Love them or loathe them, Led Zeppelin are a rock institution. As Jack Bruce once put it: “In Britain, you mustn’t criticise the Queen or Led Zeppelin”. The Cream bassist had reason to despise the outfit, but his attack on Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham may have come a little late – 30 years too late, in fact. The musician was speaking in 2007 ahead of Zeppelin’s reunion gig at London’s O2 Arena, where he decided to make a few digs at Jimmy Page’s guitar playing.
In 2008, Bruce told Classic Rock (via Music Radar) why he has a particular distaste for the group that many consider the best rock band of all time. “Fuck off, Zeppelin, you’re crap,” he said. “You’ve always been crap, and you’ll never be anything else”. Surprising words to hear for anyone with even a remote knowledge of the history of rock music.
Bruce had been wound up by the iconic Celebration Day concert that Zeppelin played at the O2 Arena in London that year. “Everybody talks about Led Zeppelin, and they played one fucking gig while Cream did weeks of gigs,” he said. “Proper gigs, not just a lame gig like Zeppelin did, with all the keys lowered and everything. We played everything in the original keys.”
Bruce then went on to further criticise the legendary rock group: “Fuck off, Zeppelin, you’re crap. You’ve always been crap, and you’ll never be anything else,” he reiterated. “Cream is ten times the band that Led Zeppelin is. You’re gonna compare Eric Clapton with that fucking Jimmy Page? Would you really compare that? No! Eric’s good, and Jimmy’s crap.”
A few weeks later, Bruce spoke to a Detroit rock radio station and explained that he “was just having some fun with the press gallery, really”. But in the same breath, he explained that there is also an element of truth to his vitriolic words. “Fairly tongue in cheek, but it’s also the truth,” he said.
According to Bruce, the show was meant to be a tribute to rock industry figure Ahmet Ertegun, and Cream had been set to play it before Zeppelin “hijacked” proceedings. “We were going to be playing it, and it was gonna be all sorts of people, but then they kind of hijacked the gig and made it into a Zeppelin gig.”
Apparently, both Bruce and Clapton decided they “didn’t want to be a part of it” because the show was taking place at the O2 Arena, “which is quite a large venue in London”. Detailing further, Bruce added: “we thought it had gone in the wrong direction for us as a tribute to Ahmet. I don’t really see Cream in a place like that. We are more of an intimate sort of band. We don’t like playing in vast places. The [Madison Square] Garden is about our limit.”
Still, for Bruce, there was an element of “jealously” when it came to Zeppelin. He felt that Cream and Jimi Hendrix had laid the foundations for Jimmy Page and Robert Plant’s success. “Zeppelin came along and had a very easy ride in that way,” he said. “We were the pioneers, and pioneers don’t always get the recognition they deserve, maybe”.
One thing Bruce would not let go, though, is the fact he thinks Clapton is a better guitarist than Page. “Let’s face it,” he said, “Jimmy Page ain’t no Eric Clapton, no matter what anybody thinks. I mean, the only decent guy, the one good guy in that band, is dead, so what are you gonna do?”
There’s a natural element of tongue-in-cheek to Bruce’s words here, even if there is an equal sense of honesty. “You know my sense of humour,” he said. “I was just having some fun. The trouble is if you say anything about the establishment. In Britain, you mustn’t criticise the Queen or Led Zeppelin, basically.”
Finally, though, Bruce reserved a little bit of respect for Zeppelin’s vocalist Plant, even if he could not say the same for Jimmy Page. Asked whether Zeppelin could play with another vocalist, he humorously noted, “Well, I always thought Robert Plant used the wrong kind of fertiliser, anyway, so I think [they could] be an improvement… I’m just joking. Robert is one of the all-time, if not the all-time, great rock singer.“
