REVIEW: Becoming Led Zeppelin

All the rock and roll. Minus most of the sex and drugs.

From my slowly slipping understanding of the “youths” Led Zeppelin is still a teenage rite of passage — especially amongst boys.

I hope the excellent new documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin helps keep generational discovery alive.

Like so many, my awareness and appreciation of Zeppelin came in high school and became a bit of an obsession well into college. But, also like so many, they became an only occasional listen in the years since. It’s only natural. You listen to the hell out of a band and wear them out. Like The Beatles, or any number of other influential groups of my youth, I purposefully avoid them, throwing the occasional deep cut on a playlist but steering clear in the hope that the passage of time will make hearing the hits somewhat fresh again.

On that front alone, Becoming Led Zeppelin was immensely successful and I found myself grinning ear-to-ear watching and listening to the collection of stone-cold classics featured in the doc.

I read Hammer of the Gods back in high school. That was the unauthorized, tell-all tale of debauchery biography of the band. This is not that — it’s the officially-sanctioned story that (as the title says) documents the rise of the band with interviews with the three remaining members (Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page) and a rarely heard interview with John Bonham before his death — the event that marked their demise.

I’m not saying the debauchery is whitewashed, because most of it came later. But, it certainly isn’t highlighted. That’s fine, because the story itself is engaging and the performances are just exhilarating. I’ve seen some of the performances in bits and pieces, but the makers of the film dug up even more and did a fantastic job of cleaning up the film of the late 60s and early 70s and making it look as fresh as possible on the big screen.

In case you don’t know the “making of the band” story, I’ll let you discover it in the documentary. The narrative is pretty traditional in its structure and that’s fine too — because it really is the performances that drive the film and some great insights into how the band made the music.

While I theoretically knew it before, I was struck as just how much Jimmy Page was the mastermind behind the band and the deliberateness of everything he did to create their sound. This isn’t The Beatles where you can argue about John or Paul being the most important member. It was Page. But, just like that band that came before them, there’s no doubt how damn good every member was at what they did. And the broad musical palette they drew inspiration from to create their diverse catalogue.

Over the years I’ve also somewhat forgotten that while Led Zeppelin I came out in 1969, they still had one foot in the psychedelic movement brought to the masses by Sgt. Peppers.

There’s one performance of Whole Lotta Love that was not only shot in the distinctive style of the era (zooming, trippy shots, ink block backgrounds) but obviously added to by the filmmakers. It was just mind-bending and fantastic. It made me feel like I was stoned, which I wasn’t, but will be when I watch it at home and crank up the sound.

On the downside, it was a bit long. There are a couple of performances that could have been trimmed or cut and saved for a director’s cut when it is released on DVD/streaming. You know, when I’m stoned and it seems even better.

I haven’t heard any news, but I do hope that there’s a second film.

This one only covers the band up to the release of Led Zeppelin II and there’s tons more story beyond that — and not just the crazy stories of sex, drugs, and the occult — but landmark music.

Because as much as the amazingly diverse music of the band made me a fan, the mystery and craziness that surrounded them only added to the mystique. I think those stories and that music would go a long way to extending the life of the band even more.

Something they richly deserve.

Oh, and here’s a Becoming-inspired playlist: