About

Hi, I’m Frank Reddon, and I remember the first moment I ever heard Led Zeppelin’s music. I was nine years old. The first eerie-sounding notes caught my attention and held it rapt for the entire song. It was Dazed and Confused, my first Led Zeppelin song. I was definitely dazed. But I wasn’t confused. I knew exactly what this was. This music was going to change my life.

I was too young to buy penny candy on my own, much less a debut rock album by longhaired supposed satanists. My first Zeppelin LP was their untitled fourth album. I had to have Stairway. I ripped the cellophane off and dropped the needle down gently into those scant seconds of silence before the record spun 33 1/3 rpms closer to pure rock ‘n’ roll bliss.

As the hi-hats to Black Dog crashed like thunder, I knew there was no turning back.

I spent my days in university obsessively researching Led Zeppelin’s music, analyzing the masters of improvisation, and creating a revolutionary approach to music research that spanned the band’s entire career.

My manuscript was so huge I had to build a custom-made case to haul it around. It weighed over 80 pounds and had over 5,000 pages of my analysis of the legendary musicians’ work. I hauled it to London to show Led Zeppelin’s archivist and waited in the hotel lobby watching him thumb through the pages.

For five hours. He’d barely skimmed the surface of what I’d written when he finally looked up.

He said, “Frank, this manuscript is of museum quality. It simply must be published.”

I hope it will be, someday. In the meantime, I contributed research material to Luis Rey’s landmark book Led Zeppelin Live: An Exploration of the Underground Tapes. And I’ve published my first book, Sonic Boom: The Impact of Led Zeppelin.

For Volume 1 – Break & Enter, I tracked down JJ Jackson, Don Fitzpatrick and Philip Elwood. I discovered whether the story of Zeppelin’s first-ever gig under the name The New Yardbirds was true or fantastic fiction. I even got first dibs ahead of Led Zeppelin’s official website on a certain early photo.

Critics and recognized Led Zeppelin experts have received my work with acclaim. Me, I’m just happy to be living out the destiny that was laid out before me in that first Led Zeppelin song.

I’m still dazed, yes. But after all my loving research into what made this phenomenal band’s music live on eternally, I’m definitely not confused.