Valhalla!: The A to Z of Led Zeppelin

Description

Titled in tribute to the gloriously theatrical lyric from 'Immigrant Song', Valhalla!: The A to Z of Led Zeppelin aims to illuminate and unpack the mythology and majesty of the greatest hard-rock band of all time. Utilising a similar tone and structure to Mark Blake's wildly entertaining, critically acclaimed Magnifico!: The A to Z of Queen, this book seeks to re-animate Led Zeppelin for a global audience in a digestible, accessible and authoritative format. Liberated from the constraints of a conventional biography, the alphabetised entries will include eyewitness anecdotes and analytical mini-essays, as well as original critiques of the music of Plant, Page, Jones and Bonham - and, crucially, what their songs reveal about the men who crafted them. Among the book's irreverent pages, readers will find out just how much money the quartet invested in Monty Python and exactly why Barack Obama felt compelled to host them in a room with 3-inch-thick windows and a secret-service presence. Yet this meticulously researched guide also provides a comprehensive overview of the group's game-changing rise to ascendancy and the subsequent fallout as three creatively restless musicians struggled to process the devastating loss of their dear friend and esteemed bandmate John Bonham. Packed with insightful trivia to delight Led Zep loyalists and casual fans alike, this is the rock and roll story of all the good times and bad times.

Paul Brannigan is an established music writer, whose previous books include This Is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl (a Sunday Times bestseller), the two-volume Birth School Metallica ('Music Book of the Year' in the Sunday Times, the NME and The Independent) and Eruption: The Eddie Van Halen Story.