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Why the hyphen?


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First few albums it was Led Zeppelin. By HOTH we get Led-Zeppelin on through CODA. Though I see it's absent in the above forum header! :lol:

What possible meaning to have a hyphen there? Any thoughts?

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[i think the hyphen just seems to complement the font - as an art / illustration buff I love the Art Nouveau font of HOTH's lettering (which has since been reproduced as Zep's "official" lettering style). If you look at the works of the great Arts & Crafts designers - of whom Page was an admirer, e.g. William Burges - you see the hyphen used a lot for its ornamental rather than grammatical function, like EX-LIBRIS or THE-STUDIO.

The Arts & Crafts movement was a Nineteenth-Century response to the growing industrialization and commercialization of society - its members sought to reclaim some of the handmade, quasi-medieval styles that were being lost in a new era of mass-produced standardization. This is why Burges' Tower House, though built in 1881, was meant to look like something from the time of King Arthur. I think Jimmy Page in particular was fascinated with this school of art and this period of history; Aleister Crowley's "magick" was, in its own way, a reaction against the rise of science, technology, and reason that were prominent in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. "Our hearts were as much in the old ways as they were in tune with what was happening, though we weren't always in agreement with the new," Page has said. I think that sums up a lot of Zeppelin's folkish, mystical leanings, including the lettering of their name.

Then again, maybe if you hold it up to a mirror the hyphen is a mark of Satan.

I don't care what the people say, I know where that jive is at...

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I thought the same George. Artistic. It certainly works aesthetically. But I thought it would be a fun topic to see what others think. Mysteries and all. ;)

Now who is Barrington Colby! Ha!

Cheers my friend! Write on! :beer:

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As GeorgeC just said it works well with the font. And we didn't start getting that fancy font until HOTH. That style was also on TSRTS and PG as well. Besides, I think it looks really cool. Maybe, Zep at the time wanted a sort of band insignia as other bands are noted for. Look at The Beatles, The Who and The Grateful Dead to name a few. It makes them stand out and more recognizeable, instead of plain old Times New Roman style.

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[i think the hyphen just seems to complement the font - as an art / illustration buff I love the Art Nouveau font of HOTH's lettering (which has since been reproduced as Zep's "official" lettering style). If you look at the works of the great Arts & Crafts designers - of whom Page was an admirer, e.g. William Burges - you see the hyphen used a lot for its ornamental rather than grammatical function, like EX-LIBRIS or THE-STUDIO.

The Arts & Crafts movement was a Nineteenth-Century response to the growing industrialization and commercialization of society - its members sought to reclaim some of the handmade, quasi-medieval styles that were being lost in a new era of mass-produced standardization. This is why Burges' Tower House, though built in 1881, was meant to look like something from the time of King Arthur. I think Jimmy Page in particular was fascinated with this school of art and this period of history; Aleister Crowley's "magick" was, in its own way, a reaction against the rise of science, technology, and reason that were prominent in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. "Our hearts were as much in the old ways as they were in tune with what was happening, though we weren't always in agreement with the new," Page has said. I think that sums up a lot of Zeppelin's folkish, mystical leanings, including the lettering of their name.

Then again, maybe if you hold it up to a mirror the hyphen is a mark of Satan.

I don't care what the people say, I know where that jive is at...

If I get what your saying here it's sort of a "forget Art Deco and the like's, just bring it back to the way it use to be". Or was it trying to morph more than one style together to make something new?

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If I get what your saying here it's sort of a "forget Art Deco and the like's, just bring it back to the way it use to be". Or was it trying to morph more than one style together to make something new?

No-I-like-the-hyphen-I-think-it-really-makes-the-name-look-elegant-when-it's-presented-in-that-old-fashioned-typeface-style.

Reading List: Tom Sawyer, Moby Dick, Diary of a Madman, Ghost in the Machine...

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Now who is Barrington Colby! Ha!

Good one. I know this has been addressed elsewhere, but it is an ongoing puzzle.

My suspicion is that, since the "real" Colby has never turned up as a professional illustrator any place else, he was either an actual friend or former art college classmate of Page (as the guitarist claimed) who was commissioned as an amateur artist for an inside laugh, or Page himself using a pseudonym.

My evidence is that the picture itself isn't an especially accomplished piece of work - not bad, but nothing on George Hardie or Roger Dean, and clearly copied from the Rider-Waite Tarot. A full-time graphic artist likely would have done a more sophisticated rendering. "Barrington Colby" itself sounds like a made-up name; I suppose you could go through all the phone books in the UK and call every B Colby to ask, "Hey, do you know the album Led Zeppelin Four? Well, I was wondering..."

Could "MoM" stand for Man of Mystery? Conclusion: 70 percent probability Colby was really Page's friend doing a favour in return for having his work appear in a big-name rock group's latest album, 29 percent probability it's Page himself (Was't Page recently signing prints of the album's outside sleeve?). 1 percent probability Colby is or was someone nobody's thought of yet.

Next topic: Mick Wall suggests the etching on the vinyl album's dust jacket (bearded guy with book) is of the Renaissance occultist Dr. John Dee. Thoughts?

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