Led Zeppelin IV

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cover
Studio album by Led Zeppelin
Released November 8, 1971
Recorded December 1970 – March 1971 at
Headley Grange, Hampshire, with The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio;
Island Studios, London;
Sunset Sound, Los Angeles.
Mixed at Island Studios, London;
Olympic Studios, London.
Genre Hard Rock
Length 42:38
Label Atlantic
Producer(s) Jimmy Page
Professional reviews
Led Zeppelin chronology
Led Zeppelin III
(1970)
(1971)		 Houses of the Holy
(1973)


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is the fourth album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on November 8 1971. It has no easily expressed official title and is commonly referred to as Led Zeppelin IV. It has also been variously referred to as Four Symbols and The Fourth Album (both titles were used in Atlantic Records catalogue), Untitled, Runes, Sticks, Man With Sticks, Four and Zoso, after the appearance of the first character or symbol printed on an LP label. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page frequently refers to the album as Led Zeppelin IV in interviews, while singer Robert Plant thinks of it as "the Fourth Album, that's it." The album is one of the best-selling albums in history, with over 23 million units sold in the United States alone. Estimates for worldwide figures usually top 30 million units.

Contents

[edit] History

The album was recorded at Island Records's newly opened studios in Basing Street, London, around the same time as Jethro Tull's Aqualung, and at Headley Grange, a remote victorian house in East Hampshire, England, UK.

After the fairly negative critical reaction Led Zeppelin III had received in the autumn of 1970, Page decided that the next album would not have a proper title in order to see if the music could sell itself. The original pressing did not have a readable title or the name Led Zeppelin anywhere on the exterior jacket, instead featuring four hand-drawn symbols on the inner sleeve and record label, each one chosen (or designed in the case of Page) by the band member it represents. These symbols are the official title of the album, and Atlantic Records initially distributed graphics of the symbols in many sizes to the press for inclusion in charts and articles. The album was the first to be produced without conventional identification, and this communicated an anti-commercial stance that was controversial at the time (especially among certain executives at Atlantic).

remains a perennial favorite on classic rock radio and features "Stairway to Heaven", one of the most famous and popular rock songs ever recorded. During the track's 35 years of existence, its combined radio airplay in the United States alone has totaled over 50 years.

While reaching #2 in the U.S. — and lasting 259 weeks on that chart — it was also the band's third consecutive UK chart topper.


In 1998, Q magazine readers voted the 26th greatest album of all time, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 26 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 66 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It is number 7 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of the 1970s. A 2005 listener poll conducted by Toronto classic rock station Q107 (CILQ) named the #2 best classic rock album of all time. In 2006, the album was rated #1 on Classic Rock magazine's100 Greatest British Albums poll. In 2006, the album was rated # 1 on Guitar World 100 Greatest Albums, voted by the readers.

[edit] The symbols

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The four symbols on Led Zeppelin IV's cover, representing Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and Robert Plant (from left to right) respectively.
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The four symbols on Led Zeppelin IV's cover, representing Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and Robert Plant (from left to right) respectively.

Although the symbols that form its title (and the album itself) are sometimes referred to as "Runes", only the middle two are runes. The other two are sigils. Left to right, their members and meanings:

  • Jimmy Page's symbol is a reference to Aleister Crowley. Page is a known fan of Crowley's work. The symbol was invented by Crowley, and probably has something to do with black magic. The text from which Page is supposed to have adopted the symbol is taken from Crowley's "The Equinox" :

So is O. O = A in the book of Thoth (The Tarot). A = 111, with all its great meanings, (.) = 6. Now 666 = [...] the number of the beast.

According to the references Page's "Zoso" would refer to "So is O" and, consequently, to the number 666. [1][2]

  • John Paul Jones' symbol is a single circle intersecting 3 vesica pisces (a triquetra). Taken from a book of runes, it symbolises a person with confidence and competence. However, Jones claims it represents an exorcism (said to irritate the occultist Page).
  • John Bonham's symbol, the three interlocking rings, looks like the logo for Ballantine beer - noting the drummer's fondness for alcohol. It could also depict an aerial view of a drum kit. It does in fact represent the occult idea of trilogies and trios, and more commonly is a Christian symbol for the Trinity. In the 1990 Bonham tribute radio special, "It's Been A Long Time", son Jason Bonham states that the symbol was chosen as a representation of man, woman, and child.
  • The symbol for Robert Plant is the feather of Ma'at, representing truth, justice, fairness and writing, encapsulated by an unbroken circle representing life.

There is actually a fifth, smaller symbol chosen by guest vocalist Sandy Denny representing her contribution to "The Battle of Evermore" and visible on the LP inner sleeve personnel list only, but this more serves the function of an asterisk on the credit sheet than it does an addition to the album's title.

[edit] Album cover

The tower block on the back cover is of Butterfield Court in Dudley, England; and not of the now demolished Prince of Wales Court.

Butterfield Court can be seen, owing to it being 20-storeys high and on top of a ridge, 25 miles away in rural Worcestershire and Shropshire and on a clear day, over 45 miles away in Wales.

The painting on the front of the album showing an old man carrying a bundle of sticks, was apparently purchased from a junk shop in Reading, Berkshire by a Zeppelin roadie and affixed to the internal, papered wall of the partly demolished house for the photograph to be taken. The house and surrounding area are by Butterfield Court in the Eve Hill area of Dudley- the use of Eve Hill may be an in-joke ["Ev-il"] by the band.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side one

  1. "Black Dog" (Page/Plant/Jones) – 4:56
  2. "Rock and Roll" (Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham) – 3:41
  3. "The Battle of Evermore" (Page/Plant) – 5:52
  4. "Stairway to Heaven" (Page/Plant) – 8:03

[edit] Side two

  1. "Misty Mountain Hop" (Page/Plant/Jones) – 4:39
  2. "Four Sticks" (Page/Plant) – 4:45
  3. "Going to California" (Page/Plant) – 3:32
  4. "When the Levee Breaks" (Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham/Memphis Minnie) – 7:07

[edit] Credits

[edit] Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1971 Pop albums (Billboard 200) 1

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year Single Chart Position
1971 "Black Dog" Pop Singles (Billboard Hot 100) 15
1972 "Rock and Roll" Pop Singles 47

[edit] Cultural references

Side A of the album was made somewhat infamous as make-out music in the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, in a scene which Damone says to Ratner, "When it comes to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV." Ratner later commits a slight gaffe, by playing (Physical Graffiti's) "Kashmir".

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rock Music & 666
  2. ^ Led Zeppelin: Straight from Hell

[edit] External links

Led Zeppelin
Jimmy Page · Robert Plant · John Paul Jones · John Bonham
Discography - (Category)
Studio albums: Led Zeppelin · Led Zeppelin II · Led Zeppelin III · Led Zeppelin IV (Led Zeppelin IV) · Houses of the Holy · Physical Graffiti · Presence · In Through the Out Door

Live albums: The Song Remains the Same · BBC Sessions · How the West Was Won
Compilations: Box Set · Profiled · Remasters · Box Set 2 · Complete Studio Recordings · Early Days: Best of Led Zeppelin Volume One · Latter Days: Best of Led Zeppelin Volume Two · Coda
Films
The Song Remains the Same · Led Zeppelin DVD
Other
Peter Grant · Richard Cole · Swan Song Records · The Yardbirds · XYZ · The Firm · Page and Plant · Strange Sensation · Bootlegs ∙ Concerts ∙ Songs
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