Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga―The Ultimate Rock and Roll Chronicle with Electrifying Detail, Dive Deep into the Legend of Led Zeppelin

I'm a Plant/Page/Jones/Bonzo fan. I read this one in 5 days while on vacation. A page turner about the inner circle workings of Led Zeppelin, funny and sad stories about their formation, the magik music, the triumphs and roadblocks... their issues with unfair media coverage and the struggles they had to endure. I did tear up multiple times while reading!

apologies if this seems to be repeated - i swore i did everything right and entered this review yesterday......... This is a good book(Zep members would call it fiction) I read this when it first came out in 1986 (that may have been the "added chapter including Live Aid") twice in between then more recently, my original copy had yellowed, worn down or was just 1/3 highlighted. I find it strange that people put down this book - while its listed in bibliographies of the GOOD Led Zep books. Although i cant comment on the fact the main source was from someone LZ had fired -no names -Richard Cole - the book at times seems to focus on the antics drugs, boozing, groupies, violence. However, the History of the band is accurate! At the time there were less than 5 books on Zep- but two were available in England (those by Ritchie Yorke - authorized by the band, and Chris Welch MM writer and friend of Pages first then the band.) Not everyone in the US could access them - face it kids we didn't have Internet. (what we did have was specialty record stores, fanzines and fans long distant calling each other or just cassette trading.) I myself enjoyed reading "hammer" , Mr Davis traces the roots of Zep, analyzes the music does his research and is a good writer. If this book is such trash as some fans call it -why did it make the Best Seller list? OK maybe in the book Mr Davis crosses the line about the so called events of the band, but it is a good telling of LZ history (This is the only book to my knowledge where he mentions Page and Roy Harper wrote songs together during Zep days and Plant read about it in a farming magazine - what gives?) I like this book and therefore give it 5 stars, send your hate mail to .(LOL) David Terralavoro

After recently reading the book by Duff on Guns and Roses I was told it didn't hold a candle to this book of Led Zeppelin. Well, I disagree. In fact, told from a first person's perspective, I found it to be much better. That's not to say this isn't an excellent biography of Led Zeppelin. It is quite good and I definitely enjoyed it. This book doesn't just start with Led Zeppelin but gives full background particularly starting with Jimmy Page who had the earlier Yardbirds. What becomes evident from reading this book is how the chemistry of the members made the band what it was. I knew Led Zeppelin but really didn't follow their music in depth. This book really fills in the holes and shows what they created which they probably never have received full credit for. Hey, they're not the Beatles or Stones. But what they did in their genre and how they worked so hard and stayed together without much in-fighting to create this magic is well represented in this book. They book does cover the groupie debauchery with which I had some familiarity from previously reading Pamela des Barres' book "I'm With the Band". But I didn't find it to be covered in total depth, more in rumor. Also, their black magic fetish is really not clear but without a question Jimmy Page particularly is a weird dude. As is typical, drugs and alcohol eventually take their toll but to the credit of the group, when a member is lost, the group doesn't try to weather on and steal money. How these guys survived this to live normal productive lives is probably as interesting as anything. Overall, a very good read on an epic musical influence that I strongly recommend.

This is exactly what you want to read when buying a book of this type. The good ol' days of 1970s excess in the form of almost every vice imaginable described in vivid Hollywood Babylon tone with no tiny detail spared is what `Hammer of the Gods' was meant to be. Whether every word is 100% accurate is almost of minor importance since most of the main points seem to have a ring of truth to them; the book generally appears credible. Sure, a few sentences were probably embellished to elicit a certain shock factor, but hey, the legendary stories contained in Hammer of the Gods are exactly why it reached the top of the misty mountain as the classic legendary rock biography. No music fan or fan of biographical works can neglect to at least skim through it as just like LZ themselves, the book was a major catalyst for a subsequent wave of similar copy-cat musical artist tell-alls that definitely have as first priority titillation, with secondary billing going to conveying some of the more specific aspects of the music biz. Hammer of the Gods really comes through in that while never disappointing in the jaw-dropping department it also weaves a fascinating picture behind many of LZ's hit recordings and the American Blues history underlying several of them. How Plant, Page, Bonham and Jones ultimately first fell into place in post WWII U.K. is an interesting story in its own right. Cole and Grant's managerial maneuverings, camaraderie, intimidations, violent beatings and in some cases business acumen make for just as enthralling reading as the band and roadies' wild exploits on tour. Grant leaves an impression.

