LED ZEPPELIN

A doorstop biography befitting the premier rock band of the 1970s.

For those who haven’t read any of the numerous books on Led Zeppelin, rest assured that Spitz has—the extensive bibliography and voluminous footnotes prove it. The author is skillful at conjuring scenes from the past and doing his best to get inside the heads of people he hasn’t met (no one in the band and few in their inner circle consented to interviews). He also has a flair for interweaving quotes given to other writers into his narrative, as if the speaker were talking directly to him. Spitz, who has written biographies of the Beatles and Bob Dylan, writes with oracular authority—“The blues had laid the groundwork for a musical upheaval that would draw on innovation, technology, and volume, incredible volume. [Jimmy] Page had a cleareyed idea about the blues; to him, it functioned as a springboard to something bigger and more dynamic. And he knew exactly where he was taking it”—and his passion for the music is clear. However, the long slog of the narrative ultimately proves as exhausting as it is exhaustive, like sitting through an endless John Bonham drum solo that shows no signs of ending. The author diligently chronicles the procession of albums, tours, groupies, alcohol, drugs, and infighting, and it all becomes too much. Rather than emphasizing the sleazy aspects of the band’s history, he treats them as matters of fact, yet readers know that none of it would end well. Little of the information in this book is new, and Spitz’s dedicated research fails to provide much fresh illumination of well-tread ground. Of course, Zeppelin die-hards (of which there are millions worldwide) will be interested, as will devotees of 1970s rock and all the excess that came along with it.

The song remains the same, making this one for the fans.