UK | 2009 | Directed by Sonia Anderson
Logline: An unathorised documentary tracing the career of Led Zeppelin from the demise of The Yardbirds to the death of drummer John Bonham.
A straight-to-DVD title that is not listed on imdb.com, even under its director’s credentials, which makes one wonder just how libelous this production potentially is. In reality it’s not that dangerous or contentious, but more significantly it’s way too short to fully reach the zenith of Led Zeppelin’s extraordinary career as arguably the greatest rock band in rock’n’roll’s history. The Rolling Stones and their legion of fans might lay claim to that title, but the truth is The Stones have made too many mediocre, forgettable albums that their track record is forever tainted. Led Zep on the other hand made ten albums in eleven years, and each one (apart from the tagged on Coda) is remarkable and wholly distinctive in its own right.
Nick Tauber, a rock producer, Tony Palmer, a film director (and old mate of Jimmy Page’s), Kris Needs, a music journalist, and Shaun Machett, a showbiz laywer, lead the documentary through recollections and opinions, analysis and insight. These interviews are intercut with rare live footage and television appearances of the band at work and play, plus other associates anecdotes, and even feature band members talking candidly about their careers soon after the split in 1980, during the following two decades, and more recently when they reunited (with Bonham’s son Jason behind the skins) in 2007 for a one-off concert (which a rumored half-a-million people tried to purchase tickets!)
Led Zeppelin was created by Jimmy Page after his previous band The Yardbirds fell apart. He recruited John Paul Jones on bass, auditioned a singer called Terry Reid who turned the offer down (boy, what a lifelong regret that would turn out to be!), found Viking sex god Robert Plant instead, and then the force that was Bonzo. The Whoopee Cushion was a moniker they toyed with (?!), then they almost joined up with Keith Moon and John Entwistle from The Who to form a supergroup, and someone made a throwaway comment that the concept would go down like a lead balloon, a lead zeppelin … Page had found his band name.
“It’s all folk music,” Page said in clarification to a question about whether Led Zeppelin played heavy metal. But it was more than that. “The raw power and intensity of hard rock with the finesse of contemporary blues and the delicacy of British folk music,” as explained by Tony Palmer. Robert Plant described the band’s career as being as incredible as a one-night stand, with all those unpredictable, exhilarating elements. From the very first rehearsal they all knew it was going to work. By yanking the American blues sound and giving it blue blood balls Led Zeppelin had mastered a revolutionary new sound that was hard rhythm and blues, and with the instrumental hammer of God that was band manager Peter Grant, and the creative freedom that was given to them from Atlantic Records (who allowed them the unprecedented control of refusing to release singles, thus leading the way in Album Oriented Rock), Led Zeppelin carved a monumental path through the 1970s.
In 1973 Led Zep played at Tampa, Florida to 56,000 fans, at the time the biggest concert ever staged. They commandeered a jet airliner dubbed The Starship, and, according to most reports, lead incredibly hedonistic lifestyles, although Tony Palmer, who traveled with them on one tour found the debauched lifestyle to be a misnomer, claiming their lives on the road were monk-like. I find that very hard to believe, especially after reading Stephen Davis’s The Hammer of the Gods and tour manager Richard Cole’s memoirs, Stairway to Heaven.
Dazed and Confused is a lightweight, but still enlightening documentary, best viewed for the archival footage, and the bonus interviews with Plant, Page and Jones. It’s a shame the doco skims over the second half of their career (how could they miss out the LPs Houses of the Holy and The Song Remains the Same?!), having spent too much time on The Yardbirds and early-Zeppelin period, but it’s still well worth a look, especially if you’re a Zepphead, the very early black and white footage of the band playing How Many More Times before a bunch of cross-legged hippies on Danish television is priceless.
Excerpt of Led Zeppelin live on Danish TV:
Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused DVD is courtesy of Umbrella Entertainment, many thanks!
