The Yardbirds

In addition to creating some of the most daring sounds of the ’60s, The Yardbirds launched the careers of three legendary guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Formed in 1963, the blues obsessives became one of London’s hottest club acts thanks in large part to Keith Relf’s scorching harmonica and howl and Clapton’s blistering fretwork. Clapton, however, departed after the 1965 recording of “For Your Love”, a sublimely moody hit that strayed too far from the blues for his liking. His successor, Jeff Beck, brought with him a love of stinging distortion and studio experimentation that paved the way for some of the band’s most innovative moments, including the fuzz-drenched “Heart Full of Soul” and “Shapes of Things”, and the 1966 psych-rock landmark Roger the Engineer. But Beck also split, a move that allowed Page to become The Yardbirds’ lead guitarist and creative driver. They spent their final months as a group on the road, where their increasingly heavy performances featured a version of “Dazed and Confused” that would serve as the blueprint for Page’s next project, the mighty Led Zeppelin, who took flight in October 1968, mere weeks after The Yardbirds’ demise.