Hammer of the Gods (book)
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| Author | Stephen Davis |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Biography |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | William Morrow & Co |
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Publication date
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1985 |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 11371190 |
| 784.5/4/00922 B 19 | |
| LC Class | ML421.L4 D4 1985 |
Hammer of the Gods is a book written by music journalist Stephen Davis, published in 1985. It is an unauthorized biography of the English rock band Led Zeppelin. After its release it became a New York Times bestseller paperback, and is hyped by its publisher as being the best-known Led Zeppelin biography. It has been reprinted three times since its first publication and has been released under the alternative title Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga. The title is derived from a line in "Immigrant Song", a track from the band's third album.
Davis travelled with Led Zeppelin for two weeks at the beginning of the band's 1975 U.S. Tour, while he was a music journalist at Rolling Stone magazine.
The book has been the subject of much criticism. Chicago Tribune music reviewer Greg Kot, called it "one of the most notorious rock biographies ever written". All three surviving members of the band have cast doubts on its accuracy, with one article summarising their collective view of the book as a "catalogue of error and distortion."
Guitarist Jimmy Page has stated:
I think I opened [the book] up in the middle somewhere and started to read it, and I just threw it out the window. I was living by a river then, so it actually found its way to the bottom of the sea.
According to the band's vocalist Robert Plant:
The guy who wrote that book knew nothing about the band. I think he'd hung around us once. He got all his information from a guy who had a heroin problem who happened to be associated with us. The only thing I read was the "After Zeppelin" part, because I was eager to get on with the music and stop living in a dream state.
The band's bassist, John Paul Jones stated:
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