Take a photo of a barcode or cover
informative
slow-paced
TL;DR: As someone who claims Led Zeppelin as their favorite band, I was really looking forward to reading this. It wasn't entirely what I expected. While I'm happy to have this in my collection as a fan of the band, I don't think I'd ever pick this up to read again.
_____
Please heed the trigger warnings of you give this a read! I was initially really excited when I got this book as a present about a decade ago. Then I was in college and grad school so reading for fun wasn't something I did. This book just sat there on my shelf almost chastising me for it's neglect.
Led Zeppelin has been my favorite band since I was a child, so I knew I needed to get around to reading this. And it was kind of...eh? Don't get me wrong, I learned a good bit about Jimmy Page (the guitarist) and Peter Grant (the band's manager), plus a little bit about Robert Plant (the lead singer). But when it came to the other band members (John Paul Jones and John Bonham) there was barely any info. There was more information about Aleister Crowley than these band members, which I found a bit preposterous.
I think the best way I can describe how this reads is like going to the band's Wikipedia page and then clicking on every name, place, album, etc. listed and reading those Wikipedia pages. The writing was also interesting with interludes where the biographer spoke as if he were the individual being written about. I thought it was at times interesting, at others confusing and convoluted, and at one point absolutely unnecessary (i.e., trying to get into Bonham's mindset on the night he died from pulmonary aspiration due to alcohol consumption).
All in all, as a huge fan of the band, I'm glad I finally dusted this off the shelf. But it'll just be a collector's item now with almost no chance of being read again. Almost a 2 star rating, but I love the band too much.
_____
Please heed the trigger warnings of you give this a read! I was initially really excited when I got this book as a present about a decade ago. Then I was in college and grad school so reading for fun wasn't something I did. This book just sat there on my shelf almost chastising me for it's neglect.
Led Zeppelin has been my favorite band since I was a child, so I knew I needed to get around to reading this. And it was kind of...eh? Don't get me wrong, I learned a good bit about Jimmy Page (the guitarist) and Peter Grant (the band's manager), plus a little bit about Robert Plant (the lead singer). But when it came to the other band members (John Paul Jones and John Bonham) there was barely any info. There was more information about Aleister Crowley than these band members, which I found a bit preposterous.
I think the best way I can describe how this reads is like going to the band's Wikipedia page and then clicking on every name, place, album, etc. listed and reading those Wikipedia pages. The writing was also interesting with interludes where the biographer spoke as if he were the individual being written about. I thought it was at times interesting, at others confusing and convoluted, and at one point absolutely unnecessary (i.e., trying to get into Bonham's mindset on the night he died from pulmonary aspiration due to alcohol consumption).
All in all, as a huge fan of the band, I'm glad I finally dusted this off the shelf. But it'll just be a collector's item now with almost no chance of being read again. Almost a 2 star rating, but I love the band too much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content