Anyone can spend their entire lives trying to get the number one song in the country. Although it might take them a while to reach that milestone, reaching the top of the hit parade is usually the sign that an artist has peaked or when they have been introduced to the world as a bonafide superstar. Jimmy Page never troubled himself too much with the pop charts, though, and even when looking at his greatest moments, some of his biggest hits often felt like footnotes in his career.

Because from the moment they started, Led Zeppelin could never be considered a proper singles band. They had those few songs that people knew from their albums, but most of their best moments were reserved for those checking out the albums, usually trying to paint a picture with sound whenever they put out one of their records.

Even when the press was determined to slag them off, Zeppelin was still willing to play the game. The name recognition may have seemed like a big draw for fans, but the band’s decision to release their fourth album without any title was a power move on their part, as if to prove to the big wigs that they didn’t even have to appear on the cover to make one of the most successful albums of their career.

Before Page even got started with Zeppelin, though, he was already starting to make strides as a session man. The whole point behind any good guitarist is putting hours in with the instrument and listening to his various session work for people like Donavon and on the theme to Goldfinger, you can hear Page turning himself into a more-than-capable musician, usually finding new ways of making his guitar fit into the mix.

But even if The Who gave him his first Top 10 hit for his performance on ‘I Can’t Explain,’ it would take some help from The Beatles to get him on top of the hit parade. Years before Zeppelin was the biggest band in the world, Page got his first hit by playing opposite Joe Cocker on his cover version of the Fab Four’s ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’, which reached the top spot in 1968. This had only been a few months after The Beatles’ version was released on Sgt Pepper, but hearing them go back and forth does have the seeds of Zeppelin in there.

Page isn’t exactly flying off the handle like he would do on songs like ‘Communication Breakdown’, but hearing Cocker’s bluesy voice at least suggested what could happen if he left The Yardbirds. And looking at Robert Plant’s moves later, it’s clear he took the model of what Cocker was doing and made it even more animated when he started making Janis Joplin-esque screams.

There are even a few moments where Page does get to fly off the handle a bit more. Most artists would be told to tone things down, but even when playing a supporting role, Page knew how to perfectly complement the rest of the band, usually creating a nice bed for Cocker to lay his voice on top of.

And as much as he could be a showboat, ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ might be the best example of why Page’s guitar playing worked so well. Anyone can spend time making music that’s trying to impress someone at every turn, but the habits that he picked up here is half the reason why he could lean back whenever John Paul Jones busted out the keyboards or John Bonham laid down a drum solo.