Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin IV
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, heavy metal, blues-rock, folk rock
Length	42:39
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Jimmy Page
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (A) link NME (9/10) [October 2, 1992 p. 29] Q [July 1994] Rolling Stone (Favorable) December 11, 1971 p. 63
Led Zeppelin chronology
Led Zeppelin III (1970) Led Zeppelin IV (1971) Houses of the Holy (1973)

The untitled fourth album of English rock band Led Zeppelin was released on November 8 1971. It has no official title mentioned on the cover and is commonly referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, in the style of the band's previous three albums. Atlantic Records catalogues have used the names Four Symbols and The Fourth Album. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page frequently refers to the album in interviews as Led Zeppelin IV, while singer Robert Plant thinks of it as "the fourth album, that's it". It is one of the best-selling albums in history, with over 23 million units sold in the United States alone.^[1]

Overview

The album was recorded at Island Records's newly opened Basing Street Studios, London, around the same time as Jethro Tull's Aqualung, and at Headley Grange, a remote Victorian house in East Hampshire, England, as well as Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, CA.

After the lukewarm, if not confused and sometimes dismissive, critical reaction Led Zeppelin III had received in the autumn of 1970, Jimmy Page decided that the next Led Zeppelin album would not have a title, but would instead feature four hand-drawn symbols on the inner sleeve and record label, each one chosen by the band member it represents. "We decided that on the fourth album, we would deliberately play down the group name, and there wouldn't be any information whatsoever on the outer jacket", Page explained. "Names, titles and things like that do not mean a thing."^[2] Owing to the lack of an official title, Atlantic Records initially distributed graphics of the symbols in many sizes to the press for inclusion in charts and articles. The album was one of 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). Led Zeppelin IV remains a perennial favorite on classic rock radio and features "Stairway to Heaven", one of the most famous and popular rock songs ever recorded. In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Led Zeppelin IV the 26th greatest album of all time; in 2000 "Q" placed it at #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 #7 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of the 1970s. A 2005 listener poll conducted by Toronto, Ontario classic rock station Q107 named Led Zeppelin IV the #2 best classic rock album of all time. In 2006, the album was rated #1 on Classic Rock magazine's 100 Greatest British Albums poll; that same year it was voted #1 in Guitar World 100 Greatest Albums readers' poll and was ranked #7 in ABC media's top ten albums.

The symbols

Each member of the band chose a personal emblem for the cover. Left to right, their members and meanings:

• Jimmy Page's symbol is generally referred to as "ZoSo", though its symbols have nonalphabetic connotations. It was designed by Page himself.^[2]
  

  The four symbols on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV, representing Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and Robert Plant (from left to right) respectively. Although the symbols are sometimes referred to as "Runes", only the middle two are runes; the other two are sigils.
  The source of the ZoSo symbol itself is no longer a mystery but the meaning of it still is; it originated in 'Ars Magica Arteficii' (1557) by Gerolamo Cardano (also known as J. Cardan), an old alchemical grimoire, where it has been identified as a sigil consisting of zodiac signs. The sigil is reproduced in "Dictionary of Occult, Hermetic and Alchemical Sigils" by Fred Gettings, published in 1982 by Routledge & Kegan Paul (see here). The symbol used to represent the planet Saturn for purposes of magic. Page is a Capricorn, a sign ruled by Saturn, and the Z-like symbol is distinctive as a common astrological mark for Saturn. The oSo portion is similar to the alchemic symbol for mercury, also associated with Saturn. In cabalistic or hermetic study, knowledge seekers look to the god Mercury (Hermes, see Hermes Trismegistus and the Hermetica) for guidance and light, more or less the scene that unfolds in the drawing on the inside cover of the album and later acted out by Page in the concert film The Song Remains the Same. This part of the symbol is also strikingly similar to the Lucifer script ciphered by Aleister Crowley in his book The Equinox; and the symbol as a whole strongly resembles characters of the "alphabet of the Magi", a seventeenth century text used for fashioning magical talismans. What it means personally to Page is unknown, as he has never publicly revealed its meaning. His interest in Aleister Crowley, however, is widely known. The guitarist owns many of Crowley's original manuscripts and other effects, including (until the mid-1980s) Crowley's former home on Loch Ness, Boleskine House. In the 1970s Page owned the occult bookshop The Equinox in London, also an enterprise for publishing rare manuscripts.
• 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.^[2] However, Jones claims it represents an exorcism (said to irritate the occultist Page).
• John Bonham's symbol, the three interlocking rings, represents the trinity of mother, father and child. It could also depict an aerial view of a drum kit. It does in fact represent the 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 stated that the symbol was chosen as a representation of man, woman, and child. Jones's and Bonham's symbols fitting together -- one to the other inside out, inverse images -- is no accident. In any band, the bassist and drummer form interlocking parts of a rhythm section. The symbol also happens to be the logo for Ballantine beer.^[2]
• The symbol for Robert Plant is the feather of the Egyptian goddess Ma'at, representing truth, justice, fairness and writing, encapsulated by an unbroken circle representing life. According to Egyptian mythology, Anubis, the god of judgment and death, would take the heart of those who died and put it on a balance with the feather of Ma'at. If the heart outweighed the feather, the person's soul would go to hell, but on the other hand, if the heart was lighter than the feather, the soul would go to heaven.^[2]

