Who are the Yardbirds?

The Yardbirds were the ultimate UK blues combo, at least early on, but they were soon sidetracked by the lure of the British Invasion fad and then by the possibilities of psychedelia, and while both sometimes threatened to overshadow their blues cred, they used the experience to their advantage, expanding their horizons and in the process helping to create what is now known as "classic rock."


The Yardbirds' 10 best-known songs:

• "For Your Love"
• "Heart Full of Soul"
• "Shapes of Things"
• "Over Under Sideways Down"
• "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago"
• "I'm a Man" 
• "Evil Hearted You"
• "Still I'm Sad"
• "Stroll On"
• "Here 'Tis"

Where you might have heard them Their handful of psych-pop hits are still heard often on the radio, but if you've been privy to their blues-rock raveups, it may be because you have a music nerd friend who worships their triumvirate of guitar gods.

Formed:1963 (London, England) 

Styles Blues-rock, British Invasion,Psych-pop, Hard Rock, Classic Rock

Claims to fame: 

• Produced not one but three of the greatest rock guitarists of all time
• One of the greatest UK blues bands of the 1960s
• Invented the "rave-up" concept of double-time jamming
• One of the first and greatest bands to incorporate psychedelia and jazz into their sound
• Their 1966 LP Roger the Engineer is considered one of the finest psych-blues albums of its time
• Helped create the heavy and progressive blues-based sound known today as "classic rock"

The classic Yardbirds lineup:

Keith Relf (born William Keith Relf, March 22, 1943, Richmond, England; died May 14, 1976, London, England): lead vocals, harmonica

Lead guitar: 
1963-1965: Eric Clapton (born March 30,  1945, Ripley, England)
1965-1966: Jeff Beck (born Geoffrey Arnold Beck, June 24, 1944, London, England)
1966-1968: Jimmy Page (born January 9,  1944, Heston, England )

Chris Dreja (born November 11, 1945, Surbiton, England): rhythm guitar, bass guitar

Paul Samwell-Smith (born May 8, 1943,  Richmond, England): bass guitar

Jim McCarty (born July 25, 1943,  Liverpool, England): drums, backing vocals

History

Early years

As the group that inherited the Rolling Stones' coveted house band seat at London's Crawdaddy Club when they set out to conquer America, the Yardbirds were in a perfect position to be the next great conquering heroes of the British Invasion. But while the Stones were based in R&B and early rock n' roll, the Yardbirds (named after jazz legend Charlie Parker's nickname) were straight Chicago electric blues purists through and through, at least in the early days when their lead guitarist Eric Clapton was blowing minds throughout England. Their first album, a document of their live presence called Five Live Yardbirds, cemented their rep; soon they were even touring with Sonny Boy Williamson, whose "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" became the birds' first charting UK single.

Success

Unfortunately, straight blues wasn't yet a straight ticket to rock radio, and manager Giorgio Gomelsky had the solution: "For Your Love," a cross between chamber-pop and garage-rock styled after the Beatles and written by up-and-coming songwriter Graham Gouldman (later to become a star on his own with his band 10cc). Clapton gamely played along on the harder chorus, but he hated the song, considered it a sell-out move, and promptly quit the band. Session guitarist Jimmy Page was the first choice to replace Clapton, who went on to even greater notice with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers; Jimmy instead suggested another guitarist named Jeff Beck. A much more experimental guitarist, Beck guided the band through their greatest commercial and critical success. When bassist Samwell-Smith quit, Page joined the group as a temporary replacement. 

Later years

For a brief but glorious time, Dreja switched to bass guitar, which made the Yardbirds the first rock band with two lead guitarists, and two of the finest in London, to boot. Unfortunately, Beck's perfectionist personality began to grate on the group, and he was fired, forming the Jeff Beck Group, one of the very first "heavy" blues-rock outfits, with a young singer named Rod Stewart. Page was left with the Yardbirds name and a ton of tour commitments, noting Beck's success, he pressured the rest of the group to head in the same direction. Relf and McCarty were more intrigued by the concurrent booms in folk and symphonic music, however, and left to form the group Renaissance. Page took the opportunity to assemble a whole new band for his live commitments, enlisting London producer John Paul Jones as well as two unknowns named Robert Plant and John Bonham. After considering the name New Yardbirds, he took a cue from a joke made by a member of the Who and called his new group Led Zeppelin.

More about The Yardbirds

Yardbirds awards and honors: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1992)

Other Yardbirds facts and trivia:

• Page and Beck only play together on three officially-released Yardbirds songs: the single "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" b/w "Psycho Daises" and a cover of The Rock N' Roll Trio's "Train Kept A-Rollin'," which for legal reasons was retitled "Stroll On"
• Legendary rock critic Lester Bangs wrote a famous essay decrying the "rave-up" of Count Five's 1966 hit "Psychotic Reaction," as a direct ripoff of the Yardbirds' cover of Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man"
• Graham Gouldman also wrote several hit singles for other British Invasion artists, including "Bus Stop" by the Hollies and "No Milk Today" by Herman's Hermits

The Yardbirds hit singles and albums:

Top 10 hits UK: "For Your Love" (1965), "Heart Full of Soul" (1965), "Evil Hearted You" (1965), "Shapes of Things" (1966), "Over Under Sideways Down" (1966) US: "For Your Love" (1965), "Heart Full of Soul" (1965)

Top 10 albums UK: Five Yardbirds (1965, EP)

Movies and TV The Yardbirds' "Stroll On" was featured prominently in the famous "mod scene" Michelangelo Antonioni film Blow-Up (1966); the group appeared regularly on TV rock shows of the era, most notably Britain's "Thank Your Lucky Stars," NBC's "Hullabaloo," and especially ABC's "Shindig!"

Notable covers The arrangement of "Train Kept A-Rollin'" used for "Stroll On" became the standard model for all future covers of the song, including the hit by Aerosmith; Todd Rundgren famously did a note-for-note cover of "Happenings" as part of a series of such psych-rock replications on his 1978 album Faithful; Led Zeppelin revisited the unreleased Yardbirds song "Knowing That I'm Leaving You" as "Tangerine"