"The biggest band in the world" (1971–1975)

The success of Led Zeppelin's early years would be dwarfed by this five-year period in which the band would release their best selling albums and ascend to the pinnacle of musical success in the 1970s. The band's image also changed as members began to wear elaborate, flamboyant clothing and developed a reputation for off-stage excess. Led Zeppelin began travelling in a private jet airliner (nicknamed The Starship^[40]), rented out entire sections of hotels (most notably the Continental Hyatt House in Los Angeles, known colloquially as the "Riot House"), and became the subject of many of rock's most famous stories of debauchery. One escapade involved John Bonham riding a motorcycle through a rented floor of the Riot House. The band were known for trashing their hotel suites, and throwing television sets out of the windows. Another example of Led Zeppelin excess was the infamous shark episode, or red snapper incident, which took place at the Edgewater Inn in Seattle, Washington, on July 28, 1969.^[21]

The four symbols on Led Zeppelin IV's cover, representing Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and Robert Plant (from left to right) respectively. The symbols have origins in mysticism.

Led Zeppelin's fourth album was released on 8 November 1971 with several songs referencing elements of J.R.R. Tolkien's book The Lord of the Rings, which was popular at the time. There was no indication of a title or band name on the original cover, but on the LP label four symbols were printed—. The band was motivated to undertake this initiative by their disdain for the media, which labelled them as hyped and overrated. In response, they released the album with no indication of who they were in order to prove that the music could sell itself. The album is variously referred to as Four Symbols and The Fourth Album (both titles were used in the Atlantic Records catalogue), and also IV, Untitled, Zoso, Runes, Sticks, Man With Sticks, and Four. It is still officially untitled and most commonly referred to as Led Zeppelin IV. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 2005, Plant said that it is simply called The Fourth Album.^[41]

further refined the band's unique formula of combining earthy, acoustic elements with heavy metal and blues emphases. The album included examples of hard rock, such as "Black Dog" and an acoustic track, "Going to California" (a tribute to Joni Mitchell).^[42] "Rock and Roll" is a tribute to the early rock music of the 1950s. Recently (as of 2006) and until mid-2007, the song has been used prominently in Cadillac automobile commercials—one of the few instances of Led Zeppelin's surviving members licensing songs.^[43]

The track "Stairway to Heaven" (sample (info)), although never released as a single, is sometimes quoted as being the most requested album-oriented rock FM radio song and there are unsubstantiated but repeated claims of "satanic" back masked messages within the song.^[44] In 2005, the magazine Guitar World held a poll of readers in which "Stairway to Heaven" was voted as having the greatest guitar solo of all time.^[45]

As of 31 July 2006, the album has sold 23 million copies in the U.S.

Led Zeppelin's next album, Houses of the Holy, was released in 1973. It featured further experimentation, with longer tracks and expanded use of synthesisers and mellotron orchestration. The song "Houses of the Holy" does not appear on its namesake album, even though it was recorded at the same time as other songs on the album; it eventually made its way onto the 1975 album Physical Graffiti.^[21]

The striking orange album cover of Houses of the Holy features images of nude children^[46] climbing up the Giant's Causeway (in County Antrim, Northern Ireland). Although the children are not depicted from the front, this was highly controversial at the time of the album's release, and in some areas, such as the "Bible Belt" and Spain, the record was banned.^[47][48]

The album topped the charts, and Led Zeppelin's subsequent concert tour of the United States in 1973 broke records for attendance, as they consistently filled large auditoriums and stadiums. At Tampa Stadium, Florida, they played to 56,800 fans (breaking the record set by The Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965), and grossed $309,000.^[21] Three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York were filmed for a motion picture, but the theatrical release of this project (The Song Remains the Same) would be delayed until 1976.

In 1974, Led Zeppelin took a break from touring and launched their own record label, Swan Song, named after one of only five Led Zeppelin songs which the band never released commercially (Page later re-worked the song with his band, The Firm, and it appears as "Midnight Moonlight" on their first album). The record label's logo, based on a drawing called Evening: Fall of Day (1869) by William Rimmer, features a picture of Apollo.^[49] The logo can be found on much Led Zeppelin memorabilia, especially t-shirts. In addition to using Swan Song as a vehicle to promote their own albums, the band expanded the label's roster, signing artists such as Bad Company, Pretty Things, Maggie Bell, Detective, Dave Edmunds, Midnight Flyer, Sad Café and Wildlife.^[50] The label would be successful while Led Zeppelin existed, but folded less than three years after they disbanded.^[21]

24 February 1975 saw the release of Led Zeppelin's first double album, Physical Graffiti, which was their first release on the Swan Song Records label. It consisted of fifteen songs, eight of which were recorded at Headley Grange in 1974, and the remainder being tracks previously recorded but not released on earlier albums.

A review in Rolling Stone magazine referred to Physical Graffiti as Led Zeppelin's "bid for artistic respectability," adding that the only competition the band had for the title of 'World's Best Rock Band' were The Rolling Stones and The Who.^[51] The album was a massive fiscal and critical success. Shortly after the release of Physical Graffiti, all previous Led Zeppelin albums simultaneously re-entered the top-200 album chart,^[21] and the band embarked on another U.S. tour, again playing to record-breaking crowds. In May 1975, Led Zeppelin played five highly successful, sold-out nights at the Earls Court Arena in London, footage of which was released in 2003, on the Led Zeppelin DVD