Guitar heroes

Jimmy Page, the Edge and Jack White
jam out in rock doc It Might Get Loud

ALL-STAR AXEMEN: White, Page and the Edge

by MARK SLUTSKY

The electric guitar is perhaps the single most emblematic image of rock ’n’ roll and, in this age where pretty much every interesting subject with a Wikipedia entry is the subject of a documentary, it seems only natural that It Might Get Loud should come along. Directed by Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth), it looks at the instrument through the stories of three of its most famous players.

The most legendary axeman of the bunch, Jimmy Page, needs no introduction. He’s joined by U2’s the Edge and Jack White of White Stripes/Raconteurs fame. Each represents a very different era in rock music: Page the birth of rock ’n’ roll and the upheavals of the ’60s and ’70s, The Edge the more studio-oriented guitar music of the ’80s, and White the back-to-basics retro-garage ethos.

The guitarists’ life stories are revisited in trips to important spots from their lives, like the school where U2 first got together, and these more personal moments are intercut with a sort of all-star jam and rap session. The three talk together, and more importantly, rock together.

Page’s story is the most interesting, beginning with his childhood days as a skiffle player (there’s amazing footage of him on a TV show in his early teens), his years as an in-demand session player and of course his ascent to rock godhood with the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin. The Edge’s tales of how U2 formed during some of the worst of the Irish Troubles helps round out his otherwise inward-seeming personality. White, with his neo-Luddite stance and avowed intense work ethic, seems like the one with the most to prove, but he’s clearly a very smart guy who cares a hell of a lot about what he does.

What’s most interesting is how all three basically share the same personality type: they’re introverted nerds, true music geeks, and their love of experimenting with the instrument has helped shape rock ‘n’ roll as we know it. If you’re not a big fan of rock, or justifiably feel that enough is enough with the boomer fetishization of the genre and the electric guitar, this isn’t the film for you, but it’s a must for true-blue rockers.

IT MIGHT GET LOUD OPENS
THIS FRIDAY, OCT. 2