(Credits: Far Out / Marcel Antonisse / Anefo)
Wed 18 March 2026 3:00, UK
A lot of the time, when bands have outspoken and pivotal members, no matter how integral a lot of the other members might be, they can get overlooked. This is what happened in Led Zeppelin.
The entire band were a unit, and that unique and groundbreaking sound wouldn’t have worked without each and every member doing what they do best. Of course, when you’re working in a band with the likes of John Bonham, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant all going crazy with their approach to rock, a humble bassist whose job it was to hold everything together can often be overlooked.
John Paul Jones was the barrier that stopped the carnage of Led Zeppelin from spilling over. Without him, it’s not even up for debate; this sound simply wouldn’t have worked. Geddy Lee spoke about the importance of Jones previously, and sure, there might be a little bit of bass bias on show, but his point about how crucial Jones was to the band stands.
“The thing that held the whole thing down was John Paul Jones’ bass playing,” said the Rush bass player. “So if you listen to ‘How Many More Times’, I mean, no matter how wild that song gets at times, there’s John Paul Jones just holding it all down in such a fluid way.”
It sometimes takes a musician trained in the art of a certain instrument to be able to point out these band members who are so often overlooked. That’s what Keith Richards did, as when he was talking about the different bands which he adored, he admitted he believes one of the best groups of all time was the band that played for Elvis Presley.
When Elvis Presley first took to the screen with his performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, while people liked his voice, they were predominantly drawn to his exciting performance style. He wouldn’t just sing, he would shake his hips and gyrate in a way that some people loved and others detested. Regardless of which side of that argument you sit on, there was no escaping that people were watching Elvis purely because of Elvis.
“Some people tap their feet, some people snap their fingers, and some people sway back and forth,” said Presley when he was discussing his exciting performance style. “I just sorta do ‘em all together, I guess.”
As a result of Elvis’s notoriety, his band were often overlooked, even though they were frequently holding the entire sound together. If not for the music put together by such a musical outfit, then a lot of the classic songs that people still adore to this day wouldn’t resonate in such a big way. Richards, who championed early rock ‘n’ roll and that classic R&B sound, said that he believes Elvis’s band were one of the best American groups out there.
“I could’ve done with being one of Elvis’s original band,” he said when discussing how much of a big fan he was of theirs, concluding, “I would start personally with probably The Hillbilly Cats, Elvis’ band. Scotty Moore (Guitar), DJ Fontana (Drums) and Bill Black (Bass). The most amazing stuff, and it was very early on.”
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