(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Wed 25 February 2026 19:15, UK
There needed to be something different going on in rock and roll to get the attention of John Lennon.
He may have got his start making the most cookie-cutter rock and roll that everyone else starts with, but by the time that he and Paul McCartney started writing, there needed to be a bit more complexity to what they were doing. But even if they had written the most ‘high art’ rock and roll song ever conceived, nothing was going to matter to Lennon unless there was some star power behind it.
After all, that’s what made The Beatles so magnetic when they first got started. Everyone had been used to hearing artists like Elvis Presley on the radio, but since there was no set lead singer, the world had four versions of Presley for the price of one. And since all of them had a sharp wit and engaging personality whenever they gave interviews, it was just as interesting just listening to them talk as it was when they had instruments in their hands.
But even with the more mainstream songs that Macca played most of the time, Lennon was focused on making every one of his tunes sound a little bit weird. He knew that nothing gets to the top of the charts by following trends, and his music needed to have a bit more passion and creativity behind it whenever he came out with tunes like ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ or taking the audience into an acid-soaked dream on tunes like ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ or ‘I Am the Walrus’.
Then again, not everyone shared Lennon’s eye for weirdness whenever he made records. Sure, albums like Two Virgins weren’t going to be everyone’s favourite when they came out, but Lennon would have much rather done something weird than listen to whatever the faceless British invasion bands were doing. The ones that lasted were those that had a lot more interesting tunes, and as far as Lennon could tell, The Yardbirds didn’t really have what it took to become legends.
That’s a bold statement coming from a band that had three of the best guitarists that the rock and roll world had ever seen, but it’s easy to see where he’s coming from. The early days of the band making pop tunes was the whole reason why Eric Clapton left, and even if Keith Relf had a decent voice, Lennon felt that there was no reason for them to be remembered like the true legends of the world.
In all fairness, The Yardbirds did give us one of the greatest proto-hard rock songs with their rendition of ‘Train Kept A-Rollin’, but that wasn’t enough to legitimise them in Lennon’s mind, saying, “[They were] one of those mid-’60s English groups, anyway, which I never thought were much cop, except for Jeff Beck. Yardbirds. That was it. Son of Stones. But they never really had a singer, you know, or a performer.”
And given the fact that the band are more fondly remembered for having the most influential guitarists in their ranks, it’s hard to argue with Lennon in some respects. A lot of the greatest work that Clapton, Beck, and Jimmy Page ever made came well after the fact, but you have to give credit to The Yardbirds for being a springboard for what those musicians could have been once they carved out their own careers.
There were more than a few times where they laid on the Stones-esque sound pretty thick, but it’s not like you can deny their place in history. Not everyone is going to be able to name their songs, but if you looked at their lineup throughout the 1960s, they had the star power that could have gone toe-to-toe with any other hard rock band of any generation.