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In Through the Out Door is the eighth studio album by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded over a three week period in November and December 1978 at ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and released by Swan Song Records on 15 August 1979. In Through the Out Door was the band's sixth and final release to reach the top of the charts in America, and was the last released by the band before the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980.

Background

The album was named by the group to describe its recent struggles amidst the death of Robert Plant's son Karac in 1977, and the taxation exile the band took from the UK as a result of the Harold Wilson and James Callaghan administrations, which also adversely affected other major British bands of the time, such as The Rolling Stones. The exile resulted in the band being unable to tour on British soil for over two years, and trying to get back into the public mind was therefore like "trying to get in through the 'out' door."[1]

In contrast to previous Led Zeppelin albums, In Through the Out Door features much greater influence on the part of bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones and vocalist Robert Plant, and relatively less from drummer John Bonham and guitarist Jimmy Page. Two songs from the album—"South Bound Saurez" and "All My Love"—were the only two original Led Zeppelin songs that Jimmy Page had no part in writing. With the exception of "Darlene," a Boogie-Woogie based song credited to all band members (which was eventually released on the 1982 album, Coda), Bonham did not receive writing credits for any of the songs recorded at Polar Studios. This diminished input by Page and Bonham is attributed to the two band members often not showing up on time at the recording studio, with Bonham struggling with alcoholism and Page battling heroin addiction.[2] As Jones said, "there were two distinct camps by then, and we [myself and Plant] were in the relatively clean one."[3]

Many of the songs were consequently put together by Plant and Jones during the day, with Page and Bonham adding their parts late at night.[4] According to Jones, this was

mainly because I had a new toy. I had this big new keyboard. And Robert and I just got to rehearsals early, basically... So Robert and I, by the time everybody turned up for rehearsals, we’d written three or four songs. So we started rehearsing those immediately, because they were something to be getting on with.[5]

Following the recording sessions at Polar Studios, the album was mixed at Page's personal studio at his home in Plumpton.[1] "Wearing and Tearing", "Ozone Baby" and "Darlene" were recorded during sessions for this album, but were dropped due to space constraints. All later appeared on Coda.

Plant, Page and Bonham all later expressed reservations about the album. In 1990 Plant stated:

In Through The Out Door wasn't the greatest thing in the world, but at least we were trying to vary what we were doing, for our own integrity's sake. Of all the [Led Zeppelin] records, it's interesting but a bit sanitised because we hadn't been in the clamour and chaos for a long time. In '77, when I lost my boy, I didn't really want to go swinging around - 'Hey hey mama say the way you move' didn't really have a great deal of import any more. In Through The Out Door is more conscientious and less animal.[6]

Similarly, in an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine in 1998, Page stated that he and Bonham:

... both felt that In Through the Out Door was a little soft. I wasn't really keen on "All My Love". I was a little worried about the chorus. I could just imagine people doing the wave and all of that. And I thought, that's not us. That's not us. In its place it was fine, but I wouldn't have wanted to pursue that direction in the future.[7]

Years later, Page elaborated that "we wanted, after In Through the Out Door, to make something hard-hitting and riff-based again. Of course, we never got to make that album."[8] He is also quoted as saying "It wasn't the most comfortable album. I think it was very transitional... a springboard for what could have been.[9]

Album sleeve design

The original album featured an unusual gimmick: the album had an outer sleeve which was made to look like a plain brown paper bag, and the inner sleeve featured black and white line artwork which, if washed with water, would become permanently fully colored. There were also six different sleeves featuring a different pair of photos (one on each side; see images at right), and the external brown paper sleeve meant that it was impossible for record buyers to tell which sleeve they were getting. (There is actually a code on the spine of the album jacket, which indicated which sleeve it was—this could sometimes be seen while the record was still sealed.) The pictures all depicted the same scene in a bar (in which a man burns a Dear John letter), and each photo was taken from the separate point of view of someone who appeared in the other photos.

The album artwork was designed by Hipgnosis. Storm Thorgerson recalls the design in his book Eye of the Storm:

The sepia quality was meant to evoke a non-specific past and to allow the brushstroke across the middle to be better rendered in colour and so make a contrast. This self same brushstroke was like the swish of a wiper across a wet windscreen, like a lick of fresh paint across a faded surface, a new look to an old scene, which was what Led Zeppelin told us about their album. A lick of fresh paint, as per Led Zeppelin, and the music on this album... It somehow grew in proportion and became six viewpoints of the same man in the bar, seen by the six other characters. Six different versions of the same image and six different covers.[10]

Did you ever noticed you could affect the dust jacket by putting water on it? If you applied spittle to it or a bit of water, it would change color, like a children's coloring book we based it on. But we didn't tell anybody. I don't think Zeppelin told anybody, either.[11]

In 1980, Hipgnosis was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best album package for In Through the Out Door.[12]

Release

The album was intended to be released prior to the band's twin concerts at Knebworth in 1979, but production delays meant that it was released shortly after their performances at this event. Plant jokingly referred to the delays at times during the performance on August 4.

Despite receiving poor reviews,[1][13] the album went to #1 on Billboard's chart in its second week on the chart. On this album's release, Led Zeppelin's entire catalogue made the Billboard 200 between the weeks of 23 October and 3 November 1979, an unprecedented feat.[1] The album remained on the US top spot for seven weeks and sold three million copies by the end of September 1979.[13] To date, the album has sold six million copies in the US.

