it goes, it's an incredible technique for what he does. I must say that. I can't do it. I can't smile like him either. It's a really good technique but as I say I can't play like that.

[kaiser]

Jimmy Page on Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell, & The Beatles in Guitar World magazine December 1993:

GW: Speaking of Eddie Kramer, who worked closely with Jimi Hendrix: Did you ever jam with Hendrix?

Page: No. And I never saw him play, either. This is a good story actually, back in the late-Sixties, I went right from working with the Yardbirds to touring and recording with Zeppelin, and that kept me very busy. In the first two years of any band, you just work solidly; if you're going to make an impact that's what you do. We were no different. In fact, we probably worked for three years straight. Anyway, every time I came back from tour and Hendrix was playing somewhere, I would say to myself, "Oh, I'm just so exhausted, I'll see him next time." I just put it off, and, of course, there ultimately never was a next time. I'm really, really upset with myself for never seeing him. I really wanted to hear him.

Now, did I ever get to meet him? I did actually go to a club in New York called Salvation, and he was there, but he was totally out of it. He didn't really know who anybody was - he was barely concious. Somebody was just kind of holding him up. It is just kind of a shame I never really had a chance to talk with him or hear him. I heard his records, naturally, but it would have been a thrill to see how he worked things out on stage. That's quite another ballgame, as you know.

GW: As a producer what did you think of his records?

Page: I thought they were excellent. Oh, yeah. Jimi's drummer, Mitch Mitchell was also a man inspired. He never played drums like that before or since. He played some incredible stuff!

GW: Although your playing styles were different, you and Jimi were similar in that you both tried to achieve these great aural landscapes.

Page: Well, there were a lot of people going in that direction. Look at the Beatles. Here was a band that went from "Please Mr. Postman" to "I Am The Walrus" in a few short years.

[kaiser]

John Paul Jones on Ian Anderson, Ritchie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, The Who, The Beatles, & The Stones. Interviewed by Steve Rosen in 1977, reprinted in Guitar World Special Collector's Edition #4 1986:

"Ian (Anderson) is a pain in the ass. We toured with Jethro Dull (sic) once and I think he probably spoke three words to Jimmy or I at any one time. The band was nice but he was such a funny fucker. His music bores the pants off of me - it's awful. Page came up with the greatest line about them. He had a title for a live album when Jethro was playing in Los Angeles: Bore 'Em at The Forum."

"Blackmore is another guy I don't like. He was supposed to have been a big session man but he must have done demos because he was never a regular session man. I'm getting out all my pet hates."

"Beck I like, Page likes him. He could have been as big as Led Zeppelin but he is not consistent enough. He's funny though; he'd play a wrong note and he'd go kick the amp."

"(Keith) Moon came up with the name Led Zeppelin. I read somewhere that (John) Enthistle hates that. I don't think he likes us very much, does the Ox (John's nickname). I don't know why though. I get on alright with him. We had quite a bit of love for them really because they were the original English rock group. The Beatles weren't really, the Beatles were the Beatles. But for an English rock group going to the States the Who were undoubtly the ones. The Stones were different too, I suppose."

[kaiser]

Jimmy Page on Kingdom Come & Whitesnake from Musician magazine July 1988:

Musician: Have you listened to Kingdom Come?

Page: Kingdom Clone, you mean? I've heard the album, yeah. I've listened to the album. I was amused, to begin with. It wasn't as amusing as Whitesnake, let's put it that way. Kingdom Come was closer to the bone. The thing that comes to mind is that the guitarist said he'd never heard my playing.

Musician: What!??!

Page: Which I found hard to believe, since the guitarist is from America. A rock 'n' roll guitarist who's never heard any Led Zeppelin music, that's quite amazing. It must be I visit him as a vampire and leave my mark physically.

Musician: You were more amused by David Coverdale?

