Jimmy Page and Lori Maddox

It was 100% wrong for sure and inexcusable, but honestly, if you're a fan of classic rock, it's pretty much a fact of life that many of your favorite artists slept with underage girls. Bill Wyman, Jerry Lee Lewis, Mick Jagger, Elvis, Ted Nugent, Steven Tyler, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Berry, Iggy Pop, John Phillips, the list goes on.

That doesn't even count people who were abusive to their wives/girlfriends (John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Brian Jones, Ike Turner, James Brown), people who hold/held racist or hateful views (Eric Clapton, Morrissey) or people who were flat out murderers (Phil Spector, Lead Belly)

I choose to separate the art from the artist. I can appreciate that Jimmy is one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time while also acknowledging that he is/was a deeply flawed man who did some immoral things (ex. Lori Maddox and the recent revelation that he apparently got Jason Bonham hooked on cocaine).

You have to separate the art from the artist.

I am a MASSIVE fan of classic rock including many great bands. LZ is one of the greatest for me. They are in a tight group of the top 5 or so bands which are so great that they defy rank ordering. But honestly, I couldn't give a damn about their personal lives, their interests, their marriages, their drug use, their taste in food, their politics, or anything else. I just love the music. I do not have time in my busy life to read their biographies and frankly there are far more interesting and important books to read.

So really, I don't care about their past sins either.

For a man in his late 20s to have a 'relationship' with a child was wrong in the 1970s and its wrong now. Page would have known this then. But it does not affect my enjoyment of his music now. And yes, as you explore major cultural figures, especially of LZ's era, you will learn of more and more things that you will find distasteful or even criminal.

So, yeah, its awful what Page did and we know that any man would easily be jailed for that today. It is, by any reasonable definition, child sexual abuse.

But what an artist has done does not change their art. A great painter could be a terrible human being, a racist, a vile person, but they could still paint great paintings.

But the overriding point I make here is that I don't care about their lives much anyway. I just love the music.

Well, I'm glad it's being mentioned here because I think it deserves a conversation at least. My opinion of it is based on my experience with trauma and that one of the most triggering things I've encountered is feeling spoken over about my own experiences, feeling my story was being used for someone's own personal ego while my feelings were ignored. Also, back in 2012, Lori inadvertently messaged me on Facebook thinking I was Jimmy because my icon was of him and my account url was zeppelin related, and while I won't post verbatim what she messaged me (though I remember it distinctly, I'll never forget it), I will say that she disclosed caring a lot about him still. Btw, I immediately told her I wasn't him and apologized to her for confusing her. I still have her added on FB though and she posts positively about him and his music from time to time, so I have to respect that she's not personally asking for people to turn on him, even if I think the relationship was illegal and abusive. I just have a lot of personal resentment against people using what happened to her as a weapon against fans of his music, without her consent. She never asked anyone to stop listening to his music, ya know?

I completely agree with you bro. We shouldnt put anybody so high on a pedistal that we make their actions excusable. Not even a rock god like jimmy.

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Yep, Definitely agree with this one, just can't be justified IMO

Things were different back then, and if it makes it any better.... he doesn't seem to have kept the trend in his age. Now he dates girls well into their 20s... >.>

My grandmother was married at 16 to a man twice her age literally (he was the oldest of 7 orphans and he vowed not to marry until he raised all his siblings). No one arrested him, no one lambasted him. It was simply a different time, where women were not treated as equals to men, and getting a girl bedded through alcohol, lies, fame, power, etc were seen as different means to an end. It wasn't a level playing field. I'm glad it's not like that anymore.

By all accounts, Jimmy has left that sordid past behind and become a gentleman. Perhaps this is why he has been spread the #metoo. And Lori has always spoken well of him, and by all accounts, seems to still love him. Of course, we might never know if her feelings are genuine or the result of the abuse she suffered. We might not ever know if she could have really grasped the difference between being used and being in a relationship.

I think you do have to judge people based on the standards of their times. 100 years from now, future humans may look at things like animal testing or infant circumcision with abject horror. For example, most of the US founding fathers were slave owners. Perhaps you could admire some of them for treating their slaves decently? Perhaps not.

However, I think that most people could forgive Page for what he did, considering the standards of the time, and that he stopped doing it, unlike someone like Harvey Weinstein who insisted on bringing his practices well into the 21st century.

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The real deal if anyone actually researched is as follows:

+Lori met Jimmy in mid June 1973,

+most of the summer of 73 LZ was on the East Coast, they played MSG in late July 73, they were robbed on the second night and the band members left immediately for England that night.

+They took a long break, then Jimmy and Robert regrouped and started writing again, they came back to the States late spring of 1974 for the kick off party for their Swan Song Record Label.

+ Jimmy was with BeBe Buell at that Swan Song party and for a few months.

+Lori was history within mere weeks of meeting him. They did not have some long drawn out romance! When he found out how old she was he dumped her immediately. Sable Starr new this! Don't you find it odd Laurie NEVER spoke up until AFTER Sable died? Then all of the sudden out come all these stories?? Sable would have called her out.

You all really need to get your facts straight.