Becoming Led Zeppelin (5 Stars)

A documentary about Led Zeppelin? How could I possibly not go to see it!

The film consists of interviews with the three remaining band members (Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones) and recordings of interviews with John Bonham, who died in 1980. There are also extended excerpts of concert recordings.

I know Led Zeppelin's music. I didn't buy any of their albums when I was young, but my school friend David Pace lent them to me. He was an enthusiastic fan of their music. I was less enthusiastic at the time, because I couldn't relate to blues. I was a fan of Black Sabbath, a rock group that had abandoned blues from their second album onwards. I didn't start to like the blues until much later, about 20 years ago. This is when I finally became a Led Zeppelin fan.

The film still told me things I didn't know. I knew that Jimmy Page had played with the Yardbirds, but I didn't know that the four musicians (Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham) had gone on tour in 1968 as the Yardbirds. They could have recorded their first album together as the sixth Yardbirds album, but they wanted to make a new start.

Led Zeppelin was originally popular in America. In the interviews they speak about living in two different worlds. They performed to sold out concerts in America, then flew back to England where nobody knew them. It took at least a year for their popularity to pick up in England.

The documentary ends with Led Zeppelin playing at London's Royal Albert Hall on 9th January 1970. This was when they'd truly made it big. This was when they'd become Led Zeppelin.

The cinema was almost full tonight. I assume that most of the people in the audience were hardcore Led Zeppelin fans, but I overheard an interesting conversation on the way out. There were two men, 50-ish, dressed in suits. One said to the other, "The music was so powerful. You're a Led Zeppelin fan, but I don't know them".

Wow! How can anyone go all his life without being aware of Led Zeppelin? I can only imagine that he was a classical music fan or something like that. But whatever the reason, he was overwhelmed by the music. I hope his friend will help him discover their albums over the next few weeks.