A great book, covering the full careers of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, depicting Jimmy's rise as a godfather of the London music scene, his creation of a real supergroup, how he discovered Robert Plant and John Bonham, and all the amazing adventures with visionary manager Peter Green, who protected the band and helped them earn decent money. There's tales of groupies and sex, of how Jimmy Page and Ron Wood swapped wives/girlfriends one fine day, and then also his slide into drug use. Robert Plant's life is nicely fleshed out, mentioning the tragedy of his son's death at age six and also the terrible car crash that almost robbed him of the use of his legs. The chaos of destroyed hotel rooms is there, exploding TVs and shark invasions, as well as tales of robberies, beatings and arrests. There is also a good post-breakup section that talks about Robert and Jimmy's stormy relationship, as well as the alienation of John Paul Jones. Of course, the band did play together in 2007, which is described in the book, and is the latest word in Led Zeppelin, so far at least.

Great book about a great band!!!!!! They are legendary and always will be!!!!!! They were amazing to see in concert and I was lucky enough to see them live in 75.

Fair warning. You’ll be listening to nothing but Zeppelin for the next two weeks after reading this. I thought I knew a fair amount about them but this is required reading for any Zeppelin fan!

I really enjoyed Davis' 2004 biography of Jim Morrison. Despite negative criticism from cerebral Doors fans, I thought it recreated the era and the possible demons that drove and destroyed Mr. Morrison beautifully. Additionally, Davis had great insight into Morrison's creative process, his blocks, his frustration during his non-productive years and the difficulties he had during the first creative transition between his earlier output and the last album. Hammer of the Gods is missing all that. I realize Davis was writing about four people and so could not cover them all as profoundly as he did Morrison, but despite the actual writing, which is quite good for this genre, I think in 1985 he was lacking both the historical perspective and the maturity to be able to give Zeppelin its full due. Despite the selling one's soul to the devil bit, which is merely a catchy framing device, he starts out well, chronicling Jimmy Page's early musical growth and subsequent session work, understanding that it was a laboratory for his development and his output with the Yardbirds. This portion was fascinating and gave real insight into Page's vision --as well as documenting the intelligent business decisions and transactions he and his manager made, which transformed Rock and the way performers were remunerated. However, the other three members of the band and their early development are merely glossed over. Jones is given credit as a solid supporting player; Bonham and Plant are depicted as yokels who had the extreme good fortune to be picked up by Page. 1985 was perhaps too soon to understand the social impact of the 1970's - and so Davis makes the band seem particularly narcissistic as the story moves away from their creative process and musicianship and devolves into a series of debaucheries. Though he is careful to document the antics of the roadies and managers and separate those incidents from the bands actual transgressions, he fails to put those events into context. In fact, the seventies were a time of great excess all around: the sexual revolution was gaining momentum ( yes, shockingly, even mom and pop were swinging in middle America), women's liberation was in its early days, the the social movements of the '60's had gone underground and morphed into all sorts of self exploration including those featuring the occult and transcendence. Again, though Davis details the recording sessions from a technical perspective, there is no insight into the band's creative process, aside from that of Stairway to Heaven -and this is where the lack of first person interview really comes into play. Some pages are spent on the marketing of the band to a mass audience, but there is little analysis why the band was despised by rock journalists who adored the Stones, and older fans who worshiped Hendrix and Cream, for example. Poor lyrics are suggested as the reason, but listening to Zeppelin's powerful sound forty years later, I think a deeper analysis of the social and historical zeitgeist is merited. Though Zeppelin didn't reach a mass audience until 1973-4, they did arrive in L.A in 1969--so it is inconceivable that the more mature audience had already moved on. As an afterthought, although Plant, Page and Jones were exceptionally good looking, they never exploited that fact in their marketing like the Beatles, Stones, Morrison and others did- which might account for their lack of social prestige and lack of interest from the art crowd --and that their appeal remained predominately limited to a younger male audience, which was concentrated on the sound and the intensity of the performances. Personally I was impressed with the professionalism and integrity of the band in relation to performing for its fans. There is no gross self indulgence on stage [ aside from long solos] - members made it a point of showing up under the most adverse conditions and giving it their all. I don't know about you, but I have to take a nap after working out or doing a bunch of errands--so I can't imagine the kind of stamina it would take to not only tour but to perform night after night raising the kind of energy necessary to whip up the audience to a certain level. Maybe I am overthinking this and should just uncork the champagne and turn up the volume, but I would like to see a do over by the author and a serious analysis of Zeppelin with less concentration on bedroom antics and more on the music.

I loved this book! I read When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zepplin by Mick Wall before reading this book. This book, although sometimes descending to a kind of tabloid fodder, was much more interesting and straight forward. I enjoyed it exceptionally.

A well researched, comprehensive study of life on the road with the pioneers of stadium rock concerts.

I am very happy with my purchase. The book was hard to put down. I will heartily recommend it.

The real deal on Led Zep!

Good book for Zeppelin fans.This book can serve as biography, music as well as history book.