Led Zeppelin: Dazed & Confused

I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for the surviving members of the band to deal with the death of John Bonham & I get the reasoning for not continuing, but I honestly wish they did. I think they had so much more in them that they could have offered to the world. But hey, thankfully they existed in the first place!

Led Zeppelin: Dazed & Confused (2009)

*** (out of 4)

If you're looking for an all out rocking documentary on Led Zeppelin then you're not going to find it here. What you get here is a rather cheap and quick look at who the band were, how they got together and we hear some stories about their rise to fame and their eventual end when their drummer died. At less than an hour there's really nothing too detailed here as we're basically given information that even the smallest Zeppelin fan should know. We learn about The Yardbirds, how the band formed, being influenced by the blues and then we hear about their manager, the U.S. tours, the various drug issues and of course the end. Most fans of the band are already going to know this stuff and much, much more so that's why they will probably be most disappointed. If you're not familiar with the band or are just going to know them then I think this documentary will work because it will at least give you some basic information and then you can go out there and search for more detailed stuff. There's no Zeppelin music played but we do get some behind the scenes footage, which was nice but we certainly needed more of it.

Overall, a really insightful look into the band. Always good to hear these anecdotes right from band members. I've been into them for 30+ years now & even I walked away with some new info. The only negative for me- the absence of actual LZ music within. & I get why; $$£. But it would've made it that much better. It was frustrating seeing all this amazing footage of them with generic Zepp riffs playing in the background minus any vocals.

Definitely recommended for any LZ fan, but a great entry level intro for the newbie.

I believe, to avoid paying licensing fees, the makers of this documentary removed any audio of actual Led Zeppelin songs. There are some interesting interviews and old footage but the background music is horrible. The most surreal moment comes when you're watching footage of Led Zeppelin and the riff for Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell" starts playing (but it's not actually Pink Floyd either.) There are a few drunk cover band quality clips of Led Zeppelin songs. A very odd viewing experience. There are a number of moments when if feels like you're watching a St. Sanders "Led Zeppelin Shreds" video. A very strange viewing experience.

Poorly produced, much of the same stock footage is used for b-roll, and they obviously were unable to secure many music rights (imitation, karaoke versions of songs are used for soundtrack instead). A few golden nuggets with Peter Grant clips I hadn't seen before, but otherwise you could get the same info from a 10-minute bio read on Allmusic or Wiki.