Led Zeppelin Album Covers Range From Literal To Ethereal

Led Zeppelin album covers always represented an interesting look into the visual mind of a band very much known for their immense sonic strength. None of the first 4 albums had a name attached to them, relying on the strength of the music, the occasional Roman numeral and the catchiness of their covers to attract the attention of record buyers at the local shop. The first Led Zeppelin album cover featured a black and white image of the Hindenburg ablaze, a reference to a joke Keith Moon had made when Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck had discussed forming a band together. Moon had been of the opinion that it would ‘go over like a lead balloon’, and so the cover is a nod not just to the name of the band itself, but at the probable chances of its success. The second album, ‘Led Zeppelin II’ also made use of the German aircraft theme, only this time the band put themselves in the foreground, airbrushing their faces onto an old photo of the famous World War I ‘Flying Circus’.

Led Zeppelin III took a different approach. The name of the band was written across the front, and the sleeve contained numerous cutouts. Filling the cutouts were images attached to a wheel which could be spun around to change what could be seen through the cutouts. This type of complex gatefold sleeve was a popular choice for other bands as well throughout the 1970’s, but sadly the level of craftsmanship involved in album art would swiftly decline with the arrival of CD’s in the 1980’s, relegating originality like this to the scrap heap.


Led Zeppelin IV is probably the most famous album cover ever put out by the band. Led Zeppelin album covers to this point had always displayed the band’s name, but for the fourth album buyers were greeted only with the framed painting of an older man bent down under the weight of the bundle of sticks that he was carrying. The album opened up to reveal a city scene hidden behind the torn up wallpaper that the portrait was hanging on. Most intriguingly were the 4 different symbols that were imprinted on the record label. Each band member had chosen a symbol to represent them, and Jimmy Page’s, ‘zoso’, is often used in place of the album’s non-existent title. It is not uncommon to also hear the album referred to simply as ‘four symbols’.

By: Virgil The StoryTeller

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