“Jimmy Page is a magical guy… Always will be!”: Ritchie Blackmore sets the record straight on Led Zeppelin ‘feud‘
The rumour mill can churn out some corkers, but Ritchie Blackmore is determined to set the record straight. On a recent Instagram livestream, the Rainbow and Deep Purple guitarist has debunked a long-standing belief that there’s bad blood between him and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page.
Despite claiming that “most guitarists aren’t nice people” elsewhere in the livestream, Blackmore insists that Page is one of the good guys. “’Jimmy Page’ – very good friend!” he says upon reading a fan’s comment. “Don’t believe what they say. I read the other day that I hated him! I can’t believe they said that!”
READ MORE: “You don’t want to talk to me, because I’m nobody”: Eddie Van Halen was “too humble” about his guitar abilities, according to Ritchie Blackmore
He goes on to explain that the pair have actually known each other for a very long time. “The first time I met him was 1963, or 1962…” Blackmore says. “I knew he was going places… not only did he have a style, but he had the playing ability. And he just looked right playing the guitar. He was a star in the making, Jimmy Page.”
The guitarist even recalls the last time him and Page saw each other, which would have been at the Rainbow Bar & Grill restaurant in Hollywood. “He said to me, ‘Where did you learn all your runs from?’… It was quite a compliment coming from him.”
Blackmore also notes that he and Page grew up in the same village of Heston in Middlesex, highlighting that they have a lot in common beyond their musical abilities. “I never knew that he was even in the village,” Blackmore reveals. “We were both 15 or 16 at the time… He’s a magical guy. A great guy. Always will be!”
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Looking back, it’s unclear exactly where the rumour might have stemmed from. In a 1975 with International Musician & Recording World magazine, Blackmore seemed to downplay his appreciation of Page’s skills, but his wording isn’t exactly hostile. After singing Jeff Beck’s praises, labelling him his “favourite guitarist”, he casually adds that “I’m not too struck on Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton”[via Classic Rock]… and that’s it.
In 2015, Blackmore also hinted that his feelings towards Page were pretty positive. “I knew he was going to be somebody,” Blackmore explains in the Ritchie Blackmore Story documentary [via Guitar Player]. “Not only was he a good guitar player, he had that star quality. There was something about him he was very poised and confident, but not arrogant.”
“I thought, ‘He’s going to go somewhere that guy, he knows what he’s doing,’” he concluded. “He was way ahead of most guitar players and he knew he was good too. He was very comfortable within himself.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
