On August 15, 1979 Led Zeppelin released their eight, and ultimately, final studio album of all new material. It was hammered out in only three weeks at the end of 1978 in Sweden. The band set up shop at Polar Studios, which was owned by ABBA at the time. (thank Goodness they never collaborated...)
Despite their past popularity around the Globe, it was recorded during a rough time for the group. Robert Plant was still dealing with the death of son Karac the year before, and the taxation exile the band took from the UK. The exile resulted in the band being unable to tour in the U.K.for over two years, not to mention they were trying to stay relevant to the public.. They described it as "trying to get in through the 'out' door."
On top of all of that, the studio became a Camp divided. Plant and John Paul Jones tended to arrive earlier in the day to work on songs, while Jimmy Page and John Bonham's late night shenanigans had them showing up many hours later. This division of the band would also feature the only two tracks that Page had nothing to do with the writing of.: "South Bound Saurez" and ""All my Love"(-written in tribute to Karac Plant).
Besides the strong material, the album stood out for its packaging and artwork too. It came sealed in a brown paper bag with six different album jackets each depicting a different scene . The inner sleeve when rubbed with water would become colorized. It was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Album Package .
In Through The Out Door became an immediate success. It reached #1 on Billboard in less than 2 weeks and sold over 1.7 Million copies within days. Oh, and one more cool, historical factoid: Upon its release, Led Zeppelin's entire catalog was in the Billboard 200 between October and November 1979, it topped their own record in 1975, when all their albums pulled off the same feat.
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