𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
August 15, 1979 — Led Zeppelin released their eighth studio album, In Through the Out Door via Swan Song Records. (Listen)
It was recorded over a three-week period in November and December 1978 at ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1980, Led Zeppelin disbanded following the death of drummer John Bonham.
The release became a huge commercial success, particularly in the United States (sitting at the No. 1 slot on Billboard's chart in just its second week on the chart). In Through the Out Door was the band's eighth and final studio release to reach the top of the charts in America.
Background:
The music on In Through the Out Door was dominated by Jones. Two songs from the album — South Bound Saurez and All My Love — were the only two original Led Zeppelin songs that Jimmy Page had no part in writing. Aside from Darlene, a boogie-woogie based song credited to all band members (which was eventually released on the 1982 album, Coda), John Bonham did not receive writing credits for any of the songs.
Side One:
In The Evening was planned as the opening track for the album as "𝚊 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕-𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚌", in order to show that Led Zeppelin could still make good music. Page played the guitar with a violin bow, as he had done in the early days of the band. The track features a contrast between the powerful riffs in the main part of the track, against a relatively quiet middle section.
South Bound Saurez was a straightforward rocker. John Paul Jones played piano on the track.
Fool in the Rain was an attempt to combine a samba rhythm with a basic rock tune, resulting in a polyrhythm part way through the song. The idea was inspired by Robert Plant explaining that the group must explore new musical territory in order to remain current.
Hot Dog was a rockabilly inspired track, that came out of initial rehearsals, where the group warmed up by playing a series of old Elvis Presley and Ricky Nelson covers. A precursor (or a foreshadowing of days to come) to the days of MTV and VH1, a music video was filmed for this song, even though there wasn't a strong platform for this format at the time. (Watch video)
Side Two:
Carouselambra is a ten-minute track, dominated by Jones' keyboards and covering a variety of musical styles. Page played his Gibson EDS-1275 double neck guitar, which was normally only used for live performances. The group had intended to play the song live for the planned 1980 US tour, which was cancelled after Bonham's death.
All My Love was a love song composed by Plant and Jones when they were the first to arrive at the studio. Jones played a classically inspired synthesizer solo in the middle of the track.
I'm Gonna Crawl was a relaxed blues. Plant arranged the track to be in the style of mid-1960s soul music such as Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding. Jones contributed a string synthesizer arrangement.
Album Packaging:
The original album featured an unusual gimmick: the album had an outer sleeve which was made to look like a plain brown paper bag (reminiscent of similarly packaged bootleg album sleeves with the title rubber-stamped on it), and the inner sleeve featured black and white line artwork which, if washed with water, would become permanently fully colored.
There were also six different sleeves featuring a different pair of photos (one on each side), and the external brown paper sleeve meant that it was impossible for record buyers to tell which sleeve they were getting. The pictures all depicted the same scene in a bar (in which a man burns a Dear John letter), and each photo was taken from the separate point of view of someone who appeared in the other photos.
Each of the 6 sleeves is identifiable by a letter code (A-F) at the top of the spine.
(𝙲𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 ‘𝙰‘)
(𝙲𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 ‘𝙱’)
(𝙲𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 ‘𝙲’)
(𝙲𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 ‘𝙳’)
(𝙲𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 ‘𝙴’)
(𝙲𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 ‘𝙵’)
The Watchers:
• Fat guy in the doorway
• Blondie next to the bar
• Barman
• Black woman laughing at the end of the bar
• Piano player
• Brunette woman next to the jukebox
The walls are covered with thousands of yellowed business cards and dollar bills. The photo session in a London studio was meant to look like a re-creation of the Old Absinthe House, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The album artwork was designed by Hipgnosis' Storm Thorgerson. In 1980, Hipgnosis were nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Album Package for In Through the Out Door.
The album was intended to be released before the band's twin concerts at Knebworth in 1979, but production delays meant that it was released shortly after their performances at this event, on August 15th. Plant jokingly referred to the delays at times during the performance on August 4th.
Album Performance:
The album went to No. 1 on Billboard's chart in its second week on the chart, reportedly selling 1.7 million copies within days of release. On this album's release, Led Zeppelin's entire catalogue made the Billboard 200 between the weeks of October 22 and November 3, 1979, an unprecedented feat, topping their own record in 1975, when all their albums up to Physical Graffiti were on the chart.
