It Does, Occasionally

I finally got to watching "It Might Get Loud". (A.O. Scott's review)

While I was not blown away by it as I was expecting, some scenes certainly elevated the rest of the documentary: Jimmy Page plugging in his Les Paul, hammering out the intro riff to "Whole lotta love" as U2's The Edge* (twenty four years later, I'm still not sure if it is "The Edge" or "the Edge"?) and Jack White look on with an expression conveying glee, envy and holy-shit-is-this-real. Apparently, you could be a big rock star with a billion dollars in your bank account but all that is reduced to nothing in front of Jimmy Page's riff. (I've always wondered if Beethoven walks around heaven giving all other musicians a terrible complex?)

But interestingly, in the second scene that caught my attention, Page picks out a record** - Link Wray's "Rumble" - and this time we see him dissolve into smiles and air guitar (even James Patrick Page plays air guitar!) listening to Link Wray and goes crazy over that killer vibrato.

Even the Gods have their Gods.

* The Edge's question to Jimmy Page about his work as a sessions musician in the mid-1960s could be spun into an entire film. In a most matter-of-fact tone, Page answered the question saying he did play for the Kinks. Too bad The Edge didn't follow up with "did you also play on The Who's "I can't explain"?

** Assuming it was a shot of his house in the film, the man has a mean collection of 45s and LPs.