On this date in rock history, Keith Relf, former lead singer for The Yardbirds, died in 1976. He was electrocuted at home while tuning his guitar. The image of the guitarist getting a shock while simultaneously touching the guitar and microphone is a familiar one – remember the scene in “Almost Famous” when this happened to Billy Crudup’s character on stage? I think it had something to do with the old tube amps of the day not being grounded properly and when you touched the guitar and mic stand at the same time, you completed the circuit and zap! – you got a jolt. It happened to my fellow bandmates in my high school bands enough that to this day I can’t stop myself from approaching an open mic with trepidation. But to get electrocuted like Relf did – man, he must have been tuning his guitar plugged into a half-stack Marshall turned up all the way, while sitting in a metal chair in his swimming pool during an electrical storm! Well, to dispel that image, let’s watch some vintage Yardbirds, and observe a moment of silence for the unfortunate Mr. Relf. Thanks, as always, to www.garylessard.com for the info, and keep on rockin’ – safely!
2 comments:
A wonderful clip -- meant to be played LOUD btw. What's the lineup here do you know? Is this with Jeff Beck?
The late great Keith Relf, singer and harp; Beck on lead; Chris Dreja on rhythm; Paul Samwell-Smith on bass; and Jim McCarty on drums. McCarty and Dreja are the only original members still carrying on with the Yardbirds franchise.
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