Photosource: Pixabay
Led Zeppelin began their career under the moniker the New Yardbirds, and after signing a contract with Atlantic Records, they were granted a great degree of creative leeway. They were not well received by the media at first, but over the course of 10 years, they released eight studio albums and earned substantial economic success.
Drummer John Bonham, bassist John Paul Jones, guitarist Jimmy Page, and singer Robert Plant made up the band. They are recognized as one of the founders of hard rock and heavy metal due to their powerful, guitar-driven sound.
Their first album, titled Led Zeppelin, was released in 1969 and reached number one on the album charts in a number of countries. It contained songs like “Good Times Bad Times,” “Dazed and Confused,” and “Communication Breakdown.” Their first album to reach number one in the charts was Led Zeppelin II (1969), which included the singles “Ramble On” and “Whole Lotta Love.”
Immigrant Song was included on the band’s third studio album, which was released in 1970 and was called Led Zeppelin III. Their unnamed fourth album, which was released in 1971 and is more often referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, is one of the best-selling albums of all time, having sold 37 million copies. This album features the songs “Black Dog,” “Rock and Roll,” and “Stairway to Heaven,” with the latter track being one of the most well-known and important compositions in the annals of rock music history. Houses of the Holy, which was released in 1973, was responsible for the creation of “The Ocean,” “Over the Hills and Far Away,” and “The Rain Song.” “Trampled Under Foot” and “Kashmir” were both included on the double album Physical Graffiti, which was released in 1975.
Page was the primary songwriter for Led Zeppelin’s music, especially in the band’s early years, whereas Plant was responsible for the majority of the band’s lyrics. Later on, songs built upon Jones’ keyboard that became an integral part of their music, which contained a growing amount of experimentation. The latter portion of their career was marked by a string of record-breaking tours, which contributed to the band earning a reputation for being excessive and irresponsible.
In spite of the fact that Led Zeppelin continued to have financial and critical success, they reduced the amount of traveling and recording they did after the release of their albums Presence (1976) and In Through the Out Door (1979). In 1980, when Bonham had passed away, the band broke up for ever. Since then, the surviving former members have sometimes worked together and attended one-off reunions to celebrate their time together.
It is believed that Led Zeppelin has sold between 200 and 300 million pieces of record globally throughout the course of their career, making them one of the most successful musical artists of all time. They have had eight albums in a row debut at number one in the UK, and they have had six albums debut at number one on the US Billboard 200. Additionally, five of their albums have been certified diamond in the US. They were dubbed “the heaviest band of all time” by Rolling Stone magazine, as well as “the largest band of the Seventies” and “unquestionably one of the most lasting bands in rock history.”
They were elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, and according to the museum’s history of the band, throughout the 1970s they were “just as influential” as the Beatles were during the 1960s. – Only 70s Radio
Portions of this article were derived from Wikipedia content using the Creative Commons License CC-BY SA 3.0 which can be found here.
