History
Despite the conceptual originality displayed on the album, it included three songs composed by others: "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You Baby", both by blues artist Willie Dixon; and "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You". Regarding the last of these, at the time guitarist Jimmy Page mistakenly believed he was adapting a traditional folk song, but this was corrected on subsequent rereleases after it was revealed that the song actually was composed by Anne Bredon in the 1950s. Dixon, on the other hand, received proper credit as the composer of his two songs on this album (although "You Shook Me" later would be additionally credited to J. B. Lenoir); but he would go on to sue the band over the partial use of other material of his on the band's second album.
"Dazed and Confused" is arguably the album's centrepiece: a foreboding arrangement featuring a walking bass line from Jones, heavy drumming from Bonham and some powerful guitar riffs from Jimmy Page. The middle section of the song also featured Page playing the guitar strings with a violin bow, a technique adapted by him during his years as a studio guitarist, and later in his performances of this song during the latter days of The Yardbirds.
However, Led Zeppelin also demonstrated a wide range of textures and shades other than just loud, amplified electric riffs. A tabla player accompanied Page on the acoustic guitar instrumental "Black Mountain Side". Meanwhile, "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" and "Your Time Is Gonna Come" feature Page's acoustic guitar work, which would be extended on subsequent albums.
Page is reported to have used natural room ambiance to enhance the reverb and recording texture of this record. The album was recorded on an analog 4 track machine which also helped to give the record a warm sound.
Despite Page's most favoured and most often-used guitar on later albums being a 1958 Gibson Les Paul, this album was recorded with a Fender Telecaster, painted with a psychedelic colour scheme. He only received the aforementioned Les Paul from fellow guitarist Joe Walsh a few months after the first album was recorded, and it went on to become his principal guitar throughout his career.
The album cover features an artfully manipulated version of the most famous photograph (originally from UPI) of the Hindenburg disaster. It is in fact an illustration of this photograph drawn with a Rapidograph pen and ink by graphic artist George Hardie. Such originality in album cover art and packaging would be developed on the band's subsequent releases.
In an interview for the Led Zeppelin Profiled radio promo CD (1990) Jimmy Page said that the album took about 36 hours of studio time to create (including mixing), and stated that he knows this because of the amount charged on the studio bill. In Stephen Davis' biography of the band, Hammer of the Gods, it is documented that Peter Grant claimed the album cost £1,750 to produce (including artwork).[citation needed] By 1975 the album had grossed $7,000,000.[1]
In 2003 the TV network VH1 named Led Zeppelin the 44th greatest album of all time. Also, in 2003 Rolling Stone magazine declared the album the 29th greatest album of all time, the highest-ranking Led Zeppelin album on the list.
