When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin

"When Giants Walked The Earth" is without question the best-researched and "insiders" biography of Led Zeppelin. Author Nick Wall traces the band's history chronologically, with the use of italic second person (author talking to the band member within the text) narrative text to flesh out historical and personal information. This device is interesting at first, but does become tiresome. Unlike "Hammer of the Gods" and Richard Cole's book, author Nick Wall does not glamorize the (at times) gross excess of the band's offstage behavior. He also doesn't sweep it under the table. Instead, he places it in the proper context: hugely successful bands in the late 60s and early 70s, including the Beatles, Stones, and The Who, indulged in horrendous excess, but it doesn't erase the amazing music they made. Wall has spent considerable time interviewing Jimmy Page, and he addresses Page's interest in Crowley and "the occult" in an objective way. Page studied and had an interest in these matters, but was not sacrificing children or virgins and was far less "evil" in his exploits than the drunken, depraved antics and brutality that John Bohnam and Richard Cole particpated in when homesick or bored. Wall now depicts Page as a straight, lucid, exceedingly talented, and gentle man who would like to have the grand body of work he masterminded in the 1970s stay alive. Wall depicts Plant in a simlarly objective manner. Bonham and Plant were not the industry insider London muscians that Page and Jones were. However, their talents were undeniable, and one is impressed with how quickly all four of these musicians were making true magic together. Plant rises in esteem and fame throughout the story, while Bonham sadly has a much harder time dealing with being away from his family and maintaining a sane existence. Wall presents Bonham as an immensely talented individual who could shift from loving family man to sick maniac in a matter of a few (copious) drinks. The book essentially ends with Bonham's death, although Wall briefly addresses the Plant/Page tours and Jone's solo/production work. He addresses the December 2007 reunion, one of the few areas where I'd have to disagree with his assessement. Wall attended, noted the yuppie conveniences of the 08 arena in London and star power of the crowd, and dismisses the experience as something he liked but wouldn't probably go to again if he had a chance. He describes Jimmy Page as an older man playing at a younger man's game, and lauds Robert Plant for his new life/career playing bluegrass/folk/country with Alison Krauss. Wall seems to feel this is a much better place for Plant than playing with his former bandmates. I beg to differ. Page sounds much better than he did during the 1977 Zeppelin tour, and other lower points in their journey. I've seen videos of Plant/Krauss and the entire 2007 02 Reunion. In my opinion, Plant sounds/looks/acts in his element with the 2007Led Zeppelin, and seems pretty weak to me in his Alison Krauss co-star role. That aside, don't miss this book. Simply the finest Zeppelin biography to date, and impossible to top unless Page, Plant, or Jones choose to pick up the pen.

When Giants Walked the Earth is a good read. I have only recently peppered my morning reads with biographies/autobiographies of rock stars, Lennon, Clapton, now Zep. The common thread that interests me is the youth to experience ratio, these guys packed a lot of action into young lives. We all want to be rock stars (sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll!) but then when you peel back the veneer, you see what they really put themselves through and it (lifestyle) seems a lot less appealing. Success always changes the dynamic. Led Zeppelin has always been one of my favorite bands and to have additional insight into their forming, production and music is always a plus. Why four stars? Mick Wall includes what he describes as "..italicised "flashback" passages..." which are "..the product of my imagination." ... a few comments- They missed the typo in the Authors note (italicized)? From a typesetters view, italics function for the emphasis of a few words or maybe a sentence, not entire passages. These quickly become almost headache material because they are so hard on the eyes. I'm at a loss to understand why Wall feels it necessary to "flashback" to the beginning almost all the way through the book. The flashbacks are repetitive and add nothing new to the story... o.k., I get it ... they listened to LOTS OF RECORDS when they were young. About half way through, these became skim passages to make sure I didn't miss something important, I don't think I did, so I basically stopped reading the flashbacks. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Led Zeppelin ... now that I am done with the review, I'm going up to my room with a preserved minnow of some sort, stick my little pole outside and actually catch a fish ... do you know what I mean?

I have a pretty extensive Zeppelin library of books and most of them are rehashes of the same old story. Not to say this book doesn't cover some of the same stories, history is history, no escaping that. With that said I couldn't put this book down and was sorry for it to end. One thing unique about this book is the italicized sections, which were likened to a movie taking liberties on a true story. Mick Wall never went into fantasyland, the sections were interspersed with enough facts to keep them real, and interesting. The book was well researched and Mr. Wall took just the right amount from other sources to make it not read like a rehash. He also includes the right amount of mud sharks, Crowley, occult, etc. without sensationalizing those events. Lastly Mr. Wall calls a spade a spade, if he's a fan you would never know it ... he calls it the way he feels it and is able to back his feelings up with common sense and facts. Another thing I came away with is a new sense of Robert Plant's perspective in the whole story. Good read, I highly recommend it.

I love love love Led Zepplin. I mean I can't love it enough. If you love he band you'l love it even more after reading the book. It is written in great detail and let's you get up close and personal with the members of the band. Worth EVERY bit of money you pay for it. It is a MUST have for a fan.

Very interesting book with a lot of research put into it. If you like Led Zeppelin or music from that great era in general, this book is a must buy.

I've been a big fan of Mick's work for many years and I loved this book. I've only read one other Zeppelin book, Ritchie Yorke's biography of the band, so I can't really compare this to a wide range of other Led Zep-related books but it is a very enjoyable and well-researched read. Mick has clearly put a lot of work into this and it really does feel like the definitive account of the band from it's creation in the early days right through to the present day. There's a real attention to detail and I really enjoyed the stories around the recording of the albums and the legendary and notorious US tours. It's a very compelling read and I found it hard to put the book down once I had started it. If you're a Zep fan I'd definitely recommend it. Great work from Mr Wall, thank you!

Ebenso lebendig wie erfreulich kritisch vor allem in Bezug auf die musikalischen "Anleihen", ein umfassender Blick auf die "best band ever" (Jack Black at Kennedy Center Washington, 2012). Aus meiner Sicht jedenfalls sehr viel intensiver als Hammer of the Gods - Die Saga (2010), was auch an der Dramaturgie des Buches liegt, die häufig die Perspektive wechselt. Sehr gelungen - Whole lotta love - R.I.P. Bonzo.

Great book! It is easy to read even for who is not an English mother-tongue. It gives you a fantastic picture of those years.