![\"Jimmy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Jimmy-Page-Border-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
Thu 4 December 2025 21:38, UK <\/p>\n
From the moment he left The Yardbirds, Jimmy Page<\/a> had a clear vision for what he wanted Led Zeppelin to be. <\/p>\n He had spent years in the session scene playing what everyone wanted him to play, and when listening to the first few bars of \u2018Good Times Bad Times\u2019, it was like he finally had the opportunity to roam free and play whatever kind of blues he wanted without having to worry about singles. This was a sea change going on in rock and roll, but it wasn\u2019t like everybody was on board with them.<\/p>\n Then again, it\u2019s not required by law that every single rock and roll fan needs to like Led Zeppelin. There are definitely certain listeners that would much rather gravitate to what The Beatles or The Rolling Stones were doing around this time, but when you listen to the first opening bars of \u2018Whole Lotta Love\u2019, you can hear the beginnings of what the 1970s were going to sound like in Page\u2019s licks. <\/p>\n But even though Page was the ringmaster, the band was the epitome of a democracy. The basis of a song might start with Page\u2019s lick or something that John Paul Jones came up with, but if it didn\u2019t have John Bonham\u2019s pummelling drums or Robert Plant wailing over the top of everything, it would cease to be perfect half the time they play. Each of them had their own role, and if Page was the brains, Bonham was the band\u2019s beating heart.<\/p>\n Did he have a few times where he went overboard playing a drum solo? Absolutely, but no one needed to complain for a second whenever he got behind the kit. Even if the band were four guys pushing rock and roll forward, Bonzo could have been just as entertaining if you gave him nothing but a tambourine, but some of his heroes were never all that enamoured with what the drummer was playing. <\/p>\n Although Ginger Baker claimed that Bonham could never swing his drums, Page felt that the Cream drummer was merely jealous of what Zeppelin had done, saying<\/a>, \u201cI was a bit disappointed by that. His criticism was that Bonham didn\u2019t swing. I was like, \u2018Oh, Ginger. That\u2019s the only thing that\u2019s undeniable about Bonham.\u2019 I thought that was stupid. That was a really silly thing of him to say.\u201d And when listening to those later records, it\u2019s clear that Bonham swung better than anyone else.<\/p>\n