![\"Jimmy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Jimmy-Page-Led-Zeppelin-Guitarist-1970s-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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Credit: Far Out \/ APA Agency \/ Dina Regine<\/p>\n
Wed 3 June 2026 11:13, UK <\/p>\n
Keith Richards once proclaimed in his typically prickly fashion, \u201cTo me, Led Zeppelin is\u00a0Jimmy Page<\/a>\u00a0if you wanna cut the story short.\u201d <\/p>\n While that doesn\u2019t give much credit to the vocal acrobatics of Robert Plant, the thunder of John Bonham\u2019s dominant drums, or John Paul Jones\u2019 filigreed arrangements, perhaps structurally, Keef\u2019s quip does hold a grain of truth. His guitar was the dark world of Led Zep, and his bandmates were characters within it.<\/p>\n There is something ethereal about Page\u2019s gloopy and mystic playing that brought a unique identity to the searing, sultry band. While the likes of Eddie Van Halen might have called his style a little sloppy in controversial retrospective appraisals, the counter-argument is that it contained untold depth and a wealth of nuance that outstripped any traditional ideals of refinement. Page\u2019s playing is a world unto its own, channelling the troubling swirl of the 1970s zeitgeist in the process.<\/p>\n However, the true beauty of it was that it channelled the zeitgeist of bygone eras, too. The world had heard nothing like Led Zeppelin, and yet, if you put their music under a microscope, as many legal teams suing them for plagiarism went on to do, their songs are heavily rooted in the blues. Rather than representing a covert robbery, this proved that Page and his fellow maestros simply recognised that if you\u2019re trying to reinvent the wheel, then a wheel itself is a pretty good place to start. <\/p>\n One anthem that perfectly captured this attitude was 1969\u2019s blistering \u2018Whole Lotta Love\u2019. The finger shapes are familiar when you strum this classic riff, but that adds a sense of poignancy to the invention. It feels natural, and that familiarity, married with the evident uniqueness of the sound, is what makes it so beautifully catchy. In fact, scientists have quite literally found that surprising originality partnered with a knowable melody is what makes a song stick in our head<\/a>. <\/p>\n Whether Page was aware of that when he was writing \u2018Whole Lotta Love\u2019 or not, he certainly thought he had tapped into something timeless. It\u2019s both rooted in the classic 12-bars of the blues, but almost Bach-like, too. \u201cWith \u2018Whole Lotta Love\u2019,\u201d he told Total Guitar, \u201cthat was clearly going to be the track that everybody was going to go to, because that riff was so fresh and it still is. <\/p>\n Adding, \u201cIf somebody plays that riff<\/a> [as Prince did endlessly], it brings a smile to people\u2019s faces. It\u2019s a really positive thing.\u201d <\/p>\n Further reading: From The Vault<\/p>\n In his view, it plays into a niche canon of classic riffs that people will naturally play when they pick up a guitar, for, well, as long as people are playing guitar. However, the song is also far from simple. It expands upon this staple, bluesy centrepiece and exemplifies the scope of Led Zeppelin\u2019s sound. <\/p>\n Its vocabulary is heavily petatonic, rooted to E. That\u2019s the knowable element. But the surprising originality arises thanks to its rhythmic syncopation. It lurches like an animal stalking prey. With flattened fifths and deliberate spaces, it might sound corny, but it\u2019s the notes that Page doesn\u2019t play that makes the riff sing. And to excuse that corniness even further, science backs up that point. Page plays with what we expect to hear, and that hooks us in. Seemingly, it\u2019ll continue to do so for centuries. <\/p>\n The song is a masterpiece of spacing. As it happens, it was actually writing the riff that led to this new development. <\/p>\n \u201cI knew with \u2018Whole Lotta Love\u2019 that there weren\u2019t going to be any edits,\u201d he said. \u201cI insisted that they kept the middle section in it, which of course they didn\u2019t like, but they had to do it. So I thought, well, if you just keep making the numbers longer and longer.\u201d <\/p>\n Buoyed by the confidence of having an irrefutable classic in their catalogue, Page was now primed to push for progressive calls, and the sound of Led Zeppelin was born, timelessly capturing the sound of their era in a glowing way that has remained free from erosion. <\/p>\n It has long been established that society seeps into art long before art is wrung back out as an era\u2019s \u2018culture\u2019. Even Aristotle said so when he laid down his mantra: \u201cThe purpose of art is to represent the meaning of things. This represents true reality, not external aspects.\u201d <\/p>\n Little did the old Greek know that his statement would beget a bunch of scallies from Birmingham who would\u00a0change the world with heavy metal music<\/a>, Page\u2019s guitar serving as a conduit of capitalist realism as their city became shrouded in heavy metal of a different kind.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-infamous-Seattle-hotel-that-Led-Zeppelin-were-banned-from-entering-Far-Out-Magazine-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>Credit: Far Out \/ Atlantic Records<\/p>\n
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