It has been 50 years since their legendary rock hit “Stairway to Heaven” was released.
The story of how virtuosic London sophisticates Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones came together with Midlands wild men Robert Plant and John Bonham to form the legendary rock band Led Zeppelin is one for the rock-history books. New York Times bestselling biographer Bob Spitz draws on his own book, Led Zeppelin: The Biography, to tell the band’s definitive story.
It was one of the most successful (and certainly one of the most notorious) bands of all time, selling more than 300 million albums worldwide. From the opening notes of their first album in 1969, Led Zeppelin was something different: a collision of grand artistic ambition and brute force, of English folk music and African American blues.
Spitz pulls back the curtain on Led Zeppelin’s creative process, from dress rehearsals to creative breakthroughs. For his book, he conducted more than 150 interviews with friends, colleagues, executives, and even groupies who shared detailed inside accounts of Zeppelin’s exploits, from who really stole the money at the Drake Hotel robbery, to the step-by-step creation of their albums.
Led Zeppelin’s music, however, is only part of the legend. Their story is a window into how the 1960s turned into the ‘70s, of how playing small clubs became playing stadiums, of how innocence became decadence.
Led Zeppelin (Penguin Press) is available for purchase.
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