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The Yardbirds
Photo: Beat Publications (KRLA Beat), 1965 (Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US)
British

The Yardbirds

• United Kingdom• Active: 1963–1968
British Blues BoomBlues RockPsychedelic Rock

The London blues band that, in barely five years, employed Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page in succession on lead guitar — and whose final lineup, under Page, renamed itself Led Zeppelin in 1968. Founding member Chris Dreja, the band's rhythm guitarist and bassist, died on 25 September 2025, aged 78, leaving Jim McCarty and Paul Samwell-Smith as the last surviving originals.

No band in rock history has a stranger job history than the Yardbirds: over five years they employed, in sequence, three guitarists who would each go on to be ranked among the greatest of all time. Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page all passed through this one London blues band, and each one left it playing a different instrument than the one he found there (Kilde: Wikipedia). The band formed in southwest London in 1963 out of the Metropolitan Blues Quartet, taking a name possibly borrowed from Jack Kerouac or from jazz saxophonist Charlie "Yardbird" Parker. They took over the Crawdaddy Club residency in Richmond from the Rolling Stones and built their early reputation on unvarnished Chicago blues covers — Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning," Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Good Morning Little School Girl" — stretched out live into extended "rave-up" instrumental breaks where the tempo doubled before snapping back. A December 1963 tour backing the real Sonny Boy Williamson II in person, later released as "Sonny Boy Williamson and the Yardbirds" (1966), captured just how seriously the teenage band took the music (Kilde: Wikipedia). Eric Clapton joined on guitar in October 1963, but his blues purism collided with the band's commercial ambitions. Their breakthrough single, "For Your Love" (1965) — a Graham Gouldman pop song built around a harpsichord, not a guitar solo — became a Top 10 hit and immediately drove Clapton out of the band; he left for John Mayall's Bluesbreakers within days of its release. His replacement, Jeff Beck, took the opposite approach entirely, chasing fuzz, feedback, distortion and Eastern-scale guitar lines on singles like "Heart Full of Soul" and "Shapes of Things" (1966) — the latter later hailed as one of the first psychedelic rock records, months before the Beatles' "Rain" (Kilde: Wikipedia). Jimmy Page, already one of London's busiest session guitarists, joined in mid-1966 — initially on bass, then in a short-lived twin-lead-guitar lineup alongside Beck that produced the strange, avant-garde single "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago." When Beck left later that year, Page became sole lead guitarist, steering the band's live sound toward the heavier, more improvisatory territory of extended pieces like "Dazed and Confused" — a song, and a direction, he would carry directly into his next band (Kilde: Wikipedia). By 1968 the Yardbirds had splintered: singer Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty wanted to move toward folk and classical textures, while Page wanted to go heavier. Relf and McCarty left in June 1968; Page and rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja were left holding contractual tour dates in Scandinavia and no band. Page recruited session bassist John Paul Jones, unknown Birmingham singer Robert Plant, and Plant's friend John Bonham on drums. They toured briefly that September as "the New Yardbirds" before renaming themselves Led Zeppelin — reportedly after Who drummer Keith Moon joked, during a earlier Jimmy Page session, that the whole thing would go over "like a lead balloon" (Kilde: Wikipedia). The Yardbirds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January 1992 and ranked No. 89 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time — a startling legacy for a band that never had more than a handful of hits, built almost entirely on who happened to be standing at the front of the stage holding a guitar (Kilde: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Wikipedia).

Musical Influence

The Yardbirds functioned as rock's most improbable guitar academy, and their commercial instinct for pushing blues covers toward pop hooks and studio experimentation (fuzz, feedback, Eastern scales, reverse echo) directly shaped what all three of their guitarists did next — Cream, the Jeff Beck Group, and Led Zeppelin (Kilde: Wikipedia).

