This Controversial Short-Lived Supergroup was Made Up of Led Zeppelin and Yardbirds Members 

Put together some of the best artists from the late 1960s and one obscure English rocker, and you’ve got Lord Sutch And Heavy Friends. This group was an interesting outfit, to say the least. They technically came together to support Screaming Lord Sutch’s debut album, Lord Sutch And Heavy Friends, which was recorded in 1969. However, it’s hard to look at the supporting lineup behind this album as anything other than a supergroup.

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The group was made up of English rocker Screaming Lord Sutch, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck of The Yardbirds, and famed session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins. Session guitarist Deniel Edwards was also involved, as was Jimi Hendrix Experience bass player Noel Redding.

There were even more talented artists involved in the creation of this album. Some names include Kent Henry (Blues Image), Rick Brown, Deniel Edwards, Martin Kojl, Carlo Little (of very early Rolling Stones), and Bob Metke.

That’s a lot of star power. And, sadly, all the star power in the world couldn’t save this 1970 album.

Lord Sutch And Heavy Friends Didn’t Get a Lot of Love With Their Debut Album

So, why exactly was this band considered “controversial?” Nobody did anything wrong or problematic. However, despite being packed with talent, Lord Such And Heavy Friends received extremely negative reviews when they released their debut album. It was kind of shocking how badly fans and critics dragged them through the mud. The album was named the worst album of all time via a BBC poll. Some critics said that the big-name rockers involved sounded like “a fouled parody” of themselves.

Ouch.

Personally, I think Lord Sutch And Heavy Friends is a nice little slice of rock music history. But, according to many of the artists involved, there were a lot of mishaps that led to the lackluster recording. Most of the big-name artists involved assumed that the recordings they were working on would be demo quality. They were, ultimately, not. After the album was released, many of the artists involved disowned the record. Screaming Lord Sutch’s reputation in the music industry was damaged, too.

“I just went down to have a laugh, playing some old rock ‘n’ roll, a bit of a send-up,” said Jimmy Page of the album. “The whole joke sort of reversed itself and became ugly.”

Screaming Lord Sutch would go on to release one more studio album in 1982, as well as a handful of live albums and compilation records. But when it comes to the short-lived supergroup Lord Sutch And Heavy Friends, they apparently never worked together again.

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