Led Zeppelin dominated the 1970’s as the undisputed gods of rock. This weekend, we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of Led Zeppelin IV, and the 45th anniversary of ‘The Song Remains The Same’ with a Led Zeppelin Weekend. Along with tracks from their entire catalogue, we’ll play ‘The Song Remains The Same’ during the Saturday Night Concert Series, and Led Zeppelin IV in its entirety, during The Sunday Night Vinyl Series. For now, here are some fun facts about the album:

Cover of ‘Led Zeppelin IV’ from Atlantic Records

1. Robert Plant purchased a 19th century oil painting from an antique store and used it on the cover of the album. The wall behind the painting is in a demolished house where they hung it for the shoot. You may notice that Led Zeppelin’s name isn’t on the cover and neither is the album title, Plant said it was partly because he wanted people to “savour” the artwork. However, they also had this to say about it: “The cover wasn’t meant to antagonize the record company. It was designed as our response to the music critics who maintained that the success of our first three albums was driven by hype and not talent. … So, we stripped everything away, and let the music do the talking.”

Technically, the album doesn’t have a title. People just tend to refer to it as Led Zeppelin IV, Four Symbols (because of the four symbols inside the album), or The Fourth Album.

2. The band first started recording Led Zeppelin IV at Island Records’ Basing Street Studios in London but they then moved to Headley Grange (which was actually suggested by Fleetwood Mac). Jimmy Page wanted “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.” It must have worked because a lot of the songs they wrote there were made on the spot.

3. They wrote so many tracks that not all of them made the cut. “Boogie with Stu”, “Down by the Seaside”, and “Night Flight” were written during this time but ended up on their album Physical Graffiti instead.

 

4. Contrary to popular belief, “Stairway to Heaven” has no hidden messages. In 1982 Paul Crouch hosted a TV show that shared rumors saying that there’s a Satanic message if you play the song backwards. The band members weren’t bothered by the rumours, but Swan Song Records did release a statement saying, “Our turntables only play in one direction—forwards.” Later, Robert Plant commented “Who on Earth would have ever thought of doing that? You’ve got to have a lot of time on your hands to even consider that people would do that.”

5. Led Zeppelin IV is one of the best-selling albums of all time, selling over 37 million copies worldwide.

 

Bonus fun fact: You can now catch Led Zeppelin on TikTok… For real.

@ledzeppelinThe Song Remains the Same ##classicrock? The Song Remains the Same (Remaster) – Led Zeppelin