The untitled fourth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV, was released on 8 November 1971 by Atlantic Records. Produced by the band's guitarist, Jimmy Page, it was recorded between December 1970 and February 1971, mostly in the country house Headley Grange. The album contains the band's most well-known recording, the eight-minute-long "Stairway to Heaven".
Led Zeppelin IV
Most of the album was recorded at Headley Grange in Hampshire.
A Gibson EDS-1275 similar to this was used for live performances of "Stairway to Heaven". The stop bars on the actual guitar were farther from the bridges.
The original vinyl record label with the four hand-drawn symbols
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are cited as one of the progenitors of hard rock and heavy metal, although their style drew from a variety of influences, including blues and folk music. Led Zeppelin have been credited as significantly impacting the nature of the music industry, particularly in the development of album-oriented rock (AOR) and stadium rock.
Clockwise from upper left: Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones.
A 1937 photograph of the burning LZ 129 Hindenburg taken by news photographer Sam Shere, used on the cover of the band's debut album and extensively on later merchandise
Bron-Yr-Aur, near Machynlleth, the Welsh cottage to which Page and Plant retired in 1970 to write many of the tracks that appeared on the band's third and fourth albums
Plant and Page perform acoustically in Hamburg in March 1973, just before the release of the band's fifth album, Houses of the Holy.