Page: I was amused when I saw the first video. When the guitarist picked up the bow, I literally fell out my bed laughing. I couldn't believe anyone could be so cheap. That was rather amusing. I guess they're pretty popular. There are real differences between coming up with a riff, restructuring a riff, and just stealing a riff. If you're going to do a song like "Get It On," you should at least try to change the vocal approach as well. Or the melody and the riff are going to sound very familar. And that's the Kingdom of the Clone.

[Gospel Zone]

Page: I was amused when I saw the first video. When the guitarist picked up the bow, I literally fell out my bed laughing. I couldn't believe anyone could be so cheap.

That's my feeling everytime I watch Jimi Hendrix stealing The Who's act at Monterey. Up until that point it was just Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell looking like bufoons. Don't get me wrong, I like Jimi, but only up to a point and I always thought that the Jimi Hendrix Experience was put together much like The Monkees.... therefore it was kind of fitting that they toured together, haha!

Getting back to the topic at hand, I remember reading somewhere that Jimmy Page offered to sit in for Keith Richards had Keith gone to prison on his 1977 Canadian drug bust. Jimmy said of Keith; "You just have to listen to "Dance Little Sister" and you can forgive that guy for anything.

[kaiser]

That's my feeling everytime I watch Jimi Hendrix stealing The Who's act at Monterey. Up until that point it was just Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell looking like bufoons. Don't get me wrong, I like Jimi, but only up to a point and I always thought that the Jimi Hendrix Experience was put together much like The Monkees.... therefore it was kind of fitting that they toured together, haha!

The difference between the Whitesnake lift of Page's imagery & Hendrix's lift of the Who's is that Page with a violin is/was an iconic image by that point & John Sykes or whoever it was in the "Still Of The Night" video was trying to associate himself with that greatness through a gimmick. Hendrix outright told Townshend he was going to do his act & blow him off the stage. The Who's act was far from iconic at that point too as Monterey was their first big American gig, as it was Hendrix's as well. Also Hendix didn't have to do their act, he had more than enough of his own stage antics that nobody would have cared about the whole guitar into amps thing. I think it was just friendly competition on his part.

As far as The Monkees, uh, I'd have to disagree lol. The Monkees were never a group, they were put together for a TV show, Don Kirshner wrote their songs & had others write for them as well, they didn't play on the albums, etc.

The only thing manufactured about Thee Experience is that they were put together as Hendrix's backing band by Chas Chandler. Hendrix was asked if he could play with them & he said it would be no problem. Of course the image of the band was contrived but so was every other bands' during that time, and before and since. The important thing is that nothing was contrived about the music from "The Wind Cries Mary" to "Third Stone From The Sun". You can't fake that kind of genuis.

[Aquamarine]

Getting off-topic, but the Monkees played on their later albums, and they certainly played on their concert tours.

[Gospel Zone]

The difference between the Whitesnake lift of Page's imagery & Hendrix's lift of the Who's is that Page with a violin is/was an iconic image by that point & John Sykes or whoever it was in the "Still Of The Night" video was trying to associate himself with that greatness through a gimmick. Hendrix outright told Townshend he was going to do his act & blow him off the stage. The Who's act was far from iconic at that point too as Monterey was their first big American gig, as it was Hendrix's as well. Also Hendix didn't have to do their act, he had more than enough of his own stage antics that nobody would have cared about the whole guitar into amps thing. I think it was just friendly competition on his part.

The Who had quite a cult following long before their appearance at Monterey. I've always thought that their instrument and equipment smashing was much more interesting and exciting than someone playing a guitar with a bow, no offense to Jimmy Page. There was that scene in BLOW-UP with the Yardbirds imitating The Who. Jeff Beck, himself said that the Yardbirds "were supposed to be The Who, so why didn't they get The Who" for the movie. And that movie was before the Monterey pop festival.

If Jimi had enough of his own stage antics, why steal The Who's, why not just stick with his own? I've always thought that Pete Townshend did not give himself enough credit. He should have been flattered that's this so called great guitarists was reduced to stealing his trademark. And the guitar smashing thing wasn't the only thing Jimi stole from Pete.

