• When Giants Walked the Earth

  • A Biography of Led Zeppelin
  • By: Mick Wall
  • Narrated by: Simon Vance
  • Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,023 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
When Giants Walked the Earth  By  cover art

When Giants Walked the Earth

By: Mick Wall
Narrated by: Simon Vance
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.80

Buy for $21.80

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Led Zeppelin rose to become one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time. Mick Wall, respected rock writer and former confidant of band members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, unflinchingly tells the story of the band that wrote the rulebook for on-the-road excess and eventually paid the price for it, with disaster, drug addiction, and death.

Wall also recounts, in a series of flashbacks, the life stories of the five individuals that made the dream a reality: Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and their infamous manager, Peter Grant.

Finally, the full, shocking story is told from the inside.

©2009 Mick Wall (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"So this is the big one: a fat, juicy biography of the biggest band ever....Mick Wall, the veteran rock journalist, lays it all bare in a book that can only be described as definitive." ( Daily Telegraph)
"That Wall can add so much fresh detail to the Led Zep story is in itself an extraordinary achievement. That he manages to humanize these planet-striding giants while doing so puts this book into the 'definitive' category." ( Classic Rock magazine)
"Wall painstakingly traces Zeppelin's development and musical pedigree. His access and attention to detail make this a definitive work….an essential source for anyone eager to learn about the era when rock stars ruled the world." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about When Giants Walked the Earth

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    544
  • 4 Stars
    304
  • 3 Stars
    102
  • 2 Stars
    40
  • 1 Stars
    33
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    549
  • 4 Stars
    229
  • 3 Stars
    77
  • 2 Stars
    22
  • 1 Stars
    17
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    492
  • 4 Stars
    232
  • 3 Stars
    104
  • 2 Stars
    32
  • 1 Stars
    28

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Very annoying but tolerable for serious fans.

You listen to an annoying style writing style and are confused by it. You begin to wonder if the whole book will be in this style. You then realize with horror that it will be. You then glance at your phone and realize there's another 18 hours of sentences that start with, "you..." and stop the audiobook and listen to a good book until you're desperate.

You many months later out of extreme boredom on long drives eventually manage to make it through the book. You tell yourself it was ok but annoying as hell and wish you hadn't wasted a credit.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

author too obsessed w occult

this could be about 1/2 the length -- some interesting background, but more gossip and he focuses way too much on Crowley and the occult -- obviously an obsession with the author, and while mildly interesting to me, not what I was looking for... this book desperately need an abridged version that cuts out all the occult crap and talks more about the music and the band -- also the conceit of pretending to read from the diaries of each band member gets tiresome... especially after the 20th time! Don't buy this audiobook.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Must read for Led Zeppelin Fans

I love Led Zeppelin, so when I saw this book on Audible, I had to get it. The stories in this book at just delicious--these guys were the quintessential out of control British rock stars, and they relished their roles to the hilt. The stories of their sexual escapades, while not for the faint of heart, are really funny and crazy.
I wasn't wild about the fake first person flashback sequences, and I wish the author had just written the information in a more conventional fashion, but the book has so much interesting material that I would highly recommend it. Be sure to have you Led Zeppelin library available on iTunes so you can listen to the tracks as they are discussed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One great book, great naration.

I had had this book in my wish list for about a year before I decided that it was time to listen to it. I grew up in the era of Led Zeppelin, and one of my life's biggest regrets is that I never saw them live, but that being said, I was never a hug fan. I recognized that they were the biggest band of that era, and that they had something that no other band had, that certain mystique, that certain quality that held them up as rock gods, thus the title of the book is appropriate. My rock god was Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio, but that is nether here nor there.

This was one of my favorite audio books, and I listen to a lot of them, I knew a little of the story, but this gave a very in depth portrait of the players in the story, the band and back players. By the end of the book I was feeling a bit sorry for Jimmy Page, who seemed to never be able to let Led Zeppelin go, and Page who was just sick of it. They had climbed the mountain, unlike anyone else, they had reached the very top, and then, for several of them, life was no longer fun. Life at the top is not all that it is cracked up to be. Drugs, booze, death all took their tole.

