Jimmy Page

Former Yardbirds/Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is one of the most prodigious guitar players to have emerged from England in the 1960s. Before he joined up with the Yardbirds (and prior to founding Led Zeppelin), Page was one of England's most sought-after session musicians. When he burst upon the scene, his long bass runs and wailing blues leads seemed to be as effortless for him as breathing air. Page's early work with Zeppelin ("Whole Lotta Love" and "Communication Breakdown") provided the template for modern Metal guitar textures, and he has always been a vastly underrated acoustic guitar and mandolin player. Page's cameo in the 1966 Michelangelo Antonioni film Blow Up perfectly displays his svelte, nonchalant stance while the leaden riffs of "Stroll On" (which was the classic "Train Kept A Rollin'" in disguise) incite a riot among Carnaby-clad mods who had never heard anything so heavy in their lives.