The First Official Led Zeppelin Documentary is Coming to Commemorate the Band’s 50th Anniversary

2019 marks the 50th anniversary of Led Zeppelin‘s debut album, which would set in action the band‘s precipitous rise to the top of the music world and, eventually, plant their stake in the world for decades to come.

There has never been an officially-sanctioned documentary film put together about the band, but to mark the occasion of the anniversary, one is coming — in fact, it’s already in post-production.

Directed by Bernard McMahon, the as-yet-untitled doc traces the journeys of the four members through the music scene of the 1960s, their meeting in the summer of 1968 for a rehearsal that will change the future of rock, and culminates in 1970 when their second album knocks The Beatles off the top of the charts and they become the number one band in the world.

As the news release detailed, this film marks the first time the band members have taken part in a film about themselves in 50 years. That’s … a big deal:

With brand new interviews of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones, as well as rare archival interviews with the late John Bonham, this documentary will be the first of its kind; the Led Zeppelin story told through the words of the men that lived it, with no outside voices or conjecture. Featuring never before seen archive film and photographs, state of the art audio transfers of the band’s music, as well as the music that shaped their sound, this documentary will be the definitive telling of the birth of the world’s biggest selling rock band. It is the first and only time the band have participated in a documentary in fifty years.

And some quotes from the surviving members, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones:

Jimmy Page: “When I saw everything Bernard had done both visually and sonically on the remarkable achievement that is American Epic, I knew he would be qualified to tell our story.”

Robert Plant: “Seeing Will Shade, and so many other important early American musicians, brought to life on the big screen in American Epic inspired me to contribute to a very interesting and exciting story.”

John Paul Jones: “The time was right for us to tell our own story for the first time in our own words, and I think that this film will really bring that story to life.”

While that long-sought but realistically never-to-happen reunion of the three seems like it’s happening anytime soon, this film ought to help make up for that.

Stay tuned for more.