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New Led Zeppelin Biography on Bio Channel


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ABSOLUTE UTTER GARBAGE!!!

That's 2 hours of my life that I'll never get back. Both docs were an embarrassment. I had never watched anything on the Bio channel before and I shall never return again after tonight's debacle.

Having never seen the 2004 bio, I watched that first and immediately I sensed danger when the fake music kicked in. Never trust a music documentary that doesn't even use the real music. Anyway, the same old footage, the same old interviews, the same old half-truths and misinformation. I'd say it was amateurish but it wasn't even up to amateur standards.

Okay, I thought, maybe the new one would be better, and actually have some Zeppelin music. Well, it had maybe a snippet of Robert Plant introducing the band from the Danish TV show that's on the DVD, but mostly it was the same bad fake music. Oh, and the "rare footage" promised? Nothing even close...it's the same footage that's been on bootleg video tapes and dvds and YouTube for years.

What was especially bad was when they were discussing John Paul Jones contributions, the music in the background was a fake version of Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell"...WTF!?!?

Oh, and once again, too many factual errors and misepresentatipns to count. For instance, during the segment discussing Led Zeppelin's "borrowing" the blues, this guy goes on about how Led Zeppelin claimed writing credit for "You Shook Me".

Now, certainly the band took liberties with "How Many More Times", "Lemon Song", and "Whole Lotta Love"...but I have the first pressings of Led Zeppelin I, and both "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You, Babe" are clearly credited to Willie Dixon.

A fucking joke and a waste of time. If you tivo'd or dvr'd them last night and haven't yet watched them, don't bother. Delete them immediately and save yourself the frustration and agony.

Bollocks to you, Bio channel! :angry:

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ABSOLUTE UTTER GARBAGE!!!

That's 2 hours of my life that I'll never get back. Both docs were an embarrassment. I had never watched anything on the Bio channel before and I shall never return again after tonight's debacle.

Having never seen the 2004 bio, I watched that first and immediately I sensed danger when the fake music kicked in. Never trust a music documentary that doesn't even use the real music. Anyway, the same old footage, the same old interviews, the same old half-truths and misinformation. I'd say it was amateurish but it wasn't even up to amateur standards.

Okay, I thought, maybe the new one would be better, and actually have some Zeppelin music. Well, it had maybe a snippet of Robert Plant introducing the band from the Danish TV show that's on the DVD, but mostly it was the same bad fake music. Oh, and the "rare footage" promised? Nothing even close...it's the same footage that's been on bootleg video tapes and dvds and YouTube for years.

What was especially bad was when they were discussing John Paul Jones contributions, the music in the background was a fake version of Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell"...WTF!?!?

Oh, and once again, too many factual errors and misepresentatipns to count. For instance, during the segment discussing Led Zeppelin's "borrowing" the blues, this guy goes on about how Led Zeppelin claimed writing credit for "You Shook Me".

Now, certainly the band took liberties with "How Many More Times", "Lemon Song", and "Whole Lotta Love"...but I have the first pressings of Led Zeppelin I, and both "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You, Babe" are clearly credited to Willie Dixon.

A fucking joke and a waste of time. If you tivo'd or dvr'd them last night and haven't yet watched them, don't bother. Delete them immediately and save yourself the frustration and agony.

Bollocks to you, Bio channel! :angry:

Could not agree with you more Strider. Those horrid backing tracks really ruined it for me. The only part I honestly liked were those interviews with Jonesy in what seems to be his house but thats only cause I have never seen those. Very dissapointed...

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ABSOLUTE UTTER GARBAGE!!!

That's 2 hours of my life that I'll never get back. Both docs were an embarrassment. I had never watched anything on the Bio channel before and I shall never return again after tonight's debacle.

Having never seen the 2004 bio, I watched that first and immediately I sensed danger when the fake music kicked in. Never trust a music documentary that doesn't even use the real music. Anyway, the same old footage, the same old interviews, the same old half-truths and misinformation. I'd say it was amateurish but it wasn't even up to amateur standards.

