Film review: ‘BECOMING LED ZEPPELIN’, by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’

Becoming Led Zeppelin is a detailed, well-researched but sanitised and overly methodical reminiscence about the rock legends.  Also, unfortunately, there’s a bit more truth to the film’s title than we might have wanted.  It only covers the legendary British band’s formation and early touring and recording years and barely emerges from the 1960’s.  Consequently, this film feels more like the first two episodes of a six-part TV series where the final four episodes don’t exist. Maybe a follow-up is in the works or perhaps it was seen as a fitting place to end proceedings to avoid discussing the band’s alleged 1970’s debauchery or Jimmy Page’s wizard costumes.

The documentary is built around interviews with the three surviving members: guitarist Jimmy page, bassist John Paul Jones and singer Robert Plant.  There are also excerpts from an older interview with powerhouse drummer the late John Bonham but oddly the band make no mention of Bonham’s sad premature passing at the age of 32.  Also, strangely, there are no contributions from Led Zeppelin’s contemporaries or present-day acolytes which would have created context and a sense of fans’ excitement.  Accompanying the interviews is a remarkable archive of vivid 16mm film featuring the band tearing it up live, news footage, publicity shots and more candid personal photos.

Like so many classic rock legends, the members of Led Zeppelin emerged from the rubble of a battered, culturally stagnating post-war Britain.  Desperate for something new, the lads became obsessed with the wild sounds of rock’n’roll, blues and r’n’b emanating from across the Atlantic. They describe how seeing Little Richard for the first time instantly changed their world.  Britain seemed mostly grey and lifeless by comparison although Page was inspired by local skiffle star Lonnie Donegan.  Eager to enter the music scene, Page and Jones honed their chops with minor bands before becoming sought after session players appearing on Rolling Stones and Kinks albums and even the classic themes for Goldfinger with Shirley Bassey and To Sir With Love with Lulu.  With most of the session work a grind though, Page was keen for the excitement of being in a band and joined psychedelic rockers The Yardbirds alongside Jeff Beck.  When they folded, Page carefully constructed his next project, Led Zeppelin, recruiting former colleague Jones as well as singer Plant and Bonham who, by this time, had white hot reputations.

The film meticulously documents each stage of the band’s early progress and while it’s all vital information, it probably won’t tell serious fans anything they didn’t already know.  Also, while it’s great to have the legends themselves recalling events as they happened, the amiable interviews with these elder statesmen of rock are a little too staid.  While we don’t want tabloid dirt, it feels as if the film is skating over the darker aspects of a volatile psychedelic rock scene of which Led Zeppelin were leaders. It’s a very upbeat depiction of the band although it does mention negative reviews of their first album from Rolling Stone magazine and shows a weird live appearance on TV where an audience of mums and kids seem to have been expecting Max Bygraves and are frantically blocking their ears.

Few could complain, however, about the film’s coverage of Led Zeppelin’s music.  There’s detailed discussion of the songwriting, production and each members’ individual musical approaches on the first two albums.  There are also plenty of terrific live performances of tracks like Communication Breakdown, Black Mountain Side, Whole Lotta Love and Dazed and Confused, nearly all of which played in full.

The triumphs and pitfalls of this film leave a mixed feeling but it’s still worth any fan checking out to see some blistering performances and the wealth of footage from those early days.

Nick’s rating: ***

Genre: Documentary.

Classification: PG.

Director(s): Bernard MacMahon.

Release date: 8th Feb 2025.

Running time: 121 mins.

Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.

 

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