Film – ‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ A Rock Syzygy (2025)

In astronomy, a syzygy is where three or more celestial bodies – sometimes in opposition – align. A rare planetary alignment occurs this year. The Babylonians, Egyptians and Greeks considered planetary alignments as divine messages or signs from the Gods.

There have been a few syzygies in the storied history of rock and roll. John, Paul and George living within walking distance of each other. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, known to each other from school, fatefully meeting again at Dartford Railway Station in 1961.

But, perhaps, no greater rock and roll syzygy occurred than when, in August 1968, in a basement in Gerrard Street, Soho, London, the four members of what would become Led Zeppelin first rehearsed playing the blues standard “Train Kept a Rollin”. All members stated that the chemistry was instant.  Some rock journalists would later suggest it was “dark alchemy”.

For those of us that grew up as fans of rock music in the 1970s, Led Zeppelin were like Gods with a divine message, shrouded in mystery, famously antagonistic to the press who initially abhorred them, descending from above, with an amazing new album (never singles) and a new tour, only to disappear into the ether again. They set the template for what rock and roll became with a virtuoso guitarist, an adonis lead singer with an extraordinary range and a thunderous and precise rhythm section.

The “Becoming Led Zeppelin” – in truth, a “doco-film” – chronicles the background of each of the members, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and the late great John Bonham from their childhood years through to that combustible first rehearsal of the four virtuosos and then from the meteoric one year from when Led Zeppelin 1 was released in January 1969 until the iconic Led Zeppelin II was released and toppled The Beatles from the number one spot on the US Billboard charts. The movie ends with Led Zeppelin, then crowned the biggest band in the world, playing Royal Albert Hall in January 1970.

If you are a fan, a lot of what is in the movie may not be new. But hearing it from the three surviving members, in their own words in individual interviews, in what is the only authorised Led Zeppelin documentary, is enlightening. Jimmy Page, the main producer and the mastermind of Led Zeppelin, and John Paul Jones were highly credentialed, and sought after, session players in the 1960’s London studios.  The long list of sessions that Page played is well known, including with The Who and The Rolling Stones (and the iconic guitar work on Joe Cocker’s version of “A Little Help from my Friends”) but it was as diverse as playing on Shirley Bassey’s James Bond hit, “Goldfinger”. John Paul Jones also played on that session with Shirley Bassey and, in fact, arranged the prominent string arrangement.

Robert Plant and John Bonham were known to each other since they were 16 and had very different paths to Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. They came from the “Black Country” of West Bromwich in northwest England. One of the more intriguing parts of the movie is the “Golden God” Robert Plant’s description of how destitute (and desperate) he was before fate intervened via Jimmy Page’s contacting him on the recommendation of his original chosen lead singer, Terry Reed. It was Plant who recommended his friend, the man who would later change rock drumming, forever, John Bonham.

There are some revelations also. One is that the only known surviving oral interview with John Bonham (who was particularly hostile to the press) was an extensive exchange recorded when the band toured Australia in 1972 and was donated as part of the 2SM sound recording records to the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra. Through painstaking research, the film’s producer and director managed to locate it.  Hearing John Bonham explain – in his own words –  his journey to be part of Led Zeppelin and watching  the reaction of his former bandmates, particularly, his teenage friend, Robert Plant, is captivating. Also fascinating is John Paul Jones explaining musically how he played in and around Bonham’s thunderous rhythms and “loved the right foot” of Bonham.

The focus of the movie is the music, and the musical journey, that brought this alignment together.  Although criticised for not dealing with the behemoth that Zeppelin would become, in my view, it concludes, perfectly, at the time the band “became” the Led Zeppelin which then dominated the 1970s musically but also, with The Rolling Stones and The Who, set the standard for the successes and excesses of the rock and roll lifestyle.

If you are a fan of the music – which was, and is, extraordinary, and diverse in styles – the focus of the film on how the music came to be will delight you. An added benefit is the crystal clear sound track which bursts through the cinema’s sound system adding clarity to what was (and in one of the earlier beautifully restored clips is shown to be) met with “shock and awe” from those first clear, but sonically heavy, chords which Jimmy Page coaxes from the famous “Dragon Telecaster” gifted to him by Jeff Beck (his childhood friend) at the start of “Good Times Bad Times”, the first track on Led Zeppelin 1.

Led Zeppelin was “The Hammer of the Gods”. The film is an engaging explanation of their rapid ascent to the heavens.