Influences

Howlin' WolfSonny Boy Williamson IIChicago electric blues

Formative experiences

  • •1963: Formed in southwest London from the Metropolitan Blues Quartet; take over the Crawdaddy Club residency from the Rolling Stones. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •December 1963: Tour backing Sonny Boy Williamson II in person, later released as a live album. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •March 1965: Eric Clapton quits over the pop single "For Your Love"; Jeff Beck joins. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •February 1966: "Shapes of Things" released, later cited as one of the first psychedelic rock singles. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •June 1968: Singer Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty depart; Jimmy Page and Chris Dreja are left with contracted Scandinavian tour dates and no band. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •19 October 1968: The remaining lineup, now with Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham, renames itself Led Zeppelin. (Kilde: Wikipedia)

Instruments & Equipment

Stories & Anecdotes

""For Your Love," the single that made the Yardbirds famous, was written by 10cc's future co-founder Graham Gouldman and drove blues purist Eric Clapton straight out of the band — he considered a harpsichord-driven pop song a betrayal of everything the group had stood for. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"
""Shapes of Things" (February 1966) is regularly cited by critics as one of the first psychedelic rock records, predating the Beatles' "Rain"/"Paperback Writer" by three months. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"
"For a brief period in 1966, the Yardbirds had TWO virtuoso lead guitarists at once — Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, playing twin leads, captured on the deliberately strange single "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago." (Kilde: Wikipedia)"
"The name "Led Zeppelin" reportedly originated from a joke made by the Who's Keith Moon and John Entwistle during a 1966 session, that a supergroup pairing Page and Beck would go over "like a lead balloon." (Kilde: Wikipedia)"
"Despite never having more than a handful of hit singles, the Yardbirds were ranked No. 89 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"

Collaborators

Eric Clapton

Lead guitarist 1963–65; left over the pop direction of "For Your Love."

Jeff Beck

Lead guitarist 1965–66; pioneered fuzz/feedback guitar textures on the band's biggest hits.

Jimmy Page

Bassist then lead guitarist 1966–68; led the band into Led Zeppelin.

Keith Relf

Lead vocalist and harmonica player throughout the band's original run.

Jim McCarty

Drummer throughout the band's original run; later formed Renaissance with Relf.

Chris Dreja

Rhythm guitarist, later bassist; stayed through the transition into Led Zeppelin.

Watch & Listen

Featured

The Yardbirds — live on French TV [Colourised] 1966 (feat. Jimmy Page & Jeff Beck)

The rare twin-guitar Beck/Page lineup, live.

blues.in.colour

Yardbirds live at the Empire Pool, London, 1 May 1966

Yardbirds live at the Empire Pool, London, 1 May 1966

The Yardbirds — "Train Kept-A-Rollin'" / "Shapes of Things" (1966)

The Yardbirds — "Train Kept-A-Rollin'" / "Shapes of Things" (1966)

The Yardbirds - For Your Love (1965) (Full version)

The Yardbirds - For Your Love (1965) (Full version)

Watch & Listen

Henter videoer fra YouTube…

Discography

YearTitleProducerStudioLabelChartSalesMusiciansYouTubeNotes
1964Five Live YardbirdsGiorgio Gomelsky—Columbia——Eric Clapton (Guitar), Keith Relf (Vocals, harmonica), Jim McCarty (Drums)Live album recorded at the Marquee Club, London, with Eric Clapton on guitar; mostly American blues and R&B covers.
1965Having a Rave Up with the YardbirdsGiorgio Gomelsky—Epic——Jeff Beck (Guitar)US-only album mixing the earlier Clapton-era live tracks with new Jeff Beck studio recordings.
1966Yardbirds ("Roger the Engineer")Simon Napier-Bell, Paul Samwell-Smith—Columbia——Jeff Beck (Guitar)Only studio album with Jeff Beck throughout; includes "Over Under Sideways Down" and "Shapes of Things."
1966Sonny Boy Williamson and the Yardbirds——Fontana——Sonny Boy Williamson II (Harmonica, vocals), Eric Clapton (Guitar)Recorded live December 1963 backing Sonny Boy Williamson II; released years later.
1967Little GamesMickie Most—Epic——Jimmy Page (Guitar), Keith Relf (Vocals), Chris Dreja (Bass), Jim McCarty (Drums)Only studio album with Jimmy Page as sole lead guitarist; peaked at No. 80 on the Billboard 200.

Famous songs

01For Your Love
02Heart Full of Soul
03Shapes of Things
04Over Under Sideways Down

External links

YouTube Music Wikipedia Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Booking / Contact

Booking agency
Not publicly available
Agent/management
Not publicly available
Booking email
Not publicly available
Booking phone
Not publicly available

Band led by founding drummer Jim McCarty continues to tour; no direct public booking contact confirmed beyond the official site's press/contact page.

Source

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Sources

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