How Led Zeppelin’s entire discography stormed the charts for two weeks in 1979
Not many bands have achieved what Led Zeppelin did in ten years.
It was perhaps only The Beatles who crammed as much success into a short period of time; otherwise, Led Zeppelin were the masters of instant and overwhelming success. In fact, you could even shorten that window to five years, for everything brilliant they did in their career largely came in the first half of the 1970s, from their debut record right up until Physical Graffiti.
During that time, Led Zeppelin were arguably the biggest band in the world. Groundbreaking studio records, with instantly iconic tracks, were swiftly followed by triumphant arena shows that made them one of the most stunning live acts to witness. Without seeming like they tried, they had perfected every element of the musical process, but it was a case of burning bright and fast.
After Physical Graffiti, the steady decline of the band begun and at the end of the decade, they called time on Zeppelin. Robert Plant’s devastating car crash on a family holiday in ‘75 sparked this domino effect, soon followed by Jimmy Page’s descent into a heroin addiction, while drummer John Bonham struggled with chronic alcoholism before tragically passing in ‘80.
The personal landscape of the band has shifted come their final studio album, ‘79’s In Through the Out Door, not to mention the artistic world around them, which was ready to wave goodbye to classic rock and embrace the furious energy of this new punk movement. So the record felt like a limp-fisted attempt at a goodbye, with none of the band members really believing in the project that was supposed to serve as the swansong to one of music’s greatest ever alliances.
“We thought In Through the Out Door was a little soft,” Page explained in a 1993 interview with Guitar World, “I was not really very keen on [‘All My Love’]. I could just imagine people doing the wave and all of that. And I thought, ‘That is not us. That is not us’. Bonzo and I had already started discussing plans for a hard-driving rock album after that. I would not have wanted to pursue that direction in the future.”
In Through The Out Door served as the soundtrack to their expiry date and saw the band confront the reality of their diminishing powers. But their fans weren’t willing to say goodbye just yet. No die-hard Zeppelin fans couldn’t accept that a band that had defined rock so clearly for a decade was no longer the force they were, and instead, thrust their beloved rock gods into the charts one last time.
How many Led Zeppelin songs were on the charts during 1979?
Well, at one point, the band’s entire back catalogue was back in the charts. Following the release of In Through the Out Door in August ‘79, Led Zeppelin’s entire catalogue returned to the Billboard 200 chart for the weeks of October 27th and November 3rd.
Perhaps the subtle mediocrity of the band’s last studio effort hinted at their imminent split, or maybe fans just wanted to go back to the greatest hits after consuming their latest effort, but either way, it seemed that the world wasn’t yet ready to let go of Led Zeppelin. Even in their darkest days, they proved they had a knack for tapping into the zeitgeist and dominating the music charts, showing that against all odds, they were the most influential band of the decade.
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