A review by greg_talbot
Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis

3.0

At a deserted crossroad on dark moonless night, Robert Johnson makes a deal with the devil himself. The gift of glory, fame, women, and Earthly eternity, are given to the young buck, all for the price of his soul. Stephen Davis chronicles the ascent and mythology of another trailblazer in modern music, Led Zeppelin, a British quartet that defined 1970s rock with lyrics of mythology, fantasy, and an unleashed sexual appetite. Like Robert Johnson, they made their deal...transmogrifying the blues into a new sound to awaken young people across America.

“Hammer of the Gods” is often described for it’s account of the feckless beats of the rockstar lifestyle. The drugs, the women, the shark story. It’s the classic rock story before the story existed. Four provincial lads found little respect in their homeland, but conquered America with epics like
"Whole Lotta Love", "Dazed and Confused", "Good Times Bad Times" and the transcendent
monster ballad "Stairway to Heaven". It’s the travelogue, the gossip page, the facts behind the songs, and the truth beyond the images.

Although it lionizes these men, it also brings a lenses of humanity and banality to their exist. The fights with the record labels over creative decisions. The savage critical response to issues like Robert Plant’s voice, and dull response of critics in England. And tellingly that all of the chaos and madness was happening to kids, describing how members of the band would sleep with the lights on for the first tours, due to homesickness.

For any Zeppelin fan, or classic rock fan, this book is a must. It’s a fairly straightforward approach toward the career of Plant, Jones, Page and Bonham. The stories can get pretty out there, and can be a lot of fun (the George Harrison cake story, p.2000). And it can be sobering too, seeing how quickly the largest rock band is dethroned by the anti-establishment punk rock bands from working class English neighborhoods.

At times I was remisciening on “Almost Famous”, or Mark Kozelek’s memorable “I Watched the Film the Song Remains the Same”, the way our artifacts today reference this now mythical time of excess and bombast. Zeppelin were unmatched for their early 70s for memorable hard hitting stadium rock. Songs and albums that would come together in weeks ran out of steam after the band was at its apogee with the release of “Physical Graffiti” . With Bonham’s death, and the death of Robert Plant’s son...the drive and desire to go on evaporated...and a band of the caliber, size and style disappeared. These mythological gods delivered us lightning bolts of fully realized mesmerizing albums, the full throttled “Zeppelin II”, or the hauntingly fragile “Zeppelin III”, or the expansive “Houses of the Holy”. Having delivered their message across the world and delivering the spirit of rock and roll, they disappeared from our lowly world into a higher plain of existence. Long may they be remembered, the great Led Zeppelin.