“Becoming Led Zeppelin” brings the sounds and story of the legendary band to the big screen.
By: Kevin Vickery
On February 7, 2025, Director, Bernard MacMahon’s “roc-u-mentary” film, “Becoming Led Zeppelin was released in theaters across the United States and in the United Kingdom. It has since grossed over $8.9 million dollars worldwide proving it to be not only a success at the box office but also a big hit with the band’s loyal fan base. I was glad that my schedule allowed me to finally see it on the last showing of the last night that it ran at Muncie’s AMC 12 Theater.
The independent film production is the first ever biographical documentary in which the band has agreed to participate and offer their full cooperation. I foolishly went into the theater thinking the film would span Led Zeppelin’s entire career from 1968 – 1980 but as the title suggests “Becoming Led Zeppelin” is focused on the individual band members’ childhood, early life, and formation of the band in 1968. The movie concludes with the band touring in 1970 in support of their second album, Led Zeppelin II.
McMahon was able to capture the essence of The band’s story with only a few elements. The three surviving members, lead vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, and bassist John Paul Jones all participated in interview sessions that were filmed and edited throughout the film to tell their individual stories as well as the formation of the band. There was also an audio interview with drummer, the late John Bonham that had never before been aired or even heard by the other band members that was used to tell his part of the story. Past that, the only other element of the documentary was some excellent never-before-seen footage of Led Zeppelin performing live on stage at various shows which looked great and sounded even better on the big screen and theater audio system.
The story takes the audience on the journey that started as the four were growing up in post war London, meeting through their various affiliations with other bands and forming Led Zeppelin originally as a spin off of The Yardbirds.
The end of the film’s story is still early in the bands career which lasted another ten years but instead concludes at at time when they were considered “the biggest band in the world”. Their hits from their first two albums like, “Communication Breakdown” and “Good Times, Bad Times from their first album, “Led Zeppelin” as well as “Whole Lotta Love” and “Living Loving Maid (She’s just a Woman)” from “Led Zeppelin II” were out selling and out charting even the most popular artists of the time like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Elvis Presley.
Another key point of their early career was shown in the film by showcasing how they like many British artists of that era were heavily influenced by the early American blues music that made its way across the the pond on albums that the young people in the UK discovered and fell in love with. Robert plant particularly was heavily influenced by blues artists like the harmonica playing of Sonny Boy Williamson. Three of the songs on the band’s second album were interpretations of Chicago blues songs originally written by Holin’ Wolf and Willie Dixon.
That blues influence mixed with their appreciation of English folk and Celtic music, and the general psychedelic vibe of the late 1960s that followed into the 1970s is what gave Led Zeppelin their signature sound and while it did continue to evolve throughout the recording of their nine studio albums, the common thread was always there. Jimmy Page’s tasteful blues-rock riffs on guitar, Robert Plant’s flamboyant stage presence and extreme vocal range mixed with John Bonham’s powerfully thunderous approach to drumming, and the skills and melodic undertones of multi-instrumentalist, bassist John Paul Jones blended to make their unique and highly influential sound. They are largely credited as being the first true hard rock band and it is said that all heavy metal traces back to them, particularly their “Led Zeppelin II” album. They have sold an estimated 300 million albums worldwide wide with several of their releases reaching multi-platinum and diamond status in sales.
Unfortunately the group disbanded after the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980. Since then the other members have remained relevant and successful with other projects.
Robert Plant has done well as a solo artist recording three albums as such, scoring a top ten hit with “The Honeydrippers, and winning two Grammy Awards for his collaboration album, “Raising Sand” with bluegrass vocalist Allison Kraus. He also won a Grammy when he reunited with guitarist Jimmy Page to form the band, Page Plant that released two albums between 1994 and 1998. I was lucky enough to see that tour in Nashville TN in 1996 and seeing those two legends reunited on stage was definitely an unforgettable experience.
Jimmy Page has also kept himself busy through the post Zeppelin years. Even before the formation of Page Plant, he had some success with a super-group called The Firm that also featured original Bad Company vocalist, Paul Rogers as well as bassist, Tony Franklin and drummer, Chris Slade. He also had a brief stint in Coverdale-Page which featured Whitesnake vocalist, David Coverdale. Page went on to record the album, “Live at the Greek” with the Black Crowes in 2000 which will be available in March of 2025 as a re-release box set featuring additional material including a version of Led Zeppelin’s, “The Lemon Song”, originally recorded at sound check.
