Music Mysteries: The Symbols on the Cover of Led Zeppelin IV.

    After the neither hot or cold reception of their previous album, Led Zeppelin III, Led Zeppelin decided to change various things about their fourth record. Band member, Jimmy Page, said that they wanted to downplay the name of the group. They didn't even want a title on the cover of the album. No words, no name, and no title. How crazy of a risk that would have been!

    What they decided to do instead was make symbols. Each of the four members made their own symbols, and they have not discussed what they mean. Since this was the 4th album, they played up that number as a motif a lot. 4 members. 4 symbols. The 4th album. 

    So the members split up and made their symbols and presented them to each other together. Member Robert Plant said they wanted to choose "a metaphysical type of symbol which somehow represented us individually--be it a state of mind, an opinion, or something we felt strongly about, or whatever." 

    Which is very interesting when you look at the symbols above. They all can't be any different. Giving off a very mysterious vibe. This decision and the meaning behind it... Screams high art to me. It's an intuitive artistic direction that's accomplished more than it has set out to do. The proof is people have asked and wondered about these symbols since the early 70s. And people still ask questions about them. I saw one on Reddit from just 3 years back.

    As for the symbols themselves? You can really deep dive into each of them. They appear to have been analyzed to death. I'm going to paraphrase them here as much as I can.

    Jimmy Page's symbol is often called "zoso." It's the one on the far left in the picture seen above. It resembles the alchemical symbol for Saturn. The Led Zepplin wiki says the most recent fan theory as it unifies the worlds of the living and dead to reveal the secrets of the universe. Which is... Meta as all hell. Notice how the wiki calls it the most recent fan theory. So these have been created and developed for years. 

    There's also a comic surrounding Page's symbol as he appeared on a television show in 1994, and the audience asked him what his symbol means. He appeared confused and said "I eat bananas." I guess we will never know. Page apparently also told Plant only once and never repeated it, and Plant has forgotten it. And Page won't tell him again. Which is also very funny! 

    John Paul Jones's symbol the one to the right of Page's was apparently a symbol used to exorcise evil spirits and represent the Holy Trinity of Christianity up to the Middle Ages, but was also used by the Celts for protection. So. This probably added to the controversy surrounding the symbols. Most definitely. It comes from Rudolf Koch's "The Book of Signs."

    John Bonham's symbol actually comes from the same book as Jones's. And means the same thing. Which... If they all split up to come up with their symbols, did both of the members really find it in the same book? Was this coincidence? What's up with that? That's kind of amazing if they did it individually.

    The final symbol, the one on the far left in the picture above, belongs to Robert Plant. A circle around a feather. The feather of Ma'at, the Egyptian goddess of justice and fairness. It's also the symbol of a writer. He connected it to the ancient Mu civilization that left the statues on Easter Island. 

    I guess the controversy probably arises the most because religion was involved with two of the symbols. I've seen things about people saying they're Satanic, and all that good stuff. The way the band members have dealt with and discussed the symbols seems to all be in good fun. It doesn't appear they meant for them to make a religious statement or anything like that. But that they were used to be one greater symbol as the 4 members represented by the symbols come together to make the band Led Zeppelin and appears on their 4th album. It seems to be more a statement towards critics and naysayers that they didn't have to rely on their name, reputation, or marketing tactics for the album to be a success. I mean it has "Stairway to Heaven" on it, for goodness sakes. That alone would make it a smash.