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In 1972, at the height of Led Zeppelin’s fame, JIMMY PAGE spoke to the pioneering rock monthly ZigZag. He talked frankly to editor Pete Frame about his early days as a session man, his time in The Yardbirds, and the formation of Led Zeppelin…

I did this interview in November 1972, at the offices shared by Peter Grant and Mickie Most, several floors above a Millets shop in Oxford Street. When I got there, Jimmy was examining the artwork for the sleeve of Houses Of The Holy, which was giving him consternation because the hand-tinting wasn’t quite right. The album was already in the can but wouldn’t now be released until March, missing both the upcoming UK tour and Christmas – not that this was too much of a problem because it was guaranteed to hit No 1, no matter when it came out.

Page was the essence of civility throughout. Manager Peter Grant was hovering in the background, probably making sure that this dubious-looking hippy wasn’t going to ask any wayward questions. Later on, I got to know Grant a bit and found him to be as sweet as pie – but back then he was this huge, hirsute, intimidating presence, obviously very protective of Jimmy.

I felt very privileged to be doing the interview. I don’t think Page did that many with small-circulation magazines like Zigzag, and I suspect that he might have been talked into it by his publicist, BP Fallon, who had been a mate of mine since the days when he was press officer at Island Records.

Afterwards, I phoned BP to tell him how well it had gone – which is when he introduced the …

by Pete Frame
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