It Might Get Loud is the title of a 2008 documentary by filmmaker Davis Guggenheim.
I am sure most of you have seen this by now, if not; it’s a rather unique gathering of three iconic guitarists [Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin, Jack White/The White Stripes & Edge/U2] who come together to play, compare notes and talk about music and their mutual love of the electric guitar.
Directed by Davis Guggenheim and conceived by producer Thomas Tull, the film, through the words and music of three generations of musicians, celebrates the love affair these men and countless others have with the electric guitar, perhaps the most innovative and challenging instrument ever created!
Filmed through the eyes of three virtuosos from three different generations, audiences get up close and personal, discovering how a furniture upholsterer from Detroit, a studio musician and a painter from London and a seventeen-year-old Dublin schoolboy, each used the electric guitar to develop their unique sound and rise to the pantheon of superstar. Rare discussions are provoked as we travel with Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White to influential locations of their pasts.
Set on an empty sound stage, the musicians come together, crank up the amps and play. They also share their influences, swap stories, and teach each other songs.
The highlight of this interesting musical exchange, is when Jimmy shows the boys’ the riff to “Kashmir” – which is my favorite Led Zeppelin song. Notice the look of wonder and awe on their faces when he introduces this odd-tuning and classic riff. Too bad, they try to emulate what he is doing and end up ruining it for me as they won’t stop playing the main part of the riff when he goes to the next parts. Either they were not familiar with the song changes (ugh!) or they were starstruck and just sat there like a “deer in headlights.”
Either way, it was great to get to see and hear Jimmy dissect this amazing riff from their catalog and he clearly demonstrates that he still has “it.”
Check out the original just to get a reference to how majestic this song is.
Kashmir is from their sixth release entitled Physical Graffiti, which was a double LP (remember those?!). It was released on February 24, 1975 and was the band’s first release on its own Swan Song Records label.
The original album jacket for the LP included die-cut windows on the building shown on the cover. As the inner sleeves for the discs were inserted in different orientations, various objects and people would appear in the windows, including photos of the band members in drag. The two buildings photographed for the album cover are located at 96 and 98 St. Mark’s Place in New York City.
The album was a massive commercial and critical success, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Pop Albums chart, and has proven to be one of the most popular releases by the group, selling 16 million copies in the United States alone.
- Physical Graffiti was the first album to go gold on advance orders alone.
- Shortly after the release of Physical Graffiti, all previous Led Zeppelin albums simultaneously re-entered the top-200 album chart.
- In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Physical Graffiti the 28th greatest album of all time; in 2000 Q placed it at number 32 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever; and in 2001 the same magazine named it as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums Of All Time.
- In 2003 the TV network VH1 named it the 71st greatest album ever.
- Rolling Stone ranked it #70 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Demolish Magazine 