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Zeppelin Albums in context


John M

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I thought it would be interesting to see what other rock albums were released the same time as each LZ  album, to get a sense of the music scene and the "competition" at the time.  I wanted to go back and see which album had the best company around its release.

So let's look

I  January 1969 

Beatles White album (Nov 1968),  Goodbye (Cream) Feb 1969

II October 1969

Abbey Road (Sept 1969), In the Court of the Crimson King (Oct 1969), Pink Floyd Umma Gumma (Nov 1969), Rolling Stones Let it Bleed (Dec 1969)

III October 1970

Santana Abraxas (Sept 1970), Pink Floyd -Atom Heart Mother (Oct 1970), Layla - Derek and the Dominoes (Nov 1970)

IV November 1971

Pink Floyd - Meddle , Yes - Fragile (both Nov 1971) - that is one amazing month in rock history right there!  And also Madman Across the Water by Elton

Houses March 1973

Dark Side of the Moon (yikes- the same month at Houses - think about that !!), Aerosmith first album (January 1973)

Graffiti February 1975 

Rush - Fly by Night, Kansas- Song for America (both Feb 1975), Yes -Relayer (Nov 1974), Toys in the Attic - Aerosmith (April 1975)

Presence March 1976

Heart- Dreamboat Annie (Feb 1976),  Rush 2112 (April 1976),  Aerosmith - Rocks ,  Jeff Beck - Wired, and Agents of Fortune - BOC) - all May 1976 (not a bad month on its own)

TSRTS September 1976

Kansas - Leftoverture (Oct 1976)

Out Door August 1979

Talking Heads - Fear of Music (Aug 1979), The Eagles - The Long Run (Sept 1979), Pink Floyd - The Wall (Nov 1979)

My take is that LZ IV (Fragile, Meddle) and Houses (Dark Side of the Moon)  had the strongest company around their release.  What do you think?  What other major albums by other bands am I missing from these months?

LZ I had the White Album and the last Cream album to contend with. and LZ II had Abbey Road among others. 

 

 

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7 hours ago, greenman said:

The most obvious point I think is just how early LZ1 actually came out. Its easy to just read 69 and think it wasn't really that far ahead of say Sabbaths debut or Deep Purple In Rock but actually its well over a year before either.

I have read a lot of times that the members of Black Sabbath listened to and loved Led Zeppelin's first album.  When it came time to finish Black Sabbath's second album, Paranoid, they needed one more song to finish the album so they wrote and recorded the song "Paranoid" and fashioned it on Led Zeppelin's song, "Communication Breakdown".  If you listen to both songs truly, there is a very uncanny resemblance to "Paranoid" sounding very similar to "Communication Breakdown" as both songs are similar in structure and riffs, only the lyrics ate different.  To me, that means that Led Zeppelin were very tangible and definitely an influence on Black Sabbath.  I would guess to say that Tony Iommi would proudly say that Jimmy Page was a big influence of his even though they are roughly the same age. 

I Love Tony Iommi, but I LOVE JIMMY PAGE WAY MORE THAN ANY OTHER HUMAN BEING ON THIS PLANET EARTH!!!

Edited by kingzoso
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This thread does indeed really hit home how many rock masterpieces were made from Zep 1 onwards. There is still

some great rock around but bands coming thru with 3, 4 GREAT albums in a row, no way, that's gone. And rock being

combined with practically every other style of music, successfully, with bands like Zep, YES, Floyd, etc playing multiple

nights, gone. Of course there are really good diverse bands out there, but not like the 70's. I could see Tony Iommi

really being into Page's playing, but the influence sounds more indirect than direct, like maybe Iommi had Sabbath

experiment with different styles and approaches instead of just playing heavy all the time.

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  • 3 years later...

I thought I would take a look at the Top albums on the US Billboard charts before and after each Zeppelin album peaked.

Led Zeppelin - peaked at Number 10 - not sure when.  Around the time of its release:

Before: The Beatles ("White album")
After: The Beatles

Later that spring the number one albums were Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell,  and Blood, Sweat, and Tears.  Then most of that summer the number one album was Hair. 

Led Zeppelin II

Before: Abbey Road
After: Abbey Road

Led Zeppelin III

Before: Santana Abraxas
After: Santana Abraxas

Untitled - peaked at Number 2

Before: Santana 3
After: Santana 3

Houses of the Holy

Before: Elvis Aloha from Hawaii
After:  The Beatles: 1967-70 collection

Physical Graffiti

Before: Olivia Newton-John Have You Never Been Mellow
After: Chicago 8

Presence

Before: Wings at the Speed of Sound
After: Black and Blue

The Song Remains the Same - peaked at Number 2

Before: Songs in the Key of Life

After: Songs in the Key of Life

In Through the Out Door

Before: Get the Knack
After: The Long Run

 

 

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I am only going off the internet so I am not 100% sure of the accuracy but the UK chart looks like this.

Led Zeppelin - Peaked at Number 6

Before : The Moody Blues - On the Threshold of a Dream.

After : Bob Dylan Nashville Skyline

Led Zeppelin 2 - (1 week at number 1)

Before : The Beatles - Abbey Road.

After : Various Artists - Motown Chartbusters Volume 3

Led Zeppelin 3 - (3 weeks at number 1)

Before : Various Artist - Motown Chartbusters Volume 4

After : Bob Dylan - New Morning

(Returned for an extra week at number 1)

Before and After Andy Williams (Andy Williams Greatest Hits.)

