Led Zeppelin - When Giants Walked the Earth

I just finished reading a very fat biography of the band Led Zeppelin. My family asked several times why I was reading it. It probably seemed strange as I don’t appear to be a fan. The truth is that I haven’t intentionally listened to any of their music in over 36 years.

I had two Zeppelin albums (8-tracks). One was #4 with Stairway to Heaven and I can’t remember which the other one was. I would guess that during the time I was a fan, I never listened to the music without being stoned. That’s the main reason I haven’t listened to it or a lot of other similar music since I became a Christian in 1973.

I think the reason I read the book is the same reason I slow down to look at a car wreck – curiosity; for the same reason I may circle around the block to get a second look. I read a review of the book in the Sunday Denver Post. Here is what caught my attention: "When Giants Walked the Earth" devotes a lot of time to this mythic image of the band, telling us about Jimmy Page's studies of magic and how this shaped their music — maybe even contributed to the band's decline.

As I read the book I was impressed at the cost and effect of stardom. It seemed the normal behavior of drummer John Bonham was to completely destroy the hotel rooms he would stay in. Why was behavior like that tolerated by the band, the hotels and the public? The same recklessness led to his alcohol induced death in 1980.

Jimmy Page was addicted to heroin for many years. To this day he claims it didn’t have a negative effect. All you have to do is look at pictures of him during that time and hear some of the stories to know that he is the only one who believes that.

What was it like for the wives and families of these men to know that when they are on tour there is non-stop drugs, alcohol and sex with the many groupies who follow the band. Although not mentioned in the book there must have been a lot of sexually transmitted diseases brought home to the wives.

It is interesting that when something bad happened to the band, many would point to Page’s occult involvement. That may or may not have been a reason but one thing was for sure: Jimmy Page saw his music and his magick as very intertwined.

Knowing what I now know of the band I wonder what the connection between the music and the magick was. What if the music is connected to the ritual? What if the invocation of magick is accomplished through the playing of the music? Maybe so, maybe not but I for one would rather be safe than sorry.

Philip