Why Led Zeppelin left Keith Richards confused relationship ?

It’s easy to view someone like Keith Richards as highly critical, sometimes to an unnecessary degree. However, considering the era he emerged from and how transformational it was for rock, Richards’ high standards make sense. After all, not only did he develop a deeper understanding of the blues than any other player at the time, but he also learnt firsthand the significance of transparency and authenticity.

That’s not to say that the Rolling Stones didn’t have their share of scrutiny. If it wasn’t comparisons to the Beatles, a trend that will forever seem absurd, it was the way their peers criticised their approach to rhythm and blues, some suggesting they weren’t as masterful in repurposing its sounds and technique as they claimed to be, only serving to appear as poor imitations of a form best left to those it belonged to.

On the other side, however, the Stones represented everything music needed at the time. To those incessant on placing the Beatles and the Stones as the two pillars of rock, the latter were the antithesis of cleanliness that signalled freedom in the genre, or liberation from the restraints of commercialism that told acts and bands they needed to sound and act a certain way to be successful.

For the Stones, authenticity was always all about chaos and fearlessness, even if it rubbed some the wrong way. While revolutionary in an entirely different way, the Stones pushed forward without trying to be like anybody else in the game. Thus, when the 1970s arrived and a new flavour of rock emerged, Richards wasn’t always as enthused as he had been during their seminal years. In fact, one act in particular made him, and several others, feel like the genre was heading in the wrong direction.

Led Zeppelin, to many 1960s innovators, represented a regression towards “manufactured” rock that was created to fit one specific moment in rock’s trajectory. Along with many others, like Pete Townshend, Richards felt that the band didn’t offer anything special, despite the fact that the individual skills of each band member provided the right ingredients to make something unique and special. Theoretically.

That said, while Richards often dismissed Led Zeppelin, the one confusing factor was that he didn’t entirely hate Jimmy Page and felt that he was the one thing that kept it together when everything else fell flat. Still, Richards commended Page’s guitar playing, but he felt that sometimes, something was missing about it.

As he explained to Rolling Stone: “I love Jimmy Page, but as a band, no, with John Bonham thundering down the highway in an uncontrolled 18-wheeler. He had cornered the market there. Jimmy is a brilliant player. But I always felt there was something a little hollow about it.” This would be an observation he echoed often, reducing them to remarks like, “I thought they never took off musically […] Jimmy Page is one of the best guitar players ever known.”

Evidently, while he had no respect for Zeppelin’s achievements, he admired the parts of Page’s playing that soared them to new heights. While sometimes, he may have felt there was something missing about his approach, whether it lacked passion, energy, or some kind of substance he couldn’t put his finger on, Page made an uninspired band stand out, which, in Richards’ eyes, is a true act of unmatched magic.