London, UK — In the pantheon of rock and roll history, few names carry the mythological weight of Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. Both men are architects of the modern electric guitar, springing from the fertile ground of the 1960s British Blues Boom to change the sonic landscape of the 20th century. However, despite their shared lineage as alumni of The Yardbirds, the relationship between the two guitar gods has always been complex.
For decades, fans have speculated about the dynamic between “Slowhand” and the “Dark Lord” of Led Zeppelin. While often cordial, the truth is layered with artistic divergence and critical friction. Eric Clapton’s opinion on Jimmy Page is a fascinating study in professional respect tempered by a distinct musical distaste, particularly regarding the bombastic legacy of Led Zeppelin.
The Yardbirds Connection: A Shared Ancestry
To understand Eric Clapton’s opinion on Jimmy Page, one must look back to the genesis of their careers. Both musicians cut their teeth in the gritty R&B clubs of London, and both served tenure in The Yardbirds, a band that arguably served as the most important incubator for guitar talent in rock history (Jeff Beck also being a member).
Clapton left The Yardbirds in 1965 because he felt they were straying too far from pure blues into pop territory with hits like “For Your Love.” Ironically, Jimmy Page, who was working as a lucrative session musician at the time, eventually took the reins of the band. When The Yardbirds eventually dissolved, Page reformed the group as “The New Yardbirds,” which quickly morphed into the juggernaut known as Led Zeppelin.
While they emerged from the same scene, their trajectories split: Clapton pursued the purity of the blues through John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and eventually the psychedelic improvisation of Cream, while Page built a heavier, darker, and more production-heavy sound.
Respect for the Player, Disdain for the Band
Throughout his extensive career, Clapton has never hesitated to speak his mind. When discussing his contemporaries, he draws a sharp line between individual talent and the musical vehicles they ride.
In his autobiography, Clapton clarifies his stance. He holds Page the guitarist in high regard. “Though I rated Jeff Beck, and also Jimmy Page [highly], their roots were in Rockabilly, while mine were in the Blues,” Clapton wrote. “I loved what they did, and there was no competitiveness between us. We just played different styles.”
This statement highlights a fundamental difference in their musical DNA. Clapton viewed himself as a purist, a disciple of Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Page, conversely, was a musical omnivore, blending skiffle, folk, rockabilly, and eastern scales into a new, aggressive hybrid.
The Problem with Led Zeppelin: “Unnecessarily Loud”
The diplomatic respect Clapton holds for Page often evaporates when the subject turns to Led Zeppelin. While the world hailed Zeppelin as the new gods of rock in the 1970s, Clapton remained unimpressed, viewing their approach as excessive.
According to the book Led Zeppelin: The Definitive Biography, Clapton’s critique was sharp. “I don’t know about them,” Clapton admitted. “I’ve heard their records and I saw them play in Milwaukee, we were on the same bill. They were very loud. I thought it was unnecessarily loud.”
Clapton’s criticism wasn’t just about volume; it was about nuance. “I liked some of it; I really did like some of it. But a lot of it was just too much. They overemphasized whatever point they were making, I thought.”
This sentiment is echoed in a 2012 interview with Uncut magazine, where Clapton expanded on Eric Clapton’s opinion on Jimmy Page and the legacy of heavy music. Clapton acknowledged that his own band, Cream, was responsible for increasing the volume in rock music, noting they got “caught up in having huge banks of Marshall amps just for the hell of it.”
However, Clapton felt Cream retained a “really strong foundation in blues and jazz.” In his view, Zeppelin took that foundation and distorted it. “Led Zeppelin took up our legacy,” Clapton told Uncut. “But then they took it somewhere else that I didn’t really have a great deal of admiration for.”
Defining Heavy Metal: Blue Cheer vs. The Blues
Clapton’s reservations about Page’s band seem rooted in the birth of Heavy Metal. Clapton has previously cited the band Blue Cheer as the probable originators of the genre, criticizing them for lacking “traditional roots in the Blues” and having no mission other than “being loud.”
For Clapton, Zeppelin flirted too closely with this ethos. While Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were undeniably influenced by American blues, they expanded the genre into Hard Rock, Folk, and even Reggae. For a blues purist like Clapton, these experiments perhaps felt like a dilution of the sacred source material.
The “Stairway to Heaven” Confession
Despite his criticisms, Clapton was not immune to the pervasive influence of Jimmy Page’s songwriting. In a twist of irony that Clapton himself calls “cruel justice,” he admitted to accidentally plagiarizing Led Zeppelin’s magnum opus, “Stairway to Heaven.”
The incident occurred during the creation of Clapton’s 1974 solo album, 461 Ocean Boulevard. While writing the track “Let It Grow,” Clapton was utilizing a specific songwriting method where he would leave ideas unfinished to allow his collaborators to influence the final direction.
“I was very proud of my inventiveness in the verse,” Clapton recalled in his memoirs. However, the chord progression he was so proud of was not his own.
“It was several years before I realized that I had totally ripped off ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ the famous Zeppelin anthem,” Clapton confessed. He noted the irony of the situation, “seeing as how I’d always been such a severe critic of theirs.”
This admission humanizes the relationship between the two legends. It proves that even the most critical peers subconsciously absorb and replicate the genius of their rivals.
The Personal Connection: Charlotte Martin
The intersection of Clapton and Page wasn’t limited to fretboards and amplifiers; it extended into their personal lives in a somewhat awkward fashion. Both guitar icons were romantically involved with French model Charlotte Martin.
Martin first dated Eric Clapton during the height of his fame in the late 60s. Following her time with Clapton, she entered a long-term relationship with Jimmy Page, lasting from 1970 until the early 1980s. Martin and Page eventually had a daughter together, the renowned photographer Scarlet Page. While there is no public record of this causing a feud, it serves as another curious link in the chain binding these two musicians together.
Collaborations: When Giants Collide
Despite the “unnecessarily loud” comments and stylistic differences, Clapton and Page have shared the studio and stage. Their professional relationship dates back to 1965, before either had achieved global superstardom.
Jimmy Page, then a prolific session producer and musician, co-produced several tracks for John Mayall featuring Clapton. There is a famous anecdote regarding the recording sessions where the studio engineer declared Clapton “unrecordable.” The engineer claimed Clapton’s desire to play at maximum volume to achieve feedback and sustain was impossible to capture on tape.
It was Jimmy Page who stepped in, utilizing his studio wizardry to show the engineer how to properly mic the amplifiers and capture the raw power of Clapton’s sound. In this instance, the future leader of Led Zeppelin directly facilitated the recording of the “Clapton is God” era tone.
Later, in 1971, they both appeared on the compilation album Guitar Boogie, alongside Jeff Beck and members of The Rolling Stones, cementing their status as the elite triumvirate of British guitarists.
Legacy: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Ultimately, Eric Clapton’s opinion on Jimmy Page reflects the divergence of rock music in the late 1960s. Clapton chose the path of the troubadour, fiercely protecting the authenticity of the blues. Page chose the path of the sorcerer, using the studio as an instrument to construct “armies of guitars” and massive sonic cathedrals.
While Clapton may never love the “loudness” of Led Zeppelin, his respect for Page as a peer remains intact. They are two sides of the same coin—one representing the emotional purity of the note, the other representing the overwhelming power of the sound.
