Max Norman, who produced many influential hard rock and heavy metal albums, reflected on Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and his guitar playing. Norman discussed this during his recent appearance on the Talk Louder Podcast, particularly when discussing well-produced albums. He shared why it’s embarrassing now to hear a Led Zeppelin record:
“Some of the Led Zeppelin records have been so overplayed now that they’re almost unlistenable. It’s almost embarrassing to hear a Led Zeppelin record now because they’ve been played so much.”
Touching on Page’s way of playing guitar, referred to as ‘sloppy,’ he continued:
“But really, if you want to talk sloppy, you got Jimmy there. Jimmy doesn’t give a sh*t. Jimmy plays it twice, picks one of them, and walks out. He doesn’t care because he knows people are gonna like that.”
Others Also Think Page Is Sloppy
Over the years, Page has been characterized as a guitarist who may not always deliver polished performances, and the term ‘sloppy’ is used, not necessarily in a negative manner.
The producer’s comments came just a few days after the former Kiss rocker Ace Frehley stated that he is a sloppy guitarist, but so is Jimmy Page too. During an interview, the rocker compared his and Tommy Thayer’s guitar-playing skills. Calling himself a sloppy guitarist, Frehley named another ‘sloppy’ guitarist — Jimmy Page. He said:
“I was talking to an interviewer the other day, he’s going, ‘I listened to ‘Sonic Boom,’ I mean ‘Monster.” He goes, it’s Tommy Thayer trying to sound like me, which is kind of ridiculous because actually, Tommy’s not a bad guitar player. Technically he may even be a better guitar player than me. See, I’m sloppy. I’ll be the first one to admit it, and people have said it in comments. I’m sloppy, but I have a way about the way I play. I mean, Jimmy Page is sloppy.”
You can see the interview below.
