Happy Anniversary: Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

47 years ago today, Led Zeppelin released their self-titled debut album… Wait, hang on: “released” really just seems like an insufficient verb to describe the impact that the LP had on rock 'n' roll. You know what? Let's go with “unleashed” instead.

Can we take it from the top?

47 years ago today, Led Zeppelin unleashed their self-titled debut album in America, kicking off a collection of full-length efforts which has seen them selling literally hundreds of millions of albums over the course of their career.

Not that you don't already know the LZ story inside and out at this point, but we'll nonetheless deliver a short version, just in case we've got any newbies out there:

The Yardbrds had broken up, Jimmy Page somehow managed to end up with the rights to the name as well as the contractual obligation to play a series of concerts in Scandanavia, but with no one left to play the dates with him, he had to draft himself a whole new band. In turn, he secured the three gentlemen whose names remain most associated with him to this day: John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and Robert Plant. They played the shows, they covered some Yardbirds songs in order to not get booed off the stage (that's who they were supposed to be, after all), and they even tried out a few new tunes. Perhaps you've heard of some of them: “Babe I'm Gonna Leave You,” “Communication Breakdown,” “How Many More Times,” “I Can't Quit You Baby,” and “You Shook Me” were among the songs that ended up on the set list.

Given their undeniable chemistry, the foursome continued on together after completed their required dates, changed their name to Led Zeppelin, and headed into the studio to record an album, and they did it as live as possible. The end result: one of the best debut albums of all time and a full-fledged rock classic that in no way sounds like it's 47 years old.

Go on, you can check right now. We'll wait