Okay, I thought, maybe the new one would be better, and actually have some Zeppelin music. Well, it had maybe a snippet of Robert Plant introducing the band from the Danish TV show that's on the DVD, but mostly it was the same bad fake music. Oh, and the "rare footage" promised? Nothing even close...it's the same footage that's been on bootleg video tapes and dvds and YouTube for years.

What was especially bad was when they were discussing John Paul Jones contributions, the music in the background was a fake version of Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell"...WTF!?!?

Oh, and once again, too many factual errors and misepresentatipns to count. For instance, during the segment discussing Led Zeppelin's "borrowing" the blues, this guy goes on about how Led Zeppelin claimed writing credit for "You Shook Me".

Now, certainly the band took liberties with "How Many More Times", "Lemon Song", and "Whole Lotta Love"...but I have the first pressings of Led Zeppelin I, and both "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You, Babe" are clearly credited to Willie Dixon.

A fucking joke and a waste of time. If you tivo'd or dvr'd them last night and haven't yet watched them, don't bother. Delete them immediately and save yourself the frustration and agony.

Bollocks to you, Bio channel! :angry:

I have to agree. I watched it last night and I was very disappointed. I liked some of the small interviews with Plant and Jones, but for the most part, it was just the same old story with weird (fake) backing tracks and an odd pacing with which to tell the Zeppelin story.

I also help that there is an amazing, fresh, well made Zeppelin documentary made for all the fans to enjoy. I also hope that it provides something new for us to learn.

And yea, what was with the "Run Like Hell" knock off even doing in there? It was so oddly placed. You would think that a Jones baseline would have been played while discussing his role in the band. Just.....BAD!

It seems like every Zeppelin documentary is a disaster. I hope that there is an amazing, fresh, well made Zeppelin documentary made for all the fans to enjoy. I also hope that it provides something new for us to learn. Or perhaps new stuff for us to watch. Heck, just some new interviews from the band mambers. Something new. And please......use the bands ACTUAL music!

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ABSOLUTE UTTER GARBAGE!!!

That's 2 hours of my life that I'll never get back. Both docs were an embarrassment. I had never watched anything on the Bio channel before and I shall never return again after tonight's debacle.

Having never seen the 2004 bio, I watched that first and immediately I sensed danger when the fake music kicked in. Never trust a music documentary that doesn't even use the real music. Anyway, the same old footage, the same old interviews, the same old half-truths and misinformation. I'd say it was amateurish but it wasn't even up to amateur standards.

Okay, I thought, maybe the new one would be better, and actually have some Zeppelin music. Well, it had maybe a snippet of Robert Plant introducing the band from the Danish TV show that's on the DVD, but mostly it was the same bad fake music. Oh, and the "rare footage" promised? Nothing even close...it's the same footage that's been on bootleg video tapes and dvds and YouTube for years.

What was especially bad was when they were discussing John Paul Jones contributions, the music in the background was a fake version of Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell"...WTF!?!?

Oh, and once again, too many factual errors and misepresentatipns to count. For instance, during the segment discussing Led Zeppelin's "borrowing" the blues, this guy goes on about how Led Zeppelin claimed writing credit for "You Shook Me".

Now, certainly the band took liberties with "How Many More Times", "Lemon Song", and "Whole Lotta Love"...but I have the first pressings of Led Zeppelin I, and both "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You, Babe" are clearly credited to Willie Dixon.

A fucking joke and a waste of time. If you tivo'd or dvr'd them last night and haven't yet watched them, don't bother. Delete them immediately and save yourself the frustration and agony.

Bollocks to you, Bio channel! :angry:

Strider, I wish you were a bit more to the point. Are you trying to say that you liked the show? tongue.gifhysterical.gif

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I heard abortion like knock offs of Rock and Roll, Stairway to Heaven, and Kashmir. For the people who thought there was "rare" footage, I posted all of the video clips above.

Oh yeah. There were some clips that were repeated constantly through out the "documentary". Like Zep boarding the limos at Sydney 1972 and Zep boarding the Starship.

Edited by ledzepfilm
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Someone needs to make a real documentary of Led Zeppelin and take their time covering it properly.

