“It was a joke”: Jeff Beck on the worst decade of music
In the 1960s, Jimi Hendrix put most guitarists firmly in their place, but hot on his heels in the London scene was the Yardbirds trio: Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. This holy trinity of electric guitar virtuosity never played for the Yardbirds simultaneously, and neither were their most significant contributions to the music world made under the formative banner. All the same, the band was a fertile breeding ground for talent, paving the way to Led Zeppelin, Cream and The Jeff Beck Group.
The Jeff Beck Group never rose to such heights of success as Led Zeppelin or the comparatively short-lived Cream. Yet the bandleader’s unique guitar command ensured worldwide respect and an immortal legacy. With The Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice, the guitarist established a reputation as the “guitarist’s guitarist” thanks to his eclectic instrumental approach, encompassing blues rock, heavy rock, and jazz fusion.
Beck maintained a strong presence throughout the 1970s as a solo act, achieving peaks of success with the mid-decade instrumental albums Blow by Blow and Wired. However, approaching the 1980s, Beck took a back seat, shirking the limelight and quietly deriding the synth-pop wave from the studio.
Discussing this quiet patch in a 2006 interview with Classic Rock, Beck noted that the 1980s just wasn’t to his taste. “I liked Prince and ZZ Top’s Eliminator, and that was about it,” he admitted. “I wasn’t going to try to sell anything about me, whether it was old, new, or surreal, tomorrowland music, because it was hopeless. The whole musical playground was a joke. The record label execs were more important than the acts; even the bloody retailers were snorting coke and telling you how to play guitar. Bollocks to that.”
During the 1980s, Beck released the successful albums There And Back, Flash and Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop, but only embarked on one major tour. “I kept out of the way,” Beck admitted. “And I think there will be a time soon when I’ll have to pull hard. That will mean a proper album – a seriously good album to let them know I’m about.”
The Observer polled some of the most revered guitarists in 1990 to decide the greatest living guitarist, the guitarist’s guitarist. Beck came out on top by a fair margin, with Brian May and David Gilmour among those who appreciated his unique virtuosity. “Those sort of remarks are what keeps me going, really,” Beck reflected. “Brian May, who is just an incredible technician and a masterful recording artist – the things he’s said about me. I don’t really care who trashes me in the papers, people with less qualifications, it just goes over straight my head now.”
Before his death in January 2023, Jeff Beck enjoyed one final career flourish. Amid his defamation trial against Amber Heard, actor and musician Johnny Depp invited Beck to tour with him as a duo. The pair also recorded the studio album 18 together.