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By the time Led Zeppelin's sixth album, Physical Graffiti was released in 1975, the group had completed a fundamental change in the popular music and media equation that began with their fourth album back in 1971. With the song "Stairway to Heaven", Zeppelin had proven that the album format had matured to the point that a hit single was no longer a necessity for big album sales.

Before Led Zeppelin, the conventional wisdom of record labels was to focus on one sound or style to be successful. But Zeppelin's international success resulted in more extensive concert tours taking them to the four corners of the world, which only stoked their creative flame such that epic songs on Physical Graffiti like "Kashmir" "Ten Years Gone" and "In My Time of Dying" became outright sonic blow torches.

Led Zeppelin
Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images
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Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones today celebrate the 40th anniversary of the legendary album's release today. One of the enduring legacies of Physical Graffiti was Led Zeppelin's uncanny ability to seduce the ears while also pummeling the listener with a sonic slam which knew no peer, often in the same song. Jimmy Page recently shared his approach to the album, which took almost three years to record. "I was really careful not to listen to too much other music. I wasn't following what everyone else was doing in the same sort of category as us, that's for sure. I was trying to do things that were really different", said Page.

Certified 16x platinum in the U.S., the commercial success of Physical Graffiti was equaled only by its critical reception. Generally regarded as one of the greatest double albums of all time, the original 15 tracks represent a creative tour de force that explores the band's dynamic musical range.

Disc One                                                                       Disc Two
1. 'Custard Pie'                                                             1. 'In The Light'
2. 'The Rover'                                                               2. 'Bron-Yr-Aur'
3. 'In My Time Of Dying'                                               3. 'Down By The Seaside'
4. 'Houses Of The Holy'                                               4. 'Ten Years Gone'
5. 'Trampled Under Foot'                                             5. 'Night Flight'
6. 'Kashmir'                                                                  6. 'The Wanton Song'                                                                                       7. 'Boogie With Stu'                                                                                        8. 'Black Country  Woman'                                                                                        9. 'Sick Again'

Led Zep Perform
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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