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Untitled by Released8 November 1971Recorded December 1970 – February 1971 July 1971 (mixing) Studio , ,  ,  , Length42:34 chronology
(1970)Untitled
(1971)
(1973) from Untitled "" / ""
Released: 2 December 1971 "" / ""
Released: 21 February 1972

The untitled fourth studio album by the English  band , commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV, was released on 8 November 1971 by . It was produced by guitarist  and recorded between December 1970 and February 1971, mostly in the country house . The album contains one of the band's best known songs, "".

The informal setting at Headley Grange inspired the band, and allowed them to try different arrangements of material and create songs in a variety of styles. After the band's previous album  received lukewarm reviews from critics, they decided their fourth album would officially be untitled, and would be represented instead by four symbols chosen by each band member, without featuring the name or any other details on the cover.

The album was a commercial and critical success and is Led Zeppelin's best-selling, shipping over 37 million copies worldwide. It is one of the , while critics have regularly placed it on lists of the greatest albums of all time.

Writing and recording Most of the album was recorded at  in Hampshire.

Following the release of  in October 1970, the group took a break from live performances to concentrate on recording a follow-up. They turned down all touring offers, including a proposed New Year's Eve gig that would have been broadcast by television. They returned to , a country house in , Wales, to write new material.

Recording sessions for the album began at ' , London in December 1970. The group had considered 's home,  as a recording location, but decided it was too expensive. They subsequently moved the following month to , a  in , England, using the  and engineer , with the Stones'  assisting. Johns had just worked on engineering  and recommended the mobile studio. Guitarist and producer  later recalled: "We needed the sort of facilities where we could have a cup of tea and wander around the garden and go in and do what we had to do." This relaxed, atmospheric environment at Headley Grange also provided other advantages for the band, as they were able to capture spontaneous performances immediately, with some tracks arising from the communal jamming. Bassist and keyboardist  remembered there was no bar or leisure facilities, but this helped focus the group on the music without being distracted.

Once the basic tracks had been recorded, the band added overdubs at  in February. Page then took the completed master tapes to  in Los Angeles for mixing, on Johns' recommendation, with a plan for an April 1971 release. However, the band disliked the results, and so after touring through the spring and early summer, Page remixed the whole album in July. The album was delayed again over the choice of cover, whether it should be a , with a possible suggestion it could be issued as a set of EPs.

Songs Side one

"" was named after a dog that hung around Headley Grange during recording. The riff was written by Page and Jones, while the a cappella section was influenced by Fleetwood Mac's "". Vocalist  wrote the lyrics, and later sang portions of the song during solo concerts. The guitar solos on the outro were recorded directly into the desk, without using an amplifier.

"" was a collaboration with Stewart that came out of a  early in the recording sessions at Headley Grange. Drummer  wrote the introduction, which came from jamming around the intro to 's "Keep A Knockin'". The track became a live favourite in concert, being performed as the opening number or an encore. It was released as a promotional single in the US, with stereo and mono mixes on either side of the disc.

"" was written by Page on the , borrowed from Jones. Plant added lyrics inspired by a book he was reading about the . The track features a duet between Plant and 's . Plant played the role of narrator in the song, describing events, while Denny sung the part of the town crier representing the people.

The  used for live performances of ""

"" was mostly written by Page, and the bulk of the chord sequence was already worked out when recording started at Basing Street Studios. The lyrics were written by Plant at Headley Grange, about a woman who "took everything without giving anything back". The final take of the song was recorded at Island Studios after the Headley Grange session. The basic backing track featured Bonham on drums, Jones on  and Page on acoustic guitar. The whole group contributed to the arrangement, such as Jones playing recorders on the introduction, and Bonham's distinctive drum entry halfway through the piece. Page played the guitar solo using a  he had received from  and been his main guitar on the group's first album and early live shows. He put down three different takes of the solo and picked the best to put on the album.

The song was the standout track on the album and was played on  stations frequently, but the group resisted all suggestions to release it as a single. It became the centrepiece of the group's live set from 1971 onwards; in order to replicate the changes between acoustic, electric and twelve-string guitar on the studio recording, Page played a  double neck guitar during the song.

