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Led Zeppelin IV: 40 years later


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I still have my original album from 40 years back. Don't think I bought it on the release date but pretty darn close. Just wish I had a decent turntable to play it on . Many happy memories of days gone by listening to that album. :stereo: The music will be my favorite for all the rest of my days to come.

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LZ IV was my first album purchase with money from my paper route. I remember my sister accussing me of stealing her copy (which I had done on a regular basis) again. I still have that copy. Bought it in the summer of '78 when I was twelve years old.

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Someone I know, has a music blog and wrote quite a nice piece on the 40th anniversary of this monumental album. I think you'll all enjoy it.

http://rockturtlenec...orty-years.html

Despite being their most enormously popular album oddly enough it didn't go to # 1 on the Billboard charts. What prevented it ?

"Tapestry" by Carole King, which still today gets a lot of airplay on pop and oldies stations.

Edited by SuperDave
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A friend of mine worked in Record World in Roosevelt Field Mall, meaning l got a lot of records for free. When LZ IV came out, he brought it over my house to record on my 8-track tape contraption to play in our cars. After Black Dog & Rock and Roll, we both nodded at each other & said YEAH ! Then, after the first few notes of The Battle of Evermore, we both looked at each other and my friend said "Uh oh !" The reason being, at the time, there were always these rumors of LZ "going acoustic". So, it stood to reason that, to us heavy metal (at the time) fans, anything by Zep without crunching guitar, would be received with less than enthusiasm. Funny, but I don't recall our reaction to the first notes of Stairway to Heaven......As far as it being called Zoso, I never actually heard it called that. It was always LZ IV. I've read it in print a million times, but never heard anyone call it that. I actually for years thought the symbol was "Zofo", or that's the way it looked to me.

I enjoyed reading this post. After Led III my friends at the time were all skeptical over the new one too. Acoustic wasn't good when you were 16 in 1971.........well to most people I hung around with back then it wasn't. "Heavy" music was the requirement.

Nice post, nice memories you stirred up too.

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296776_215308748541571_131572223581891_536109_2136571217_n.jpg

MAN! that would have been AMAZING to see back in the day! i can't imagine what everyone who saw it must have thought! zeppelin are just sooooo bloody cool.

i still have my original LP of IV also, and have also always called it led zep 4. still love it today as much as i did when i first heard it.

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Despite being their most enormously popular album oddly enough it didn't go to # 1 on the Billboard charts. What prevented it ?

"Tapestry" by Carole King, which still today gets a lot of airplay on pop and oldies stations.

Actually, while "Tapestry" was on the charts for a long time before Led Zeppelin IV came out, it was no longer #1 when Led Zeppelin IV was released in November. "Shaft" was #1 the week IV came out, and in succeeding weeks it was "Santana III" and Sly Stone's "There's A Riot Goin' On" that occupied the #1 slot on Billboard.

It was actually Carole King's next album "Music" that was atop the charts in January 1972 during the time of Led Zeppelin IV's chart run when it was stuck at #2 and supposedly kept it from reaching Number 1.

I say "supposedly" because I still feel to this day that it was record company shenanigans that prevented Led Zeppelin IV from reaching number one on the Billboard chart. Let's look at the facts.

Fact: Led Zeppelin was far more popular in America than Britain, YET Led Zep IV makes #1 in the U.K. and NOT the U.S.?

Fact: Led Zeppelin IV ends up being one of the highest selling records not just of the 70s, but of ALL-TIME! It far out-distances both "Tapestry" and "Music", yet we're somehow suppose to believe that there wasn't one week in 1971 or 1972 where Led Zeppelin IV sold more than any other album?

Fact: It did reach #1 in Chart magazine's charts, which leads me to think there was some chicanery going on with Billboard's charts.

Fact: Carole King was beloved in the music industry and had influential friends in the music biz and in her record company; influential enough to manipulate the charts. Led Zeppelin were hairy heavy-metal heathens from the Black Country.

Sorry, I don't normally go in for conspiracies, but having lived at that time and seeing how the charts were radically changed when Soundscan was implemented, something doesn't jibe...I smell a rat and I always have.

Ummm, I know I have been remiss in not posting anything about Led Zeppelin IV's anniversary...just haven't had time to sort my head out yet. Soon, though, very soon...

