HAMMER OF THE GODS: The Led Zeppelin Saga

by Stephen Davis ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 27, 1985

An excellent job mapping the Led Zeppelin trail, taking it from their early romance with the sounds of Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Muddy Waters through their brief imitations of the first British wave to hit American shores--the Rolling Stones, the Animals and the Beatles. Zeppelin (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Peter Grant) took the music, took the freedom an exalting and dangerous step further. They had made a pact with the devil and flaunted it on their Stairway to Heaven. They were influenced as much by Mississippi Delta blues as South American-grown drugs. Their tours were wondrous exercises in excess, the music acid hot, the sex strange, quick and final. They were rock 'n roll's richest band. Until their breakup in 1980, they stood firm as a symbol of an ultra-violent, ultra-liberal, fast-and-free decade of decadence. Davis gets it all: the backstage sex, the groupies willing to do anything to spend just a soft moment with their gods; the drugs, in abundance; the music, loud, angry, vicious, reaching out to a generation with similiar feelings; the tours, confused, large-scale multi-voltage replicas of Roman gore and glory. Davis has done a masterful job of piecing together the years, the rise, the lows, the deaths and tragedies, the energy, the violence. The times--the late 60s and early 70s--were primed and ready for a band like Zeppelin. The band took full advantage of the opportunity. One of the best rock books on record.

Pub Date: June 27, 1985

ISBN: 0061473081

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1985

Categories: NONFICTION