As far as The Monkees, uh, I'd have to disagree lol. The Monkees were never a group, they were put together for a TV show, Don Kirshner wrote their songs & had others write for them as well, they didn't play on the albums, etc.

The only thing manufactured about Thee Experience is that they were put together as Hendrix's backing band by Chas Chandler. Hendrix was asked if he could play with them & he said it would be no problem. Of course the image of the band was contrived but so was every other bands' during that time, and before and since. The important thing is that nothing was contrived about the music from "The Wind Cries Mary" to "Third Stone From The Sun". You can't fake that kind of genuis.

Noel Redding got the job because Jimi liked his hair....before that he had never played the bass.

Any comments about Jimmy's comments on Keith?

[kaiser]

The Who had quite a cult following long before their appearance at Monterey. I've always thought that their instrument and equipment smashing was much more interesting and exciting than someone playing a guitar with a bow, no offense to Jimmy Page. There was that scene in BLOW-UP with the Yardbirds imitating The Who. Jeff Beck, himself said that the Yardbirds "were supposed to be The Who, so why didn't they get The Who" for the movie. And that movie was before the Monterey pop festival.

If Jimi had enough of his own stage antics, why steal The Who's, why not just stick with his own? I've always thought that Pete Townshend did not give himself enough credit. He should have been flattered that's this so called great guitarists was reduced to stealing his trademark. And the guitar smashing thing wasn't the only thing Jimi stole from Pete.

Noel Redding got the job because Jimi liked his hair....before that he had never played the bass.

Any comments about Jimmy's comments on Keith?

The Who did have a cult following but their stage act had yet to be iconic. Most of that audience at Monterey probably didn't know what they had in store with them when the Who & Hendrix hit the stage, & they got their minds blown by 2 great acts. As far as "stealing" Townshend's act as I said I think it was just a matter of friendly competition. Hendrix was already playing behind his head & with his teeth when he was in Little Richards touring band, which those moves he stole from T-Bone Walker & Louis Jordan, which Chuck Berry also "stole" his stage style & writing style from too. Hendrix was signed to The Who's label Track in England, Townshend introduced Hendrix to Jim Marshall & his amps, they played double bills together in England together before Monterey... I still see it as friendly rivalry, one act showing the other act up. Jerry Lee Lewis & Chuck Berry STILL do that when they play double bills together depending on who's opening for the other. I'm probably a bigger Townshend fan than a Hendrix fan but this is all superficial stuff. Townshend it could be argued stole the use of feedback from the Beatles or even more likely Link Wray, it doesn't really matter. Someone had to do it first, it's just what's done with it after the fact. Link Wray never used feedback they way Townshend did on "Armenia City In The Sky" & Hendrix took it even further. It least it was pushing music rather than John Sykes trying to imply that he is in the chosen one after Page by waving a bow on a song that features no guitar bowing on it lol. I think that's the difference. Regardless, Townshend is still a fan of Hendrix's and always speaks glowingly about him. As far as The Yardbirds movie stint, well the movie was filmed in England by an Italian director. The Who toured Europe before coming to the US, they had a following. When The Who did come to the US they were doing 15 minutes on Murray The K package tours 5 times a day with people like Lulu as the headliner. The weren't big. It took "I Can See For Miles" & "Happy Jack" of all songs for the Who to make a dent in America.

You're half right about Noel. Jimi agreed to him because he liked his hair but Chas Chandler choose him because he was friendly with Noel when Noel was a guitar player & Chas liked him as a musician most importantly despite Noel's Dylanesque hair. That doesn't make any difference to me one way or the other. The music was still great & organic in the studio so if Jimi liked Noel's Dylanesque hair, well good for both of them.

As far as the Jimmy quote, I know it. I'll print the whole quote.

[kaiser]

Jimmy Page on Keith Richards, interviewed by Wesley Strick in 1977 & reprinted in Jimmy Page Tangents Within A Framework:

"He's so good at what he does. It's a shame his personal life should be so exposed - that it should be allowed to interrupt what he's doing musically. Because he's the facade of what the Stones are doing. People get more into the outrage than the music sometimes which is a great pity. You only have to put on "Dance Little Sister" and you forgive the guy for anything. Keith's always been under the hammer. It's an imposed social karma which is bullshit."