Side two

"" was written at Headley Grange and featured Jones playing electric piano. Plant wrote the lyrics about dealing with the clash against students and police around drug possession. The title comes from 's . Plant later performed the track on solo tours.

"" took its title from Bonham playing the drum pattern that runs throughout the song with four drum sticks. The track was difficult to record compared to the other material on the album, requiring numerous takes. It was played live only once by Led Zeppelin, and re-recorded with the Bombay Symphony Orchestra in 1972. It was reworked for Page and Plant's 1994 album .

"" is a quiet acoustic number. It was written by Page and Plant about Californian earthquakes, and trying to find the perfect woman. The music was inspired by , who both were fans of. The track was originally titled "Guide To California"; the final title comes from the trip to Los Angeles to mix the album.

"" comes from a blues song recorded by  and  in 1929. The track opens with Bonham's heavy unaccompanied drumming, which was recorded in the hall of Headley Grange using a single pair of microphones positioned on the stairs two floors up. Page recalled he had tried to record the track at early sessions, but it had sounded flat. The unusual locations around the hall gave the ideal ambience for the drum sound. This introduction was later extensively sampled for  music in the 1980s. Page and Plant played the song on their 1995 tour promoting .

Other songs

Three other songs from the sessions, "", "" and "" (featuring Stewart on piano), were included four years later on the double album . An early version of "" was also recorded at the sessions.

Title

After the lukewarm, if not confused and sometimes dismissive, critical reaction  had received in late 1970, 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. The record company were strongly against the idea, but the group stood their ground and refused to hand over the master tapes until their decision had been agreed.

Page has also stated that the decision to release the album without any written information on the album sleeve was contrary to strong advice given to him by a press agent, who said that after a year's absence from both records and touring, the move would be akin to "professional suicide". Page thought, "We just happened to have a lot of faith in what we were doing." He recalled the record company were insisting that a title had to be on the album, but held his ground, as he felt it would be an answer to critics who could not review one Led Zeppelin album without point of reference to earlier ones.

Releasing the album without an official title has made it difficult to consistently identify. While most commonly called Led Zeppelin IV, Atlantic Records catalogues have used the names Four Symbols and The Fourth Album. It has also been referred to as ZoSo (which Page's symbol appears to spell), Untitled and Runes. Page frequently refers to the album in interviews as "the fourth album" and "Led Zeppelin IV", and Plant thinks of it as "the fourth album, that's it". The original LP also has no text on the front or back cover, and lacks a catalogue number on the spine.

Cover The four symbols representing (from left to right);
at the top; Page, Jones
at the bottom; Bonham and Plant

In place of a title, Page decided each member could choose a personal emblem for the cover. Initially thinking of a single symbol, he then decided there could be four, with each member of the band choosing their own. He designed his own symbol and has never publicly disclosed any reasoning behind it. It has been argued that his symbol appeared as early as 1557 to represent . The symbol is sometimes referred to as "ZoSo", though Page has explained that it was not in fact intended to be a word at all. Jones' symbol, which he chose from 's Book of Signs, is a single  intersecting three  (a ). It is intended to symbolise a person who possesses both confidence and competence. Bonham's symbol, the three interlocking , was picked by the drummer from the same book. It represents the triad of mother, father and child, but, inverted, it also happens to be the logo for  beer. Plant's symbol of a feather within a circle was his own design, being based on the sign of the supposed  civilisation. A fifth, smaller symbol chosen by guest vocalist represents her contribution to ""; the figure, composed of three equilateral triangles, appears on the inner sleeve of the LP, serving as an .

During Led Zeppelin's  in winter 1971 shortly after the album's release, the symbols could be seen on the group's stage equipment; Page's on one of his amplifiers, Bonham's on his  head, Jones' on a covering for his , and Plant's on the side of a PA cabinet. Only Page's and Bonham's symbols were retained for subsequent tours.

's symbol of three downward-pointing .

The 19th-century rustic oil painting on the front of the album was purchased from an antique shop in  by Plant. The painting was then  and affixed to the internal, papered wall of a partly demolished suburban house for the photograph to be taken. The block of flats seen on the album is the Salisbury Tower in the  district of . Page has explained that the cover of the fourth album was intended to bring out a city/country dichotomy that had initially surfaced on , and a reminder that people should look after the Earth. He later said the cover was supposed to be for "other people to savour" rather than a direct statement. The album cover was among the 10 chosen by the  for a set of "Classic Album Cover" postage stamps issued in January 2010.

