Smashing Gear

When the Yardbirds went on a tour of the USA, Beck repeated his joyous acts of destruction nightly and Napier Bell began rapidly losing money trying to keep the errant player supplied with fresh equipment. Then Beck upped and left the band three quarters of the way through their tour citing as his reasons for his departure, “inflamed brain, inflamed tonsils and inflamed cock.” It was too much for an exhausted Napier Bell. Later that year, he asked Peter Grant to take over the troublesome Yardbirds and in a not insubstantial way changed the course of history by sewing the seeds that would eventually germinate and blossom into Led Zeppelin.