Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Press

“Happy Birthday Jimmy Page!” Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley writes of Led Zeppelin‘s Jimmy Page via Twitter.

“An icon, an inspiration and a visionary,” he continues. “Long life and happiness to someone I’m honored to know.”

Accompanying Stanley’s words as in an image of him embracing the Led Zeppelin guitarist, who turned 76 this week.

“I saw Led Zeppelin in, I think it was August of ’69,” Stanley shared in a recent interview. “And they were actually playing ‘What Is And What Should Never Be’, a couple of those tracks and Jimmy [Page] had his bow and they were panning his guitar left and right so he could point it. I was just absolutely blown away. To this day, I’ve never seen anything that was that perfect.”

“Not just in terms of the synchronicity,” he continues, “and the fact that everybody was so much on the same playing field – it was the sexual energy that was coming off the stage, the flamboyance, the cocksure attitude. They backed it up. I think they knew how great they were. And I was just… First of all, the band was spectacular and played – I won’t use any profanity – but they played tighter than something… So, they were amazing.”

“There’s an old adage that you should be wary of meeting your heroes and the people you look up to, because, quite frankly,” he then confided when the conversation turned to he and Page first crossing of paths. “A lot of them are assholes. [But] Jimmy is the complete opposite. He lives and breathes music, and he’s a terrific, terrific guy, and I would argue the most important and influential guitar player, not only in terms of playing but in terms of vision. What he created was symphonic… It’s not as simple as a guitar, bass and drums and a singer. What he did on those records was multilayered and a tapestry of sorts. He’s painted with an amazing brush and an amazing palette of colors. So he’s right up there at the top for me.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIMMY PAGE! An Icon, An Inspiration And A Visionary. Long Life And Happiness To Someone I’m Honored To Know. pic.twitter.com/0KyH0Jx3B8

— Paul Stanley (@PaulStanleyLive) January 9, 2020