The inside illustration, entitled "The Hermit", painted by Barrington Coleby (credited to Barrington Colby MOM on the album sleeve), was influenced by the design of  in the . This character was later portrayed by Page himself in Led Zeppelin's concert film,  (1976). The inner painting is also referred to as View in Half or Varying Light. 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  which dated from the late 19th century. He thought the lettering was interesting and arranged for someone to create a whole alphabet.

Release

The album was promoted via a series of teaser advertisements showing the individual symbols on the album artwork. It entered the UK chart at No. 10, rising to No.1 the following week and has spent a total of 90 weeks on the chart. In the US it was Led Zeppelin's best-selling album, but did not top the Billboard album chart, peaking at No. 2 behind  by  and  by . "Ultimately," writes Lewis, "the fourth Zeppelin album would be the most durable seller in their catalogue and the most impressive critical and commercial success of their career". At one point, it was ranked as one of the top five .

The album was reissued several times throughout the 1970s, including a lilac vinyl pressing in 1978 and a box set package in 1988. It was first issued on CD in 1983, but Page criticised the lack of quality control, saying first-generation master tapes were not used and there was excessive . He remastered the album in 1990 in an attempt to update the catalogue. Several tracks were used for that year's compilation  and the . All remastered tracks were reissued on , while the album was individually reissued on CD in 1994.

Critical reception Retrospective professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingAA+5/59.1/10

Led Zeppelin IV received overwhelming praise from critics. In a contemporary review for ,  called it the band's "most consistently good" album yet and praised the diversity of the songs: "out of eight cuts, there isn't one that steps on another's toes, that tries to do too much all at once."  magazine called it a "powerhouse album" that has the commercial potential of the band's previous three albums.  originally gave Led Zeppelin IV a lukewarm review in , but later called it a masterpiece of "heavy rock". While still finding the band's Medieval ideas limiting, he believed the album showed them at the pinnacle of their songwriting, and regarded it as "the definitive Led Zeppelin and hence heavy metal album".

In a retrospective review for ,  credited the album for "defining not only Led Zeppelin but the sound and style of '70s hard rock", while "encompassing heavy metal, folk, pure rock & roll, and blues". In his album guide to heavy metal,  magazine's Joe Gross cited Led Zeppelin IV as a "monolithic cornerstone" of the genre. 's Daryl Easlea said that the album made the band a global success and effectively combined their third album's folk ideas with their second album's hard rock style, while Katherine Flynn and Julian Ring of  felt it featured their debut's , along with the other styles from their second and third albums. Led Zeppelin's  biography described the album as "a fully realized hybrid of the folk and hard-rock directions".  journalist AJ Ramirez regarded it as one of the greatest heavy metal albums ever, while  named it the number one metal album of all time in his 1991 book Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe. According to rock scholar Mablen Jones, Led Zeppelin IV and particularly "Stairway to Heaven" reflected heavy metal's presence in  trends of the early 1970s, as the album "blended post-hippie mysticism, mythological preoccupations, and hard rock".

Awards and recognition

The album is one of the  with more than 37 million copies sold as of 2014. As of 2018 It is tied for third-highest-certified album in the US by the  at 23× Platinum.

In 2000, Led Zeppelin IV was named the 26th-greatest British album in a list by  magazine. In 2002,  magazine's  named it the second greatest metal album of all time and said that it was "the most famous hard-rock album ever recorded" as well as an album that unintentionally created metal—"the origin of everything that sounds, feels, or even tastes vaguely metallic". In 2003, the album was ranked number 69 on  magazine's list of "", which described it as "the peak of Seventies hard rock". It was also named the seventh-best album of the 1970s in a list by . In 2016,  ranked Led Zeppelin IV as the greatest of all Zeppelin albums.

Track listing Side oneNo.TitleWriter(s)Length1."" 4:542."" Page Plant Jones 3:403."" Page Plant 5:514."" Page Plant 8:02Side twoNo.TitleWriter(s)Length5."" Page Plant Jones 4:386."" Page Plant 4:447."" Page Plant 3:318."" Page Plant Jones Bonham 7:07