Five Things We Learned When Jimmy Page Took The Witness Stand
theguardian.com
He Even Winked At Robert Plant
Jimmy Page attended the copyright infringement trial in true rock god fashion and well, he was toting a guitar too. And I guess we can all agree that he handled the cross-examination pretty well despite being grilled for hours. But while he didn’t give much away, there are several interesting things we learned about this legendary axeman:
1. Page doesn’t know his way around the internet. While other rock gods his age have seemingly mastered social media and the rest of the worldwide web, Page admitted he doesn’t “DO” the internet. In fact, it was his son-in-law who told him about the comparisons being made online.
2. Page once said he ‘loved’ the band Spirit. It was when a vintage audio recording was played when Page’s words could be clearly heard: “Spirit is a band I really love.” Yet, Page defended himself by saying: “I don’t remember, it was long ago – could be distorted, too,” Page said. “In those days, they still sort of jotted things down on notepads.” Although to be fair, he did acknowledge that he has played Spirit’s second album several times and even purchased the third album.
3. Page has a total of “4,329 LPs and 5,882 CDs” in his personal record collection. You can’t deny the fact that Page would definitely not know every single one of those records. Thus, he added: “To be honest, I could’ve bought it or been given it.”
4. Page knows he’s extremely talented with an axe. During one of the questions, Page has revealed he began playing the guitar at 12 years old and started working as a studio musician at 17. Francis Malofiy, the plaintiff’s attorney, then commented “You had a gift at playing guitar.” Page, in all his humility, paused for a few minutes before saying “Well yeah.” Everyone in the gallery erupted with laughter because that’s probably the understatement of the century.
5. Led Zeppelin used to include the main riff of a Spirit song in their live medley. During his testimony, Page admitted that earlier in the band’s career, they borrowed a riff from Spirit’s “Fresh Garbage”. It was woven into “As Long As I Have You.”
We’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the next few days.
