What are you listening to? Part 6

Old Man Jingles

Rat out of a cage
Did Jimmy Page and Robert Plant get along?
At the start they were very good friends who were drawn together by their love of blues and folk music. Robert was very deferential and in awe of Page who was already a well established star, rich and worldly wise. However, the cracks began to show as Plant became more and more famous and his confidence grew. Page always considered Zeppelin his creation and himself the leader but Plant's increasing popularity challenged this. When drink and drugs took their hold on Page things got worse and Plant never really forgave Page for his lack of empathy when Karac died. Page never called or attended the funeral, probably due to his drug addiction rather than any real intent to hurt Plant. After that it was a working relationship rather than a friendship and remained that way from then on. If you watch post Zep interview promoting the Plant/Page projects in the 90s and the Celebration Day reunion you can see the tensions at times in body language and the way Plant hogs the interviews while Jimmy sits pretty much silent. Plant moved on from Zep long ago and has a very successful solo career whereas Jimmy remains stuck in the 70s reliving their heyday through a never ending string of remastered releases and extras which add little to the existing product. He resents the fact that Robert refused to reform in 2007 and still will not countenance such a thing. They still talk but as I said earlier it's a business relationship now and a far cry from the bond they had in the very early seventies.

 
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