Hammer of the Gods

The Led Zeppelin Saga

By: Stephen Davis

Narrated by: Chris Abell

The gold-standard biography of the band Led Zeppelin—revised and updated with new material for fans of the band and this beloved rock classic.

“One of the most notorious rock biographies ever written.” —Chicago Tribune

The members of Led Zeppelin are major deities in the pantheon of rock gods. The first and heaviest of the heavy metal monsters, they violently shook the foundations of rock music and took no prisoners on the road. Their tours were legendary, their lives were exalted, and their music transcendent. No band ever flew as high as Led Zeppelin or suffered so disastrous a fall. And only some of them lived to tell the tale.

Originally published in 1985, and last updated in 2008, Hammer of the Gods is considered the ultimate word on Led Zeppelin, and a definitive rock and roll classic that captures the first heavy metal monsters in all their excessive glory. With new material from bestselling biographer Stephen Davis this edition includes the story of their legendary one-night-only reunion in 2007 and the post-Zeppelin work of each member, especially Robert Plant’s Grammy-winning collaborations with Alison Krauss. An up-to-date discography brings this New York Times bestseller fully to the present, and will captivate a new generation of music fans, Zeppelin fans, and readers.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Saga Is the Right Word!

A Led Zeppelin fan for 45 years (and not stereotypical), I’ve enjoyed rediscovering their music recently, and this book brings it all home. More profound character arcs than you’ll find in any novel, the author pulls no punches with respect to the more sordid aspects of the band’s (& individuals’) history, but overall this is pure homage to a handful of incredibly talented—and versatile—musicians. I confess, it left me a bit teary-eyed.

It's the GOAT of Led Zep biographies

I learned a bit more about the band from an outsiders point of view.

However, the reader mispronounced "Grosvenor," for example. The author got Bonham's age wrong when he died - he was 32, not 31. He also repeated the same information several times, especially when describing Bonham's behavior when he was drunk, once or twice would have been fine or making reference to his substance addictions and violent behavior re: specific incidents.

Other than that, it was a great listen and continues my lifelong obsession with their music, particularly in the early years up through Physical Graffiti, after that, it was just sad what happened to the band.

Narrator’s pronunciations are infuriating!

The mispronunciation of many words made this listen infuriating. The section covering Bonham’s death was read/written like an ad- no feeling, no pause, no gravity. The excesses on the road were so sensationalized that they overtook the entire band’s music and story. There are better Zeppelin books out there; this one is a hard pass.