On this day (September 15) in 1979, Led Zeppelin topped the Billboard 200 with In Through the Out Door. The album spent seven weeks in the top spot, their first to do so since Led Zeppelin II in 1969. It was also the last album they recorded before drummer John Bonham’s death in 1980. While it received mixed reviews from fans, it went down in history as the band’s most experimental album.
The members of Led Zeppelin felt they needed to do something different with In Through the Out Door. They hadn’t released an album since Presence (1976), and the music world was changing quickly. The late 1970s saw the rise of punk rock and the beginning of glam and hair metal that would rule the 1980s. They feared their blues-driven guitar rock wouldn’t catch as many ears as it once did. At the same time, they were coming off a years-long tax exile from the United Kingdom. They knew it would be an uphill battle. The album’s title references the difficulty they found breaking back into the public eye after years of silence.
That was only part of the problem, though. Personal issues and tensions within the band added another layer of difficulty. Robert Plant was still mourning the loss of his son, Karac, who died in 1977. At the same time, Bonham was drinking heavily, and Jimmy Page was dealing with a heavy substance abuse problem. These issues are reflected in the album’s liner notes. This was the first Led Zeppelin album on which Bonham received no writing credits. It was also the first album on which John Paul Jones was able to step up and heavily contribute to the creative process, co-writing all but one song on the LP.
Led Zeppelin Gets Experimental
Robert Plant wanted to take Led Zeppelin in a new direction on In Through the Out Door. At the same time, John Paul Jones had just picked up a Yamaha GX-1 synthesizer. He began composing songs on the new instrument, and Plant knew they’d found their new direction.
The album is their only synth-driven LP. As a result, longtime fans were less than impressed. However, it went on to be a commercial success, topping the charts in the United Kingdom, the United States, and several other countries.
Featured Image by Chris Walter/WireImage/ Getty Images