If you’ve ever wondered what to call the fourth record from Led Zeppelin, then you’re not alone, with the group’s frontman reportedly unsure how to refer to it either.
Back in January of 1969, the great Led Zeppelin released their eponymous debut album. Over the next couple of years, the group would follow this up with two more albums which bore the chronological suffixes of II and III.
However, when 1971 saw the release of their next album, fans were a little surprised to learn that it didn’t actually have a title.
Featuring little more than four hand-drawn symbols representing the band members on the sleeve and record label, the record has since been dubbed Four Symbols, Runes, and even ZoSo after guitarist Jimmy Page’s personal symbol.
While Page himself has referred to it as “The Fourth Album“, the record is actually officially untitled, leaving many fans to give it the unofficial (and let’s face it, sensible) title of Led Zeppelin IV.
However, if you’ve ever felt confused about what to call it, it turns out you’re not alone, with frontman Robert Plant revealing he’s also been a bit confounded about how the album should be referred to.
Check out the latest episode of Robert Plant’s Digging Deep podcast:
As Radio.com reports, the latest episode of Robert Plant’s Digging Deep podcast saw the iconic rocker discussing ‘The Battle Of Evermore’, the third track from the untitled record.
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While host Matt Everitt admitted he was unsure of how to name the album that bears the track, he decided to go straight to the source and ask Plant himself.
“I don’t either,” Plant explained. “In those days in Zeppelin, we were so much of a deal – in fact, it becomes almost like a kind of Spinal Tap thing where, sometime you can’t put the record out even though you’ve finished it because you haven’t got the artwork right.”
“Are you going to put the name on that album? ‘Are you kidding? Put the name of the band on the album cover? That’s far too corporate.’
“But of course, we want everybody to know about it and buy it, and sell it, and hate it, love it and all that. So, yeah, I don’t know what it’s called. The Four Symbols is sometimes what it’s called.”
Considering the record is officially untitled, this is indeed a hard question to answer. However, if you don’t mind, we might just stick with the widely-accepted title of Led Zeppelin IV, lest we confuse anyone else with titular pedantry.
Check out ‘The Battle Of Evermore’ by Led Zeppelin:
