Following the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980 and the subsequent dissolution of Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page was left without his main creative outlet. It wasn’t long before he found one, however, in The Firm, a supergroup of sorts that came together in 1984.
The band didn’t last all that long, releasing just two albums before quickly calling it a day as Page and lead singer Paul Rodgers moved on to other things. But they gave the legendary Led Zep guitarist a few hits along the way, while also rejuvenating his passion for making music.
Un-Led-Ed
Considering Led Zep lead singer Robert Plant was already feeling ambivalent about the rock and roll lifestyle by the end of the ’70s, it’s possible the band might have petered out anyway. But Bonham’s death ended everything in a hurry, and Page was left depressed and adrift without the band.
His musical output for the next few years was sporadic, just some soundtrack work and occasional session appearances. He almost formed a group with some members of Yes, but they couldn’t pull it together in the end. Some live charity shows in 1983 and 1984 among other rock luminaries seemed to have stirred in Page the desire to start recording again.
At a few of those shows in America, Paul Rodgers was the singer. Rodgers’ former group, Bad Company, had been a success for Led Zep’s vanity label in the ’70s, so the two men knew each other well. They clicked once again, and since Bad Company was also defunct at the time, Rodgers needed a new outlet as well. The two men decided to form a band.
Affirming The Firm
Rodgers and Page then set about putting together the rest of the lineup. They chose Chris Slade, then known for his work with Uriah Heep, to play the drums. Pino Palladino nearly joined on bass, but the session ace had other commitments that prevented him from doing so. Instead, it was Tony Franklin, who was much younger than the other three and favored a fretless bass, who was chosen to fill the role.
The band, named by The Firm based on an impromptu suggestion by Slade, hit the studio with Page and Rodgers as producers and chief songwriters. Notable on the self-titled 1985 debut album was the nine-minute closing track “Midnight Moonlight,” which Page had originally presented as a musical piece to Led Zeppelin, though the band never finished it.
The Firm also found radio success right off the bat with their first single. “Radioactive,” written by Rodgers, featured a slinky groove, crashing drums, pulsing bass, and oddly enough, a guitar break that was played by Rodgers and not Page. They toured briefly in 1985 in support of the record and made plans for the follow-up.
Business Shutdown
Mean Business, The Firm’s second album, arrived nearly a year to the day after the first in February 1986. Although there wasn’t a big radio single like “Radioactive,” “All the King’s Horses” and “Live in Peace” earned plentiful rock radio airplay. Both albums did respectable business in terms of sales, which made it seem like the band could continue in that vein.
But it was suddenly announced that The Firm was kaput. Behind the scenes, Page was entertaining the possibility of a Led Zeppelin reunion (which never quite came to pass in the end). By all accounts, the four men got along quite well, so a possibility of a Firm comeback isn’t totally out of the question.
Ultimately, the band’s output displayed smooth chemistry and excellent chops, even if the songwriting wasn’t all that revelatory. Page has spoken fondly about his time in the band, since it helped to get him out of his doldrums. As ’80s rock beholden to ’70s styles goes, The Firm delivered the goods in solid fashion.
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Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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