This question comes from another thread that is going on right now about top 10 albums.
When people list Led Zeppelin as one of their favorite albums, they seem to always choose Led Zeppelin IV.
Is this album really that much better than their others? I and II are IMHO really great albums, as well.
Why IV?
Cuz it has “Stairway to Heaven?”
It was my favorite as a kid for that reason, and also the cool picture on the inside cover.
The songs are classic rock staples, more so than any other album. Also, it’s typically their highest rated album on the lists of greatest albums of all time. It’s not entirely universal, but the majority of Led Zeppelin fans think that it’s their best album.
I’m partial to Physical Graffiti myself.
If somebody only has one Led Zep album, it’s probably gonna be IV.
Yeah, I don’t know why, but most people are going to have ZOSO in their collection. Head-rockers are going to go back to I or III, but everyone has something good to say about ZOSO, IME.
Damone: “And five, now this is the most important, Rat. When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side 1 of ‘Led Zeppelin 4’”.
If I never hear Stairway again, I will die happy. The most overplayed track in rock history.
And yet, when they cut to Rat and Stacy in the car, he’s playing “Kashmir” from Physical Graffiti. Besides, Damone was a douche.
You, sir, are a grand judge of Zeppelin music compilations and I applaud you for such.
I prefer Physical Graffiti as well. In particular, side two. “In the Light” and “Ten Years Gone” are two of their most underrated songs.
I think people who say Zep 4, aren’t really hardcore Zep fans, and they say that because it has “Stairway,” and because they think that’s what they’re supposed to say.
The tragedy is that it actually is a really good song, wonderfully crafted and executed, and features one of Jimmy Page’s best solos. It’s not the song’s fault it got so overplayed, but I guess it goes to show that almost any song can be ruined by overplay.
See, exactly! That’s why I liked it as a young teenager. It’s more accessible or something.
I like “Physical Graffiti” better too. Especially “Boogie with Stu” and “Down by the Seaside.”
My husband who reads over my shoulder likes “The Wanton Song,” but he says IV is his favorite because the album starts out with that intro to “Black Dog” that sounds like “whum whum whum whum.”
Partial to Houses of the Holy myself… that’s my favorite… Though i agree with DTC about ten years gone… that song is the one i go to when I’m lifting weights and really can’t get motivated.
“Over the hills and far away”…man i spent time trying to learn that acoustic intro part…
Pretty big Zep fan here but IV is the best. Hard core fans may not want to admit it but it really is.
I was a huge zep fan and my first concert ever was Day on the Green with Judas Priest, Rick Derringer and Zep. I didn’t listen to any music for about 20 years. I went back and listend to the Zep collection and Presence is the only albumn that really stood the test of time. YMMV
The funny thing is, while Led Zeppelin IV is, all things considered, my favorite Zeppelin album, “Stairway to Heaven” is not even in the top half of my favorite tracks from that album. I like IV because it’s a tight album (there’s not a single track I don’t like) and it’s mature (they’ve clearly found their voice by this album). Houses of the Holy is a close second.
I used to think I & II were my favorites and, indeed, some of my favorite Zeppelin tunes are off those albums. But there’s too many songs I skip over on those albums–too many Zeppelin-doing-traditional-blues numbers which, forgive me, I just find dreadfully boring. (And. yes, “When the Levee Breaks” on IV is an exception to that, but, while a traditional song, it’s not the standard 12-bar blues.)
III is really cool, and probably my third favorite, but a little too folksy at times. It’s IV that has the perfect marriage of the blues and rock in 1 & 2, with the folk and acoustic influences of III.
For me, IV is the obvious choice for Zeppelin, but I can honestly see any of the first six albums being legitimate contenders for the best Zeppelin album. IV is not the popular choice among hardcore fans because it is the popular choice among casual fans, but I happen to think the casual fans are right (or damned close) on this one. IV is a masterpiece.
Yeah, Zeppelin was before my time, so when I finally started to take an interest I was at the music store and picked up IV and recognized more of the song titles on that one than any of the other discs they had available, so I got it. Wasn’t long before I bought their boxed sets. So other than IV, I didn’t experience them through their original albums, but rather as a compilation with the songs in mixed order.
IV is consistently strong. The weak song is 4 sticks, other than that all the songs are strong and distinct. Stairway to Heaven and When the Levee Breaks are both epic.
Physical Graffiti, like the white album, has too many mediocre song to be viewed as the best.
Led Zeppelin I also only has one weak song: You Shook Me. But it is more raw and bluesy, and less mainstream. It’s my favorite Led Zeppelin album though, so I preserve my fan status.
I have been a fan since Led Zeppelin and still think it is their best album.
I equally like Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin IV and Physical Graffiti which as a single album would have had as many great tracks as any. Every once in a while I have to listen to both In My Time of Dying and Kashmir.
But the album I listen to most for a fix is BBC Sessions. Jimmy Page is just mind blowingly awesome on some of the extended versions on here.
Many would say it’s because the “gem” to “clunker” ratio is 7:1 (the clunker being “Four Sticks”), which is a bit higher than for any other Zep album.
By the way, allow me to take this opportunity to highly recommend the 33 1/3 book series. It’s a series of small books, each devoted to a different album (many are “classic rock”, but many aren’t), each written by a fan who also has some skills in understanding and describing music and how music is made.
Some of the books are better than others, but the Zep 4 one by Erik Davis is (in my opinion), the best of the eight I’ve read so far. One rather tongue-in-cheek but still illuminating example of Davis’ analysis: he considers that Robert Plant sensed the commercial potential of “Stairway to Heaven”, and so the somewhat ungainly phrase that “she’s buying her S… to H…” actually refers to the lady who’s sure, etc. *buying her copy of the album itself *-- she’s “buying her Stairway to Heaven”, literally! I think that’s brilliant and hilarious.