In Through the Out Door was Led Zeppelin's final album to be released while the band was together. Drummer John Bonham died the next year on 25 September 1980.

Accolades

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
American Music Award United States Favorite Pop/Rock Album[14] 1980 Nominee

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."In the Evening"Jones, Page, Plant6:49
2."South Bound Saurez"Jones, Plant4:12
3."Fool in the Rain"Jones, Page, Plant6:12
4."Hot Dog"Page, Plant3:17
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Carouselambra"Jones, Page, Plant10:32
2."All My Love"Jones, Plant5:51
3."I'm Gonna Crawl"Jones, Page, Plant5:30

Sales chart performance

Album
Chart (1979) Peak Position
Japanese Albums Chart[15] 2
Swedish Albums Chart[16] 17
UK Albums Chart[17] 1
US Cash Box Top 100 Albums[18] 1
US Record World Album Chart[19] 1
US Billboard 200[20] 1
Norwegian Albums Chart[21] 14
Austrian Album Charts[22] 20
Canadian RPM Top 100 Albums Chart[23] 1
New Zealand Top 50 Albums Chart[24] 1
Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart 3
German Albums Chart[25] 28
Spanish Albums Chart[26] 5
French Albums Chart[27] 7
Singles
Year Single Chart Position
1980 "Fool in the Rain" Billboard Hot 100 21[28]

Sales certifications

Album
Country Sales Certification
Argentina (CAPIF) 30,000+ Gold[29]
United States (RIAA) 6,000,000+ 6× Platinum[30]
United Kingdom (BPI) 300,000+ Platinum[31]
Australia (ARIA) 140,000+ 2× Platinum[32]

Personnel

Led Zeppelin
Additional personnel

References

  1. ^ a b c d Dave Lewis (2003), Led Zeppelin: Celebration II: The 'Tight But Loose' Files, London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-056-4, pp. 49, 63, 80.
  2. ^ Aizelwood, John, "Closing Time", Q Magazine Special Led Zeppelin edition, 2003, p. 94.
  3. ^ Gilmore, Mikal (10 August 2006). "The Long Shadow of Led Zeppelin". Rolling Stone (1006). Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  4. ^ Snow, Mat, “The Secret Life of a Superstar”, Mojo magazine, December 2007.
  5. ^ David Cavanagh, "Interview with John Paul Jones", Uncut.
  6. ^ Mat Snow, “Apocalypse Then”, Q magazine, December 1990, p. 82.
  7. ^ Brad Tolinski and Greg Di Bendetto, "Light and Shade", Guitar World, January 1998.
  8. ^ Charles Shaar Murray, “The Guv’nors'”, Mojo, August 2004, p. 75.
  9. ^ Liner notes for the Led Zeppelin boxed set.
  10. ^ Thorgerson, Storm (1999). Eye of the Storm: The Album Graphics of Storm Thorgerson. pp. 34, 35. ISBN 978-1860742590. ((cite book)): Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  11. ^ Alan di Perna, Guitar World Presents Pink Floyd, pg. 104, Hal Leonard Corporation 2002, ISBN 0634032860
  12. ^ "Grammy Award for Best Album Package (Hipgnosis) - 27 February 1980". Grammy. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
  13. ^ a b Chris Welch (1994) Led Zeppelin, London: Orion Books. ISBN 0-85797-930-3, pp. 89-90.
  14. ^ "Favorite Pop/Rock Album - 18 January 1980". rockonthenet. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  15. ^ "Top 100 Albums - 25 August 1979". Oricon. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  16. ^ "Top 60 Albums - 7 September 1979". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  17. ^ "Top 100 Albums - 8 September 1979". chartstats.com. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  18. ^ "Top 100 Albums - 8 September 1979". Cash Box. Retrieved 2009-01-19. ((cite web)): Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ "Top Pop Albums - 8 September 1979". Record World. Retrieved 2009-01-19. ((cite web)): Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ "The Billboard 200 - 15 September 1979". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-01-19. ((cite web)): Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ "Top 20 Albums - 16 September 1979". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  22. ^ "Top 75 Albums - 15 October 1979". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  23. ^ "RPM Albums Chart - 3 November 1979". RPM. Retrieved 2009-01-19. ((cite web)): Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ Scapolo, Dean (2007). "Top 50 Albums - November 1979". The Complete New Zealand Music Charts (1st ed.). Wellington: Transpress. ISBN 1-877443-00-8. ((cite book)): Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
  25. ^ "Top 100 Albums - November 1979". charts-surfer.de. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  26. ^ "Top 100 Albums - 15 December 1979". PROMUSICAE. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  27. ^ "Top 100 Albums - 1979". infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  28. ^ [1]
  29. ^ "CAPIF: Led Zeppelin - 1993". CAPIF. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  30. ^ "RIAA.org In Through the Out Door - 25 November 1997". RIAA. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  31. ^ "BPI In Through the Out Door certification - 19 November 2004". BPI. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  32. ^ "ARIA Album Accreditations - 31 December 2007". ARIA. Retrieved 2009-01-19.

External links

Preceded byThe Best Disco Album in the World by various artists UK Albums Chart number one album 8–22 September 1979 Succeeded byThe Pleasure Principle by Gary Numan Preceded byGet the Knack by The Knack Billboard 200 number-one album 15 September – 2 November 1979 Succeeded byThe Long Run by Eagles

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