Search the map

Results appear as you type. Use the up and down arrow keys to move through them, and Enter to open one.

Find a genre, an artist, a line-up or a landmark by its name, a member or a record.

Line diagram

The Yardbirds

1963 to 1968, re-formed in 1992

See Blues rock on the network

The line diagram

Each member is a lane on the year axis, in the colour of the line the band was on. A filled station marks a joining, an open one a departure, a square a death. The dotted rail is a reunion. A dotted branch leads to a band that grew out of this one, or in from a band its members came from. The table below lists the same spells.

Members

MemberRoleYears
Top Tophamlead guitar1963 to 1963
Eric Claptonlead guitar1963 to 1965
Paul Samwell-Smithbass1963 to 1966
Keith Relfvocals, harmonica1963 to 1968
Chris Drejarhythm guitar, then bass1963 to 1968
Jim McCartydrums1963 to 1968
Jeff Becklead guitar1965 to 1966
Jimmy Pagebass, then lead guitar1966 to 1968

The lines

  1. Blues rock1963 to 1966

    The Clapton and Beck years

    Formed in London in May 1963 and took over the Rolling Stones' Crawdaddy Club residency. Eric Clapton replaced Top Topham that year and quit in 1965 when "For Your Love" turned the band towards pop; Jeff Beck took over.

    Key album: Five Live Yardbirds, 1964

    Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, The Yardbirds (opens in a new tab)

  2. Psychedelic rock1966 to 1968

    Beck and Page, then Page alone

    Jimmy Page joined in 1966 and briefly shared lead guitar with Beck ("Happenings Ten Years Time Ago"). Beck left in late 1966; Relf and McCarty quit in 1968, and Page's New Yardbirds became Led Zeppelin that autumn.

    Key album: Roger the Engineer, 1966

    Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, The Yardbirds (opens in a new tab)

Lineage

SpawnedLed Zeppelin

Page held the name after the 1968 split, toured Scandinavia as the New Yardbirds, and renamed the band Led Zeppelin.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, List of the Yardbirds members (opens in a new tab)
  2. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, The Yardbirds (opens in a new tab)
  3. Encyclopaedia Britannica, The Yardbirds (opens in a new tab)

Cite this page

The Metro Map of Music, ‘The Yardbirds: line diagram’, /line-ups/the-yardbirds.