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Very interesting Strider. I always thought, it was just "Tapestry" that kept Zep IV from the #1 spot and not these other albums. It wouldn't surprise me that the charts had been manipulated in some way, being that you said and we all know how much an amazing volume IV sold, back then and continues still to this day. To me it almost seemed impossible not to be a number 1 album at some point during its' run. But being 40 years now, is that that important? What we all know is what a great album Led Zeppelin made and how well it holds up to this day and being one of the greatest rock albums ever! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: I'm sure the boys are still proud of their work on this one! :yesnod:

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Well done Jahfin. Definitely, in agreement. Lots of great music in the 80's, with somewho weren't big staples on MTV from the English Beat, The Smiths, B-52's, REM, U2, Talking Heads and many more. Hitting a blank right now. :bagoverhead: Many more, I'm sure you can come up with that I was into then.

Well, I'm not Jahfin, but here's a list I posted in response to another members' "the 80s sucked" rant:

"I see...so then I must have HALLUCINATED Sonic Youth, The Swans, Big Black, Black Flag, X, Alley Cats, Cramps, Blasters, Gun Club, Southern Death Cult, Social Distortion, Descendents, Dead Kennedys, Flesh Eaters, Divine Horsemen, Circle Jerks, Fear, Flipper, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Melvins, Dinosaur Jr., Green River/Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Gang of Four, Mission of Burma, Mekons, Feelies, XTC, R.E.M., Robyn Hitchcock/The Soft Boys, The Cure, Jesus & the Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, The Mighty Lemon Drops, My Bloody Valentine, Spacemen 3, Yo La Tengo, Pixies, Jane's Addiction, Thelonious Monster, 45 Grave, Fishbone, Busboys, Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs, Tex & the Horseheads, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade, Opal, Kendra Smith, Bangles, Bad Brains, Steel Pulse, Public Enemy, Afrika Bambaataa, Beastie Boys, N.W.A., Run-DMC, Eric B. & Rakim, Steve Earle, Pogues, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Bauhaus, Crowded House, Kate Bush, Joan Jett, Go-Go's, Madonna, Prince, Husker Du, Replacements, House of Freaks, Violent Femmes, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Thomas Dolby, Gary Numan, Echo & the Bunnymen, U2, The Teardrop Explodes, Psychedelic Furs, Talk Talk, Human League, Yazoo, Depeche Mode, New Order, The Smiths, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Iron Maiden, Guns 'n' Roses, Accept, Ministry, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sade, Peter Gabriel, Pere Ubu, the Fall, Cabaret Voltaire, Au Pairs, Altered Images, Pet Shop Boys, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, Cameo, Klaus Nomi, Wall of Voodoo, the db's, Concrete Blond, Mary's Danish, Southern Culture on the Skids, Chesterfield Kings, Oingo Boingo, Diamanda Galas, Lydia Lunch, Annie Lennox/Eurhythmics...and probably many more that I'm forgetting."

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A lot of great bands there. Quite a few I was back into then. Another time, I'll post in response, those whom I saw in concert. But it's getting late.

Although, I was surprised with a couple of omissions on your part. I'm sure you were into these two artists, judging by the rest.

Only a temporary departure of this thread...at least I hope!

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@dazedcat

Thanks for the kind words. I love talking about the old days.

Just a word about my friend. He was the gang's Anglophile. He used to go into Greenwich Village, pick up three English music papers; Melody Maker, New Music Express(?) and another one which l can't remember the name, pour thru them for obscure British bands who may have only one "heavy" cut on their album. One such band which still sticks out is Blossom Toes. The "heavy" tune was called Love Bomb. He said the rest of the album sucked, but he had to have it just for the one cut. As l stated , since l was the only one with an 8 track recorder, he'd bring all these obscure band's albums over to record. I pretty much owe him for all of my musical tastes & knowledge over the years, being he did the hard work coming up with these bands. A lot of them went on to be superstars; Genesis, Humble Pie, Roxy Music, Thin Lizzy.....we were all into them before they hit it big. He hit it big too. He went on to become promotions director for Warner Bros. Records & eventually Sammy Hagar's personal manager for a few years.

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