(𝙻𝚎𝚍 𝚉𝚎𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚝 𝙺𝚗𝚎𝚋𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟷𝟷𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟿𝟽𝟿. 𝙿𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚢 𝚁𝚘𝚜𝚜 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚏𝚒𝚗)
The album remained on the US top spot for seven weeks and sold three million copies by the end of September 1979. It was credited with helping to revive the US record industry, which had begun to struggle. In January 1980, Fool in the Rain was released as a single to further promote the album, but it narrowly missed the top 20 of the singles chart. It featured Hot Dog as the b-side.
There were many different variations of the single, depending on where it was released.
In Through the Out Door is the Led Zeppelin album that has spent the most weeks on the top of the charts (tied along with Led Zeppelin II and Physical Graffiti). To date, the album has sold six million copies in the US.
In Through the Out Door divided contemporary critics and Led Zeppelin fans; some found its synthesizer-influenced music inevitable but forward-thinking while others felt the band had forsaken their heavy, fast sound.
According to Jimmy Page biographer Martin Power, "𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚢, 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚙𝚞𝚗𝚔, 𝙸𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚞𝚝 𝙳𝚘𝚘𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚜, 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚉𝚎𝚙‘𝚜 𝚟𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚗 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌 𝚋𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖."
Critical Reception:
Reviewing the album in Rolling Stone, Charles M. Young said Page's diminishing creativity resulted in little good material to work with for Plant, whose lyrics Young found inane, and Bonham, whose drumming was viewed as heavy handed. This brought to the forefront the keyboard playing of Jones, who Young said "𝚏𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝙿𝚊𝚐𝚎, 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚒𝚖".
Chris Bohn from Melody Maker said "𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢" of the record "𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐", while accusing the band of being "𝚝𝚘𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚌𝚑" and "𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢".
(𝙹𝚘𝚑𝚗 𝙿𝚊𝚞𝚕 𝙹𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜, 𝚁𝚘𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚝 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙹𝚘𝚑𝚗 𝙱𝚘𝚗𝚑𝚊𝚖, 𝙼𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝙼𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚛 𝙰𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜, 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟸𝟾𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟿𝟽𝟿 (𝙿𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚢 𝙺𝚎𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚎/𝙶𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚢 𝙸𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜)
By contrast, NME journalist Nick Kent argued that the album was "𝚗𝚘 𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚙𝚑", believing its "𝚙𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎" deserved further listening.
Robert Christgau also wrote positively of the record in The Village Voice, observing the usual "𝚕𝚊𝚡 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚢𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝", but regarding the album as the group's best since Houses of the Holy (1973). He said "𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚞𝚗𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚜𝚢𝚗𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚘𝚖𝚙 𝚘𝚗 𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚖𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐-𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝙰𝚛𝚝-𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍", while "𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚙𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚣𝚊 𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚖𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍's 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐-𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍".
At the end of the year, In Through the Out Door was nominated for the 1980 American Music Awards, in the category of Favorite Pop/Rock Album.
Following the album's release, Plant, Page and Bonham all expressed reservations about the record. Plant later said that he enjoyed the variation in styles from previous albums, though he appreciated the album was "𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚍".
Page said in 2004, "𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍, 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙸𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚞𝚝 𝙳𝚘𝚘𝚛, 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍-𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚏-𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗. 𝙾𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎, 𝚠𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖." He is also quoted as saying, "𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚗‘𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖. 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕... 𝚊 𝚜𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚋𝚘𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗."
In Through the Out Door was Led Zeppelin's final album to be released while all the original members were still living. Drummer John Bonham died the next year on September 25, 1980.
In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Gaylord Fields said the album was "𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚙𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜" but "𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚛𝚝-𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚘𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜".
Colin Larkin appraised it in his Encyclopedia of Popular Music (2006) as "𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗" of the band's previous records, yet "𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝙹𝚘𝚑𝚗 𝙿𝚊𝚞𝚕 𝙹𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜 𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚏𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚛".
Neil McCormick, however, reinforced past complaints about the album, ranking it as the band's worst album in a 2014 retrospective on the band in The Daily Telegraph;
"𝙼𝚞𝚍𝚍𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚔𝚢 𝚜𝚢𝚗𝚝𝚑𝚜, 𝚓𝚊𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚢 𝚙𝚘𝚙 𝚛𝚑𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚖𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚋𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚋𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚐𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢."
Notice: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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