Of all their records, Led Zeppelin’s fourth album, released in November 1971, remains their most admired work. From Jimmy Page’s unimpeachable riffs, through John Paul Jones’ musical invention and Robert Plant’s clarity of vocal to that titanic John Bonham drum sound, Led Zeppelin IV still emits a freshness and mystique that belies its age.
It didn’t appear in a vacuum. The three or four years that lead up to it had been a time of unfettered ambition and boundary-pushing of the kind that had never been witnessed before in music. As rock’s golden dawned, songs became increasingly more intricate and more epic. And nothing was as epic as Stairway To Heaven, the iconic track that would not just become Led Zeppelin’s most famous song, but define an entire era.
