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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
Bob's not a great writer. Bob's a compiler, an archive digger. I didn't learn anything new about Zeppelin, or what Bob really thinks about them. I learnt a lot about what other writers have written, and interviewers have asked, about Zeppelin.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
When it comes to music biographies and memoirs, the usual formula of humble beginnings, a meteoric ride and a steady decline has been done a million times over because that's what we love to invest our time in. And Led Zeppelin: The Biography is no exception. In it, we get to see how the blues music of Black Americans swayed and influenced Jimmy Page and his contemporaries and how he eventually became an in demand studio session player, and then connected with Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones to first refashion The Yardbirds, then create their own thing. Even though it's territory that has been tread before, Led Zeppelin is refreshing because it doesn't shy away from giving a full glimpse of the band, their manager Peter Grant, and all of their successes, flaws and messed up behavior along the way. Billed by many as something they'd never seen or heard before in the early days, Zeppelin rose to stardom and went on to invent the excess of 70s rock. They took advantage of young girls and women, blew through arguably millions of dollars, self indulged and bulldozed a lot of lives along the way. They trashed hotels, tortured their own staff and shunned the press. But they made amazing music all along the way. This is a long book, but it doesn't feel excessive or bloated. At several points it's extremely hard to read/listen to, especially the groupie stories. But the author did a stellar job of painting Led Zeppelin not as rock gods, untouchable behemoths of men or blameless victims, because they were never any of those things. They were brutally flawed artists who did horrible things to people because they could, and they were self important a-holes, and they were men with brilliant musical minds, and they were attention-seeking users of people of all kinds, and they were products of their time and environment. While the first half of the book is a study in how a band melds together, the second half is a vivid cautionary tale about what drugs, money, ego and excess can do to destroy it all. Zeppelin aficionados likely know everything in these pages, but for the rest of us, there are great chunks of information and band history that will make you do a double take. Led Zeppelin: The Biography is a dutifully-researched read that will give a glimpse into how one of the most celebrated rock bands in its most excessive era came to be, and what eventually drove them to gut-wrenching, disturbing madness and dissolution.
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
This book is not for tirekicker fans, so as someone who reads/listens to anything I can get my hands on about my favorite band of all time, I found this exhaustive and fascinating, clearly depicting the best and the worst of Led Zeppelin, the insane talent and the insane behaviors. I especially appreciated the deep dive into the albums, the song inspirations, the instrumentation, and all of the "inside baseball" about album creation and production. You leave this book recognizing the genius of Jimmy Page and the torture he went through when addicted to heroin; understanding the torment John Bonham felt every time he left his family and farm to tour and the abominable behavior and insane amount of alcohol he consumed to cope with the torment; the Robert Plant trajectory of being the young dude afraid to say much in the beginning to the omnipotence he felt by end as band front man and lyricist. John Paul Jones? Man I love the guy, such a great bassist, and out of all of them I think the guy you'd most be able to just sit and have a great chat and a pint, but I'm not sure he can compete with these big personalities in this book, so I'm hard pressed to think of what I learned about him other than that was a wig in The Song Remains the Same because no one explained the concept of continuity to him and he had all his hair cut off midway during production. :-D
informative
reflective
slow-paced
dark
informative
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
Fascinating story of a group of musicians finding the right ideas for a particular influential sound. Emerging in a tight scene in the late 1960’s reasy to transform music and its business. But also how the fortune translated to miserable lifestyles and abuse of drugs.
The biography is a bit remote from the characters but thorough in covering the musical story of the band.
The biography is a bit remote from the characters but thorough in covering the musical story of the band.
Great book. The drama and the humanity of the ride is well documented. The writing is good, solidly researched and enjoyable. All that said, it's amazing what a train wreck Jimmy Page was. Bonham a train wreck and an asshole. Jones somewhere between milk toast and a bassist, and Plant comes out as the only character I liked. The music should be there legacy but I can't get the images of the barbaric actions and lack of regard for respect and decorum by the band and it's managers out of my head.