Jimmy Page started his career really young and quickly became one of the most respected session guitarists in England, playing the guitar in many famous records in the 60s. His first big chance as a member of a group was in The Yardbirds but since the band dissolved two years after he joined them, in 1968, Page decided to create a new group, which was later named Led Zeppelin.
As the band’s guitarist and producer, Page had the help of Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham to make the group one of the best-selling of all time. They have sold an estimated amount of 200 to 300 million records worldwide and are one of the most influential groups in history.
Over the decades he had the chance to see many incredible groups and once he described an American band as absolutely phenomenal.
The band that Jimmy Page said was absolutely phenomenal
The American band that Jimmy Page had the chance to see live many times and said that was absolutely phenomenal was The Velvet Underground. Formed in New York City in 1964, the group’s classic line-up had Lou Reed (Vocals, guitar), John Cale (Bass), Sterling Morrison (Guitar) and Moe Tucker (Drums).
Page talked about them in a conversation with Interview Magazine in 2019. “I’d seen The Velvet Underground on more than one occasion. They were almost like a resident band. Andy Warhol was keen for them to be there. I can tell you exactly what it was like. When I heard the first album, it was just exactly what they were like. They were just like that. It was absolutely phenomenal. The other thing about Steve Paul’s and The Velvet Underground was that it didn’t really have too many people coming to hear it, which I found extraordinary.”
“Hardly any people (went to see them). Like, nine, a dozen people. It was so radical, such a radical band. You know, Maureen Tucker just playing the sort of snare drum. And the fact that there was the electric viola with John Cale. You just didn’t get this sort of line-up. It was really arts lab. As opposed to pop music, (they had) this wonderful glue, this synergy between them that was dark. It was very dark,” Jimmy Page said.
Page loved their debut album album released in 1967
As he told The Quietus in 2014, Page loved their debut album released in 1967 and he already knew their collaborator, the German singer Nico. The guitarist had already worked as a session musician for her and even helped to write one of her songs. The track was called “The Last Mile” and he was only about 19 at the time.
“I saw them about three or four times and let me tell you, they were phenomenal. No. No, they were intense! I’d heard their first album when I was touring the States with The Yardbirds.”
“It’s an incredible album, it really is. It still sounds marvelous. The Yardbirds used to cover ‘I’m Waiting For My Man’ a lot. We used to drop it into the middle of ‘I’m A Man’. I’m pretty certain we were the first people to cover The Velvet Underground,” Jimmy Page said.
Called “The Velvet Underground & Nico”, their debut record was released in 1967. The famous album cover was created by the artist Andy Warhol. All tracks were written by Lou Reed, who also recorded the vocals. But some of the songs also had the German singer Nico as the singer. Besides “Waiting For My Man”, mentioned by Page, the album also had famous tracks like “Sunday Morning”, “Femme Fatale”, “There She Goes Again” and “Venus In Furs”.
They were active from 1964 until 1973, reuniting in 1990, 1992, 1993 and 1996. They haven’t sold more than 1 million records worldwide but they are one of the most influential groups of all time. Their music was crucial for the development of Punk, New Wave and many other music genres. Besides the debut album, the band released another four albums. They were “White Light/White Heat” (1968), “The Velvet Underground” (1969), “Loaded” (1970) and “Squeeze” (1973).