John Paul Jones has been featured as a studio musician, an arranger and producer working with such artists as R.E.M. and Heart. He’s also had his hands in several feature films as a composer. Most notably, Jones has recorded and toured with super-group Them Crooked Vultures which also features singer/vocalist Josh Homme, and Dave Grohl on drums. They still perform occasionally when their schedules permit.
There have been only a handful of Led Zeppelin reunions since their breakup with the band citing respect to the late John Bonham as primary reason. The three living members did reunite in 1985 along with Phil Collins on drums to perform a set at Live Aid, a giant televised concert held simultaneously at both Wembley Stadium in in London and at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia as a fundraiser for famine relief in Ethiopia.
Next was in May of 1988 for an Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary Concert which featured Jason Bonham, son of Led Zeppelin’s late drummer John Bonham, on drums. Both of these reunion sets featured only a few songs, performed with minimal rehearsal.
In 1995, Led Zeppelin were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the induction show. Plant performed a medley of blues numbers with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Jason Bonham, as well as Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith. They were joined on stage by fellow inductee Neil Young for Zeppelin’s, “When the Levee Breaks”.
They also reunited in 2007 for The Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert which was a benefit concert held in memory of music executive Ahmet Ertegun at the O2 Arena in London. This performance also included Jason Bonham as drummer. The show was filmed, edited and released first in theaters in 2012 as a concert film entitled, “Celebration Day” and later on several home audio and video formats.
Jason Bonham’s appearance on drums was a welcome addition to the band and has for several years now had Zeppelin fans clamoring for a full scale reunion with new music and a tour with Jason taking over his late Father’s role as drummer. I’ll admit that I (along with basically every musician I know) would absolutely love to see this, but the band, particularly Robert Plant seems to show no interest, opting instead to pursue his other solo ventures and folk-roots music collaborations.
The closest thing to a Led Zeppelin show available these days is Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening (formerly Led Zeppelin Experience) which is a Zeppelin tribute band formed by Jason Bonham who are currently on tour across the US. Bonham formed the band after having some success with his other bands Bonham, Motherland, The Jason Bonham Band, and a brief stint with Indianapolis based band, Healing Sixes. He’s also done extensive touring work with well established classic rock acts like Foreigner and Sammy Hagar.
I haven’t seen his tribute band but hope to the next time they are in the area. In the meantime, the only thing I’ve seen lately that remotely resembled a Led Zeppelin show was Robert Plant’s set on the “Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Tour” in 2019 at the venue I will always refer to as Deer Creek. The show was great and in addition to performing some of his solo hits, he along with his band, The Sensational Space Shifters barreled their way through Led Zeppelin classics like, “Ramble On”. “What Is and What Should Never Be”, “Gallows Pole”, and “The Battle of Evermore”. I went to that show with longtime friend and bandmate, Ben Long from Anderson and we both thoroughly enjoyed Plant’s set yet were equally surprised that he didn’t perform with Allison Krauss who was also in the bill.
I always enjoy Ben’s take on a show so I asked him how he remembered it and he said, “I went to the show with low expectations, mostly due to Plant’s age and having heard that he really didn’t do Zeppelin tunes anymore. I hoped that maybe he’d do a few with Allison Krauss. Holy Crap! I was completely blown away! His newer stuff was killer, but at least 1/3 of the show was Zep! The songs were reworked to fit his older voice, but the updates were perfect. Everyone knew the words, the feel was there and the musicians were perfect for the vibe. If I could afford to, I’d go back to see Robert Plant anytime. I wasn’t disappointed in the least that he didn’t play with Allison. Her set was the best I’ve ever seen her perform. Robert Plant and the band seemed to be enjoying what they were doing and I felt cooler just by being there.”
On a personal note, my first discovery of Led Zeppelin was at age 13 when sadly the group had already been disbanded for four years. That didn’t matter to my friends and me when we heard side one of their untitled album (commonly referred to as Led Zeppelin IV) because we were all hooked on their sound and began eagerly devouring any of their music that we could find.
Today, they are still one of my all time favorite bands and their entire musical catalog remains in heavy rotation on classic rock format stations worldwide. Led Zeppelin is widely regarded as one of the most successful, innovative, and influential bands in the history of rock music and I never change the station when one of their songs comes on the radio, no matter how many times I’ve heard it.
If you’ve missed the chance to see, “Becoming Led Zeppelin” in theaters, it is expected to be streaming on Netflix by the Summer of 2025 and Prime Video will eventually offer it for purchase and rental.
To keep up with the activities of Led Zeppelin and the band members, they are of course on all social media platforms and at the following websites:
ledzeppelin.com
robertplant.com
johnpauljones.com
shop.jimmypage.com
jasonbonham.net
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