mothlight reviewed Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis
Review of 'Hammer of the Gods' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Growing up in the 70s, I never liked Led Zeppelin. Now in middle age, I have a begrudging respect for some of their work (although Stairway remains one that I can't tolerate more than 3-4 seconds).
This book really seems to crystalize what is awful about them. And maybe what is good about them. They creative appropriated vast tracts of the musical past into something pretty good and all were pretty talented. However, as this book makes clear, their excesses on the road were legendary.
Yes, there was sex, drugs, and throwing televisions out of windows, but in my eyes the true crimes were the live excesses, 3-4 hour shows, often consisting of 30-60 minutes of Stairway to Heaven or Dazed and Confused. Yes, many of their songs are pretty good, but there is no reason any of them need to go on that long. I guess for me, that's …
Growing up in the 70s, I never liked Led Zeppelin. Now in middle age, I have a begrudging respect for some of their work (although Stairway remains one that I can't tolerate more than 3-4 seconds).
This book really seems to crystalize what is awful about them. And maybe what is good about them. They creative appropriated vast tracts of the musical past into something pretty good and all were pretty talented. However, as this book makes clear, their excesses on the road were legendary.
Yes, there was sex, drugs, and throwing televisions out of windows, but in my eyes the true crimes were the live excesses, 3-4 hour shows, often consisting of 30-60 minutes of Stairway to Heaven or Dazed and Confused. Yes, many of their songs are pretty good, but there is no reason any of them need to go on that long. I guess for me, that's the main problem with them, the long drawn out self indulgence.
The other thing this book brings out is how awful some of them really are. The book is written with a fairly rosy picture of them, but even that can't disguise that if John Bonham hadn't been a rock star, he would have been considered a drunken, abusive, violent, rapist, etc. And they surrounded themselves with awful people, Peter Grant, their manager, Richard Cole, their roadie.
