A Real Friend Who Wouldn't Leave a Trouble - Why Led Zeppelin Fans Are Grateful to Joe Walsh
Led Zeppelin - the legendary British rock band that turned the history of music upside down with their distinctive sound! The band's songs have become classics: Zeppelin made colossal influence on many of their followers, and millions of listeners around the world have long put them on their list of personal favorites! And as we've already stressed - distinctive sound played a very important role in this. Each member of the band became an icon of his craft - for example, John Bonham is recognized as the most legendary drummer in history, while Jimmy Page is referred to as nothing less than the greatest guitarist of them all.
But few people know that Page owes his signature sound to one man. Joe Walsh. This American musician is well known to music lovers for his participation in Eagles and the wild antics of his youth! But as it turned out, Walsh was not only a badass rocker, but also a great friend, ready to help in the most difficult moment.
Typical Rocker Problems - Jimmy Page in Search of Proper Equipment
What is the most trivial and common the problem of the rock musician? Of course, there are many of these, but we believe that it is a search for the proper equipment. Alas, until you have the right sound, you won't have any big hits. And it was this obstacle on his way to the world rock arena that he faced. Jimmy Page. Undoubtedly: Led Zeppelin remain one of the loudest and most aggressive rock bands of their era! And their eponymous debut propelled them to fame with such challenging tracks as "Good Times Bad Times" and "Communication Breakdown". But despite their success, Page was dissatisfied: He wanted to sound even stronger and louder, as loud as possible! In particular, he wanted his guitar to sound deeper and richer...
To solve this problem, Page turned to amplifiers VOX.
"I used to call these amps 'Super Beatles'! As far as I knew, the Beatles had them because they couldn't hear their own instruments because of the screaming of the crowd! For that reason, they needed more powerful amplifiers, and the VOX did the job properly."
However, after appreciating the Super Beatles' amps, Page discovered that it would be a good idea to upgrade his main instrument as well. guitar. Back in the days of The Yardbirds and on the first Zeppelin record, Jimmy played the Fender TelecasterBut when the band began to dilute their creativity with more assertive, aggressive motifs, the guitarist realized: the Fender Telecaster was no longer suitable for this new sound. And when the integrity of the instrument was damaged (in particular - the wires were damaged), there was no doubt about the need to look for a new "unit. Paige needed an electric guitar more than ever, and he got it from a rather unexpected man. Joe Walsh!
Joe Walsh throws a lifeline, or rather, a guitar
Jimmy was lucky enough to meet Walsh before Zeppelin - in the second half of the '60s, Joe was opening for The Yardbirds. And for some reason Jimmy remembered Walsh in his hour of need:
"We met with Jimmy, and he was upset. He told me, 'My Fender Telecaster fit the style of The Yardbirds well, but it doesn't work at all within Zeppelin...'" And that's when I knew right away what he was after! My fingers literally snapped above my temple! In those years, there were practically no Les Pauls in England yet! These guitars had not yet become wildly popular, and they were quite easy to find. And they didn't cost very much either...".
And in this, Walsh was right: Gibson Les Paul were not yet popular in Europe. That changed when guitarists like Keith Richards and Eric Clapton took the instrument into their hands and made it legendary! And as it turned out - Walsh just had two of his most popular Gibson Les Paul models sitting idle.
In the more aggressive tion of this instrument Paige found what he had been looking for so long! He immediately started using Les Paul as his favorite guitar. And the album "Led Zeppelin II" The first of the two Gibson models is a brilliant demonstration of this powerful find... all thanks to Walsh, who kept one Gibson for himself and gave the other to Paige.
"In fact, this Les Paul was the foundation of their powerful sound! When I offered this guitar to Jimmy, he said: "Oh, no, no, I can't!" But I told him, "Look: just try it. I'm sure it will solve your problem." And he was delighted. He paid a token amount for it, less than what I bought it for.
Lastly
But Walsh didn't stop there. save the guitarists! Like Paige, the leader The Who went to Walsh in search of sound advice for his new recordings. As you know. Townsend played the Gibson SG during live performances. Walsh, however, gave Pete Gretsch 1957 year. This gift was the sonic jewel of the album "Who's Next". So - we can never be grateful enough to Joe Walsh for what a good comrade and counselor he turned out to be to his fellow workers.
