Led Zeppelin released their third album 50 years ago this Monday — October 5th, 1970. Simply titled Led Zeppelin III, it features them delving into more folk and acoustic music, which Robert Plant says is one of their “finest moments.”
“We wanted to try and stretch it out and open it up and change — just shock ourselves to see exactly what we could do. And we just started trying going back into more of an acoustic vein. It wasn’t an area that we hadn’t touched because ‘Your Time Is Gonna Come’ and ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’ (both off Led Zeppelin). Being exposed to the Incredible String Band and Roy Harper and all that sort of stuff around, which was music for the head, which was coming from more acoustic base. And that’s what we did. The least successful Led Zeppelin album and with the critics screaming for our lives and blood saying, ‘What’s this crap?’ It was probably one of our finest moments.”
Among the songs on the album are “Immigrant Song,” “Celebration Day,” “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” “Gallows Pole” and “Hats Off to (Roy) Harper.”
Led Zeppelin III went to number-one on the Billboard album chart and has been certified six-times platinum.
