I remember in 1970 going into a music store where the owner of the store was playing some of the new releases on eight-track tape. He would pull out a tape, open the wrapper, and pop it into a tape deck. I purchased three of the tapes that he previewed: Chicago II, On Time by Grand Funk Railroad, and Led Zeppelin II. All three of these got a lot of play in my car's eight-track player but the Zeppelin tape was the one that outshined the others. Prior to hearing this, I had not really heard anything by the band but Whole Lotta Love ended up getting a lot of airplay on the local AM radio channels and I became a fan of Zeppelin, buying all of their albums up till Houses of the Holy. After that, I kind of lost interest in them but have always liked their music and the band.
When I heard about this new biography of the group, I immediately put it on the wait list at the library and was able to get one of the first copies ordered by them. And I'm glad to have read this...it really is an in-depth telling of the Led Zeppelin story. The prologue to the book tells of Zeppelin's U.S. debut at The Tea Party in Boston and a young hitchhiker's travel to the show to see them. The hitchhiker was lucky to get into a show and was thrilled at the music he had heard...turns out the young man was Steven Tyler who would later front Aerosmith. The book then goes into the band's founding by Jimmy Page after his stint with the Yardbirds. It tells of Page's interest in the blues and his guitar playing at an early age where he eventually makes it as a session player for many top acts of the 1960s along with John Paul Jones, Zeppelin's bassist and keyboardist. Then there was the search for a vocalist resulting in finding Robert Plant as well as a drummer, John Bonham, who both hailed from the Midlands of England.
The book details the recording of each of Zeppelin's albums and describes the songs as well as how they evolved. I found myself using Spotify to play most of the songs as they were described in the book which I thought really enhanced the experience of reading about them. But the book also goes into great depth about the abuses of the band while touring which were mostly alcohol and drug related. The band's manager, Peter Grant, was a large abusive person with a cocaine habit who would threaten anyone who got in his way. Then there was John Bonham, the drummer, who was also a large man and always itching for a fight. He was known for trashing hotel rooms and throwing TVs, furniture, and anything not tied down out of hotel windows. And Jimmy Page's fall into drug abuse was very hard to read about going from cocaine to heroin. Then there were the young underage groupies who flocked to the band. Page was actually dating a 15-year old during the group's early years. And some of the abuses heaped on these groupies were really unbelievable. The antics of the group were very hard to understand. They were making millions but acted like young hoodlums, tearing up hotel rooms and abusing young girls. This behavior seemed prevalent among the rock personalities of the time including the Rolling Stones and others.
The book moves along at a rather fast pace, even though it is over 600 pages of reading. It details all the missteps of the band and the eventual death of Bonham from drug and alcohol abuse which put a Coda to the band's existence. I really thought this was an excellent biography but it did make me less of a fan of the members of the band, especially Page and Bonham. But overall I would still highly recommend this to any Zeppelin fan. It's really a great bio of the band. I also have a copy of Spitz's Beatles biography that has been sitting on the shelf for several years. This has motivated me to hopefully read it soon.
When I heard about this new biography of the group, I immediately put it on the wait list at the library and was able to get one of the first copies ordered by them. And I'm glad to have read this...it really is an in-depth telling of the Led Zeppelin story. The prologue to the book tells of Zeppelin's U.S. debut at The Tea Party in Boston and a young hitchhiker's travel to the show to see them. The hitchhiker was lucky to get into a show and was thrilled at the music he had heard...turns out the young man was Steven Tyler who would later front Aerosmith. The book then goes into the band's founding by Jimmy Page after his stint with the Yardbirds. It tells of Page's interest in the blues and his guitar playing at an early age where he eventually makes it as a session player for many top acts of the 1960s along with John Paul Jones, Zeppelin's bassist and keyboardist. Then there was the search for a vocalist resulting in finding Robert Plant as well as a drummer, John Bonham, who both hailed from the Midlands of England.
The book details the recording of each of Zeppelin's albums and describes the songs as well as how they evolved. I found myself using Spotify to play most of the songs as they were described in the book which I thought really enhanced the experience of reading about them. But the book also goes into great depth about the abuses of the band while touring which were mostly alcohol and drug related. The band's manager, Peter Grant, was a large abusive person with a cocaine habit who would threaten anyone who got in his way. Then there was John Bonham, the drummer, who was also a large man and always itching for a fight. He was known for trashing hotel rooms and throwing TVs, furniture, and anything not tied down out of hotel windows. And Jimmy Page's fall into drug abuse was very hard to read about going from cocaine to heroin. Then there were the young underage groupies who flocked to the band. Page was actually dating a 15-year old during the group's early years. And some of the abuses heaped on these groupies were really unbelievable. The antics of the group were very hard to understand. They were making millions but acted like young hoodlums, tearing up hotel rooms and abusing young girls. This behavior seemed prevalent among the rock personalities of the time including the Rolling Stones and others.
The book moves along at a rather fast pace, even though it is over 600 pages of reading. It details all the missteps of the band and the eventual death of Bonham from drug and alcohol abuse which put a Coda to the band's existence. I really thought this was an excellent biography but it did make me less of a fan of the members of the band, especially Page and Bonham. But overall I would still highly recommend this to any Zeppelin fan. It's really a great bio of the band. I also have a copy of Spitz's Beatles biography that has been sitting on the shelf for several years. This has motivated me to hopefully read it soon.
