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When Led Zeppelin broke up after John Bonham’s death, Jimmy Page faced the reality that any new vocalist he would ever work with would forever be compared to the legendary Robert Plant. There was simply no way around it. Led Zeppelin’s sound was so unique and powerfully defined by four individuals that losing any member would prove too difficult for the band to survive. Robert Plant understood that more than Page and Jones, or at least that is what we have been led to believe. In the post-Led Zeppelin era, Jimmy Page released music sparingly.
The most consistent project that Jimmy Page became involved with was his band The Firm. The group recorded two albums and featured the vocals of Paul Rodgers. Any old-time Led Zeppelin fan is familiar with The Firm. Led Zeppelin fans salivated for anything Jimmy Page. The albums were enjoyable, but that Paul Rodgers vocal sound that lit up the Bad Company and Free records only lasted two albums with Page.
Read More: Chris Slade Of The Firm Interview
The Coverdale/Page collaboration unleashed another fun record, but the Plant/Coverdale comparisons were ridiculed by many. Robert Plant was even known to make fun of Coverdale. Ribbing aside, the Coverdale/Page record featured great guitar work by Page, strong song hooks, and amazing vocal performances by David Coverdale. It was a great album!
Read More: David Coverdale Interview
The one excellent Jimmy Page record that most Led Zeppelin fans enjoyed was Jimmy Page’s only full-length solo studio album, Outrider. The Outrider album was released in 1988 and featured various vocal tracks and instrumentals. Robert Plant appeared on the track “The Only One.” John Miles handled lead vocals on “Wasting My Time” and “Wanna Make Love,” while Chris Farlowe sang the album’s other three vocal tracks. The album’s opening number, “Wasting My Time,” was easily the album’s standout track. It was also, in our opinion, the best rock song Jimmy Page co-wrote and recorded since the breakup of Led Zeppelin in 1980.
John Miles never hit it big in the United States but enjoyed tremendous success in the United Kingdom. John Miles was a well-respected artist with an extensive catalog of pop-rock music that sold very well in Europe. In John Miles, Jimmy Page found the perfect singer to record with outside Robert Plant. John Miles was no Robert Plant imitator, yet his vocal range was ideally suited to match the vocal style Jimmy Page used during his work with Plant in Led Zeppelin. John Miles died in 2021 at the age of 72.
“Wasting My Time” featured a “to die for” Led Zeppelin-style hook that Page repeated brilliantly with minuscule variations throughout the song. Those legendary Jimmy Page guitar slides punctuated the verse changes in tribute to his work with Zeppelin. John Miles’s vocals on the track struck a perfect balance of 1980s-style bombast and authentic, blues-infused phrasing that made listeners wish the singer had sung on more than just two album tracks.
Unfortunately, since Led Zeppelin had broken up less than ten years before, anything that Jimmy Page did outside of Led Zeppelin was never really given a chance. There was always backlash against the work Jimmy Page did without Robert Plant, so the great track “Wasting My Time” was often overlooked. Take another listen. If you missed it the first time, give it another chance.
Updated August 27, 2026.
Why “Wasting My Time” Was Jimmy Page’s Best Post-Led Zeppelin Song article published on ClassicRockHistory.com © 2026
