Like every truly great band, Led Zeppelin have a definitive arc. Beginning in a blues rock style closely tied to the work of The Yardbirds—guitarist and leader Jimmy Page’s former group—they gradually evolved into something entirely their own. As they moved further from their early influences, they forged a sound with absolute singularity, leaving their heroes behind and creating a legacy of innovation.
When playing in The Yardbirds, Page had conceived his idea of putting a towering spin on rock, wanting to take flecks of psychedelia and hard rock, and meld them with his own fascination with all things esoteric. It was a profoundly countercultural thought, and even in light of the significant developments The Beatles and others were making, he desired to go further than they, making music muscular but hypnotic and firmly expansive, unlike the surreal oscillations of the Liverpudlian group.
Page needed the perfect lineup to bring his vision to life. After Terry Reid declined his offer, he was introduced to Robert Plant of Band of Joy and Hobbstweedle, who eagerly accepted and recommended his best friend and fellow Band of Joy member, John Bonham, for the drummer’s role. When former Yardbird Chris Dreja left the project to focus on a photography career, Page turned to John Paul Jones, a multi-instrumentalist virtuoso and long-time acquaintance from London’s session musician circuit, to complete the lineup.
While there might have been a clear cultural divide in Led Zeppelin, with two members from the West Midlands and the other duo from the middle-class London suburbs, it became readily apparent to all during their first rehearsal in August 1968 that their collective power was something to behold. The following year, they released their first two pioneering albums. With Led Zeppelin II, featuring cuts such as ‘Whole Lotta Love’, they cemented themselves as the most exciting band on earth, surpassing The Beatles in excitement and twice knocking Abbey Road off the number one spot on the US album chart.
Led Zeppelin were never ones to rest on their creative laurels, though, and they knew they had to follow their second album with a more substantial effort. 1970’s Led Zeppelin III managed this, with its increased musical and thematic scope, and saw them enter a more sophisticated area that paved the way for all that followed. Still, it was so ahead of its time that fans or critics didn’t understand it.
While some sensed just how much of a milestone the 1970 album was, most did not. Although it hit number one in the UK and US due to the anticipation, the criticism of the shift in style greatly impacted the group. That’s why their 1971 follow-up, known by fans as Led Zeppelin IV, contained no written information, and Page did not give press interviews for 18 months.
Coming together as a unit, the quartet took time off touring and retreated to the relaxing environment of Headley Grange in Hampshire to work on their next effort. As we all know, it became the band’s masterpiece, their best-selling effort to date, and one of the best-selling albums of all time. Defiantly homing in on the artistic successes of its predecessor, from ‘The Battle of Evermore’ to the enormous groove of their cover ‘When the Levee Breaks’, the pieces fell into place for the band on the album.
Led Zeppelin IV was the moment the band became the widely influential Led Zeppelin. It is exemplified by ‘Stairway to Heaven’, where all the members shine, and their expansive predilections were perfected. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 1975, Page called the song the “milestone” of their career.
He expressed: “To me, I thought ‘Stairway’ crystallized the essence of the band. It had everything there and showed the band at its best…as a band, as a unit. Not talking about solos or anything, it had everything there. We were careful never to release it as a single. It was a milestone for us. Every musician wants to do something of lasting quality, something which will hold up for a long time and I guess we did it with ‘Stairway.’”
Interestingly, Page doubted whether he had the ability to come up with more masterpieces despite having released Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti since. Espousing that self-critical nature that had pushed the band to such searing heights before that point, he also maintained he had “a lot of hard work” to do before he got to the stage of consistent “total brilliance”. It’s an outstanding point; most groups don’t come close to what he has achieved.