Led Zeppelin IV Songs Ranked
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. It was produced by guitarist Jimmy Page and recorded between December 1970 and February 1971, mostly in the country house Headley Grange. The album is notable for featuring “Stairway to Heaven”, which has been described as the band’s signature song. The album was a commercial and critical success and is Led Zeppelin’s best-selling, shipping over 37 million copies worldwide. It is one of the best-selling albums in the US, while critics have regularly placed it highly on lists of the greatest albums of all time. Here are all of Led Zeppelin IV songs ranked.
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8. Four Sticks
“Four Sticks” is probably the least known of the tracks off of the fourth album, though it is also an excellent track. The song gets it’s title because Bonham played the drums with four sticks, simple enough. Great riff as well.”
7. Going to California
“Simplicity. That’s the key. It’s like “The Battle of Evermore,” but better – tender lyrics, honestly good vocals, and a very pretty melody. I’ve always been more into acoustic Zep than electric Zep, so a little more like this would’ve been appreciated.”
6. Misty Mountain Hop
“Misty Mountain Hop”, which opened Side B on IV, was one of Zeppelin’s first “weird” songs, with that electric piano helping to provide that sweet riff. The song just has a weird vibe to it overall, and many seem to dislike the track, but I have always liked it. I will say this though, Bonham’s drumming is incredible, even the haters have to give that some credit. Ho-hum, two classics, one 45, doesn’t get much better than that now does it?”
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5. The Battle of Evermore
“I appreciate the band expanding out, but I liked the acoustic tracks on Led Zeppelin III a lot better, and it doesn’t help that Plant decides to stretch the song out to six minutes by performing as many vocal somersaults as he can manage. A decent song regardless, and the appearance of Fairport Convention’s Sandy Denny livens things up a bit. Still, the sword-and-sorcery fantasy lyrics need to go.”
4. Rock and Roll
“”Rock and Roll”, from Led Zeppelin’s legendary fourth album, is an instantly recognizable anthem. The bombastic song was created during a jam session with the Rolling Stones’ mentor Ian Stewart playing the piano. During the loose jam, drummer John Bonham played the intro to “Good Golly Miss Molly”/”Keep a Knockin'”, and Jimmy Page added the basic guitar riff.”
See More: Led Zeppelin Albums Ranked
3. Black Dog
“Almost every song off of Led Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album is a classic (you can make a case that ALL of the songs on the album are good, if not great), including these two tracks. “Black Dog”, which was the opener off of IV, is my favorite off the album. With a sweet riff, simple but still great drumming, and the amazing a cappela vocals of Plant, those are just a few reasons why this song rocks.”
2. When the Levee Breaks
“In my opinion, this is the best introduction to a rock song ever – don’t think I’ve ever heard a drum kit sound that good – and it’s backed up with some incredible harmonica playing from Robert Plant and a great riff from Jimmy Page. An absolute masterpiece.”
1. Stairway to Heaven
“This is the song everybody knows, the one that has been played to death, the one with the ‘greatest guitar solo ever’, and so on. Hundreds of times I have heard this, and like many others, I tired of it, but not anymore. For some reason I love the song again, no matter how many times I hear it, I got away from it once, but it keeps you coming back time after time, because it is so DAMN good.”