Influence On Rock
Beck claims that "Beck's Bolero" may contain the first heavy metal riff, probably referring to the aggressive guitar-bass line in the midsong break, played six times in the break's ascending keys. The May 1966 recording pre-dated by only weeks or months other 1960's landmarks in rock music including the formation of Cream, Jimmy Page's formal joining with Beck as a member of the Yardbirds, and Jimi Hendrix's arrival in England to form the Experience.
"Beck's Bolero" also inspired Duane Allman to take up slide guitar, later his signature style. In St. Louis, Allman's Hour Glass bandmate Paul Hornsby put "Beck's Bolero" on a record player for him, and Allman "'loved that slide part and told me he was going to learn to play it,' Paul said."
American rock group The James Gang (who had also covered the Yardbirds' "Lost Woman") directly quoted the entire slide guitar passage of "Beck's Bolero" in their own multi-part suite, "The Bomber" from their 1969 album James Gang Rides Again, which ironically also included a rendition of Ravel's original Bolero.
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