The Yardbirds

The Yardbirds

The Yardbirds are an English rock group from London, active from 1963 to the present. They emerge from the 1960s British blues and rhythm and blues scene and are also associated with blues rock, freakbeat, mod and psychedelic rock. Their recordings appear on Fruits de Mer Records.

Formation and early line-up

The band forms in south-west London in 1963, growing out of earlier activity by Keith Relf and Paul Samwell-Smith in the Metropolitan Blues Quartet. After Chris Dreja, Jim McCarty and Top Topham join, the group plays as a backing band for Cyril Davies in Kingston Art School in late May 1963. It then performs under the name the Blue-Sounds in September 1963 before adopting the Yardbirds name. The original core line-up features Relf on vocals and harmonica, McCarty on drums, Dreja on rhythm guitar and later bass, and Samwell-Smith on bass and production, with Topham as original lead guitarist.

British blues and early success

The Yardbirds build a reputation on the British rhythm and blues circuit after taking over as house band at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, where they succeed the Rolling Stones. Their early repertoire draws heavily on Chicago blues and other American blues and R&B material by artists including Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Elmore James. Songs associated with this period include "Smokestack Lightning", "Good Morning Little School Girl", "Boom Boom", "I Wish You Would", "Rollin' and Tumblin'", "Got Love if You Want It" and "I'm a Man".

Line-up changes and key guitarists

Topham leaves and is replaced by Eric Clapton in October 1963. The Yardbirds later become known for helping launch the careers of three major guitarists: Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. The verified line-up history also includes Ray Majors, John Idan and Alan Glen, and the group later operates with McCarty as the sole original member in the present line-up after Chris Dreja leaves in 2012.

Recording and stylistic development

Under manager and first producer Giorgio Gomelsky, the band tours Britain as backing group for Sonny Boy Williamson II in late 1963 and early 1964, recording live material on 8 December and other dates. These recordings are issued two years later on Sonny Boy Williamson and the Yardbirds. After the Williamson tours, the Yardbirds sign to EMI's Columbia label in February 1964 and record more live material at the Marquee Club in London on 20 March. The resulting album, Five Live Yardbirds, is a live set of mostly American blues and R&B covers that does not enter the UK Albums Chart, but later gains recognition as an important document of the era and of Clapton's time in the band.

As their career develops, the Yardbirds move beyond a blues base into pop, psychedelic rock and early hard rock, and they contribute to electric guitar innovations in the mid-1960s. Their style is marked by instrumental textures and extended improvisation, including the "rave-up" sections that expand brief breaks in blues songs into longer jams. Some critics and historians also credit the band with influencing later punk rock, progressive rock and heavy metal.

Hits and legacy

During the mid-1960s the Yardbirds score a run of hits with "For Your Love", "Heart Full of Soul", "Shapes of Things" and "Over Under Sideways Down". After the group splits in 1968, Relf and McCarty form the acoustic duo Together and later the progressive rock band Renaissance, while Jimmy Page forms Led Zeppelin, originally intended as a direct successor to the Yardbirds. Dreja turns down an invitation to join Page's new group, then known as the New Yardbirds, and instead becomes a photographer, taking the back cover image for Led Zeppelin's first album.

Later activity and honours

The Yardbirds reform in the 1990s with McCarty and Dreja as the only original members. In 2003 they release Birdland, which features McCarty and Dreja, contributions from Jeff Beck and John Idan on lead vocals in place of Relf. The band is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. It also appears at number 89 in Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and at number 37 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.