Jimmy Page felt insulted when a Led Zeppelin film was first pitched to him by an ‘idiot’

The Led Zeppelin founder was pitched an ‘insulting’ idea for a movie about the band (Picture: Getty/Wireimage)

Jimmy Page, 81, is the guitarist and founder of Led Zeppelin, the iconic rock band behind Stairway To Heaven and Whole Lotta Love.

As the group’s first official documentary, Becoming Led Zeppelin hits cinemas, in 60 Seconds he talks about the band’s enduring popularity, reunions and working with Shirley Bassey…

Have you had a lot of people proposing Led Zeppelin films?

Yeah…Warner Brothers, who were trying to float this idea with an absolute idiot. We had a meeting, and he was saying, ‘Oh, well, it starts off at the Continental Hyatt Hotel. And it’s in the lobby and there’s lots of groupies and then you come down in the lift…’

Excuse me? What group is it you think are doing this? You’re not talking to Led Zeppelin? Is it Mötley Crüe? Or Quiet Riot?

It was really insulting because I’m about what the music is about.

Why do you think the band caught fire in the way it did? Led Zeppelin began in 1968 and split up in 1980 (Picture: WireImage)

It’s not always easy to get four musicians at their peak, but with Led Zeppelin the stars aligned. We had no choice in it almost.

Is there any moment you can point to where it all clicked?

Well, I knew what the momentum was from the point where we hit the States. The
first record was just about to come out in January 1969 and by that time we were on the West Coast, playing the Fillmore… yeah, it was just sort of meant
to be.

When they say, ‘Led Zeppelin selling five million records’, it doesn’t mean anything to me. What it meant to me
was each night going on the stage and being able to improve on what I’d done
the night before.

Were you always a bit of a control freak with the band? Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin (Picture: Jay Dickman/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

I wouldn’t have anyone in the studio!


I didn’t even like photographers in the studio, which of course is not a very good thing for us now when we’re looking for all the photographs and things but that’s how it was. I wanted just total concentration on what we were doing.

How did you learn to play guitar?

I’m self-taught. This sort of stuff couldn’t be taught – you had to learn it yourself or make your own interpretation of what you thought it was.

So I learned from these wonderful guitarists I heard, whether they be rockabilly, blues or even classical or jazz, whatever. I learned from all of this and
I couldn’t play the same as these people but I’m trying to play in the spirit.

Jimmy Page with his 1971 Gibson EDS-1275 double-neck guitar (Picture: Michael Putland/Getty Images) What makes Led Zeppelin’s music live on?

It was unique. There was nothing like it. Each album was different. I made a point of doing that, so we just kept growing. It kept mutating. In a live situation we were making up music every night. So the way
I see it, the Led Zeppelin legacy, with the four musicians, is just a textbook for young musicians. It’s wonderful.

David Fincher used Immigrant Song in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Do you feel people are rediscovering your songs along the way?

Oh sure. They’ve had Good Times Bad Times and When The Levee Breaks [in films]. But
I mean, with Levee Breaks, it’s so dramatic, just from that drum intro… to put in a film people will go, ‘Oh my God, what is this? Oh it’s Led Zeppelin!’

Is it true that you play the guitar on the theme for Goldfinger? Jimmy Page was just 17 when he played alongside Shirley Bassey on the Goldfinger theme (Picture: Staff/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)

Well, I got contracted in. So you would get a telephone call to say, ‘Oh, can you be here?’ In this case it was EMI Studios. And it was John Barry who was conducting the orchestra. When it started, when he counted them in, it was like ‘Oh my goodness gracious. This is marvellous!’

But at that point, Shirley Bassey hadn’t come in to sing. And then she came out and did this incredible performance… phenomenal.

And she really fainted?

Yeah, yeah. Because you could hear this high note going on. And apparently she’d been told to do a sustain at the end, but not how long.

This is her story afterwards. So basically, she runs out of breath and just collapses. So it’s marvellous. As a kid, I’m like 17-18. What an experience to be part of that!

The film stops at the making of the album Led Zeppelin II. Could you see another doc down the line?

I want to see how this does – see the ripples from it and the feedback. Hopefully, people will re-access Led Zeppelin’s musicand they’ll hear this early stuff.

Can you see a future for Led Zeppelin? A reunion maybe?

I think the future of Led Zeppelin is the past. Because the past… you can’t argue with it. It’s like Abba. You can’t argue with what they did. It’s just so good. It was so cleverly put together. And it’s the musicianship – it’s a textbook for musicians. It is what it is. Pretty damn good.

But I’ve no idea. I mean, maybe in about another 20 years, I could do it!

Becoming Led Zeppelin is in cinemas from today.