Heavy metal is defined by critics as loud, explosive blues unfettered by psychedelia. The heavy metal scene had started to make its mark on society in the mid 1900's. New faces such as Jimmi Hendrix, King Crimson, and the Rolling Stones were beginning to receive much deserved stardom. Among these many groups taking part in this new phenomenon was a band that called themselves The Yardbirds. They were formed in London in 1966. "The Yardbirds virtually wrote the book on guitar-oriented blues based rock & roll- (Abel, 1093). This band pawned three major guitar heroes "Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and the one and only, Jimmy Page. The Yardbirds had ever growing popularity and soon replaced the Rolling Stones as the house band at the widely known Crawdaddy Club in London, England. The members wanted to take their music in different directions so the band dismembered in July of 1968.
The guitarist was given the rights to the band along with all of their concert obligations. He enlisted the help of John Paul Jones. Originally Page and Jones wanted B.J. Wilson and Terry Reid to join them. But they were already working with other bands and were unavailable. Reid suggested a man by the name of Robert Plant and Plant in turn suggested John Bonham, a drummer that was in his former band, Band of Joy. Together the four of them played the remaining tour dates under the name The New Yardbirds. They toured Scandinavia in 1968 ( Abel, 554).
Jimmy Page was born on January 9th, 1944 in Heston, England as James Patrick Page. He admired guitarist James Burton, a known studio musician who backed for Elvis. "Jimmy Page; ethereal, effeminate, pale and frail, played physically melodic guitar, bowing at times augmenting it with electronic devices completely energizing the peak of the ensembles lead sound."" "He blessed the group with a unique understanding of the guitar, and the recording studio.
