New Led Zeppelin to publish

Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing Group continues its series for music, movie, and television fanatics with a new tome for Led Zeppelin lovers. The If You Like series plays the game of cultural connectivity at a high level—each book is written by an expert in their field and travels far beyond the expected, unearthing treats that will enlighten even the most jaded couch potato or pop culture vulture. Every volume tackles several genres, so If You Like the Metallica… introduced the reader not only to records, but to movies and TV shows as well, just as the Sopranos and the Terminator editions of the If You Like series tackled jewels beyond the small screen.

If You Like Led Zeppelin… by Dave Thompson (Backbeat Books, $16.99) is a unique window into the world from which the band was born, and the one it created in its wake.

Led Zeppelin recorded only 85 songs, yet those 85 songs not only set the bar for every rock band of their generation, they became the benchmark for every band that followed. This book recommends the music (and other oddities) that was directly and indirectly inspired by the Zep.

Not only does it investigate modern sounds, If You Like Led Zeppelin… also unearths the music that members of Led Zeppelin themselves listened to, opening up a new world of experience and excitement for both casual and committed fans. Zeppelin’s openness to influence, willingness to listen, and ability to seamlessly assimilate so many personal fascinations into what became a very public whole means there is a wealth of pre-Zep material—the popular and the lesser-known—waiting to be discovered by readers.

Prolific rock’n’roll author, Dave Thompson interviewed friends, contemporaries, and peers of the band to select the perfect sampler dish of possibilities for readers…if they like Led Zeppelin.

"Not every recommendation in these pages will be to every fan’s taste, and not every assumption drawn from the available evidence will be agreeable to all. But with over two hundred fresh artists, albums, genres, and songs for the reader to investigate, the chances are good you will like most of them."
--Dave Thompson, from If You Like Led Zeppelin…

Dave Thompson is the author of over 100 books on rock and pop culture, including highly rated biographies such as Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell: The Dangerous Glitter of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed; Bad Reputation: The Unauthorized Biography of Joan Jett; and Hearts of Darkness: James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Cat Stevens, and the Unlikely Rise of the Singer-Songwriter, as well as The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Music on Film. Visit his website at davethompsonbooks.wordpress.com