Led Zeppelin biography a revelation
Led Zeppelin: The Biography By Bob Spitz, Penguin Random House, $45
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. Spitz wrote the biography of the Beatles, so he has the credentials to write this giant tome about one of the greatest rock bands of all time.
It's 671 pages long, but in typical Spitz fashion, about 100 pages of that are academic references. That makes this a pretty believable biography of this quartet of Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and John Bonham.
He also tells a good story, so this doorstop of a book is readable, and he manages to separate myth from reality. He also obviously loves the music, but not to the extent of fanboy adulation. He documents the bad bits just as clearly as the good – and some of those details are even more shocking than the original stories.
There are photos throughout, early Yardbirds, even a very young Jimmy Page in 1958, guitar in hand and many photos of the touring years.
Not surprisingly, the book was written without the cooperation of the surviving members of the band, but even so, everything is fully documented.
The various battles with cocaine and other drugs, and what those did to the band members' family lives are outlined instinctively, which lends an air of raw truth to the stories.
It's quite a revelation. —