Led Zeppelin 4 (2 weeks at number 1)

Before : Top of the Pops Vol 20

After : T . Rex - Electric Warrior

Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy (2 weeks at number 1)

Before - Various Artists - 20 Flashback Greats of the 60's

After - Faces - Ooh La La

Physical Graffiti - ( 1 week at numer 1 )

Before : Status Quo - On the Level

After : Tom Jones - 20 Greatest Hits

Led Zeppelin - Presence  (1 week at number 1) 

Before : Rock Follies - Rock Follies

After - Rock Follies - Rock Follies

Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same (1 week at number 1)

Before : Various Artists - Soul Motion

After : Bert Weeden - 22 Golden Guitar Greats

Led Zeppelin - In through the Out Door (2 weeks at number 1)

Before : Various Artists - The Best Disco Album in the World

After : Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle

Coda - (highest chart posistion number 4)

Before : The Kids From Fame

After : ABBA - The Singles : The First Ten Years.

Edited by anniemouse
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8 hours ago, anniemouse said:

but the UK chart looks like this

Thanks for posting the UK chart information.  I am surprised to see so many compilations in the UK charts.  So very different than the US charts for all those entries.

Edited by John M
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I cannot give you the exact date but during the 80's "Various Artist" LP's were removed from the official top 40 LP chart and given their own chart.

I was surprised at how few weeks their LP's were at number 1. I also wonder if they had just done a lead in single (just the one per LP) would the extra airplay have helped them (I cannot recall them getting much daytime airplay until 15 years ago). Also not doing performances for Whistle Test was probably a right thing to do at the time but has affected them in both sales at the time and the ability to show people now what a truly genious band they were at their peak.

 

Just my opinion though.

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Number of weeks topping the US album chart:

LZ II   7 weeks total.  One week, then off the top, then one week, back off the top, then a run of 5 weeks at the top

LZ III  4 weeks in a row

Houses  2 weeks    I find it interesting that this was at the time of a huge US tour and some real publicity, but only 2 weeks at the top compared to LZ III.  

PG  6 week run

Presence 2 weeks

Out Door  7 weeks in a row.  This reminds me of the impact this album made at the time.  It was everywhere.

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On 6/18/2020 at 7:59 AM, John M said:

 Out Door  7 weeks in a row.  This reminds me of the impact this album made at the time.  It was everywhere.

This speaks volumes to the whole ITTOD was bunk theory. Houses is talked about with total positivity and yet only 2 weeks on top. ITTOD is spoken about like the redheaded stepchild no one wants and it spent 7 weeks on top. 

Edited by hummingbird69
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I'll just add that when HOTH was released the band still wasn't getting the peak publicity they deserved. That wouldn't come until the Spring/Summer Tour which is when the album hit its chart peak. Had the publicity machine been in place earlier, or had the album been released closer to the N.A. Tour, it probably would have had a longer run at the top.

Edited by Zep Hed
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Billboard has a website where you can look up the top 200 US albums for every week for every year.  Here is the week PG hit number one, March 22, 1975.  Quite a diverse list.  

https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1975-03-22

And here is the week Houses hit number one, May 12, 1973.

https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1973-05-12

Houses had been number two the week before when the US Tour started.  

Presence, May 1, 1976.

https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1976-05-01

Edited by John M
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December 18, 1971.  The fourth album peaks at number 2 on the US Billboard album chart.

https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1971-12-18

I can see now that my post above about this album was wrong.  I had been looking at when the fourth album was released, not when it peaked on the chart.  During the first weeks of its release, Santana 3 was in fact at number one, but when Zep hit number 2, the first spot belonged to Sly and the Family Stone.  By January 1, Zep was still at number 2 but Carole King was at number 1.

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On 6/18/2020 at 7:59 AM, John M said:

Number of weeks topping the US album chart:

LZ II   7 weeks total.  One week, then off the top, then one week, back off the top, then a run of 5 weeks at the top

LZ III  4 weeks in a row

Houses  2 weeks    I find it interesting that this was at the time of a huge US tour and some real publicity, but only 2 weeks at the top compared to LZ III.  

PG  6 week run

Presence 2 weeks

Out Door  7 weeks in a row.  This reminds me of the impact this album made at the time.  It was everywhere.

Speaking of impact, US retailers at the time were crediting the business generated by ITTOD with saving the moribund music retail industry.  People were coming back into record stores just to buy that, and of course some of those customers would also grab another LP or two while they were there.

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  • 2 months later...
On 6/21/2020 at 9:27 PM, White Phone said:

Speaking of impact, US retailers at the time were crediting the business generated by ITTOD with saving the moribund music retail industry.  People were coming back into record stores just to buy that, and of course some of those customers would also grab another LP or two while they were there.

On this album's release, Led Zeppelin's entire catalogue made the Billboard 200 between the weeks of 23 October and 3 November 1979, an unprecedented feat, topping their own record in 1975, when all their albums up to Physical Graffiti were on the chart.

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 US Billboard Top 200 Albums October 1979.  Wow.  Even TSRTS made the charts along with all the studio albums.  That is remarkable.


Oct 20, 1979            Oct 27, 1979
1 ITTOD                1 ITTOD
91 Houses            91 Houses
93 LZ IV                101  LZ IV
130 PG                  130 PG
144 LZ II                150 LZ II
150 TSRTS            164 TSRTS
160 LZ                    174 LZ
169 Presence        183 Presence
                                 189 LZ III
 

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