Simon Vances narration is perfect for this book. I do agree that if you do not like off color language, as one reviewer said, this is not the book for you, but in the context used her, it is just as I would think the players would talk, and the use of first person narration, Vance changes his voice, ever so slightly and for me it was brilliantly used to brake up the normal flow of the book. all in all, a great read,. I was sorry to come to the end of it and will listen to it again sometime.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Second Person Narrative Is "Almost" A Deal Breaker

Who was your favorite character and why?

Zep begins and ends with Page.

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

Vance perfectly captures the working class Northern British attitude in his voice, which is essential for telling this story.

AND he pronounced "Bron-Y-Aur" correctly!

Any additional comments?

"Giants" is a wonderfully researched book, on a topic that is pretty well tread and Wall manages to unearth enough information and insights into the Zep story to make this book a must read for Zeppelin fans.

It's a compelling read that captures the essential elements of the bands rise and subsequent troubles when coping with their own fame. But Walls decision to add second person narratives throughout this Bio not only damages the credibility of the author, but also pulls the reader from his nicely paced and constructed narrative.

Yes, I get that bios are often stylistically lazy in their execution, but this dramatic second person device came close to ruining this book for me. I found it totally unnecessary and rather irritating. Wall even warns the reader at the start of the book, basically saying, "While I tried hard to research and take educated guesses as to what the band might say in these instances, I MADE IT UP!"

Yuck.

And while I appreciate an author trying to add color to a story, I would argue that a well executed biography ( Mark Lewisohn's "Tune In: The Beatles, All These Years", a fine example of a rock Bio at the top of its form) really should be about nothing more than comprehensive research and artistic/editorial flare.

Having said that, it is a testament to Walls research and writing that I held on. Without these irritants, the rating would have been 5.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • B
  • 08-07-15

Depressing

The story was written well, it will be hard to enjoy the music like I once did. They were dreadful people. Now Robert is an artist, he was once a Rock Star. The old saying "you reap what you sow" is proved out in these folks lives.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Led Zeppelin Bio

I have always been a huge Led Zeppelin fan and this is the most in-depth biography of the band. Gives details of all the key-players who influenced Page, Bonham, Jones and Plant as well as in-depth insight into the lives of all who contributed to their success, mystery, and to their demise. A real behind-the-scenes story. A must-listen for any Zeppelin fan!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

There was alot I didn't know about Led Zep

I enjoyed this book from start to finish. They are truly one of the greatest rock and roll bands onstage and off. Crazy stories, check. Early life of each artist, check. Rise to power and back down again, check.

Highly recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen

I'm listening for the second time. I liked it that much. Informative rock and roll stuff. Zeppelin fans can really appreciate this one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Whole Lotta Overloaded LOVE!!!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

If You wanna know every fact about Zeppelin then this is the book to listen to.This author did so much research down to every date, time and crazy antics of what the coming of life in rock history this band is even today.
I grew up and own almost every Led Zeppelin album as they were released so it was fun to listen in and revisit those times back in the late 60's and early 70's. Some of the book became a bit cumbersome with facts but I feel this author wanted to give his perspective as best he could on what he believes really happened.
Some of the material I am not too sure about and he did seem to give a sort of negative spin on Jimmy Page but all in all it is a good book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Bonzo

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

He did a great job and this book needed a British accent to help out with the full vision of this band

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No there is no way you can listen to this in one sitting, Too many facts and information, details.

Any additional comments?

Led Zeppelin will go down in history as one of the greatest bands of all time 100 years from now.
This was a time where there were no computers mixing the sound and what they endured to get the music to the level they did is almost amazing today (with all the technology that is used now in the recording industry).
It is also becoming more rare to find bands that write their own songs, play their own instruments, and sing and perform it and stay together as long as they did.
If you want to know what music of the real rock and roll era then this is the audio for you. After you listen to this you will have to go listen to their music because you will even further appreciate what they went thru to get it to the level they did from such a meager beginning.
Peace~and A Whole Lotta Love~

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful