Led Zeppelin IV

The album is officially untitled — it has no band name, no album title, and no catalogue number printed anywhere on the sleeve. It is variously known as Led Zeppelin IV, Untitled, Zoso, Four Symbols, or The Fourth Album. The deliberate anonymity was a response to the band's frustration with music critics, who they felt had dismissed their earlier work as derivative. The logic, championed primarily by guitarist Jimmy Page, was: "Let the music speak for itself. If the album is any good, people won't need a name on the cover to find it."

The front cover features a framed painting or print of an old man carrying a heavy bundle of sticks (a fagot-gatherer), hung on a partially demolished interior wall with peeling wallpaper. The painting was found by Robert Plant at a junk shop in Reading, England. The identity of the original painter remains unknown. The image of the ruined wall was from the demolition of a row of Victorian terraced houses in Dudley, in the West Midlands — the juxtaposition of the rural figure against urban decay was intentional.

The inner sleeve features a painting of The Hermit from the Tarot, standing atop a mountain holding a lantern, rendered by artist Barrington Colby MOM. Page, who had a deep interest in occultism and the works of Aleister Crowley, selected this image. It corresponds to the Hermit card in the Thoth Tarot deck and represents wisdom, introspection, and spiritual seeking.

Each band member chose a personal symbol to represent themselves instead of using names: - Jimmy Page: The "ZoSo" symbol — its meaning has never been publicly explained. It may reference alchemical or occult traditions, but Page has consistently refused to comment. - John Paul Jones: A circle intersecting three vesica piscis — a symbol of confidence and competence, possibly derived from a book of ancient runes. - John Bonham: Three interlocking circles (the Borromean rings) — representing the trinity of mother, father, and child. - Robert Plant: A feather within a circle — the feather of Ma'at, the ancient Egyptian goddess of truth and justice.

Despite — or perhaps because of — the absence of any identifying information, the album became Led Zeppelin's best-selling record and one of the best-selling albums of all time, with over 37 million copies sold worldwide. The symbols, particularly Page's "ZoSo," have become iconic in rock culture. The experiment proved that a band at the peak of its powers could transcend conventional marketing entirely.