Why did Jimmy Page not have commercial success after Led Zeppelin?
Led Zeppelin was the master creation of Jimmy Page and I believe he put his best work into Led Zeppelin, therefore anything beyond Led Zeppelin wasn’t going to pull the same passion and drive out of him.
With that being said, what Page did after Zeppelin isn’t necessarily terrible work.
His most successful commercial album after Zeppelin has to be Coverdale Page
The album charted #5 on the Billboard Top 200 albums in 1993.
I think Coverdale Page showed that Page still had plenty left in the tank, but he just didn’t feel as motivated to play as he was during Zeppelin.
When you listen to Jimmy Page interviews now days 99% of them have to deal with Zeppelin, and when it comes to Zeppelin, Page is all too happy to share stories. I don’t believe he is milking Zeppelin because if that were true then Zeppelin would be in every commercial, every movie and it would lose the special place it has if Page really was a money cow.
Page seems concerned with preserving and spreading the legacy and music of Led Zeppelin and honestly I don’t blame him, that was his master creation and perhaps he feels that duty since Plant and Jones haven’t expressed the same kind of interest.
And one final note, Page doesn’t need to do anything. He could’ve retired after Zeppelin and let that work speak for itself, but he hasn’t. We should be grateful for his contributions to music versus complaining that he hasn’t done more.