There is also a fifth, smaller symbol chosen by guest vocalist Sandy Denny representing her contribution to "The Battle of Evermore"; it appears in the credits list on the inner sleeve of the LP, serving as an asterisk and is shaped like three triangles touching at their points. During Led Zeppelin's tour of the United Kingdom in Winter 1971, which took place shortly following the release of the album, the band visually projected the four symbols on their stage equipment. Jimmy Page's "Zoso" symbol was put onto one of his Marshall amplifiers, John Bonham's three interlinked circles adorned the outer face of his bass drum, John Paul Jones had his symbol stenciled onto material which was draped across his Fender Rhodes keyboard and Robert Plant's feather symbol was painted onto a side speaker PA cabinet. Only Page's and Bonham's symbols were retained for subsequent Led Zeppelin concert tours.^[3]

Album cover and inside sleeve

The painting on the front of the album, showing an old man carrying a faggot, was allegedly purchased from a junk shop in Reading, Berkshire by a Led Zeppelin roadie (Jimmy Page has stated it was bought by Robert Plant)^[4] and affixed to the internal, papered wall of the partly demolished house for the photograph to be taken. 'The man with the sticks on his back' can also refer to the biblical Cain, who in legend was said to have ended his journeys on the moon, contributing to the image on the face of the moon. Film critic Robert Ring has also suggested that the picture might be a reference to the 1920s witchcraft documentary Häxan: Witchcraft through the Ages. In the film, there is a similar-looking witch, and inside the bundle of sticks are body parts from a thief hung on the gallows ^[5]. This would be fitting, given Page's interest in hermetic studies. The house and surrounding area in the picture 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, as could be dudley ["Dead-ly"}

Led Zeppelin IV outer gatefold album cover

The tower block on the back cover is of Butterfield Court in Dudley, England (not the now demolished Prince of Wales Court, as is sometimes incorrectly stated). Butterfield Court can be seen, owing to it being 20-stories 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. An image of the tower block can be seen here The inside sleeve represents the tarot card of the Hermit it was painted by Barrington Coleby (the name is misspelled on the album sleeve), a friend of Jimmy Page's who lives in Switzerland. Contrary to some sources, there is no hidden "Black Dog" in the painting. The typeface for the lyrics to "Stairway to Heaven", printed on the inside sleeve of the album, was Page's contribution. He found it in an old arts and crafts magazine called Studio which started in the late 1800s. He thought the lettering interesting and got someone to work up a whole alphabet.^[4]

Track listing

Side one

1. "Black Dog" (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones) – 4:55
2. "Rock and Roll" (Page, Plant, Jones, John Bonham) – 3:40
3. "The Battle of Evermore" (Page, Plant) – 5:38
4. "Stairway to Heaven" (Page, Plant) – 8:01

Side two

1. "Misty Mountain Hop" (Page, Plant, Jones) – 4:39
2. "Four Sticks" (Page, Plant) – 4:49
3. "Going to California" (Page, Plant) – 3:36
4. "When the Levee Breaks" (Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham, Memphis Minnie) – 7:08

Personnel

• Jimmy Page – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, producer, remastering, digital remastering
• Robert Plant – vocals, harmonica
• John Paul Jones – synthesizer, bass guitar, keyboards, mandolin, recorders
• John Bonham – drums
• Ian Stewart – piano (on "Rock and Roll", uncredited)
• Sandy Denny – vocals (on track 3)
• Peter Grant – executive producer
• George Chkiantz – mixing
• Andy Johns – engineer, mixing
• Graphreaks – design coordinator
• Barrington Colby Mom – inside illustration (The Hermit)

CD Mastering engineers

• Joe Sidore - original CD (mid-1980s)
• George Marino - remastered CD (1990)

Chart positions

Album

Singles

Certifications

Cultural references

Side one of the album was made somewhat infamous as make-out music in the movie Fast Times At Ridgemont High; Mike Damone (Robert Romanus) tells Mark Ratner (Brian Backer) to always play side 1 of Led Zeppelin IV when he's making out. In the next scene, he is on the date with Physical Grafitti's "Kashmir" playing in the car. Mark therefore "blows" the date, since he plays the wrong Led Zeppelin album. In actuality, Universal Pictures couldn't get the rights to any of the songs on Led Zeppelin IV, despite screenwriter Cameron Crowe's prior relationship to the band, so they opted to use "Kashmir" instead. Henry Rollins, in a live spoken-word performance piece, likened the ideal male orgasm to this album: "Every guy in here is into… [having sex] and ejaculating like f***ing God; like the fourth Zeppelin album boooooooffaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! You know: the velocity that knocks you across the room and you black out..."

See also

• The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
• Symbols (album), a similarly graphically titled album by KMFDM

References

External links

• Led Zeppelin IV at MusicBrainz