It is a good quote Gospel Zone. Regardless of what Keith's feelings are on Zeppelin as a band there has always been a mutual admiration society between Keith & Jimmy for eachother as people & musicians. Keith after all invited Jimmy to play lead on the Stone's "One Hit To The Body" immediately after Live Aid. Keith just doesn't like hard rock, or even most of his contempories music for that matter. The guy pretty much lives on a diet of old blues & reggae, with the odd bit of 50's rock, old country, & some classical thrown in. The only hard rock Keith likes is AC/DC & that's because they're very simple. "Powerage" is his favorite(as is mine). I have another quote from Jimmy on Keith from the same book but from a interview with Cameron Crowe in 1975 in Rolling Stone:

"I worked on a probable Stones track with Rick Grech and Keith Richards and a drummer, entitled "Scarlet", which they took to Island Studios where Keith added some reggae guitars over one section and I added some solos on to it."

[kaiser]

Robert Plant on John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon in Kerrang magazine January 23, 1988:

Robert Plant:

"Did you know John Lydon(Johnny Rotten) got in touch with me because he couldn't work out the lyrics to 'Kashmir'? So I wrote them out on the back of a Holiday Inn breakfast to hang outside the door... 'O, father of the four winds fill my sails to cross the sea of years.' I couldn't imagine him singing that. I don't think he does anyway. He told me he gave up!"

Kerrang:

But wasn't it Johnny who said he fell asleep watching "The Song Remains The Same', Zeppelin's famed movie?

Robert Plant:

"Yeah... he went into a coma for about five years and then he made 'Rise' which was the first time he did anything decent anyway. The barbed tongue is still there!"

It's true. I saw John Lydon with PiL at the Ritz in NYC in 1992 & they opened up with an instrumental version of "Kashmir" which was shocking because I don't think anyone expected that. The late great John McGeogh was PiL's guitarist at the time who also played with Magazine and Siouxsie & The Banshees, and he was a big Jimmy Page fan. He was often referred to as the "New Wave Jimmy Page".

[zdr]

This is gold.

Not too long time ago, I was into a quest for finding proves for Zep's influence on punk (i was fighting someone over internet - lame, I know). And all I have found was Kirk Hammett's quote about how Johnny Ramone loved Zep's first 2 LPs. And about the negative influence on Clash (aka genuine hate) and how the punk acts were calling them "dinosaurs".

[Ady]

I saw John Lydon with PiL at the Ritz in NYC in 1992 & they opened up with an instrumental version of "Kashmir" which was shocking because I don't think anyone expected that. The late great John McGeogh was PiL's guitarist at the time who also played with Magazine and Siouxsie & The Banshees, and he was a big Jimmy Page fan. He was often referred to as the "New Wave Jimmy Page".

I saw PIL in 1992 as well, at the Reading Festival, where they also opened with Kashmir.

I looked on youtube and it seems they'd been doing it earlier than than too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KWeC92thhw

[JoshZoso]

This is gold.

Not too long time ago, I was into a quest for finding proves for Zep's influence on punk (i was fighting someone over internet - lame, I know). And all I have found was Kirk Hammett's quote about how Johnny Ramone loved Zep's first 2 LPs. And about the negative influence on Clash (aka genuine hate) and how the punk acts were calling them "dinosaurs".

When did punks know anything about good music. They've always had a stick up their ass about Zeppelin.

