Every guitarist dreams of channeling Jimmy Page’s brilliance. But in Rick Rubin’s eyes, that dream came true — and it wasn’t Page holding the guitar. It was Tom Morello, the genre-defying revolutionary who didn’t just play solos — he turned the instrument inside out. Rubin heard it immediately. He saw it coming. He declared Morello the heir to the Zeppelin throne. Was he right? Once you hear the roar of that guitar, there’s only one answer.

Rick Rubin Declares Tom Morello the Heir to Jimmy Page’s Throne — And Once You Hear the Guitar, You Understand Why
By [Your Name], July 1, 2025 – 700 words

Every guitarist who has ever picked up a six-string knows the myth of Jimmy Page. The Led Zeppelin icon didn’t just play guitar — he summoned storms, conjured mysticism, and defined what it meant to make a guitar speak. His riffs were thunder; his solos, like spells cast across stadiums. For decades, guitarists have chased that elusive magic. Few came close.

But one man didn’t chase. He created his own.

And when legendary producer Rick Rubin heard him, he didn’t hesitate. “That’s the next Page,” Rubin said. “That’s the guy who took the torch and lit a whole new fire.”

The man? Tom Morello.

Best known for his work with Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, and his solo act The Nightwatchman, Morello is no traditional shredder. He doesn’t care for textbook scales or arena clichés. Instead, he loops, scratches, toggles, bends, slices, and punches sound out of his guitar with an inventiveness that breaks all the rules. He doesn’t just play the instrument — he reinvents it every time he touches it.

Rubin, who has worked with the likes of Johnny Cash, Slayer, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and yes, even Metallica, knows guitar greatness when he hears it. But his praise for Morello went beyond the usual. In an interview that resurfaced recently, Rubin drew a direct line from the dark, cinematic genius of Jimmy Page to the revolutionary noise-craft of Tom Morello.

“There’s a spirit in the way they approach music,” Rubin explained. “Page had this alchemy — this feeling that something ancient and dangerous was in his riffs. Morello has that too. But he brought it into the future. His guitar doesn’t sound like anyone else’s, and that’s exactly what Jimmy did in his time.”

It’s a bold claim. Page, after all, crafted Stairway to Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, and Kashmir. His work shaped a generation, launched millions of bands, and solidified Zeppelin as rock royalty. Could Morello really be his heir?

One listen to “Killing in the Name” or “Sleep Now in the Fire” answers that question with a furious, fuzzed-out “yes.”

Morello’s style is pure rebellion — but not just in attitude. His use of toggle switches, kill-switches, pitch-shifting, feedback loops, and even unplugged cables transformed his guitar into a weapon of sonic protest. Every riff is a protest chant. Every solo, a political scream. Where Page built gothic cathedrals with reverb and bowing techniques, Morello builds war zones, machines, and revolution itself.

What connects them isn’t technique. It’s imagination.

Jimmy Page saw the studio as a canvas, layering sounds that didn’t belong together — Eastern strings, reverse echoes, choral harmonies — to create something mythic. Morello did the same, only instead of layering sounds, he deconstructed them. His guitar could sound like a turntable, a robot, or a siren — often all within one solo.

But even with all his sonic experiments, Morello never forgot the riff — that primal, unmistakable hook that pulls you in by the gut. Just like Page, he knew that if a riff doesn’t move you physically, it’s not worth playing.

And that’s where Rubin’s comparison hits home.

Both men turned chaos into beauty. Both turned distortion into poetry. Both changed the way guitars were played — and heard.

Morello himself has never shied away from praising Page. He called him a “sorcerer,” citing Physical Graffiti and Presence as personal obsessions. He even once said, “Page is why I believe the guitar is more than just an instrument — it’s a force of nature.” But perhaps what Morello didn’t realize is that others — including Rick Rubin — now say the same of him.

Of course, not everyone will agree. Purists will always guard the Zeppelin legacy like a sacred scroll. But music isn’t about staying in the past. It’s about evolving the spirit, not copying the sound.

Tom Morello didn’t become Jimmy Page. He became Tom Morello. And that, in the end, is exactly what Page would have respected the most.

So is Rubin right?

Once you hear that roar — that fearless, distorted, unapologetically wild roar — the answer echoes like a Marshall stack in an empty arena.

 

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