It's been years since I've seen it but as I recall, the VH1 Legends feature on Zeppelin was well done.

I haven't seen the newer Biography but I'm guessing they didn't use actual Zeppelin music because they didn't have permission or couldn't afford the licensing fees. I'm no legal eagle so I'm not sure how all of that works but I could definitely see where it would detract from the overall presentation. If there ever was an "official" full length Zeppelin documentary, I seriously doubt any of the surviving members would even cooperate since there's so many sides to every story and at least a couple folks (namely John Bonham and Peter Grant) are no longer here to speak for themselves. Having said that, I find it strange that the newer Biography special had the ok from Page, Plant and Jones, at least according to the description on the Biography website.

Edited by Jahfin
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What tour was the guy in red glasses talking about when he claimed he was hired on to travel with the band for three months? He said that he was hired on because Jimmy didn't want to tour. He discovered that the band just wanted to go back to their hotel rooms like hermits with their cups of tea and did not want to have to anything to do with groupies, sex, alcohol or drugs. When was this? wtf.gif

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^^^

That was British director Tony Palmer, famous for the nearly hundred films he's made over the years, many involving rock and roll bands.

He directed the classic documentaries of the pop scene: "All My Loving" and "All You Need Is Love". He also did "Cream: The Farewell Concert", "Ginger Baker in Africa", "Rory Gallagher - Irish Tour", Frank Zappa's "200 Motels"...and too many more to list; rock/pop/classical/opera.

He also did an amazing documentary for NASA on the 10th anniversary of the moon landing, with music by Mike Oldfield. The American Cinematheque showed it in 2009 on its 30th anniversary as part of a huge Tony Palmer retrospective, which I was lucky enough to attend.

Of course, as with a lot of survivors of the 60's, his memory about dates and things is a little hazy...regarding his claim in the Zep bio last night, I've gotta figure it was an early tour he was talking about.

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^^^

That was British director Tony Palmer, famous for the nearly hundred films he's made over the years, many involving rock and roll bands.

Of course, as with a lot of survivors of the 60's, his memory about dates and things is a little hazy...regarding his claim in the Zep bio last night, I've gotta figure it was an early tour he was talking about.

That must have been a very early tour then because they didn't seem too upset on tour in most of the photos that I have seen. Groupies, drugs and booze, OH YES! cool.gif

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A few comments:

The music was annoyingly too loud during the interview portions.

Instead of showing the Windsor house, they opted to show Page's London home, while stating that John Bonham died in Page's house.

A claim was made and emphasized that Page was very fond of his Mother, but not that close with his Father.

Peter Grant explained the Art of Intimidation (fine tuned with British-Speak), and how effective it could be on Americans in the music industry.

Biography channel will be repeating this new episode ("Dazed and Confused") a few more times before month's end, according to the schedule.

If you plan to DVR it, use the set time feature instead of selecting the program to record, because it may clip off part of the credits otherwise.

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Peter Grant explained the Art of Intimidation (fine tuned with British-Speak), and how effective it could be on Americans in the music industry.

OK, I'm going to check out this new program just for this bit :)

I don't get upset about the "fake" music in the background - it just means that the producers couldn't afford the licensing fees to use the real thing. It doesn't bother me. It can be amusing sometimes, when they use generic-type footage of long-haired rock dudes as filler - it's so obvious and amateurish, it makes me smile.

As for a lot of the footage being known for years by people who have all the bootlegs, etc. - a television program like this, as you know, is for a general audience: Led Zep fans but not necessarily afficionados.

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These programs were pretty shabby and the editing was quite poor. The VH1 documentary from a few years back was like Citizen Kane compared to these two pretty awful bios. The VH1 version was good, but certainly not a work of art.

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  • 4 years later...

I did not enjoy this biography at all. However, it was mentioned of an incident where John Bohnam collapsed half way through a performance and had to be carried off.

Does anyone know of the incident or whether this is true?

JB collapsed three songs into the concert at Nuremberg, Germany on 27th June 1980 having eaten 'too many bananas' according to the band at the time.

http://forums.ledzeppelin.com/index.php?/topic/15233-nuremberg-germany-june-27-1980/

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