[Gospel Zone]

The Who did have a cult following but their stage act had yet to be iconic. Most of that audience at Monterey probably didn't know what they had in store with them when the Who & Hendrix hit the stage, & they got their minds blown by 2 great acts. As far as "stealing" Townshend's act as I said I think it was just a matter of friendly competition. Hendrix was already playing behind his head & with his teeth when he was in Little Richards touring band, which those moves he stole from T-Bone Walker & Louis Jordan, which Chuck Berry also "stole" his stage style & writing style from too. Hendrix was signed to The Who's label Track in England, Townshend introduced Hendrix to Jim Marshall & his amps, they played double bills together in England together before Monterey... I still see it as friendly rivalry, one act showing the other act up. Jerry Lee Lewis & Chuck Berry STILL do that when they play double bills together depending on who's opening for the other. I'm probably a bigger Townshend fan than a Hendrix fan but this is all superficial stuff. Townshend it could be argued stole the use of feedback from the Beatles or even more likely Link Wray, it doesn't really matter. Someone had to do it first, it's just what's done with it after the fact. Link Wray never used feedback they way Townshend did on "Armenia City In The Sky" & Hendrix took it even further. It least it was pushing music rather than John Sykes trying to imply that he is in the chosen one after Page by waving a bow on a song that features no guitar bowing on it lol. I think that's the difference. Regardless, Townshend is still a fan of Hendrix's and always speaks glowingly about him. As far as The Yardbirds movie stint, well the movie was filmed in England by an Italian director. The Who toured Europe before coming to the US, they had a following. When The Who did come to the US they were doing 15 minutes on Murray The K package tours 5 times a day with people like Lulu as the headliner. The weren't big. It took "I Can See For Miles" & "Happy Jack" of all songs for the Who to make a dent in America.

Regardless of how hip the audience at Monterey was to The Who, prior to their performance there their stage act was already well established across the world. The US was the last major country for The Who to break. I have seen more than one interview with Pete Townshend were he accused Jimi of stealing The Who's stage act at Monterey and I agree with him. I would rather just see Jimi play, anyway, than see any of his stage antics.

Maybe this goes back to how much someone knows about The Who's history prior to breaking America, but to me there's just something about the guitar smashing thing that just doesn't work when done by anyone other than The Who. The only thing worse would be if Townshend had played with his teeth.

I think Jimi got by with this more because of his winning personality.

You're half right about Noel. Jimi agreed to him because he liked his hair but Chas Chandler choose him because he was friendly with Noel when Noel was a guitar player & Chas liked him as a musician most importantly despite Noel's Dylanesque hair. That doesn't make any difference to me one way or the other. The music was still great & organic in the studio so if Jimi liked Noel's Dylanesque hair, well good for both of them.

I've always thought Noel Redding's songs "Little Miss Strange" and "She's So Fine" sound like something The Monkees would have done.

[Gospel Zone]

Jimmy Page on Keith Richards, interviewed by Wesley Strick in 1977 & reprinted in Jimmy Page Tangents Within A Framework:

"He's so good at what he does. It's a shame his personal life should be so exposed - that it should be allowed to interrupt what he's doing musically. Because he's the facade of what the Stones are doing. People get more into the outrage than the music sometimes which is a great pity. You only have to put on "Dance Little Sister" and you forgive the guy for anything. Keith's always been under the hammer. It's an imposed social karma which is bullshit."

It is a good quote Gospel Zone. Regardless of what Keith's feelings are on Zeppelin as a band there has always been a mutual admiration society between Keith & Jimmy for eachother as people & musicians. Keith after all invited Jimmy to play lead on the Stone's "One Hit To The Body" immediately after Live Aid. Keith just doesn't like hard rock, or even most of his contempories music for that matter. The guy pretty much lives on a diet of old blues & reggae, with the odd bit of 50's rock, old country, & some classical thrown in. The only hard rock Keith likes is AC/DC & that's because they're very simple. "Powerage" is his favorite(as is mine). I have another quote from Jimmy on Keith from the same book but from a interview with Cameron Crowe in 1975 in Rolling Stone:

"I worked on a probable Stones track with Rick Grech and Keith Richards and a drummer, entitled "Scarlet", which they took to Island Studios where Keith added some reggae guitars over one section and I added some solos on to it."

I'm impressed that you found the quote. I was just going by my memory of something I read a long time ago. Good job!