Becoming Led Zeppelin

I finally watched Becoming Led Zeppelin the other night. Led Zeppelin IV was one of the first albums I bought and they were my first concert in 1977 (photos here) when I was 13, so they had a huge role in my life, as I wrote about here.

The documentary was a pretty straightforward authorized retelling, and didn’t explore anything more controversial like Page’s Aleister Crowley obsession or the insanity of Peter Grant, but it only covers up until 1970, so maybe the most extreme parts of that stuff came later. I enjoyed all these old men looking back all those years ago, and I thought the director’s use of watching Page, Plant, and Jones react to hearing John Bonham’s voice and watching old clips was great. I think the main thing I learned from it was how extensive their musical backgrounds were before Zeppelin, which shows what they brought into the creation of music with the band.

I’m of course biased but I really enjoyed it and would love a Parts 2 and 3. And unlike a lot of things, I actually watched it without my phone in my hand, although I did pause a few times to look at the map of England and Google a few other things.