These four symbols, pictured above, first appeared on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV, Zeppelin's fourth and technically untitled album. The idea to have them there came from Jimmy Page; they should make a completely anonymous album, with no writing on the album whatsoever, after many harsh reviews from critics, so that that the music would speak for itself. In an interview in 1977, he said:
"After all this crap we had with the critics, I put it to everybody else that it'd be a good idea to put out something totally anonymous. At first I wanted just one symbol on it, but then it was decided that since it was our fourth album and there were four of us, we could each choose our own symbol. I designed mine and everyone else had their own reasons for using the symbol they used,"
Jimmy's symbol was the ZoSo symbol on the right of the picture, and he has never explained any reasoning behind it, apart from it wasn't intended to he a word at all.
John Paul Jones' symbol, second from the left, was chosen from Rudolf Koch's Book of Signs. It is intended to symbolise a person who possesses both confidence and competence.
John Bonham's symbol, second from the right, was picked from the same book as Jones'. It represents the triad of mother, father and child. It also happens to be the logo of Ballentine beer.
Robert Plant's symbol, on the right, was one he designed himself, based on the sign of the supposed Mu civilisation.
There is also a fifth, smaller, symbol, chosen by Sandy Denny, the guest vocalist who sings with Robert Plant on The Battle Of Evermore. It appears in the credits on the inner sleeve of the LP, and is shaped like three triangles touching at the points. It is an old Christian symbol for the Godhead*. Apart from that, nothing else is known about it.
* Whatever that means. I'm not religious. I copied that bit word for word off Wikipedia because I didn't understand what it was saying. If anyone does, I'd like to know so please comment.
Picture: the four symbols from the cover of Led Zeppelin IV
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A Book Of Led Zeppelin
Non-FictionLed Zeppelin. Arguably the greatest band of all time. In my opinion, anyway, hence 'arguably'. They hold the record for the highest number of records sold worldwide (200 million) and also the largest crowd at a concert for a single act (over 56,000)...
