Why Led Zeppelin Was Against Releasing Songs as Singles
While Led Zeppelin is one of the greatest rock n’ roll bands ever, it would be hard to tell by looking at the charts. The main reason is that the band rarely released any singles as they wanted the focus to be on their albums. It cost them a chance at a No. 1 hit, but it didn’t seem like they cared.
Led Zeppelin never had a song reach No. 1 on the charts
Led Zeppelin has many memorable songs like “Stairway to Heaven”, “When the Levee Breaks”, and “Kashmir”. However, none of these songs charted well because the band rarely released singles. This most likely drove their record company, Atlantic Records, crazy, as the band’s singles would have sold tremendously well.
They did release 10 singles in the U.S., but none of them ever reached No. 1. A few of these include “Immigrant Song”, which peaked at No. 16, “D’yer Mak’er”, which peaked at No. 20, and “Black Dog”, which peaked at No. 15. The band released no singles in the U.K., and only three were released later as remastered versions.
Led Zeppelin didn’t release singles to keep the focus on their albums
Atlantic Records urged Led Zeppelin to release more songs as singles to boost radio play, but manager Peter Grant secured a deal where the band could control what was released under their name. He did promise a limited edition Christmas single, but that never was fully realized.
“I think that was a cover-up,” Grant explained. “We never went in just to record a single. That was the golden rule: no singles.”
In 2005, lead singer Robert Plant said releasing singles was more associated with “pop” groups like The Rolling Stones. Led Zeppelin didn’t want to follow that trend because their main statement was the album.
“I always thought of the Stones as a pop group who made singles,” Plant said via Ultimate Classic Rock. “The whole idea of what we did competing with Bobby Goldsboro for airplay as they were wasn’t where we were at. What we said was there’s no point putting out a single when the album is the statement of the band.”
While Led Zeppelin didn’t break any records on the singles charts, their albums performed exceptionally well. The group had seven No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, including Led Zeppelin II, Houses of the Holy, Physical Graffiti, and In Through the Out Door.
Jimmy Page hated the single version of ‘Whole Lotta Love’
“Whole Lotta Love” was the best-performing single released by Led Zeppelin. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is the only Led Zeppelin song to become a top 10 hit. However, the version released by Atlantic Records was a shrunken-down version. The song was condensed from 5:33 to 3:12 and had muffled audio and sound that didn’t compare to the original version.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, guitarist Jimmy Page admitted he “hated” this version and only played it once. This version of “Whole Lotta Love” is indicative of why the band hated singles because they often released songs that were five minutes or longer, which don’t usually translate into better radio play.
