Led Zeppelin
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Houses of the Holy is an album by Led Zeppelin released by Atlantic Records on March 28, 1973 (see 1973 in music). The album title is a dedication by the band to their fans who appeared at venues they dubbed, "Houses of the Holy."
This album was a stylistic turning point in Led Zeppelin's career. Guitar riffs became heavier, losing some of their blues influences, and the lyrics turn towards mysticism to a greater degree. It was also an album featuring styles not seen on previous Led Zeppelin albums. For example, "D'yer Mak'er" is a reggae-based tune, No Quarter features some foreboding keyboard sounds, while "The Crunge" is a funk tribute to James Brown included at the end of Side 1. The album's closing song "The Ocean" is also dedicated to the "sea" of fans which came in their masses to Led Zeppelin concerts.
Houses of the Holy was inspired by the ending of Arthur C. Clarke's novel, Childhood's End. It is a collage of several photographs taken at the Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland, by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. The photoshoot was a miserable affair over the course of every morning for a week. The desired sunrise never appeared due to constant rain and clouds and many of the models were never used. The results of the shoot were less than satisifactory, but some accidental tinting effects in post-production created an unexpectedly magical album cover. It was initially released with a paper sleeve wrapped around the cover, printed with the band and album name, that had to be broken to access the record. This hid the childrens' bottoms from general display, but still the album was either banned or unavailable in Spain and some parts of southern United States.
This was Led Zeppelin's last studio release on Atlantic Records, before they formed their own label, Swan Song Records, in 1974. It was also the only Led Zeppelin album that contained complete printed lyrics to each song.
"Houses of the Holy" is also the name of a song which was recorded during the sessions for this album, but wasn't actually released until 1975. It appeared on the album Physical Graffiti.
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In 2004, the industrial metal group Ministry released an album called Houses of the Molé, which seems to be a parody of the title of this album.
The 1989 film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure pays homage to the album, when, during the final scene, the protagonists are delivering a presentation about ancient Greece (having recently visited it), they describe what they saw as follows: "470 BC. A time when much of the world looked like the cover of the Led Zeppelin album Houses of the Holy".