'It Might Get Loud' is a musical documentary by the American filmmaker, Davis Guggenheim. It features the Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, David ‘The Edge’ Evans of U2, and Jack White of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs, talking about their varying approaches, career history and guitar playing styles.
The film was hailed as a triumph, both in terms of the insight it offers into the musical development of the three players, and just pure entertainment. Either way, the film offers a great insight into how modern rock music has developed, and remains a great source of inspiration to all players.
There is a link to the full, 90 minute film at the end of this blog which can be viewed for free on youtube. For this piece though we’ll use the precis of each of the musicians contribution to the film to pick out a few video highlights.
There was no script as such. The documentary alternates between scenes of the three guitarists sitting in a round with their favourite instruments and gear, discussing the evolution of their most famous songs, and individual memories.
In this first clip, Jimmy Page explains how he came up with the riff to “Kasmir”. Written in DADGAD tuning, which features on Led Zeppelin’s sixth studio album ‘Physical Graffiti’.
Jimmy Page
Page's history with guitar traces back to his childhood when he played in a skiffle band. After desiring to do more than play pop music, Page "retires" from guitar playing to attend art school. He later revives his music career as a session guitarist, only to be discouraged by the realization that he is playing others' music and stifling his own creativity. At that point, Page begins to write and perform in the bands The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin. Page discusses the skiffle and blues music that influenced him at the time. For many of Page's scenes, he is seen visiting Headley Grange, where several songs from Led Zeppelin IV were recorded, and in one scene, explains how the distinctive drum sound from "When the Levee Breaks" was achieved from the acoustics of the house in which it was recorded.
The Edge
Edge's history with guitar traces back to building a guitar with his brother Dik and learning to play. In the film, he visits Mount Temple Comprehensive School and recalls forming U2 in his childhood. He also demonstrates his playing technique, in how he eliminates certain strings from chords, as well as his use of echo and delay effects to "fill in notes that aren't there". He also discusses his purchase of his signature guitar, the Gibson Explorer, in New York City and the punk music that influenced him. In other scenes, he plays early demo tapes of "Where the Streets Have No Name", discusses his inspiration for "Sunday Bloody Sunday", and spends time experimenting with guitar effects for the riffs to "Get on Your Boots".
Jack White
White traces his musical background to his childhood in a rundown neighbourhood of Detroit. Living with two drum sets and a guitar occupying his room and sleeping on a piece of foam due to taking out his bed for more room for his music, White struggled to find a musical identity, as it was "uncool" to play an instrument and his nine siblings all shared a musical propensity. His strong interest in blues and roots music ran counter to the hip hop and house music popular in the predominantly Latino neighbourhood at the time. White eventually finds a niche in a garage rock band called The Upholsterers while working as an upholsterer, which paves the way for his future bands The White Stripes and The Raconteurs. White's philosophy is to limit and challenge himself in various ways to force creative approaches to recording and playing.
One of the things that always struck me about the film is, there is in each case, an element of one guitarist teaching the other two how to play certain riffs or sequences. This is the only element that to me seem a bit unnatural, as, for in the example of “Seven Nation Army”, anyone with an interest in the riff can easily discern how to play it. Nevertheless, the back story and presentation of these sections is fun, and surely the look of pure joy and childish grins on The Edge’s and Jack White’s faces to have Jimmy Page playing the riff to “Whole Lotta Love” right before their eyes was real enough.
Full Film
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