Robert Plant was once derided as the least-talented member of Led Zeppelin. His voice was notoriously uneven live and his prissy stage manner earned him the derogatory nickname “Percy” among his band mates. It is widely known that Plant was not even Jimmy Page’s first choice for Zeppelin frontman – Steve Winwood was among those who passed on the gig before Plant signed on.

In the post-Zep era, however, something surprising happened. John Bonham passed away (God rest his smutty soul). John Paul Jones retreated largely to the background as arranger and producer for various artists. And Jimmy, well, Jimmy has had long stretches of inactivity, punctuated by mostly mediocre albums with mostly mediocre collaborators (some are upset by Jimmy’s recent visit to Cuba, but I submit that Coverdale and Page is by far the worse crime).

Plant, meanwhile, has had a profoundly diverse and prolific solo career. In the 1980’s he reigned the Top 40 charts with slick, well-crafted pop hits like Big Log and Tall Cool One. The 90’s saw his best and hardest-rocking solo album, “Fate of Nations,” as well as a briefly resurrected partnership with Page that produced two albums and several tours. (more…)

What happens to an artist whose creative peak has long past? That is the question which looms like a sustained E chord over the new documentary It Might Get Loud, a strange and wonderful cinematic ode to the electric guitar by director Davis Guggenheim. whose previous credits include An Inconvenient Truth (don’t hold that against him).

It Might Get Loud’s central conceit is simple and elegant in principle, but surprisingly messy and complex on screen: Take three eminent guitarists of differing styles and generations, interview them individually, get them to open up about their relationship with their instrument and then, for the film’s climax, throw them together on a sound-stage surrounded by guitars and see what happens.

Guggenheim’s choice of guitarists is a surprising one that somehow makes sense; Jack White of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs (in his 30’s), The Edge of U2 (in his 40’s), and Jimmy Page of The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin (in his 60’s). (more…)