The upcoming Led Zeppelin movie, Becoming Led Zeppelin, has been on my radar for a while. Reports suggest it’s going to be a rather sanitized version of the band’s history, focusing on their formation and early successes from 1968 to 1970. Which, on the face of it, sounds great. But the word is that it conveniently omits any reference to their infamous excesses.
Now, let’s be real. Even the band members themselves seem somewhat embarrassed by their past behavior. You can easily find details online – I won’t delve into specifics here – but suffice it to say, many of the stories involving underage groupies, drug use, and general hotel room mayhem are pretty tasteless and definitely not suitable for today’s world. It’s understandable why they’d prefer not to revisit that stuff.
The challenge this presents for the filmmakers, however, is how to portray Led Zeppelin as interesting without those elements. How do you explain their massive success while glossing over the very things that cemented their reputation?
Becoming Led Zeppelin
Think about it: back in the late 60s and early 70s, Led Zeppelin was a band shrouded in mystery. People had heard of them, but unless you were deeply immersed in the British blues scene around London or Birmingham (where the band members hailed from), you probably wouldn’t know who they were. They didn’t release singles in the UK, they did minimal publicity, and yet they became absolutely huge – arguably the biggest rock band of all time.
Even the band members themselves seem somewhat embarrassed by their past behavior.
Their “publicity,” for the most part, was their reputation for wildness coupled with their incredible music. That’s what propelled them. For much of the 70s, they were barely on TV, they didn’t release UK singles, but they had number one album after number one album, and their tours always sold out, making them incredibly wealthy. A lot of this was down to their manager, Peter Grant, who basically redefined how bands made money from touring.
So, how will Becoming Led Zeppelin handle this? I’m genuinely intrigued. Will it be a sanitized affair with Plant, Page, and Jones offering occasional commentary, interspersed with remastered footage? Maybe. Perhaps there’s more to it than that.
Either way, I’m definitely planning to see it in the cinema. I hear the soundtrack is absolutely killer, and I want to experience that through cinema speakers, just like I did with Thor: Ragnarok (which features Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song… and by the way, I still maintain Ragnarok is the best Marvel movie!). This film has the potential to be a fascinating, if potentially incomplete, look at one of rock’s most enigmatic bands.
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