The Yardbirds

The Yardbirds were an early British rock band, noted for spawning the careers of several of rock music's most famous guitarists, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and

The Yardbirds were an early British rock band, noted for spawning the careers of several of rock music's most famous guitarists, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. A blues based band turned experimental pop rock, they had a string of hits including “For Your Love,” “Over, Under, Sideways, Down,” and “Heartful of Soul.” They were the crucial link between British R&B and psychedelia; they set the framework for heavy metal explored further by Led Zeppelin and the guitarists they spawned were extremely influential in music. They pioneered almost every guitar innovation of the '60s: fuzz tone, feedback, distortion, improved amplification and were one the first to put an emphasis on guitar virtuosity and experimentation. They would eventually evolve into Led Zeppelin once Jimmy Page became the leader and the rest of the members left due to several unsuccessful efforts to keep them in, forcing Page to find replacements in the likes of John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, and John Bonham.

Formed originally as the Metropolitan Blues Quartet in 1962–63 in London, the Yardbirds first achieved notice on the burgeoning British blues scene (or "rhythm and blues," as the British music press alluded to it) when they took over as the house band at the Crawdaddy Club in London—succeeding the Rolling Stones. With a repertoire drawn more from the Delta-soaked Chicago blues titans Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and Elmore James than the more commercially-minded Chuck Berry and Jimmy Reed influences of the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds began to build a following of their own in London before very long. Their inexperience and their less-than-stellar musicianship was obvious but their commitment was just as powerful, as they hammered away at versions of such blues classics as "Smokestack Lightning," "Got Love If You Want It," "Here 'Tis," "Baby What's Wrong," "Good Morning Little School Girl," "Boom Boom," "I Wish You Would," "Done Somebody Wrong," and "Rollin' and Tumblin'."