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Led Zeppelin IV
Het vierde album van de Britse rockband Led Zeppelin uit 1971 heeft geen officiële titel, maar werd wel als alternatief genoemd. Het album wordt beschouwd als het beste en belangrijkste album van Led Zeppelin, en vaak zelfs van het hardrockgenre. Het is tevens een van de bestverkochte albums uit de muziekgeschiedenis, met wereldwijd zevenendertig miljoen verkochte exemplaren. Doordat het album geen titel in normale tekens heeft, maar in vier symbolen is weergegeven, wordt het ook wel Led Zeppelin IV, The runes album, Four symbols, Sticks, The Hermit of Runes genoemd.
Het album stond in 1971/1972 totaal 8 weken genoteerd in de Nederlandse Album Top 100 met als hoogste notering de 7e positie.
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 one of the band's most well-known recordings, the eight-minute-long "Stairway to Heaven".
The informal recording environment inspired the band, allowing them to try different arrangements of material and create songs in various styles. After the band's previous album Led Zeppelin III (1970) received lukewarm reviews from critics, they decided their fourth album would officially be untitled and represented instead by four symbols – one chosen by each band member – without featuring the name or any other details on the cover. Unlike the prior two albums, the band was joined by guest musicians: the singer Sandy Denny on "The Battle of Evermore", and the pianist Ian Stewart on "Rock and Roll". As with prior albums, most of the material was written by the band, though there was one cover song, a hard rock re-interpretation of the Memphis Minnie blues song "When the Levee Breaks".
The album was a critical and commercial success and is Led Zeppelin's best-selling album, having shipped over 37 million copies worldwide. It is one of the best-selling albums in the United States and of all time, while critics have regularly placed it high on lists of the greatest albums of all time.