Led Zeppelin IV

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is the fourth album released by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It has no easily expressed official title and is variously referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, Four Symbols, Runes, Sticks, Man with Sticks, Zoso (after the appearance of the first character or symbol used in the title), Four, or even Untitled. It was recorded at the newly opened studios of Island Records at Basing Street in London, and was recorded around the same time as Jethro Tull were there recording their fourth album, Aqualung.

After the fairly negative critical reaction Led Zeppelin III had received in the autumn of 1970, Jimmy 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 Jimmy Page) by the band member it represents. (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.) 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 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 US—and lasting an amazing 259 weeks on that chart—it was also the band's third consecutive UK chart topper.

is currently third on the RIAA's list of the bestselling albums of all time in the US.

In 2006, the album was rated #1 on [Classic Rock Magazine's] 100 Greatest British Albums poll.

Contents

1 Track listing
2 Credits
3 Chart positions
4 Additional notes
5 External links

Track listing

"Black Dog" (Page/Plant/Jones) – 4:56
"Rock and Roll" (Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham) – 3:41
"The Battle of Evermore" (Page/Plant) – 5:52
"Stairway to Heaven" (Page/Plant) – 8:03
"Misty Mountain Hop" (Page/Plant/Jones) – 4:39
"Four Sticks" (Page/Plant) – 4:45
"Going to California" (Page/Plant) – 3:32
"When the Levee Breaks" (Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham/Memphis Minnie/Kansas Joe McCoy) – 7:08

Credits

Jimmy Page - Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin (Track 3), producer, remastering, digital remastering
Robert Plant - Vocals, harmonica
John Paul Jones - Synthesizer, bass guitar, keyboards, mandolin, recorders
John Bonham - Drums
Ian Stewart - Piano (Track 2) (uncredited)
Sandy Denny - Vocals (Track 3)
Peter Grant - Executive producer
George Chkiantz - Mixing
Andy Johns - Engineer, mixing
George Marino - Digital remastering
Graphreaks - Design coordinator
Barrington Colby Mom - Inside illustration (The Hermit)

Chart positions

Billboard Music Charts (North America) – album

1971	Led Zeppelin IV	 The Billboard 200       	No. 2

Billboard (North America) – singles

1972	Black Dog	 Pop Singles	                No. 15
1972	   Rock and Roll    Pop Singles	                   No. 47
1972       Stairway To Heaven
1972       Going To California

Additional notes

Despite the immense popularity of "Stairway to Heaven"—which received heavy AOR radio rotation in the early 1970s and remains one of the most popular rock songs of all time—the song was never officially released as a single and thus it was never seen on the Billboard charts.
Side A of the album was made somewhat infamous as make-out music in 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'.
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.
*The symbol for Robert Plant is Maàt's feather representing truth, justice, fairness and writing, encapsulated by an unbroken circle representing life.
*Jimmy Page's is a stylized Capricorn ruled by Saturn. Although looking almost like the word "Zoso", it is not intended to be written or pronounced as such. Page's symbol is remarkably similar to other sigils of hermetist J. Cardan and magician Austin Osman Spare found in: Gettings, Fred (1982) Dictionary of Occult, Hermetic and Alchemical Sigils, ISBN 0-7100-0095-2. Another interpretation of the symbol is that it crudely depicts a guitar (the "oSo") and the guitarist's arm (the "Z").
*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 Man-Wife-Child trilogy, and more commonly is a Christian symbol for the Trinity.
*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.
In 1998 Q magazine readers voted

the 26th greatest album of all time.

It is number 66 on the list of Rolling Stone's 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.

The Battle of Evermore is supposedly based on Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings".[link] The band themselves have never mentioned the inspiration for the lyric.

The sheet music for Stairway to Heaven is the largest selling piece of sheet music in Rock music history averaging about 15000 copies per year. To date it has sold over 1 million.

The drum beat from the song "When the Levee Breaks" was sampled by Beastie Boys for the song Rhymin' & Stealin' on their album Licensed To Ill.

External links

Led Zeppelin
Jimmy Page · Robert Plant · John Paul Jones · John Bonham
Discography
Studio Albums: Led Zeppelin · II · III · (IV) · Houses of the Holy · Physical Graffiti · Presence · In Through the Out Door · Coda 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\|Early Days]] · [[Latter Days: Best of Led Zeppelin Volume Two\|Latter Days]]
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 Categories: ∙
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