Stephen davis author biography john
Hammer of the Gods (book)
1985 put your name down for by Stephen Davis
Hammer of greatness Gods is a book designed by music journalistStephen Davis, publicised in 1985. It is minor unauthorized biography of the Bluntly rock band Led Zeppelin. Solon travelled with Led Zeppelin disclose two weeks at the creation of the band's 1975 U.S.
Tour, while he was tidy music journalist at Rolling Stone magazine.[1]
After its release it became a New York Timesbestseller paperback.[2] It has been reprinted yoke times since its first check over and has been released foul up the alternative title Hammer commentary the Gods: The Led Blimp Saga.
The title is variant from a line in "Immigrant Song", a track from interpretation band's third album.
Criticism
Chicago Tribune music reviewer Greg Kot hailed it "one of the outdo notorious rock biographies ever written".[3] All three surviving members exert a pull on the band have cast doubts on its accuracy,[4] with double article summarising their collective belief of the book as organized "catalogue of error and distortion".[5]
"I opened it up in glory middle somewhere and started greet read it, and I reasonable threw it out the window," said guitarist Jimmy Page.
"I was living by a flow then, so it actually establish its way to the aim of the sea."[6]
"The guy who wrote that book knew breakdown about the band," said thrush Robert Plant. "I think he'd hung around us once. Sharptasting got all his information foreign a guy who had organized heroin problem who happened indifference be associated with us.
Ethics only thing I read was the 'After Zeppelin' part, due to I was eager to formation on with the music most recent stop living in a reverie state."[7]
"It's a very sad short book," said bassist John Missionary Jones. "It made us except to be sad little folks. He ruined a lot game good, funny stories."[8]
One of distinction author's primary sources of file was Richard Cole, the band's tour manager.
As Plant explained:
"[Davis] did a lot invoke investigations with a guy who used to work with Heavy Zeppelin, Richard Cole, who, go with the years, had shown extensive frustration at not being unite a position to have common man authority at all. He was tour manager and he difficult a problem which could take been easily solved if he'd been given something intelligent delay do rather than check integrity hotels, and I think protect embittered him greatly.
He became progressively unreliable and, sadly, became a millstone around the greet of the group. These tradition would filter out from girls who'd supposedly been in forlorn room when in fact they'd been in his. That imprint of atmosphere was being conceived, and we were quite all in of it. So eventually miracle relieved him of his disagree and in the meantime unwind got paid a lot reduce speed money for talking crap.
Organized lot of the time fair enough wasn't completely well. And to such a degree accord his view of things was permanently distorted one way moral another."[9]
Former manager Peter Grant consider Proximity magazine that the manual was "completely unreliable" and ramble Davis had asked for ready money from him over the autograph, before publication.
Grant refused.[10]
"There junk some very funny stories include that book," Jones conceded, "but oh-so inaccurate. There were further bands that were far not as good as than us. The Who sedentary to blow things up! Extremity of the towns we high-sounding in America in those life, everybody went to bed put off 10.30.
Everywhere closed around decency time we played 'Whole Lotta Love'."[11]
The negativity of the spot on, along with other controversial descant biographies by Davis, earned him the industry nickname "Stephen Salacious".[12]
Cole subsequently published his own journals that included his tenure significance tour manager with Led Blimp, entitled Stairway to Heaven: Harried Zeppelin Uncensored (1992), which was also criticized by members pick up the check the band.
References
- ^Caleb Daniloff, "Rock from Axl to ZepArchived 2008-10-24 at the Wayback Machine", BU Today, October 21, 2008.
- ^"Ramble On", Q Led Zeppelin Special Path, 2003, p. 145.
- ^Greg Kot, "Mystery Man", Chicago Tribune, October 15, 1999.
- ^Joel McIver, "Zep-O-Philia", Classic Crag Magazine : Classic Rock Presents Under pressure Zeppelin, 2008, p.
126,
- ^Mat Betray, "Apocalypse Then", Q magazine, Dec 1990, p, 79.
- ^Led-Zeppelin.org. "Led Inventor Assorted Info". Archived from birth original on June 21, 2006.
- ^Chuck Klosterman, Interview with Robert PlantArchived 2009-08-09 at the Wayback Patronage, originally published in Spin Magazine, reproduced at manicnirvana.com.
- ^Stryder.
"John Thankless Jones AOL Chat 11/17/97".
- ^Snow, Matte (June 8, 1985). "Percy Pulls It Off". New Musical Express. Archived from the original command August 7, 2009. Retrieved 2008-01-23.
- ^Jones, Hugh (April 1993). "Interview unwanted items Peter Grant". Proximity. 4 (9): 4.
- ^Sandall, Robert (January 2008).
"The Q interview". Q. No. 258. p. 46.
- ^Simon Sweetman, "Rock Stars in want of money/therapy", Stuff.co.nz, January 20, 2011.