The Yardbirds are an English
rock band formed in London in 1963 that had a string of hits during the mid-1960s, including "
For Your Love", "
Over Under Sideways Down" and "
Heart Full of Soul". The group launched the careers of guitarists
Eric Clapton,
Jimmy Page and
Jeff Beck, all of whom are in the top five of
Rolling Stone's 100 Top Guitarists list (Clapton at No. 2, Page at No. 3 and Beck at No. 5). A
blues-based band that broadened its range into pop and rock, the Yardbirds had a hand in many electric guitar innovations of the mid-1960s, such as
feedback,
"fuzztone" distortion and improved amplification. Pat Pemberton, writing for
Spinner, holds that the Yardbirds were "the most impressive guitar band in rock music". After the Yardbirds broke up in 1968, lead guitarist Jimmy Page founded what became
Led Zeppelin, while vocalist/harmonica player
Keith Relf and drummer
Jim McCarty formed the
symphonic rock group
Renaissance.