Led Zeppelin
The Biography
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Led Zeppelin
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Narrated by:
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Rob Shapiro
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By:
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Bob Spitz
About this listen
From the author of the definitive New York Times best-selling history of the Beatles comes the authoritative account of the group many call the greatest rock band of all time, arguably the most successful, and certainly one of the most notorious.
Rock star. Whatever that term means to you, chances are it owes a debt to Led Zeppelin. No one before or since has lived the dream quite like Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. In Led Zeppelin, Bob Spitz takes their full measure, separating the myth from the reality with his trademark connoisseurship and storytelling flair.
From the opening notes of their first album, the band announced itself as something different, a collision of grand artistic ambition and brute primal force, of English folk music and African American blues. That record sold more than 10 million copies, and it was just the beginning; Led Zeppelin's albums have sold more than 300 million certified copies worldwide, and the dust has never settled.
The band is notoriously guarded, and previous books provided more heat than light. But Spitz's authority is undeniable and irresistible. His feel for the atmosphere, the context - the music, the business, the recording studios, the touring life, the whole ecosystem of popular music - is unparalleled. His account of the melding of Page and Jones, the virtuosic London sophisticates, with Plant and Bonham, the wild men from the Midlands, in a scene dominated by the Beatles and the Stones but changing fast, is in itself a revelation. Spitz takes the music seriously and brings the band's artistic journey to full and vivid life.
The music, however, is only part of the legend: Led Zeppelin is also the story of how the '60s became the '70s, of how playing clubs became playing stadiums, of how innocence became decadence. Led Zeppelin wasn't the first rock band to let loose on the road, but as with everything else, they took it to an entirely new level. Not all the legends are true, but in Spitz's careful accounting, what is true is astonishing and sometimes disturbing.
Led Zeppelin gave no quarter, and neither has Bob Spitz. Led Zeppelin is the full and honest reckoning the band has long awaited and richly deserves.
©2021 Bob Spitz (P)2021 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"A gossipy, readable account.” - New Yorker
“In this authoritative, unsparing history of the biggest rock group of the 1970s, Spitz delivers inside details and analysis with his well-known gift for storytelling.” - People
“★★★½ out of four . . . The good, the bad and the ugly coexist in the Led Zeppelin story, and Spitz knows well enough to report and tell it all.” - USA Today
What listeners say about Led Zeppelin
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 01-12-22
Speechless !!!!!
Wow wow wow !! I’m only 31 and I have been listening to led zeppelin for a while now and the audio book dose not disappoint a point
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- borisbob
- 06-02-22
No fairytale
A brutal and honest account of one of the greatest bands ever. No holds barred.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Andrew Hosford
- 20-02-23
As rock n roll as it gets
Phenomenal. I wouldn’t say I was the biggest led zeppelin fan music wise. But this book and their story is more than I imagined when I started. Just an audacious, outstanding and shocking story. Amazing
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- ANTHONY WILFORD
- 06-05-23
Superb, Absolute Corker
Excellent in every way, really, really enjoyed this. An excellent history of the band told in a unflinching way exactly as it was.
Even if your not a zeppelin fan you will love this audiobook documenting the bands rise to hedonistic fame and fortune and it’s inevitable end with John Bonham’s untimely death.It shocks you, moves you and leaves you wishing there was more-loved it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jackie
- 30-06-24
Very in-depth....beyond the music
...I would say this is the most conflicting biography I've listened to. As a musical person of that era, all the 60's and 70's are embedded into the intricate weave of most of our lives. Yet, having seen the tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors, especially hearing the phenomenal bersion of Stairway done by Heart with Bono's son drumming,...well, I wonder, if they folks involved had read the full story would they have been as eager to honor that journey...where do they...you...draw the line.
I've been there, done that in many ways but I still find it offensive that gifted as our best musicians are, noone should earn the fortunes they do...society is misguided....8
and what rattled me was the sheer perversion and crudeness existing in their journey...it was sad, disgusting and demeaning...
....but, yeah, I will still listen occasionally but never hear it quite the same way....
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Goldfrapper
- 10-09-23
One of the best rock biographies
Is this the “authorised “ biography? I shouldn’t think so - this is the ‘warts and all’ account, and let’s face it, with Led Zeppelin there are more warts than most! Which is why this is such a gripping story, whether or not you love the band. Spitz has done his homework and put together the full history in a way that’s involving and completely absorbing. He concentrates on the three aspects essential to any rock biography: the personalities of the musicians, the creation of the music, and - particularly relevant to Zeppelin - the management of the band; Peter Grant gets no less coverage than Page, Plant, and Bonham, and much more than John Paul Jones.
The narration is also good after you forgive the American his pronounciation (‘Stoorbridge’ for Stourbridge, Bert Jansch becomes ‘Jansh’ instead of ‘Yansh’, among many lapses), but overall he told it well and I was never bored, not even for a moment.
PS: You finally get to hear the account of ‘the event with the fish’, and believe me, it’s so utterly degrading you can understand why it’s not normally told.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- A. J. Lenehan
- 08-12-24
A big part of rock and roll history.
I loved their music, when I came to it in the 1990s. So I didn’t really know the story of the band, apart from the sad ending. This brought it to life. You end up keeping the same appreciation of the music, but opening your eyes to the stupid indulgence of it all. Well written (if anything it got better still as time went on- at the start it was perhaps a bit overwritten).
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Steve
- 29-01-24
Dreadful pronunciation
Not a bad book but there's only so much dreadful pronunciation a man can put up with. Why not do your research and figure out how Welsh names are voiced or how idiosyncratic some English place names can be? It seems lazy and/or just downright rude. It spoiled what is an otherwise enjoyable tale.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Carty
- 08-12-24
Eye opening
Very good read, really gives a fascinating insight into what happens off stage. There’s certainly some content in there that makes you re-evaluate whether you like this band or not, and I’m sure in modern society, they wouldn’t have got away with much of their antics. A real eye opener.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- boonstar
- 21-12-21
American made!
A deep dive into the legendary band, with some good insight into the urban myths surrounding Led Zeppelin, their management and the dubious and of hangers on that inhabited the dark and dangerous world of rock and roll.
Some of the pronunciation is miles off, particularly the Black Country dialect and place names in the UK, but that aside it was well narrated and especially sympathetic around the various tragedies that LZ endured.
Overall enjoyable and informative, would recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about the mighty Led Zep and their blaze across the world.
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2 people found this helpful