Keith Richards is part of the most talented generation of musicians to emerge from the United Kingdom, artists who conquered the world and changed the course of music.
The Rolling Stones were from that first wave of bands that took Rock and Roll and Blues to another level and paved the way for a second generation of groups, including Led Zeppelin, that explored a whole new sound. Over the decades, the band’s guitarist, songwriter and producer Jimmy Page has given his opinion on many of his peers, including Keith Richards.
What is Jimmy Page’s opinion on Keith Richards
Jimmy Page and Keith Richards are big admirers of each other as guitar players. In his opinion, the Rolling Stones member is a solid, driving guitarist who doesn’t make any mistakes. “The thing I remember the most is that Keith was solid and driving and he didn’t make mistakes. He kept going all the way through. And I realised just what a powerful force he is behind those Rolling Stones records. There was no doubt about it. Of course, I could take it all apart and highlight everybody’s vital contribution, but Keith was really driving it.”
“(…) The thing about Keith is his timing is really good. He has the imagination to be able to construct these wonderful riffs, which are the driving force behind the Stones’ records, pretty much. Not only that, but he could then turn his attention towards the acoustic playing on the 12-string, where he does ‘Angie’ and things like that. So he’s extremely versatile. And super creative. If you’ve got somebody who can keep coming up with really good riffs decade after decade, that’s pretty serious. And to be respected.”
He continued:
He’s given us decades of wonderful, creative music with an attitude and character which could only be Keith Richards. Let’s hope he lives for another 80 years. Who knows, I might be able to jam with him again in another 50!” Page told Uncut magazine in 2023.
The first time he met Keith and Mick was when the first American Folk Blues tour came to England and the three of them were there to see the artists they liked. Afterwards, many of the people present at that festival, including them, went to a record collector’s house and had the chance to hear for the first time the classic Howlin’ Wolf compilation album with the rocking chair on the cover. Later on, Jimmy went to Rolling Stones concerts in the ’60s, when they were still playing in clubs and said they could play really well.
They had the chance to work together for the first time in a session for the artist Chris Farlowe in 1967, which Richards was producing. Six years later, in 1973, when Page was already one of the biggest guitar players in the world with Led Zeppelin, Ronnie Wood and Keith invited him to stop by a studio and they ended up recording what would become the backing track of the Stones’ song “Scarlet”. In 1986, Page would once again co-write a Stones song, this time “One Hit (To the Body)”, released on their album “Dirty Work”.
Jimmy Page praised Keith and defended Led Zeppelin’s music after being asked about Richards’ negative opinion
“I love Jimmy Page, but as a band, no, with John Bonham thundering down the highway in an uncontrolled 18-wheeler. He had cornered the market there. Jimmy is a brilliant player. But I always felt there was something a little hollow about it, you know?” Keith Richards said about Led Zeppelin in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2015.
After being asked at the time by Classic Rock magazine to comment on that, Jimmy defended his band and praised Keith. “Keith can say what he wants. He’s Keith Richards. I think he’s done some amazing work. I respect his playing. And he has a solo album out. But if I was promoting a new album, would I be more caustic? The answer is no (I don’t agree). I’m not sure what he means by calling Led Zeppelin hollow. I think he’s got his tongue in his cheek. What we did was really cool,” he said.
One decade earlier, when answering fans’ questions on his website, Keith said that he thought the Hard Rock group never really took off musically. “As a band I thought they never took off musically. At the same time Jimmy Page is one of the best guitar players ever known. (They had) a hell of a powerhouse drummer, I think is kind of heavy-handed, myself, but that’s where the “Led” comes in. But at the same time Plant is exuberant, Robert is exuberant.”
He continued:
“Absolutely an LV (Lead Vocalist), although I think he is very much in that English mood of Elvis, Roger Daltrey, there was the fringes and blah, blah, blah, and the microphone. (He also recalls) Rod Stewart and even Mick Jagger. (There were) scenes (that) copied each other in a bit, but to me Led Zeppelin is Jimmy Page. You know, you wanna cut the story short: Jimmy Page, shy boy.”
Jimmy Page also recorded with Brian Jones
Jimmy Page also had the chance to play in a rare Brian Jones solo project in the 60s, which was the soundtrack of the film “A Degree of Murder” (1967). “I didn’t know Mick and Keith as well as I knew Jeff. But I’d seen Brian at the Ealing Jazz Club. I saw him play bottleneck guitar. I was struggling with the Elmore James stuff. Suddenly, it clicked. It was in the tuning. He was doing it.”
“It might have been Stu (Stones roadie-pianist Ian Stewart) who called me. Brian knew what he was doing. It was quite beautiful. Some of it was made up at the time; some of it was stuff I was augmenting with him. I know I was definitely playing with the (violin) bow. Brian had this guitar that had a volume pedal — he could get gunshots with it. There was a Mellotron there. He was moving forward with ideas,” he told Rolling Stone in 2012.
Besides the two, the soundtrack also featured artists like drummer Kenney Jones and session pianist Nicky Hopkins. Brian tragically passed away two years later, in 1969, at the age of 27. Although The Rolling Stones are the longest-running successful Rock band of all time, Led Zeppelin has sold a higher estimated number of records worldwide: 300 million, about 100 million more than the Stones.